A shopping list in his mother's handwriting is all a grieving son could salvage from the remains of her burnt-down house - a crime committed by a 12-year-old boy.

The state backed Elevate venture capital fund is to get a $100 million injection in next week's Budget.

Russia was responsible for the downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine, killed all 298 passengers and crew in 2014, the UN's aviation council has ruled.

An Israeli-American hostage has been released from 19 months of captivity in Gaza during a brief pause in fighting and reunited with his family, but Israeli strikes soon resumed.

Warning: sexual content. A male stripper has testified at Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial he had sex with the hip-hop mogul's then-girlfriend for money multiple times while Combs watched.

An alleged murder attempt by a Dunedin man involved the use of a crossbow, the Otago Daily Times understands.