The appearance of All Black Ma'a Nonu at Premier House yesterday to give President Xi Jinping of China a No 8 All Black jersey was a light end to otherwise serious talks with John Key.

China’s President, Xi Jinping, today identified five new areas of potential co-operation between New Zealand and China.

Governor General praises Chinese-NZ links as President of China Xi Jinping receives 21-gun salute at Government House in Wellington.

When an election is called in Japan, candidates with megaphones roam streets in minivans, party leaders speak outside Tokyo train stations, and stocks gain until polling day.

Both Prime Minister John Key and Opposition leader Andrew Little want to press visiting President Xi Jinping for Chinese investment that benefits New Zealand.

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has talked candidly about her time as the most powerful woman in her country - and also the most criticised.

President Barack Obama's Asia trip and related summits have generated much press coverage about the Trans-Pacific Partnership.To the extent the Democratic Party's election drubbing has figured into TPP stories, the implications for the partnership have of

Much has changed in Iraq and Syria in the six weeks since the last Western hostage, Alan Henning, was beheaded.

The Russians are coming, but the Australian Government isn't about to panic. Four Russian warships are exercising in the Coral Sea before this weekend's G20.

The graphic contents of an anonymous letter in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation called Martin Luther King a "filthy abnormal animal" have been made public.

She might not be Bo Derek but in political terms, John Key rates visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel as high as 10.

PM John Key met new Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Myanmar today, and foreign fighters and boat people were on the agenda.

This month we receive onto our shores the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, undoubtedly the most dominant political figure in the EU.

It was all business for John Key at NZ's new consulate in Chengdu yesterday, but it was all pleasure for his wife, Bronagh - a little bundle of it called Xing Yu.

One leader is staying in a luxury suite that costs $2782 a night, while another will be bunking down in a relatively cheap $344-a-night room.

The polling stations were makeshift, the election officers all volunteers and the whole process suspended twice for being potentially illegal, but Catalonia's much-disputed unofficial referendum on independence from Spain finally went ahead.

The euphoria associated with Barack Obama's elevation to the United States presidency six years ago is now just the dimmest of memories.

Ed Miliband's leadership of the British Labour Party was plunged into fresh crisis as senior Labour MPs revealed that at least 20 shadow ministers were on the brink of calling for him to stand down.

I am losing my health insurance. Apparently I have Obamacare to blame, writes Jack Tame.

The coalition of young and minority voters that handed President Barack Obama both of his election victories failed to show up for the Democrats in the US midterms as Republicans celebrated their first black female member of Congress.

The Government has taken its time to decide New Zealand will not join Western allies in military action against the terrorist group that has taken over part of Iraq and Syria.

Three NZ Defence Force personnel have already left for the Middle East to scope out a role for New Zealand forces to help train Iraqi forces fight ISIS.

The Prime Minister's landmark speech on national security has two messages for New Zealanders, but they are somewhat discordant.

The Cricket World Cup and the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings are being treated as potential terror targets by New Zealand and Australian Governments.

London Mayor and would-be MP Boris Johnson is backing a report by a British think-tank which calls for Kiwis and Australians to freely live and work in Britain.

John Key says any NZ commitment to the campaign against Isis in the Middle East would be for a long time, pointing to the 10-year deployment of troops to Bamiyan.

Democrats in the United States are bracing for punishment in tomorrow's midterm elections as voters express their dissatisfaction with President Barack Obama, who mostly stayed away from the campaign....