Prime Minister John Key has confirmed the New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS) deployment to Afghanistan will be extended for another year from April - but it will be around half the size of the current deployment.

Every year a Navy ship is selected to lead the Auckland Anniversary Regatta. Loaded with VIPs and Navy crew, the vessel becomes the guard ship for the regatta and is the platform from which races are started.

The Security and Intelligence Service failed to follow basic procedures when it granted a security clearance to Stephen Wilce, the former director of defence technology who embellished claims about his experience.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's claim that his Cabinet colleagues were fully aware of his determination to deal with Saddam Hussein has been bluntly called into question by testimony from two of his most senior officials.

The country's soldiers are about to get more killing power with a new weapon which will better the range and accuracy of the rifles used by the enemies they are likely to be fighting.

Former Gisborne man Willie Rare could tomorrow be sentenced to up to 12 years in a Bali jail after admitting to a charge of possessing cocaine. He also admitted to buying a "bong" for smoking marijuana from the same people who sold him the

NZ SAS soldiers fired weapons in self-defence when they killed two security guards in Afghanistan on Christmas Eve, an investigation by the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force and the NZ Defence Force has found.

The air force's 17 mothballed Skyhawk jet fighters look likely to end up as museum pieces or spare parts after a Christmas deadline passed with no sign of any money from the American buyer.

Major General Lou Gardiner, the Chief of Army for three years until he retired last year after 39 years service, said he would back what the SAS troops said over anyone else.

The Defence Force insists that New Zealand SAS troops in Afghanistan involved in a fatal shootout were fired upon first.

The NZ Defence Force says SAS soldiers were acting in self defence when they led a raid on a factory in Afghanistan in which two soldiers were killed.

New Zealand soldiers have been accused of being involved in a botched raid on a factory in Afghanistan which left two workers dead.