Buildings lie in waste, reduced to rubble. Others, their faces are shorn clean off. Bullet casings litter the streets, unexploded mortars burrow into pavements.

Vo Van Duong's bamboo and coconut leaf house looks much like others deep in Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

A suspicious item evacuated Tauranga Port this morning and sparked a call-out for police and the Defence Force.

A former financial controller for the NZDF will receive more than $70,000 in unpaid redundancy after winning an employment battle over an error in his contract.

In the best tradition of gunboat diplomacy, this country is flexing its muscles in the Southern Ocean.

United States markets head into the last week of the year with a "Santa Claus rally" having lifted them to record highs, picking up momentum from outstanding GDP numbers in the world's biggest economy.

Even by the outrageous standards of North Korean propaganda chiefs, it was an unusually vulgar slur, a dramatic escalation in the two-week-long war of words between Pyongyang and Washington.

Being far from his children on Christmas Day is hard for Major Brett Grieve, especially when he's stationed in Antarctica, but he knows it's all part of his duty, he says.

The Defence Minister has paid tribute to the events the Defence Force has participated in this year, including the search for missing flight MH370.

The MP who chaired the anti-terrorist legislation rushed through Parliament last week, MarkMitchell, says the bill was "100 per cent" justified.

Aucklanders can be confident the measures Sydney has in place to deal with hostage or terrorism emergencies would be available here - but on a smaller scale, a senior police source says.

The US Navy is working on a robotic fish that will be able to swim undetected into hostile waters and send back information on opponents' ships.

New Zealand could further extend its mission training security forces in Afghanistan beyond next year after the United States announced it was delaying the planned withdrawal of 1000 troops from Afghanistan.

Gerry Brownlee is one of National's most level-headed, collected, unflappable and even-tempered Cabinet ministers.

It's not easy being a member of the Swiss Guard. There's the silly uniform to wear, and occasionally you might have to step in and risk your life to save the boss.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters claims "large-scale" military preparations are under way at New Zealand bases in anticipation of a deployment to Iraq.

We all know John Key is susceptible to brain fade when it comes to historic events, writes Brian Rudman. But to forget what happened at Gallipoli 99 years ago does suggest he should really start upping his ginseng and cod-liver oil intake.

The beating of the patriotic drum resonates in the proposal to send an Anzac force of trainers and troops to Iraq.

John Key has admitted that though any Kiwi troops sent to Iraq would be "behind the wire", they'd still face significant risk from attack by Isis supporters posing as soldiers.

Defence Force staff have begun training for potential deployment to Iraq to support the fight against Islamic State (Isis), Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee has confirmed.

NZ and Australia are in talks around forming a joint force to serve in Iraq against Isis, a century after the first Anzac force was created, Australian media are reporting.

When the SIS comes to the Beehive it brings its briefing papers in a locked case and once the briefing is finished it gathers all the copies up, locks them back in the case and takes them away.