A network of conservative advocacy groups backed by Charles and David Koch aims to spend a staggering US$889 million in advance of the next White House election, part of an expansive strategy to....

Did the PM realise it would happen as Auckland was celebrating its 175th anniversary? The tribute to the King that he issued suggests his advisers were not giving much thought to the gestures.

For all his faults, and they were many, John Howard had a sure-fire ability to read the popular mood and act accordingly.

Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Greece, after his radical left-wing movement forged an unwieldy alliance with a far-right party.

Tony Abbott has been criticised over his decision to make gaffe-prone Prince Philip a Knight of the Order of Australia.

The drawn-out saga of the alleged fleecing of France's richest woman - a senile L'Oreal heiress - has finally come to court.

As Alexander Litvinenko lay dying from radiation poisoning in 2006, he named the man he thought had ordered his murder: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Stephen Jacobi writes: If the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is not finished soon, we may need to move on to something else.

It was billed as an early dress rehearsal for the Republican presidential nomination fight.

An Australian politician is under investigation after allegedly travelling to Syria to join Kurdish forces in the fight against Islamist extremists.

Five years ago the prospect that Greece might need to revert to a currency of its own filled the euro zone with horror.

Global markets are braced for an extended bout of extreme volatility after left-wing party Syriza stormed to victory in the Greek elections.

Anti-austerity party on the brink of a landmark election victory in Greece as critics claim it could haul the country out of the Eurozone and leave it bankrupt.

A 46-year-old Ukrainian tank commander says politicians might yet stop the conflict that grips the east of his country, but supplies of arms from the West would bring a quicker result.

A radical leftist party that wants to cancel Greece's European Union debts of more than 200 billion ($300 billion) went into today's election with a seven-point lead.

Late Saudi King Abdullah was hailed as "a strong advocate for women" - so why are four of his daughters reportedly under house arrest?

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia has died at the age of 90, bringing to an end the rule of the world's oldest monarch.

The PM's halfway up a mountain in the Swiss Alps when he takes a break from his deliciously cliched fondue dinner to explain the Davos experience over a dodgy phone connection.

Former National MP Michael Cox says Anzus conflict in 1984 will hurt chances of Helen Clark becoming United Nations secretary general.

John Key and his wife joined a private family celebration with David Cameron at the British PM's retreat at Chequers, ahead of talks dominated by the issue of terrorism.

Four years after he officially gave up his role as Britain's roving trade ambassador, the Duke of York is still racking up more air miles than any other member of the royal family.

After closing for its annual maintenance period in early January, the London Eye reopened this weekend as the Coca-Cola London Eye.

Europe is on high alert following anti-terror raids and arrests of suspected Islamist militants.

It is the race that is not actually a race. Yet. The announcement, late last week, that twice failed Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney is contemplating a third run at the White House in....

Derided as gutless and indecisive two weeks ago, Francois Hollande has gained admiration for the sure-footed leadership he has shown during France's greatest terrorism crisis.

Surely it can't be so. How can a man who proved such an inept candidate in two previous tilts at the White House possibly be readying himself for a third?

David Cameron has said he "profoundly disagrees" with the leaders of the Church of England after they accused the Coalition of creating a country in which the poor are being "left behind".

Writer Salman Rushdie, who knows a thing or two about attacks on freedom of expression, calls them the But Brigade: those who deplored the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's new-found love of "free speech" was too much for surviving Hebdo cartoonist Bernard Holtrop to stomach, writes Brian Rudman.