One more person has died from injuries suffered from last month's White Island volcano eruption, taking the death toll to 21.
In a statement, New Zealand police said the identity of the deceased will be released after family members have been informed.
Out of the official tally, 18 people have died in New Zealand and two in hospitals in Australia.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had earlier announced that official inquiries into the eruption will take up to a year.
Azerbaijan vows to respond after four injured by Iranian drones
Azerbaijan warned on Thursday that it was preparing unspecified response measures after a pair of Iranian drones flew across its border and injured four people in the Nakhchivan exclave, raising concern about further spillover of the conflict in the Middle East.
72 killed in Israeli attacks on Lebanon as it warns residents to leave south
Israel has warned residents to immediately leave a swathe of south Lebanon on Wednesday, ordering them to move north of Litani River on the third day of full-blown hostilities with Hezbollah, with the death toll rising to 72 people.
Nepal goes to the polls; voters seek change after youth-led protests
Nearly six months after a wave of unprecedented youth-led protests and the deaths of 77 people forced Nepal's then prime minister to quit, people began voting on Thursday in a general election that will choose a new parliament in the Himalayan nation.
Landslide kills over 200 people at Congo's Rubaya mine
More than 200 people have died on Tuesday in a landslide triggered by heavy rains at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the country's mines ministry said on Wednesday.
80 people killed after US sinks Iranian warship
The US–Iran war widened sharply on Wednesday after a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off Sri Lanka, killing at least 80 people, and NATO air defences destroyed an Iranian ballistic missile fired towards Turkey.
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