Latest from War

Girls choose death over rape

Captured Yazidi girls in Iraq are killing themselves to escape rape and torture at the hands of Isis (Islamic State) militants holding them prisoner.

Cuba facing a new revolution

A veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion, he fought alongside Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, and has a treasure trove of anecdotes...

John Roughan: Humanity amid war - a Christmas story

One Christmas story above all deserves a run this year: the sound of Silent Night from the trenches in the first Christmas of the Great War.

Last Nazi death camp guard to face trial

A 93-year-old German man Oskar Groening, who claims he was an accountant at Auschwitz, to go on trial for being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 prisoners.

Girl trying to join Isis hauled off plane

A 15-year-old was prevented from joining Isis by British police who hauled her off a plane at Heathrow just as it was due to take off.

100 Kiwi Stories: Journals recount voyage to war

55: For five anxious years the troopships set sail from New Zealand, carrying her men in uniform away to war.

100 Kiwi Stories: The Kiwi king of No Man's Land

54: Nothing seemed to frighten Dick Travis. His turf was No Man's Land, the zone of death between enemy trenches and his regiment's frontlines.

Naval vets honoured

Four surviving veterans of one of New Zealand's most famous naval battles joined nearly 600 sailors and thousands of well-wishers in a parade on Auckland's Queen St yesterday to mark the Battle of the River Plate's 75th anniversary.

Veteran pilot ticks off another great mission

Today, Trevor Strong marks off another accomplishment in a long and remarkable life; tackling it in the same steely, unruffled style he has approached all of his missions.

Paul Thomas: Staying out of Middle East - wise or reckless?

Brian Rudman: Spies bigger threat than terror fighters

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.

Former spy, Apiata swap war stories

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.

Modest Kiwi receives top French honour

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.

100 Kiwi Stories: Under-age worker died at the Somme

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.

Hostage: Beheading death likely

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.

100 Kiwi Stories: NZ's first dashing fighter ace

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.