Hijacking an aircraft is not an offence you would normally associate with a man who stands on the verge of becoming Prime Minister of his country.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a US$127,000 ($153,000) double bed installed on a plane to carry him and his wife Sara on their five-hour flight.

Three years after Ireland's €67.5 billion financial rescue by the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, signs are the Emerald Isle is on the improve.

After a riot at Perth's Banksia Hill juvenile detention centre, more than 140 teenage inmates were moved to Hakea high security prison

Editorial: The drums are beating for more children to learn Mandarin. The Prime Minister wants more pupils to consider it. Education expert Wendy Pye goes further.

Five years after Obama said he'd shut it, over 100 prisoners, including a British resident - are still chained in Guantanamo. DAVID JONES went inside and was horrified by what he found.

Emaciated and frail, more than 100 men lie on concrete floors of freezing, solitary cells in Guantanamo, silently starving themselves to death.

British intelligence is handing "bundles" of cash to Hamid Karzai for special peace projects despite warnings that handouts are promoting corruption in his regime.

One problem Vancouver does share with Auckland is the burning problem of housing affordability, writes Brian Rudman.

As the self-declared 'capital' of the ultra-nationalist Jobbik Party.

A national campaign is being prepared in Australia to challenge the exclusion of expatriate New Zealanders and Pacific Islanders from welfare and other Government assistance.

George W. Bush wasn't lying about Iraq after all, and those of us who said that he was owe him an apology.

Trade Minister Tim Groser says he is disappointed he had to drop out of the race to become the director-general of the World Trade Organisation.

Hamid Karzai has confirmed that his Government received money from the CIA.

Islamist militants in Russia have denied they sent the Boston bombers to carry out their devastating attack, as mystery deepened over the reason the two Chechen brothers turned to violence.

Editorial: When the Marriage Equality Bill passes its final vote in Parliament, possibly tonight, it will signify a marked social change.

The Boston bombings have reaffirmed Australia's commitment to its burgeoning counter-intelligence agency, which is preparing to move.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's reform rollout, central to her hopes of restoring support ahead of the September 14 election, has hit a wall.

Russia has plunged into a propaganda battle over the trial this week of the leading opposition activist, Alexey Navalny.

A background check will not scoop up those who have lower level mental health problems, writes Anna Fifield. Nor will it not affect the overwhelming majority of private gun sales.

When John Key met his second Chinese vice-premier in two days yesterday, he and Wang Yang shared a joke about the photo Key had seen of them hanging in Guangzhou's Foreign Affairs Museum.