The mystery of a Kiwi officer photographed with a woman in the Somme region during World War I may have been solved.

Karakia and waiata mixed with strains of bagpipes and brass as Korean War veterans from New Zealand and 10 other countries reunited to pay their respects yesterday.

New Zealand Korean War veterans were serenaded with Po Kare Ana sung by a children's choir during South Korea's official commemoration of the 1953 armistice in Seoul this morning.

In the 4km wide demilitarised zone which separates North and South Korea, absurdities abound that would be laughable if not for the fact they reflect the deadly reality of war that is on hold rather than over.

The Korean War and the mates lost to it remain painful memories for many of the New Zealand veterans who yesterday visited the demilitarised zone which still separates North and South Korea 60 years later.

While the focus will be on free trade, New Zealand's defence commitments to South Korea are also likely to be on the table when Prime Minister John Key meets South Korean President Park Guen-hye today.

This morning, almost 60 years to the day since the Korean War ground to a halt, 34 New Zealand veterans of the conflict will look across the heavily fortified demilitarised zone at their former North Korean enemy.

After 70 years of wondering what he had done wrong to lose his wartime sweetheart, a British man will finally marry his love this weekend.

MPs will return to the House today with three new reminders of New Zealand's losses and service in wars overseas.

Syrian state media had announced that "Operation Northern Storm" would retake Aleppo "within days" after regime forces captured Qusair at the beginning of June.

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.

Opposition fighters in Syria are preparing for a major onslaught by government forces in their northern strongholds around Aleppo.

Two years ago, at the beginning of the violence in Syria, I was asked to write a blog in the British Medical Journal on behalf of Medecins Sans Frontieres.

Israel is worried about continued arms supplies to the Syrian regime from Russia.

Photographs of the bloodied face of a 14-year-old boy executed in front of his parents by jihadists in northern Syria show the extreme justice meted out in rebel-held areas.

The memories have come flooding back for three Korean War veterans before the opening of a special photo exhibition that features 150 images taken by Kiwi soldiers.

Sometimes, in diplomacy, a translator is not enough. You need a code-breaker.

After 68 years, a group of war veterans have finally received the recognition they waited so long for.

A criminal inquiry has started into a firefight in which two New Zealand soldiers were killed in Afghanistan last year.

"Match" - It's just one word but for Kim Abraham that word on a DNA test would answer her life-long question: her sailor dad's identity.

Daniel Pearl had been held captive in Pakistan for more than a month when Mariane, his wife, learned he was dead.

America's perpetual war against terrorism must come to an end, President Barack Obama declared yesterday, as he announced restrictions on drone strikes and a fresh effort to close Guantanamo Bay.

Iraq is edging closer to all-out sectarian war between Sunni and Shia Muslims as a series of car bombings and shootings killed at least 90 people and left many others injured yesterday.