"I just want to get all my affairs in order before I snuff it," one handwritten note read.

Dame Jacinda Ardern has called the war in Gaza a "genocide", joining a growing chorus of international experts, world leaders and organisations saying Israel's actions meet the definition under international law.

Commuters stranded for more than three hours on a Wellington train were forced to improvise when nature called - using "travel johns", or disposable toilet bags, handed out by staff.

The Prime Minister has mounted a fierce defence of Finance Minister Nicola Willis, in the wake of calls for Willis to resign.

An injunction preventing the media from publishing certain details related to the investigation into Tom Phillips and his family remains in place.

Former Labour minister-now-New Zealand First admirer Stuart Nash has been dumped from a government trip to the United States this week due to concerns his recent remarks about women would be "a distraction".