Last June the US tried a bold rescue mission to gather hostages taken by Isis. It failed. All the hostages have since died. Was the White House to blame?

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

Iraq has issued a general invitation to the international community for support, the country's foreign minister says.

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.

The announcement that 150 NZ Defence Force personnel will begin pre-deployment training for Iraq at Linton and Waiouru military camps has been condemned.

New Zealand troops have been given the go-ahead to begin training for a likely deployment to Iraq.

The Jordanian air force pilot burned to death by Isis extremists was reportedly heavily sedated and unaware what would happen.

After spending eight months as a captive of terrorists in Iraq, one of NZ's newest citizens says being able to call himself a Kiwi feels like a "dream".

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.

A Twitter campaign ran in the days after the capture of a Jordanian pilot, in which Isis supporters suggested sick methods of his execution.

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

A flydubai airliner was shot at as it came in to land at Baghdad airport, injuring a young girl.

Islamic State has published a list of punishments ranging from 80 lashes for drinking alcohol and losing a hand for theft, to death for committing blasphemy.

The Prime Minister has told a BBC interviewer New Zealand's military contribution to the war against jihadists in Iraq and Syria is "the price of the club".

Many girls from the Yazidi community in Iraq are committing suicide after being raped and sold into sexual slavery by Isis fighters who captured them last August.

The oil price decline of 2014 upended the geopolitical chessboard. Worth watching in 2015 will be who can recover and dominate play - Opec, Vladimir Putin or US shale drillers.

The father of a Jordanian pilot captured by Isis after his plane crashed pleaded for his son's release, as reports emerged that the jihadists were preparing to publicly execute him.

Pope Francis has spoken by telephone to Iraqis living in a displaced people's camp near the main Kurdish city of Erbil, assuring them they were in his Christmas thoughts.

Captured Yazidi girls in Iraq are killing themselves to escape rape and torture at the hands of Isis (Islamic State) militants holding them prisoner.

Peter Kassig, the American aid worker murdered by Isis (Islamic State) in Syria, may have been killed by a gunshot wound rather than beheading, analysis has suggested.

Hundreds of new cases accusing British soldiers of abusing - in many cases torturing - Iraqi men, women and children aged from 13 to 101, are to be considered by the International Criminal Court.

Kiwi troops sent to Iraq need a clear objective and a way out within two years, says a military academic and former army officer who has served in the country.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters claims "large-scale" military preparations are under way at New Zealand bases in anticipation of a deployment to Iraq.

The father of a teenager from Cardiff is thought to be the first Briton to have rescued his son from the jihadist group Islamic State.

The beating of the patriotic drum resonates in the proposal to send an Anzac force of trainers and troops to Iraq.

The Iraqi army includes 50,000 "ghost soldiers" who do not exist, but their officers receive their salaries fraudulently, according to the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

John Key has admitted that though any Kiwi troops sent to Iraq would be "behind the wire", they'd still face significant risk from attack by Isis supporters posing as soldiers.