The Govt will spend $3.5m to upgrade tsunami warning systems across the Pacific, Murray McCully announced today.

Prime Minister John Key and his wife, Bronagh, will be spending a weekend with the Queen at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

The Pacific Islands Forum will be held in Auckland next September in the lead-up to the first game of the World Cup, the Herald understands.

For the first time in decades, a trilateral meeting between the US, Australia and NZ will be held.

A regional processing centre in the Pacific for asylum seekers would not be in NZ or be propped up with NZ funds, John Key says.

The endorsement of Fiji's military regime by some Pacific countries is unlikely to affect the Pacific Islands Forum's suspension of Fiji, says Murray McCully.

Sir Geoffrey Palmer says heading an inquiry into a fatal Israeli raid on an aid flotilla will probably be the hardest job he has done.

New Zealand is considering imposing further sanctions on Iran as part of an international bid to halt its nuclear programme.

The Obama administration wants a review of the decision to release the Libyan convicted in the Lockerbie airliner bombing.

On the way to Washington, British Prime Minister David Cameron says he wants to talk about Afghanistan, Middle East peace prospects and the global economy. Everyone else wants to talk about BP.

Reports say Pete Bethune's prosecution in Tokyo has demanded a two-year prison term.

Nick Smith says uranium transiting through NZ ports will only be used for "peaceful purposes", despite one of its recipients being involved in making nuclear weapons.

NZ-Chinese representatives and a pro-Tibetan group are at odds over Russel Norman's anti-Chinese protest last week.