The time it took to alert Australia's military to Chinese live-fire drills at sea has been downplayed by Defence Minister Richard Marles.

A teenage driver with an expired warrant and registration will now have to pay a bigger fine after he fled from Dunedin police.

The Pope has shown a "further, slight improvement" in his medical condition, the Vatican says, in a sign of progress as the 88-year-old battles double pneumonia.

The union for police has slammed beefed-up citizen arrest powers proposed by the government, saying they are highly risky and could have unintended consequences.

Confronting CCTV footage played to a jury shows the moment schoolboy Enere Taana-McLaren was fatally stabbed by a 13-year-old at the Dunedin bus hub.

A man returned to a Dunedin convenience store from which he had twice been trespassed to hurl abuse at staff and pinch a morning pie, police say.

Collaboration with Christchurch to share delivery of some water services is a step closer for the Dunedin City Council (DCC) after Dunedin’s councillors agreed the idea should be investigated.