Mfat says it is in contact with a Jordanian New Zealander sentenced to two years' hard labour by Lebanon's Military Tribunal.

NZ foreign affairs officials are checking a report that Lebanon's Military Tribunal has sentenced a Jordanian New Zealander and six others to hard labour for forming a terrorist group.

Taliban fighters have developed a deadly new generation of their most lethal weapon, the improvised explosive device, or IED, which is almost undetectable because it has no metal or electronic parts, military experts said last week.

The defence correspondent of the Sunday Mirror newspaper has become the first British journalist to be killed while covering the war in Afghanistan.

PM keen to hear Hillary Clinton's views on what progress has been made towards establishing a corruption-free Government in Afghanistan.

Tennis Auckland says it will continue to act on complaints from fans if protesters targeting Israeli Shahar Peer return to the ASB Classic.

Bombing by double agent highlights vulnerability of CIA.

Officers wary of war crimes legislation actionable in British courts.

The opponent of Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer blames distracting protests for her loss, says today's match should have been postponed.

Following the marriage of President Jacob Zuma to his fifth wife, the Independent looks at the arguments for and against polygamy.

Demand for a seat to watch Tony Blair give evidence to the Iraq inquiry has been so high that a public ballot is to be held to allocate the limited places.

Demonstrators have renewed calls for Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer's withdrawal from the ASB Classic tournament.

The closure of the US embassy in Yemen highlights how vulnerable embassy facilities and its workers are in the age of the suicide bomber writes Patrick Cockburn.

Sun, sea and the birth of surfing: the second part of a four-part story by Graeme Lay.

Yemeni officials say hundreds of al-Qaida members could be living in the country.

The funeral of Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, the eminent cleric and champion of reform, turned into a mass protest in Iran yesterday as the vast crowd chanted slogans against the government and clashed on the streets with security.

A year after the gesture that instantly gained him adulation throughout the Arab world, the Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush has complained that life since then has not lived up to expectations.