Only in a topsy-turvy world would it be seen as rational to bring a posse of spies to heel by increasing their rights to snoop without a warrant, writes Brian Rudman.

Two military heroes - former spy Pippa Doyle and Willie Apiata - rubbed shoulders last night as France bestowed its highest honour on the 93-year-old Mrs Doyle.

She parachuted behind enemy lines, evading the Nazis to to spy on their troop movements. Now a quiet Aucklander is to receive France's highest honour.

48: A third of the kauri bushman who went to war did not return home and today a memorial plaque on the landward side of Lion Rock records 49 names in their memory.

British journalist and Islamic State (Isis) group hostage John Cantlie says in a newly released propaganda video he is likely to suffer the same fate as other US and UK hostages, who were beheaded.

46: Clive Collett had flown nearly 1200 hours in dozens of different aircraft when he took to the air in a captured German plane over the Firth of Forth.

Four brothers slipped out of Australia last week to join the fight with Islamic State (Isis) in Syria.

The World War I memorial unveiled this week in France remembers those who perished on both sides.

An agent who evaded the Nazis to send coded messages to Britain is to be honoured by France. Andrew Stone writes about a modest war hero who lives quietly in Auckland.

When Tuareg fighters swept into Libya's biggest oilfield, they displayed the exuberance and eccentricity typical of fighting in the country.

Military records and images of thousands of NZ veterans - including Richie McCaw's grandfather - are being publicly released to mark Armistice Day.

John Key was playing to a vital international audience when he said that New Zealand has an opportunity to make sure the United Nations Security Council lifts its game.

The domestic dimension of the response to Isis, which according to Key is a "game-changer for NZ", contained confusions of its own, writes Toby Manhire.

The Government's carefully thought through approach to battling Isis at home and abroad is an extremely pragmatic and smart political strategy, writes Bryce Edwards.

The Government has taken its time to decide New Zealand will not join Western allies in military action against the terrorist group that has taken over part of Iraq and Syria.

The Cricket World Cup and the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings are being treated as potential terror targets by New Zealand and Australian Governments.

The possibility of NZ soldiers taken prisoner and appearing in beheading videos does not bear thinking about, let alone electorally, writes John Armstrong.

John Key says any NZ commitment to the campaign against Isis in the Middle East would be for a long time, pointing to the 10-year deployment of troops to Bamiyan.

One hundred years after the outbreak of World War I, Britain plans to repay some of the debt issued to help finance the conflict.

On board the troop ship Aparima in 1915, Neville Hawkes was in high spirits as he penned a postcard to his little brother.

A large-scale uprising by people living under the totalitarian regime of Isis (Islamic State) is the most likely trigger that will lead to the undoing of the self-declared caliphate.

Palestinian leaders accused Israel of an act of war in closing the sacred Temple Mount religious site after a dramatic rooftop ambush of an Arab accused of trying to kill a far-Right Jewish activist provoked rioting.

41: The Gallipoli landings occurred on April 25, 1915. It was eight months of bloodshed before evacuations began in December.

There were reasons for optimism on that February day, eight years ago, that Britain's Helmand force would not suffer the same fate as the French in Vietnam

If there was anyone left who thought only troubled, fractured societies were subject to terrorism, the wave of apparently jihadist attacks across a country that is a byword for laid-back prosperity will surely have disabused them.

Canada was already on edge after a radical Muslim convert killed a soldier and injured a second on Tuesday, ahead of yesterday's attack on Parliament.