World Vision chief executive Chris Clarke travelled with broadcaster Rachel Smalley to the Middle East to meet some of the millions affected by the Syrian conflict, and was struck by the number of fathers having to make impossible choices for their families.

Atriumphant Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to be on a new collision course with Barack Obama after the US President bluntly restated his belief in a Palestinian state and criticised the Israeli leader's election campaign tactics.

The Syrian conflict is one of several emergencies World Vision is responding to.

The Independent investigates how Isis jihadis govern every aspect of life within the territories they control.

There was no dignity in childbirth for Sabrine. She lay on a bed, exhausted, lurching in and out of consciousness.

'The scenes terrified me': Meet the former jihadi who deserted Isis rather than take part in executions, beheadings and rape.

Many Syrians in refugee camps across the border in Lebanon were lawyers, teachers, dentists, accountants. As the conflict enters its fifth year they have become the forgotten millions.

Political unrest. Conflict. The collapse of the country's social infrastructure. And then a daily struggle just to stay alive. An artists has imagined what it would look like in NZ.

Mustafa was standing outside his home in Aleppo when the jet flew over. He has no memory of what happened next but he regained consciousness many days later in Turkey.

For refugees, possessions are few and far between but there is still plenty that they treasure. Photographer Jo Currie captured these precious fragments.

New images have emerged of three men accused of homosexuality and blasphemy being publicly beheaded at a traffic roundabout in northern Iraq.

Pakistan has test-fired a ballistic missile able to carry a nuclear warhead to every part of India. Yesterday's test was another escalation in Islamabad's effort to keep pace with its neighbouring rival's formidable military advancements.

Zeinab is in the throes of puberty. She is 14 years old, Syrian, and a wife.

Broadcaster Rachel Smalley finds she has a lot in common with struggling mothers who are caring for children in a conflict zone.

The Herald and World Vision are running a major campaign to raise funds and help the 5.6 million children left homeless by war in Syria.

Today the Herald and World Vision begin a campaign to help the 5.6 million children left homeless by war in Syria. Broadcaster Rachel Smalley tells some of their stories.

The Isis executioner known as 'Jihadi John' was today named as a graduate from London who was able to flee to Syria despite being on a terror watch list.

The decision to commit NZ military contingent to Iraq is a case of misguided foreign policy.

A senior US security official will visit New Zealand next month as part of a tour of the Asia-Pacific.

Passions over the announced deployment of a New Zealand training mission to Iraq spilled over in Parliament again yesterday.

The quality of New Zealand's training contribution to the Iraqi armed forces would be a welcome addition to the fight against Isis (Islamic State), Iraq's ambassador to New Zealand, Mouayed Saleh, said last night.

In Dubai, Pamela Wade meets a cranky camel who takes her on a peaceful and relaxing ride.

Buildings lie in waste, reduced to rubble. Others, their faces are shorn clean off. Bullet casings litter the streets, unexploded mortars burrow into pavements.

Kurdish militias claimed to have driven Isis (Islamic State) jihadists from the Syrian town of Kobane, after an intense four-month battle that killed thousands but captured the world's imagination.

He ruled over one of the most repressive regimes in the world - so why were the flags on the Harbour Bridge flying at half mast for the late Saudi King?

The Governor-General will represent New Zealand at the funeral of the Saudi King Abdullah.

A video has emerged online claiming one of the two hostages being held by Isis has been killed and showing the other hostage outlining new terms for his release.

The collapse of the government in Sanaa means the United States has lost a reliable partner in its fight against al-Qaeda in Yemen with potentially dire consequences, experts say.