Wellington, Nov 7 NZPA - A pipeline contractor who lost two workers when their boat apparently capsized off Christchurch's Lyttelton Heads last week has been fined over another accident in which an employee lost a leg.

7 November 2008 - A panel of local sporting personalities are ready to put Taupo's Top Town triallists through their paces on Monday night

Wellington, Nov 7 NZPA - A total of nine charges have been laid against two companies and four individuals over the fatal Tamahere coolstore fire in April.

7 November 2008 - Waitakere City Council is seeking community views on proposed changes to parking in town centres and some of the main road corridors.

7 November 2008 - Night works are scheduled to commence on Monday 12 November, weather permitting, as part of the NZ Transport Agency's project to signalise the Welcome Bay and Maungatapu roundabouts.

The kakapo today declared election victory in Forest & Bird's annual Bird of the Year contest.

The kakapo won the avian electoral race with 578 votes, well ahead of its closest rival, the takahe, which scored 322 votes - a landslide victory for the world's heaviest parrot.

The education union NZEI Te Riu Roa is pleased to see a commitment from Labour to a national and cohesive plan for the delivery of early childhood education.

New Zealanders can still have their say about our digital future with one week left to comment on the draft Digital Continuity Strategy, Archives New Zealand Chief Executive Dianne Macaskill said today.

Police have released the name of the woman who died when her vehicle collided with a power pole south of Pahiatua yesterday afternoon (Thursday, 6 November).

She was 39-year-old Rachel Frances Van-Der-Weil of Eketahuna.

Wellington, Nov 7 NZPA - A Gisborne man stopped by fisheries officers for paua poaching ate the evidence in a bid to avoid arrest.

But it didn't work and in Gisborne District Court this week Ivan Harrison, 51, was convicted of obstructing a fishery officer.