The British Isis killer known as "Jihadi John" may have a body double, according to a new video analysis.

Much has changed in Iraq and Syria in the six weeks since the last Western hostage, Alan Henning, was beheaded.

Would-be jihadi fighters are increasingly booking tickets on cruise ships to join extremists in battle zones in Syria and Iraq, hoping to bypass efforts to thwart them in neighbouring Turkey, said Interpol officials.

Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee says any deployment of soldiers to train the Iraqi Army will not be the same as Afghanistan.

John Key has promised the SIS will get more powers and staff to respond rapidly to potential threats by NZ-based supporters of Islamic State.

Iraqi forces have driven militants from Jurf Al-Sakhar, but all that’s left is a shell. The town is now emptied of its 80,000 residents, and building after building has been destroyed.

Prime Minister John Key has laid out his Government' agenda for the next three years, with housing and the fight against terror groups at the top of the list.

A New Zealand exporter has won a $450,000 judgment against the suppliers of "defective" Philippine bananas.

Keith Locke writes: New Zealanders are right to be concerned about the rise of the Islamic State (Isis), but our best contribution would be to provide more humanitarian support.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott expects Australia to receive Iraqi government approval to send in special forces members within days.

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....

Bomb camera vision showing Australian bombs obliterating Islamic State targets won't be publicly released.

A “domestic beheading” inspired by foreign fanatics is one of several threats New Zealand potentially faces from the so-called Islamic State, John Key said this morning.

If New Zealand decides to send forces to support an international response to the "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria (Isis), the decision will be made by the Government not Parliament, the Prime Minister has explained.

Any commitment of military assistance to counter Islamic State militants in Iraq should not make NZ more of a target for terrorism, Prime Minister John Key says.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is playing down the prospect of deploying Australian combat troops on the ground in Iraq.

The argument that if we don't join the American crusade to wipe out Muslim fanatics in Iraq and Syria, they'll swoop down to Godzone and behead us all is a rerun of the old Vietnam War domino theory....

NZ's elite SAS personnel aren't yet on standby for deployment to combat Islamic State militants - but the PM can't rule out sending them in if asked.

New Zealand would back United States airstrikes against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq, Prime Minister John Key and Labour leader David Cunliffe say.

The Prince of Wales has written an impassioned letter to Christians in Iraq speaking of his "heartbreak" at their suffering at the hands of Jihadists.

An Iraqi soldier survived a mass execution carried out by Islamic State militants (Isis) by dropping to the floor and pretending to be dead.

A Briton will be the next hostage murdered by Islamist terrorists, the British extremist known as "Jihadi John" threatened in a beheading video released yesterday.

Obama undeterred as air strikes continue even though jihadists say they will execute more US journalists

David Cameron has said that it is "increasingly likely" that a British jihadist beheaded American journalist James Foley

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

Hundreds of Yazidi women who were captured by Islamic extremists are being subjected to deliberate attempts to co-opt them into service as the wives of fighters.

The heads are stuck on thin metal poles above a wrought iron fence in the Islamic State's Syria stronghold, Raqqa.