Isis fighters shot down a Russian helicopter above Syria, killing both pilots on board.

Relatives of Marie Colvin, a Sunday Times journalist, have filed a lawsuit claiming that Syrian government officials killed her.

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

This year is turning out to be one of the deadliest for asylum-seekers who try to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

COMMENT: David Shearer's article last week, "Border decisions condemn countries to conflict", seems conflicted.

The non-combat deployment in the battle against the Islamic State had been set to finish early next year, but would now last until November 2018.

In the same way, people in 100 years will live with the consequences of the decisions we make now.

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

It is not often that international solutions work so well but when it happens, it deserves a tentative cheer.

Recovering in Turkey after a deadly air strike in Aleppo, all Abu Abdu Tebyiah could think about was the six children he had been forced to leave behind.

The Isis affiliate in Egypt prompts Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian militant group Hamas to form an unlikely alliance against the terrorist group.

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.

This will be the new longest flight in the world - more than 18 hours flight time between Doha and Auckland.

Ewan McDonald heads to the UAE to live the high life.

The terrorist group is making millions by funnelling dollars looted from banks into legitimate currency markets in the Middle East.

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.

Qatar Airways to launch new route from Doha to Auckland that will become the longest flight in the world.

Middle Eastern carrier Qatar Airways has plans to fly to New Zealand.

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

The Irish are descended from early Middle East farmers and from bronze metalworkers on the steppes around the Black Sea, scientists have found.

COMMENT: Russia's President has been taught a lesson with the shooting of a warplane over Turkish air space.

Mohammed Emwazi was killed by a missile fired from a Reaper drone over Raqqa in Syria.

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

A sudden surge of population puts too much strain on the social and physical infrastructure of receiving countries, but it also severely diminishes the hope that the forsaken country can ever recover.

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.

Fighting to protect the tyranny of Assad because of the fear of the evil of Isis would be pointless.

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.