Former PM-turned UNDP head Helen Clark says NZ's bid for a Security Council seat is a "David and Goliath" battle - but we could still win.

John Key is to meet with former Australian PM Julia Gillard in New York today, following a meeting with his predecessor Helen Clark.

Prime Minister John Key says NZ's rivals for a Security Council seat are likely to be spending up to secure the required votes, but we still have some tricks to play.

Syria says it's ready to state where its chemical weapons are and to halt their production, but the US says it'll have to do more than sign up to a treaty.

The US administration has bluntly accused Bashar Assad's government of launching a chemical weapons attack that killed at least 1,429 people - far more than previous estimates- including more than 400 children.

A probe into policing in the troubled new country of South Sudan has uncovered 11,000 fake names on the payroll.

This posh Seoul suburb is a hub of luxury and excess, discovers Sharon Stephenson.

The news on the population front sounds bad: birth rates are not dropping as fast as expected.

Seven al-Qaeda-linked militants on a suicide mission attacked the UN compound with a truck bomb and then poured inside, killing at least 13 people before dying in the assault.

More than half a million people fled Syria's civil war last year, and the UN says that number could double by the end of 2013.

Skiing destinations tend to be in well-heeled areas - from Queenstown to the Austrian Alps and Whistler. Naturally, North Korea wants to take its place alongside the well-groomed resorts.

A New Zealand Defence Force peacekeeper was abducted from an observation post in the Golan Heights and held for five hours today.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark has been appointed for another term as head of the UNDP.

Tauranga lawyer Belinda Pidwell will never forget a Bosnian man tell how he and his family were lined up and shot.

New Zealand has joined a United Nations initiative pledge to take action to end violence against women and girls.

The Government has ignored a recommendation by the United Nations for legislation to dictate a maximum number of work hours to reduce the risk to workplace health and safety.

Editorial: British foreign secretaries have not been frequent visitors to New Zealand. When the relationship was so close that New Zealanders referred to the "mother country", they probably did not feel the need to visit.

A peacekeeper serving with the joint U.N.-African Union force in Darfur opened fire on fellow peacekeepers, killing four and injuring one, the United Nations said.

North Korea said it will launch a long-range rocket in mid-December, a provocative move just eight months after a failed attempt violated a United Nations ban.