A Christchurch-based money lender has been fined $200,000 for charging customers as much as 182.5 percent interest on short and medium-term loans.

Businesses on Christchurch's New Regent St are being overrun by red and black-billed gulls nesting on roofs, swooping and pooping all over the place.

US climate envoy John Podesta has urged governments to keep faith in the country's promise to combat global warming, saying Donald Trump can slow, not stop, the transition from fossil fuels when he returns as President in January.

Israel's finance minister says he hopes Israel will extend sovereignty into the occupied West Bank in 2025 and that he will push the government to engage the incoming Trump administration to gain Washington's support.