Cars blocked by a slip in rural Taihape are now free after a local farmer cleared a path for them with his tractor.

A prisoner with a burst appendix was told it was a stomach bug, and waited six days to be admitted to hospital for surgery.

Friends are delivering bottled water to a Christchurch mother whose immunocompromised daughter relies on sterile medical equipment for feeding.

Israel's cabinet has approved further measures to tighten Israel's control over the occupied West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, a move Palestinians called a "de-facto annexation".