Prime Minister John Key and Foreign Minister Murray McCully leave today for a series of Asian trade summits.

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to visit New Zealand early next year.

Aid has begun arriving in Samoa in what will be an ongoing effort as the scale of devastation from the quake and tsunami becomes clear.

A team of Army medics is flying to Samoa to join a civilian medical team that left NZ late last night as the death toll from the tsunami rises.

Afghanistan will be on the agenda when Prime Minister John Key meets United Nations and Nato leaders in New York this week.

New Zealand is ready to offer assistance to Indonesia after a large earthquake killed at least 46 people and injured hundreds more.