Latest from United Nations

UN watchdog urges rigorous reef rescue

The Great Barrier Reef will not be listed as endangered but will remain under watch because of "major threats" to its health.

McCully heading overseas to discuss Middle East

Foreign Minister Murray McCully will leave behind an ongoing controversy over a multi-million dollar farm deal when he heads overseas on official business this weekend.

Lyndon Burford: Avoiding armageddon

The world's largest nuclear meeting, the five-yearly Review Conference of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), has just closed at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

New Zealand to open embassy in Baghdad

In a spin over climate change

For most of us, it's a tough ask to draw a link between somewhere as warm as Bangladesh and as chilly as Antarctica.

Dita De Boni: NZ yet to find voice on Security Council

It may well be that NZ on the Security Council has to pick its battles, or choose the lesser of two evils when it is deciding who to support, writes Dita De Boni.

Wildlife trafficking: five myths

Key: Every country should play part in fighting Isis

Every country should play a part in confronting extremism, Prime Minister John Key said at a peace conference in Istanbul today.

NZ's role in fighting terror threats

Prime Minister John Key reaffirmed New Zealand's role in fighting terror threats in the Middle East at the International Peace Summit in Istanbul overnight.

John Armstrong: Where US goes, Key follows - on his own

Every political party laid claim to the moral high ground in the argument over sending a team of army training personnel to Iraq, John Armstrong writes.

Terence O'Brien: Iraq mission case of misguided foreign policy

The decision to commit NZ military contingent to Iraq is a case of misguided foreign policy.

Robert G Patman: 'Behind the wire'

Edmund Burke once said political decisions often involve a choice between intolerable and disagreeable options.

McCully calls for UN to reform standing

Foreign Minister Murray McCully told the UN Security Council that its future credibility and effectiveness depended on its permanent members making progress on reform.

New Zealand's UN rep to be replaced

Jim McLay, New Zealand's representative at the United Nations in New York, will be replaced in May by career diplomat Gerard van Bohemen after Mr McLay's second term ends, Foreign Minister Murray McCully has announced.

Ebola nurses meet Clark in stricken nation

A team of Kiwi nurses working as part of the international Red Cross Ebola response team in Sierra Leone got to meet Helen Clark this week.

Ukraine: 'Get tough on Russia'

Ukraine has appealed to the West to get tough on Russia after separatists it says are militarily backed by Moscow stormed a flashpoint town.

Alexander Gillespie: Joining war on Isis a complex call

There is no crime of war, nor crime against humanity that they have not committed, writes Alexander Gillespie. But what is NZ's risk in getting involved?

Hundreds of refugees feared dead

More than 200 boat people were missing early today after their overcrowded dinghies sank in the frigid waters of the Mediterranean.