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.

A decision on whether John Key's deletion of his text messages amounts to a destruction of the country's public records is progressing.

One day, he was a dental surgeon. The next, he was held at gunpoint and thrown in a cell, where he watched the other prisoners shot one by one. Ashour tells his story.

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.

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.

In the desert beyond Dubai's glittering and manic metropolis, Ewan McDonald unleashes his inner petrolhead ...

Asim Qureshi has caused outrage by saying the murderer Jihadi John was 'beautiful' adding that he 'wouldn't hurt a fly'.

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.

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.

Salman bin Abdulaziz's conservative outlook puts him at odds with his moderate predecessor - and there are concerns about his medical state.

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.

The international outcry over restrictions on freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia escalated as an array of Nobel prizewinners published an open letter calling on the country's academics to condemn the public flogging of the blogger Raif Badawi.

Abu Dhabi is one of the seven principalities that comprise the United Arab Emirates. Michael Lamb is easy prey for its complicated charms.

There is a scene in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass in which Alice meets the White Knight who is wearing full armour and riding a horse which he keeps falling off.