First class passengers on Emirates night flights will be moisturised as they sleep by new pyjamas infused with sea kelp.

COMMENT: The situation is complex even for the people who live there, let alone us trying to understand it. None of our business.

Seven policemen, two Jordanian civilians and one Canadian tourist were killed on Sunday.

As the green surrender buses trickled out of Aleppo, Bashar al-Assad's two biggest backers reacted differently.

Stephanie Holmes checks into a huge junior suite with palace views.

Four and a half years and hundreds of thousands of deaths later, the end of the rebellion in Syria is drawing near.

Some fares to London aboard one of the world's top airlines have dropped to equal a record low.

Syrian forces are arresting and forcibly conscripting civilians fleeing opposition-held areas of east Aleppo, relatives of detainees say.

A 15-year-old boy who tried to enter a football stadium wearing a suicide belt has spoken of the training he was given by Isis and his disappointment at failing.

An outspoken billionaire Saudi prince wants an 'urgent' end to his country's ban on women driving.

New Zealand's partnership with Jordan was never more important than it is today, says Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Woman arrested after alleging rape is told she's free to go after case collapses.

A British tourist allegedly gang-raped in Dubai faces a prison sentence and needs $42,200 for legal fees after police accused her of having "extra-marital sex".

US President-elect Donald Trump has promised everything. But what does he stand for? These are his key policies.

The US presidential election has become an object lesson in everything that ails a country long seen as a beacon of freedom and hope.

Thousands of residents poured out of eastern neighbourhoods of Mosul yesterday, the first significant wave of people to escape the city held by Isis.

The United Nations have said that at least 239 migrants have drowned this week in two shipwrecks off the coast of Libya.

More than 300 child soldiers, dubbed the "cubs of the caliphate", have reportedly been killed after being sent into battle.

Qatar Airways will start flying next year and is offering fares as low as $1455 from Auckland to Europe return.

Nick Jenkins discovers a friendly way to visit the turbulent Middle East.

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

A 22-year-old woman is to be hanged this week after being found guilty of killing the husband she says abused her.

Watch NZH Focus: A Kiwi face transplant surgeon has lead his team in transplanting two donor arms to a retired marine who lost all four limbs in Afghanistan.

A stalled free trade deal with Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries will be completed, Trade Minister Todd McClay has announced.

On a clear afternoon last Monday a line of humanitarian aid trucks eased to a stop in front of a cluster of warehouses packed with aid supplies 24km outside the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Alison Stephenson realises why her luxury hotel was so cheap - it's 50C outside.

'Magnificent mosques, diverse history and unrivalled hospitality,' are drawcards for the country.

COMMENT: Burkinis be damned is the one-sided debate raging here in France. Comeback king Nicolas Sarkozy has promised voters he'll ban the burkini.

Graham Reid spends 24 hours in Dubai International's famously huge and busy terminals.

A Kiwi team is battling sweltering and dusty conditions in the Middle East.