UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he's in "intense contact" with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, the US and the EU in an effort to restore Ukrainian grain export as a global food crisis worsens.
Aussie PM Scott Morrison has joked a football team could use him as a "bulldozer" for their new grandstand after knocking over a child during a mock match.
A blast of severe weather set to send temperatures plummeting has already started to hit, bringing hundreds of lightning strikes and the likelihood of monster waves at the South Island coast.