An Auckland man feels "betrayed" after his partner of almost 30 years died and left him only her ashes.

A decision in the Auckland High Court ordered that Steven Moon be paid $300, 000 from the estate of his former partner, Mary Doyle.

Their relationship lasted for 27 years with Doyle describing the pair as "friends" in legal documents.

Opposing counsel argued the two did not live together and had no shared assets.

Authorities in Guatemala say the death toll from the Sunday's volcanic eruption has climbed to 75.

The national disaster agency has said 192 people are missing after the Fuego volcano erupted for the first time in more than four decades.

It is estimated that a total of about 1.7 million people have been affected.  

Australian sex workers are the collateral damage in a new US law.

The law is aimed to stop child sex trafficking.

The Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act passed Congress and was signed into law back in April.

The law intends to target websites hosting ads for illegal sex services, the same websites, however, are used by consenting, adult sex workers all over the world, including in Australia.

Australian sex workers were bracing for the impact of the new law and many are suffering from the financial losses.

Sydneysiders have woken up to a thick blanket of fog shrouding the city this morning.

The dense mist has forced flight delays and cancellations.

The fog has also forced a ferry to turn back earlier this morning, with more delays expected across the network.

Queensland’s major construction and engineering companies have called on the state government to back a new city deal for south-east Queensland.

The report calls on the federal and state governments to negotiate Queensland's second city deal after the success of the 2016 Townsville City Deal.

Noted in the report, “a south-east Queensland regional city deal has the potential to be the biggest in the nation involving eleven separate councils.”

A man has been taken to hospital in a serious condition after being hit by a steel beam at a Sunshine Coast construction site.

Emergency services were called just before 3.30pm and the worker was taken to Sunshine Coast University Hospital with back and abdominal injuries.

Workplace Health and Safety were making initial inquiries and a representative is expected to head to the site this morning.

Israel’s military has said the killing of a young Palestinian volunteer medic at a Gaza fence protest last week was unintentional and that only “a small number were fired” by its soldiers.

Razan al-Najjar, 20, was trying to help an injured protester near the border fence when she was fatally shot by Israeli soldiers witnesses have said.

According to the Gaza Health Ministry, she was the 119th Palestinian killed in the three-month-long Gaza fence protest campaign.

Facebook has confirmed it has data-sharing partnerships with at least four Chinese companies which has come under scrutiny from US intelligence agencies.

Members of Congress raised concerns after The New York Times reported on the practice on Sunday saying data could have been accessed without their explicit consent.

More than half of the partnerships have already been wound down, Facebook said.

Multinational consumer goods producer, Unilever, is committing to run its Australian manufacturing sites entirely on renewable energy within two years.

Chief executive, Clive Stiff, said government policy had made the move from conventional energy initially too risky, but the ongoing closure of coal-fired power plants and the ongoing shift to renewable sources made financial sense.