Poor policy and a culture of not asking questions led to senior Defence Force staff double-dipping on allowances, a report has found.

The Auditor-General Lyn Provost has questioned the values within the New Zealand Defence Force which allowed a belief to develop that any officer could be ordered to commit an unlawful act.

Murray McCully says Afghanistan's Bamiyan Province, where NZ troops have been since 2003, will be ready to stand on its own before Hamid Karzai's 2014 deadline.

Boeing and Airbus have racked up billions of dollars worth of aircraft sales at the Farnborough Airshow.

Brigadier Richard Felton points to the maps on the wall of his office in Lashkar Gah, dotted with markers for impending military operations over the long, hot, Afghan fighting season.

The 'claim of right' defence that saw three activists escape conviction despite wilfully damaging the Waihopai spy base will be repealed or reformed.

Eric Batchelor, one of NZ's most highly decorated World War II soldiers, died in Waimate, on Saturday.

Claims that more than one hundred Iraqi civilians were tortured and abused by British soldiers must be fully investigated, Britain's High Court was told yesterday.

A double-pronged aid effort is getting up a head of steam in Tuvalu this week, as more than 300 New Zealand Defence Force staff descend on the tiny nation north of Fiji and nearly 4000km from New Zealand.