A baby boy joined the ranks of Syria's tens of thousands of war wounded when a missile fired by Bashar Assad's air force slammed into his family home and shrapnel pierced his skull.

A New Zealand Army officer serving as a United Nations military observer was detained and released by armed men in Syria on Monday.

Editorial: The situation in Syria is "bad and getting worse", according to a joint statement released yesterday after talks in Geneva between the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the Arab League.

A New Zealand man has joined rebels on the frontline of the fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and says he is ready to die for the cause.

Syria's neighbours are increasingly being drawn into the country's civil war in a variety of ways, whether militarily or due to an exodus of Syrians fleeing the fighting at home.

The hearing into the fatal fire at Doha's Villaggio mall which killed 19 people including three Kiwi triplets has been postponed for a third time.

Slow internet access is New Zealand's number one "first world problem", a survey has found.

The father of Kiwi triplets killed in a Qatar mall fire says it is distressing to see stories circulating about the fire being an act of terrorism without any facts to back them up.

Journalists and academics have questioned a Saudi news agency that claims the Qatar mall fire that killed New Zealand triplets was an act of terrorism.

Aleppo's ancient souk has fallen victim to the civil war. A fire sparked by battles between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops and rebel fighters tore through Aleppo's centuries-old covered market, burning wooden doors and scorching stone stalls and vaulted passageways.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully says the UN must do more to help small Pacific nations, and he's warned it risks losing its credibility over its inaction on Syria.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says the UN risks losing its credibility because of its inability to act over Syria.