Police say they sought to remove the bail conditions for the Malaysian diplomat at the centre of a sex case — including an order to surrender his passport — because the conditions were not enforceable under diplomatic immunity.

Hone Harawira says he made a "big mistake" for earlier dismissing the sex assault case involving a Malaysian diplomat as a "big fuss about bugger all".

The woman at the centre of a diplomatic incident and the victim of an alleged attack says Foreign Minister Murray McCully should resign.

The more that emerges in the story we broke last Sunday the more disturbing it becomes that diplomatic immunity should be so badly handled.

The Malaysian diplomatic aide accused of burglary and intent to rape could be sent back to New Zealand without diplomatic immunity as early as Monday.

Diplomatic immunity has been claimed eight times in the last four years, with four suspects escaping charges by fleeing the country.

Eleven UN ambassadors are being schmoozed in Queenstown in an attempt to win support for a New Zealand seat on the UN Security Council.

An Australian man who died in a US drone strike alongside a New Zealander was introduced to radical Islam at a Christchurch mosque, it's reported.

A New Zealander killed in a drone strike in Yemen has been named as Daryl Jones by an Australian newspaper.

A Kiwi killed in a drone strike in Yemen had attended a terrorist training camp and may have been a foot soldier for al-Qaeda.

Prime Minister John Key said a New Zealander who was killed by a US drone attack in Yemen in November had attended a terrorist training camp in the area.

The Middle East remains an untapped business opportunity for exporters as their focus is dominated by booming Asian markets such as China.

A former Ashburton man has died in a South Korean hospital after falling from a building.

Three New Zealand citizens held for more than two months in the United Arab Emirates on drugs charges are due to appear in court today.

Three New Zealand citizens held for more than two months in the United Arab Emirates on drugs charges are due to appear in court tomorrow.

New Zealand has donated hundreds of emergency shelter kits and a further $300,000 to help residents of cyclone-hit Tonga.

The New Zealand government has helped the families of more than 950 Kiwis who have died overseas and more than 200 who were injured in the last eight years.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it's been told there have been no arrests over the death of a Kiwi woman in Libya, contrary to reports.

Four people have reportedly been arrested in connection with the execution-style killings of New Zealander Lynn Howie and Briton Mark De Salis in Libya on Thursday.

The apparent execution-style killing of a NZ woman in Libya has sparked concerns for five others still in the country.

The motive for the killings of a British man and his female New Zealander companion on a beach in Libya could be criminal as well as political, investigators have said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was last night working with Libyan authorities to establish the identity of the NZ woman shot dead in Libya.

The Ministry of Justice's deputy-secretary has outed himself as one of two former top MFAT managers fingered by an investigation as attempting to disrupt a restructuring.

A report into the leak of documents about restructuring plans at MFAT ordered by State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie has traced the leak back his own department.

Labour leader David Cunliffe intervened in a meeting of affiliated unions at the party conference in Wigram to broker a compromise resolution on the Trans Pacific Partnership.

Labour's trade spokesman and a former Trade Minister Phil Goff says he understands why the Government is not releasing text of the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement but says it could be doing more to communicate with New Zealanders.

New Zealand has halted all apple exports to China for the rest of the season after rot was found in several batches at the Chinese border.