Over 70 countries joined a New Zealand-sponsored debate at the Security Council early today (NZ time) on peace and security in small island developing states (SIDS).

From the outside, the Security Council looks like a shed out the back of the United Nations.

It was what Murray McCully called a "bad day for the Security Council" after Russia stopped an international tribunal being set up to prosecute the people who shot down MH17.

What happens when the Secretary General's term ends next year is only faintly more transparent than appointing a new Pope, writes Audrey Young.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully has thanked US Secretary of State John Kerry for his "patient and effective diplomacy" in putting the Iran nuclear deal together.

The council's decision-making process was on the agenda - and snapper and mini pavs were on the menu.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, has tweeted a graphic that appears to depict US President Barack Obama holding a gun to his head.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully will meet United States Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington DC tomorrow.

NZ has told members of the UN Security Council that there is a window of opportunity for the council to act to restart negotiations in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.

Now that it is our turn to chair the United Nations Security Council Murray McCully says we will attempt to revive peace talks between Israel and Palestine. Not an easy task.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says New Zealand has to be ready for anything to happen as it assumes the chair of the UN Security Council tomorrow.

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.

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.

Every country should play a part in confronting extremism, Prime Minister John Key said at a peace conference in Istanbul today.

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.