Violent clashes have engulfed streets in Arab nations following decision on Jerusalem.

Mass graves found in Iraqi area retaken from Islamic State group. AP

Iraq has launched its biggest fight against Isis. PM Haider al-Abadi pledged to raise the Iraqi flag over Mosul once more.

Russia-US relations fell to a new post-Cold War low as the Obama Administration abandoned efforts to cooperate with Russia on ending the Syrian civil war.

Massacres attributed to Isis have struck on four continents this year, reflecting how its appeal is growing despite setbacks in Iraq and Syria.

On NZ Herald Focus – The Treasury is warning that record levels of immigration could push New Zealanders out of low-skilled jobs and Islamic State militants launch a major counter-attack on Iraqi government troops in Fallujah. Also Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood is a father again at the age of 68 after his wife gave birth to twin girls.

A disfiguring tropical disease has spread across the Middle East as millions are displaced from the war-torn region.

The US military has dealt a potential blow to the Taliban whose insurgent assaults pose a major obstacle to US hopes for ending the war in Afghanistan.

Lebanon's Hizbollah militia has blamed the killing of a militant described as its top commander in Syria on extremist Sunni insurgents.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully says Israel's latest land seizure deserves response from UN Security Council.

Putin's announcement that Russia will begin withdrawing the "main part" of its military from Syria is a surprise potential end to a six-month intervention.

Isis militants killed dozens of people in two major attacks on Baghdad yesterday, bombing a market and assaulting security forces on the city's outskirts.

Across Syria's battered and blasted landscape, the relief was palpable as an unlikely truce actually took hold.

Isis is building an "army of the poor" in its new haven in Libya by recruiting foot soldiers from Africa's poorest nations, intelligence chiefs warn.

Bringing Iran back from the cold has implications for New Zealand. With restrictions lifted, exporters should expect demand to rebound.

In the year 2000, the CIA commissioned a report on what global trends will be in 2015. Here's what they got right and wrong.

Photos show towering rugby star's heartwarming visit to Syrian refugee camp.

The terrifying extent of Isis' plans to build a state laid bare in a 24-page manual for the terror group leaked to the Guardian.

One of the men impersonated a pregnant woman and was pushed in a wheelchair.

Kickstarter, Twitter, Airbnb and Instacart - are working to adapt their platforms and technologies to help solve the refugee crisis.

The Prime Minister has set a deadline of two years to quit Iraq. You suspect he wants it to be sooner.

Having accepted that President Bashar al-Assad will stay in power for a "transitional period", the US is trying to persuade Russia and Iran to curb the worst excesses of their ally.

Nothing less than a multifaceted strategy is required to address both the political causes and the military symptoms of the rise of Isis, writes Robert Patman.

My role, as a journalist, should be to act as a witness; to report on the situation as a bystander and then leave it as I found it, but an incident in 2013 changed my perspective, writes Rachel Smalley.

Rachel Smalley is set to return to the Middle East this year as she continues to spread awareness and raise money for the growing refugee crisis.

The United States has blocked attempts by its Middle East allies to fly heavy weapons directly to the Kurds fighting Isis jihadists in Iraq.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully is quite blunt about the Security Council and the Middle East peace process.

Eye-witnesses say streets of Palmyra are strewn with hundreds of bodies – the latest victims of terrorists's savagery.

A 9-year-old girl who was taken as a sex slave by Isis was raped by 10 militants and is now pregnant, it has been reported.

Abducted, locked away, all but starved, raped... then, a dramatic escape. How one Yazidi girl escaped the clutches of her Isis captors.