Poor policy and a culture of not asking questions led to senior Defence Force staff double-dipping on allowances, a report has found.

Murray McCully says Afghanistan's Bamiyan Province, where NZ troops have been since 2003, will be ready to stand on its own before Hamid Karzai's 2014 deadline.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is battling to control his coalition as he heads for a showdown with his hardline foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

NZ won't extend the number of refugees it accepts and needs to address the increasing risk of people-smuggling boats hitting our shores, says the PM.

Bieber was targeted by an internet prank which leaves him struggling to find a way out of exporting his teeny-pop to North Korea.

The United Nations has decided to set up a single, powerful body to promote equality for women around the world.

Some Pakistanis are saying that the solution to the country's terror threat is a US exit from Afghanistan.

Fran O'Sullivan believes the visit to NZ by Chinese Vice-President Jinping is probably of more long-term importance than a visit by his US counterpart, Joe Biden.

The United States is on the brink of ushering in a fourth round of punitive United Nations sanctions against Iran.

Former New Zealand prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer has been suggested to lead an inquiry into the raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla a week ago.

NZ activist Nicola Enchmarch says she saw a man shot in the head by Israeli forces after they stormed her Gaza-bound aid ship.

The NZ woman detained in Israel after a raid on an aid flotilla headed for Gaza has been released overnight.

The Israeli Embassy in Wellington says Nicola Enchmarch is about to be deported from Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport but her destination is unknown.

The mother of a New Zealand woman held by Israel was last night anxiously waiting news of her daughter.