Otago Daily Times News Feed

The government's ambition that tobacco use be a thing of the past by 2025 looks to be going up in smoke, two new reports suggest.

Kathy Howard (31) prepares to graduate from Otago Polytechnic. PHOTO: GERARD O'BRIEN Once only a heartbeat away from disaster, Kathy Howard has plenty to celebrate when she graduates from Otago Polytechnic today.

Development of Shotover Country, Queenstown. Photo: Craig Baxter A large development including 30 homes and a restaurant is planned for a Queenstown suburb struggling with rush-hour traffic.

Members of the Lake Hawea community head to a Queenstown Lakes District Council meeting yesterday to express their opposition to the 400-lot special housing area proposed for the town. The meeting approved the development.PHOTO: MARK PRICE A controversial special housing area (SHA) at Lake Hawea has been given the green light by the Queenstown Lakes District Council.

A district plan variation allowing a supermarket and a retirement village to be built at the Northlake housing area in Wanaka has been approved.

The wall on the Kelvin Hotel where a 24m mural will be revealed in January. Photo: Logan Savory The Invercargill Licensing Trust will unveil a mural in January which it believes will provide the city with one of the tallest street murals in New Zealand.

The Oamaru Kiwibank and Post Shop on Severn St. Photo: Google Maps As Kiwibank in Oamaru prepares to become a standalone branch, NZ Post has started its search for an appropriate business from which to operate.

Sydney's house prices rose nearly 70% between 2012 and late 2017 but since then have declined by about 10%. Median prices now sit at about $A800,000 ($NZ838,500); pictured, Bondi, Eastern Sydney.PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES Falling Australian house prices could dampen New Zealand prices, but that is likely to be counterbalanced by lower interest rates, elevated immigration and housing shortages here.

Kiwibank says the number of customers using its branches has halved since 2015 and that fewer than 5% of customers use a branch as their only means of interacting with it, the bank's chief customer officer Mark Stephen told a parliamentary select committee.

The multibillion-dollar takeover battle for Trade Me is over, US company Hellman & Friedman having formally withdrawn from the race.

Port Otago's new $1.5million barge TR Healy (left) alongside the $1.4million barge Hapuka in Dunedin's upper harbour Steamer Basin yesterday. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON Port Otago is looking to double its dredging efficiency with the purchase and delivery of a barge worth more than $1.5million, which was towed from Auckland to Dunedin this week.

Lee Vandervis. Election? What election?

One person has received minor injuries following a two-vehicle accident on Somerville St, in Dunedin tonight.

slip_2_131218.jpg An evacuation notice on the door of a Motu St, St Clair property. Photo: Peter McIntosh The Dunedin City Council has today issued dangerous building notices to four houses in St Clair, after a landslip was assessed to be posing an "imminent safety threat".

2018-12-13t063853z_1927203809_rc18ea05cf50_rtrmadp_3_turkey-crash.jpg Rescue workers search the wreckage after the crash. Photo: Reuters A high-speed train has collided with another locomotive and crashed into an overpass at a train station in the Turkish capital Ankara, killing four people and injuring 43, the local governor says.

A 4-year-old girl has died following an incident involving a scrum machine at Manurewa Rugby Club in Auckland this evening.

Four people arrested over alleged drugging and sexual assaults of female patrons from an inner city Christchurch bar have vowed to fight the charges.

gettyimages-493190043.jpg A psychologist who led the review said mobile phones posed a risk to children. Photo: Getty Mobile phones will be banned from public primary schools across New South Wales from next year.

New Zealand's Tim Southee celebrates after taking a catch in the third test against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi. Photo: Getty A green Basin Reserve wicket was welcomed by New Zealand's Tim Southee after his recent exertions against Pakistan on dry, low and slow pitches in the United Arab Emirates, but the paceman was quick to point out that looks can often be deceiving.