Wellington, Nov 25 NZPA - A Northland farmer has been fined $15,000 for the wilful ill-treatment of 158 sheep, after an SPCA inspector found starving animals on his property.

Tauranga, Nov 25 NZPA - A woman whose brother was murdered last year had received threats making it difficult to carry out her 200 hour community work sentence, a judge was told today.

Napier, Nov 25 NZPA - An orchardist's fight for compensation from fertiliser giant Ravensdown over crop damage from acid and fluoride emissions from the company's plant has ended with an out-of-court settlement.

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO) is welcoming comments made by Minister of Health, Tony Ryall, to address some of the serious problems in emergency departments across the country.

Gisborne, Nov 25 NZPA - Seatbelts should be mandatory on all tractors used on farms, coroner Allan Hall has said in his findings on the death of a farm worker near Tolaga Bay last year.

Wellington, Nov 25 NZPA - A teenage driver "went nuts" and tried to get himself run over as a woman lay dying under a van he had flipped, Palmerston North District Court has been told.

Tauranga, Nov 25 NZPA - A man appearing for sentence on a raft of burglary, theft and receiving charges claimed to have absolutely no memory of the three-month offending spree, Tauranga District Court was told today.

Christchurch, Nov 25 NZPA - Kelly Paul Daken received 24 injuries in the attack that killed him in June, including stab wounds that penetrated both lungs and his brain.

Wellington, Nov 25 NZPA - A man blinded in an attack in Manawatu Prison has been jailed for burglary.

"Government's review of the Emissions Trading Scheme is a very positive move for the timber processing industry" according to Howard Tonge, President of the NZTIF.