Once the stronghold of Muammar Gaddafi, the coastal town of Sirte has now been transformed into a symbol of the insidious rise of the self-proclaimed Islamic State in Libya.

NZ doesn't have a 'realistic option of doing nothing' in the fight against Isis, PM John Key says ahead of Cabinet's decision on whether to send troops to Iraq.

"Urgent. Soldiers of the Islamic State captured 21 Christian crusaders," was a barely noticed statement issued on social media last month by Isis - not in Syria, Iraq, but in Libya.

When Tuareg fighters swept into Libya's biggest oilfield, they displayed the exuberance and eccentricity typical of fighting in the country.

Nearly 30 Libyan soldiers training in Britain have been sent home after a spate of sex attacks in the city where they were based.

A New Zealand woman and her British boyfriend who were shot dead on a beach in Libya in January were in the "wrong place at the wrong time", a British coroner says.

The fiancee of actor George Clooney could soon find herself in the public eye for reasons other than being engaged to one of the world's most famous film stars.

Libyan police may never be able to arrest whoever is responsible for the execution-style murders of New Zealander Lynn Howie and her British boyfriend Mark De Salis, a close associate of the Briton says.

They lied, they're still lying, and they'll go on lying until Libya calms down enough to allow a thorough search of its archives, writes Gwynne Dyer.

The family of a New Zealand woman shot on a Libyan beach say they have been "devastated by the loss of a loved mother, sister and friend".

Graphic images of a couple taken after they were shot on a Libyan beach have been removed from Facebook after site administrators were inundated with angry emails.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it's been told there have been no arrests over the death of a Kiwi woman in Libya, contrary to reports.

Four people have reportedly been arrested in connection with the execution-style killings of New Zealander Lynn Howie and Briton Mark De Salis in Libya on Thursday.

The apparent execution-style killing of a NZ woman in Libya has sparked concerns for five others still in the country.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is looking into reports that a New Zealand woman has been shot dead, along with a British man, in western Libya.

The Libyan capital was braced for fresh violence after a day in which at least 37 were killed and more than 400 wounded in a confrontation outside a militia headquarters.

Libyan militiamen have attacked peaceful protesters demanding the disbanding of the country's rampant armed groups, killing at least 22 people as they opened fire on the march with heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Editorial: The situation in Syria is "bad and getting worse", according to a joint statement released yesterday after talks in Geneva between the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the Arab League.

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