The Iraqi Government has asked for New Zealand's help to fight the Islamic State by describing the battle as World War III.

They're being lured with promises of reclaiming a lost Islamic empire. But foreign fighters for Isis often in up on the front lines, or as suicide bombers.

He witnessed a suicide. He saw gangs at the Ritz Carlton. Or did he? NBC newsman Brian Williams' Katrina reporting is broken down and analysed.

NBC News anchor Brian Williams conceded yesterday that a story he had told repeatedly about being under fire while covering the invasion of Iraq in 2003 was false.

Exclusive: NZ has been asked by Britain to contribute 100 defence personnel to a joint training mission in Iraq with Australia.

An expose by the New York Times claims the US military covered up the discovery of huge chemical weapons sites in Iraq - in areas now controlled by Islamic State.

Prime Minister John Key says it would be "odd" if New Zealand did not play any part in action against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria but signalled he was still reluctant to send in....

Up to 80 Yazidis have been reported killed by Isis (Islamic State) fighters in the biggest massacre so far of the Iraqi minority.

The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (Isis) has declared the areas it occupies in Iraq and Syria as a new Islamic state.

An ancient temple that featured in the film 'The Exorcist' has fallen into the hands of jihadists who have taken over northern Iraq.

Islamists leading the jihadist advance in Iraq are using the World Cup to seek recruits and spread their propaganda via social media, according to reports.

In a short amount of time it's overtaken al-Qaida as the most powerful and effective extreme jihadi group in the world. So who is behind Isis?

Heavy fighting was continuing around Iraq's main oil refinery in the city of Baiji, 400km north of Baghdad, where Islamists first tried to gain control last week.

The US has told senior Iraqi officials that their Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, must leave office if it is to intervene militarily to stop the advance of Sunni extremists.

The Sunni revolt led by Isis shock troops is getting ever closer to Baghdad, amid fears the capital itself might soon be engulfed by the violence.

Iraq is breaking up, with Shia and ethnic minorities fleeing massacres as a general Sunni revolt, led by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) sweeps through northern Iraq.

Iraq's war of sectarian vengeance has its first pictures of record: images that show Sunni extremist fighters massacring army soldiers.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was criticised over a claim that the current generation of political leaders is to blame for the violence engulfing Iraq.

New Zealand is not likely to be part of a military intervention in Iraq, according to Prime Minister John Key.

The success of ISIS militants nor the swiftness of their advance through Iraq shouldn't come as a big surprise - the seeds were sown as soon as Saddam was toppled.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that the country is ready to assist Iraq in its battle against extremist Sunni Islamists.

Islamic militants have captured Iraq's northern capital, Mosul, in a devastating defeat for the Iraqi Government, whose forces fled the city, discarding weapons and uniforms.

Tony Blair used his diplomatic skill to talk his way out of a humiliating citizen's arrest by a barman in a trendy east London restaurant.