A New Zealander who has spent 18 months in a squalid Jakarta jail without trial has pleaded for help.

Obama's visit will give badly needed boost in election year.

Western food manufacturers are buying so little sustainable palm oil that the system set up to limit damage to tropical forests caused by the world's cheapest vegetable oil is in danger of collapse.

Our closest relatives in the animal world, chimpanzees and orangutans, have long been known to use tools. But octopuses?

Australia and Sri Lanka have agreed to toughen measures against people smugglers.

NZ doctor appeals to Indonesian authorities to return his impounded helicopter so he can help earthquake victims in Padang.

The official death toll from Wednesday's quake stood at 809 last night, but the Indonesian Red Cross believes up to 4,000 people are lying beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Authorities have made contact with three Australians who had been unaccounted for in the earthquake-ravaged Indonesian city of Padang, but concerns remain for four others who still have not been in touch with officials.

Greenpeace is trying to keep up pressure on Fonterra to limit its use of palm kernel feed with a public rally outside the Ports of Tauranga.