OceanaGold plans to scale back its operations and is expected to axe more than 100 jobs at the Macraes goldfield in Otago in response to a falling gold price.

At first it's hard to comprehend exactly what it is we're looking at.

A police official says at least 21 people were killed and 20 others were injured when a bus plunged from an elevated highway and onto a van in Manila.

More than 12,000 people displaced by the massive November 8 have made it to the capital. Most are with relatives; those with no family here are in shelters.

A Trade Me bidding war has started over an orange capsicum with a green stalk shaped like the head of a dragon - with bids already topping $200.

Sara Thomson's first trip to the hairdresser was for a good cause - the salon is donating its day's takings to the victims of the Philippines typhoon.

When a newspaper for Filipino workers in NZ told readers how to donate to the typhoon relief effort, it skipped a list of government bank accounts. But why?

In front of the mansion that Imelda Marcos built to store the glittering keepsakes of her life, workmen were slowly clearing the debris and sweeping away mounds of mud.

Devastation in Philippines highlights urgency of Warsaw summit to pave the way for an agreement to bring down global emissions.

Althea Mustacisa was born three days ago in the aftermath of the killer typhoon that razed the eastern Philippines. And for every one of those three days, she has struggled to live.

Since the typhoon hit, Danny Estember has been hiking for three hours on the round-trip into the mountains each day to obtain what he can only hope is clean water for his five daughters and two sons.

People swept dirt from the pews and wiped clean the mud-covered, ornate tile floors of a church. The sound of hammers hitting nails and the buzzing of chain saws reverberated in the streets. Debris was piled on corners and set ablaze.

International effort picked up pace yesterday, with helicopters buzzing back and forth between Tacloban and the USS George Washington's carrier group, delivering crates of food.

Scores of unidentified bodies were interred together in a hillside cemetery without any ritual - the first mass burial in this city shattered by last week's Typhoon Haiyan.

Close your eyes and hold your breath, and you could imagine you are in a normal sports stadium. You hear a ball bouncing and the children's cheers echoing under the cavernous dome.

A street appeal and an open air concert are planned for next week in a bid to raise money for the typhoon stricken Philippines.

The rusting white truck began its grim journey shortly after 10.30am under the growing heat of a tropical sun.

Relief operations in the typhoon-devastated Tacloban region picked up pace yesterday.

NZ will send an air force Hercules to help in the storm-hit Philippines, but Prime Minister John Key's official visit to Manila next week has been postponed.

Walking with just one broken rubber flip-flop, Marcel Stutz, a farmer, led his young children and wife past putrefying corpses down an avenue that would take them to the airport and to safety.