Environment Canterbury (ECan) and Community and Public Health are warning people to avoid contact with Lake Ellesmere/Te Waihora, Banks Peninsula, due to algal bloom.

"The Auditor-General's review of how offenders on parole are being managed shows the government needs to take urgent steps to increase the number of probation officers," says PSA National Secretary Richard Wagstaff.

Meat & Wool New Zealand's latest Monitor Farm programme focuses not only on production and profit, but also on the environmental impact of farming on Lake Taupo.

Callers to LifeLine, the 24/7 national telephone and email counselling service, were up 25% in 2008 to 100,000 (2007: 80,372), with the biggest increase coming from New Zealanders worried about job security and unemployment.

Wellington, Feb 17 NZPA - The trial of two men accused of the murder of a 16-year-old boy during a drinking session in a Christchurch reserve has been delayed to July.

Wellington, Feb 17 NZPA - A father today admitted shaking his infant daughter so hard he caused brain damage.

Auckland, Feb 17 NZPA - An Iraqi man who today admitted two charges of murder told police the fatal stabbings at a central Auckland apartment complex happened when he tried to get his estranged girlfriend's key.

Tauranga, Feb 17 NZPA - When Opotiki man Peter Collier heard yesterday the farmer who shot his son dead had been acquitted of murder and manslaughter, he was stunned.

Wellington, Feb 17 NZPA - Sacked Otago District Health Board (DHB) chairman Richard Thomson has hit out at Health Minister Tony Ryall, accusing him of political interference.

Wellington, Feb 17 NZPA - A 33-year-old man lied about his age on the Bingbox hook-up website and ended up having sex five times with a 14-year-old girl he met on-line.

Shaun Jason Green said on the website that he was 19.