Until last week, most Kiwis would never have heard of Gerard van Bohemen.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully should be removed from Cabinet over his handling of the Saudi farm deal, Labour says.

The Great Barrier Reef will not be listed as endangered but will remain under watch because of "major threats" to its health.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully will leave behind an ongoing controversy over a multi-million dollar farm deal when he heads overseas on official business this weekend.

The world's largest nuclear meeting, the five-yearly Review Conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has just closed at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

For most of us, it's a tough ask to draw a link between somewhere as warm as Bangladesh and as chilly as Antarctica.

It may well be that NZ on the Security Council has to pick its battles, or choose the lesser of two evils when it is deciding who to support, writes Dita De Boni.

Prime Minister John Key reaffirmed New Zealand's role in fighting terror threats in the Middle East at the International Peace Summit in Istanbul overnight.

The Ministry for the Environment has released figures showing that carbon pollution, which New Zealand is adding to, increased 42 per cent globally.

A former New Zealand hockey player has been appointed to help head Government efforts to manage the environment and natural resources.

Blind belief in New Zealand's status as a global human rights leader is hampering real progress, a new report says.

Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee has confirmed that legal protection has been secured for New Zealand troops to fight in Iraq against the Islamic State.

Previous experience has been positive and benefits would outweigh the costs.

China has placed on the record - ever so diplomatically - its displeasure at the latest Edward Snowden revelations, Fran O' Sullivan writes.

Modern warfare is vastly different today. Those going to Iraq will not be in the frontline - at least not yet, Fran O'Sullivan writes.

Edmund Burke once said political decisions often involve a choice between intolerable and disagreeable options.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully told the UN Security Council that its future credibility and effectiveness depended on its permanent members making progress on reform.

Jim McLay, New Zealand's representative at the United Nations in New York, will be replaced in May by career diplomat Gerard van Bohemen after Mr McLay's second term ends, Foreign Minister Murray McCully has announced.

A team of Kiwi nurses working as part of the international Red Cross Ebola response team in Sierra Leone got to meet Helen Clark this week.

Ukraine has appealed to the West to get tough on Russia after separatists it says are militarily backed by Moscow stormed a flashpoint town.

There is no crime of war, nor crime against humanity that they have not committed, writes Alexander Gillespie. But what is NZ's risk in getting involved?

More than 200 boat people were missing early today after their overcrowded dinghies sank in the frigid waters of the Mediterranean.

A child soldier who became an infamous commander in Joseph Kony's militia is before the International Criminal Court.

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

Nick Sheppard writes: "Due to factors including nationality, gender and timing, Helen Clark may be the front runner" for the top United Nations post.

New Zealand has taken its seat at the heart of international decision-making for the next two years.

Yesterday we saw how progress has been made on matters where both language versions of the Treaty say the same thing. Those areas are predominantly natural resources and cultural treasures.