Former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam has died, aged 98. The AAP looks at his legacy and the myths and passions surrounding his fall.

Keith Locke writes: New Zealanders are right to be concerned about the rise of the Islamic State (Isis), but our best contribution would be to provide more humanitarian support.

PM John Key said New Zealand helping to train Iraqi troops was among the options the Government would consider when ruling on its contribution to the fight against Isis.

Presidents, they're just like us - their credit cards get declined.

It arrived back at a California air base after dark. Only the eagle-eyed would have spotted the snub-nosed spacecraft gliding out of the black sky.

In the UN General Assembly hall it was Christmas at every desk.

Pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong have clashed violently with police while reoccupying a protest camp.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully says winning a seat on the United Nations Security Council does not mean New Zealand is committed to military action in Iraq.

NZ winning a seat on the UN Security Council 'proves small countries have a role to play' says the Prime Minister, as his Foreign Minister expresses relief.

If New Zealand becomes a member of the UN Security Council early tomorrow, hoping to get a pay-off for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in schmoozing we've done to get there, let us see how much of an independent voice we will retain.

PM John Key appears to have been misinformed by the Defence Force about the nature of a Washington meeting of the United States-led coalition to defeat Islamic State.

NZ's national threat level in response to risk posed by foreign fighters and Isis has risen and John Key says the Govt will advance ''urgent'' law changes in response..

Ed Miliband has moved to contain rising panic over the right-wing UK Independence Party's threat to Labour in Britain by pledging a raft of hard-headed measures to ensure that migrants "earn the right" to state benefits and face stiff English language tes

Prime Minister John Key is considering NZ's role in the fight against Isis, and has been accused of scaremongering.

Three of North Korea's senior officials travelled to South Korea at the weekend for the first time in five years.

Pro-democracy protesters are continuing demonstrations in Hong Kong, with riot police responding with tear gas. What set it all off?

Britain's Sunday Mirror is under pressure to explain the details of its Twitter sting where it used a fake 'PR girl' to engage tweets from a Tory MP - who sent her graphic pics.

British Conservative MP Brooks Newmark has said he has been “a complete fool” following a sex scandal that forced him to resign as a government minister.

It is just as well Sarah Palin was not elected vice president of the US – otherwise she would have doubtless got lost on her way to work.

RAF jets were unleashed above Iraq as Britain threw its military might behind a US-led air war against the Isis (Islamic State) terror group.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was plunged into a double crisis after one of his ministers resigned over a sex scandal and another MP defected to Ukip.

The Catalan leader, Artur Mas, formally called a November referendum on independence yesterday, in a show of defiance that puts the northeast region on a collision course.

Private information stored online by European computer users could be scrutinised by American law enforcement agencies.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is the one figure uniting US religious conservatives frustrated by a leaderless Republican Party that's divided over foreign policy, immigration and social issues.