An Air NZ Airbus plane on a delivery flight from Hamburg had to do a U-turn approaching the Iranian border just days after a China-bound Dreamliner had to return to Auckland.

SKY WATCH: The moon's orbit is not perfectly circular. This means that sometimes our closest celestial neighbour is closer than any other.

Caring is so essential it's almost invisible. Looking at our past reveals how wide-reaching and significant caring is, historian Barbara Brookes says. It also poses questions about how careless we're becoming, writes Bruce Munro.

"When did NZ become a dictatorship?" Plans to forbid cat ownership in the Southland community of Omaui amounted to violating the freedom of choice, residents have told an Environment Southland hearing.

Two teenagers who eluded police for three days over 1000km during a spree of alleged car thefts fuelled by stolen petrol have appeared in the Invercargill District Court on a host of charges.

A house fire in the eastern Canadian city of Halifax has killed seven children from the same family, Halifax police said.