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.

When Isis took over Raqqa, a wave of black swept over the city. It's turned into a grim prison for residents - with no escape in sight.

Tony Abbott has flagged shifting the balance between upholding individual rights and ensuring community protection following a report into the Sydney cafe siege.

Three British "jihadi brides" who ran away from home to join fighters from Isis were believed to have crossed the Turkish border into Syria.

Isis has threatened to flood Europe with half a million migrants from Libya in a 'psychological' attack against the West.

Militants from Isis have burned 45 people to death in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, according to the local police chief.

A New York court has heard how Pakistani man Abid Naseer allegedly plotted attacks in Britain, Denmark and the US and was part of an al-Qaeda infiltration of the West.

The film clip of Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee striding into the bowels of the $250 million Boeing C-17 Globemaster for a test drive this week was scary.

Two men charged over an Isis-linked terror plot have not appeared in court, with prosecutors warning there are "clear security issues".

Isis militants are reported to have publicly beheaded a man after finding him guilty of practicing “sorcery”.

Sydney cafe siege survivors and families gathered solemnly as Australia's parliament honoured the victims.

'We were just left there.' Lindt Cafe siege survivor Marcia Mikhael has criticised the police operation, saying the army would've done a better job.

A document from an all-female wing of Isis spells out what's expected from women living under the strict regime - starting with marriage from age nine.

John Key used his speech on Te Tii Marae to justify sending troops to Iraq after he was questioned whether it was simply to please "the family" of Britain and the US.

The Isis group's release of a video showing its fighters burning alive a captured Jordanian pilot sparked street protests calling for vengeance and threatened to draw Jordan's usually low-key monarch towards ever more direct confrontation with radical Isl

At least five US intelligence officials last weekend confirmed the details of a meticulously planned plot in 2008 to assassinate Hizbollah's second-in-command.

Jordan yesterday renewed its offer to swap a convicted terrorist for the return of its air force pilot held captive by Isis.

NZ's contribution to the coalition fighting Isis will be high on the agenda of his talks in Wellington today with British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

Japan says the death of journalist Kenji Goto is an 'atrocious act' as Isis threatens to kill a Jordanian pilot if a female prisoner isn't returned by Friday.

A flydubai airliner was shot at as it came in to land at Baghdad airport, injuring a young girl.

Prime Minister John Key says any final decision on New Zealand's contribution to fighting Isis (Islamic State) in Iraq is still weeks away and he downplayed any risk of retaliation against New Zealanders.

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.

Japan is vowing to "never give up" its struggle to save two hostages held captive by Islamic State (Isis) militants.

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.

The Prime Minister has told a BBC interviewer New Zealand's military contribution to the war against jihadists in Iraq and Syria is "the price of the club".

Hostages are a "military consultant" who headed to war zones after his wife died of cancer and a journalist dedicated to revealing horrors of war.

America's most unrepentant news network has issued a string of on-air apologies for broadcasting erroneous information, including an expression of regret.