Syria has forbidden the country's students and teachers from wearing the niqab - the full Islamic veil.

Fifteen lucky poker players are headed from Auckland to Queenstown this week for a chance to strike it rich.

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.

Jill Worrall avoids the tourist throng by following an ancient Nabatean path to the Monastery at Petra.

Kiwi volunteers hoping to take part in a Gaza aid convoy have been told by organisers they could be putting their lives in danger.

Prime Minister John Key will kick off a parade to honour the All Whites in Wellington next Wednesday.

The three Gurkhas who died stood no chance. Two - believed to be British nationals - died in the operations room when it came under attack by a rocket-propelled grenade.

General David Petraeus has formally assumed command of the 130,000-strong international force in Afghanistan.

Will it be useful to add to my CV, I wonder, the title of honorary Bedouin camel trekking manager?

The Iranian Red Crescent is planning to send humanitarian aid by sea to Gaza in a brazen challenge to Israel's sea blockade.

Amnesty International says a US cruise missile armed with cluster ammunition was used in an attack in Yemen which left 52 dead.

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.

Several activists were killed when Israeli marines raided a Turkish ship near Gaza. Others were captured, including NZ's Nicola Enchmarch.

A NZ woman held by Israeli authorities after being taken from a flotilla attacked by Israeli forces is named.

A New Zealander was on board the aid flotilla attacked by Israeli commandos in international waters.

Israel yesterday described as baseless reported findings in a new book that it offered to sell nuclear warheads to South Africa in 1975.

In an attempt to take the pressure off bomb disposal officers in Afghanistan, combat engineers will now be tasked with blowing up many improvised devices rather than having to dismantle all of them.