Children in Iraq could be legally married before the age of nine under legislation tabled this week that introduces new religious restrictions on women's rights.

China carries out more executions than any other country, a new report has estimated.

Shocking images depicting US soldiers burning the bodies of what appear to be Iraqi insurgents have sparked a military probe.

A truck bomb tore through an outdoor vegetable market in northeastern Iraq, the deadliest of a series of attacks that killed at least 48 people, officials said.

A suicide bomber has slammed his explosive-laden car into a busy cafe in Iraq's capital, part of a day of violence across the country that killed 45 people, authorities said.

An Iraqi sheik cradled his grandson's tightly wrapped body, his face grim and his eyes downcast, trailed by men bearing the coffin of the infant's mother.

Iraq reaches out to travellers as the 'cradle of civilisation', writes Prashant Rao.

Iraq's wave of bloodshed has sharply escalated with more than a dozen car bombings across the country.

Bombs ripped through Sunni areas in Baghdad and surrounding areas Friday (local time), killing at least 76 people in the deadliest day in Iraq in more than eight months.

A New Zealander's dramatic account of a daring secret mission to rescue American hostages has emerged after being left out of the Hollywood hit film Argo.

A wave of bombings has torn through Iraq, killing 65 people on eve of the 10th anniversary of the US-led invasion and showing how unstable Iraq remains.

A decade after Australia joined the invasion of Iraq, demands are still being made for an inquiry into the decision to go to war amid fears the nation could again be dragged into a future conflict in Asia or the Gulf.

Iraqis are not naive. Grim experience of their country's rulers over the past 50 years leads many to suspect them of being self-serving, greedy, brutal, and incompetent.

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.

In their unwillingness to face the reality of changing demographics, US Republicans are behaving like King Canute.

The US President must be allowed to build on his Administration's achievements, writes Reverend Jesse Jackson.

The British-Iraqi man killed in last month's quadruple Alps shooting had access to a bank account linked to Iraq dictator Saddam Hussein.

Former NZ diplomat Warren Searell called Damascus home until the Arab spring made life far too dangerous. This is his story.

Local burger chain BurgerFuel is tapping into the rising wealth of a volatile region with a taste for fast food.

Tame Iti and his colleagues weren't the only ones on trial for the past five weeks. The terrorism claims in the still-unresolved Urewera case have revealed deep divisions over Maori and Pakeha