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.

Isis' vaunted exercise in state-building appears to be crumbling as living conditions deteriorate across the territories under its control.

The father of a Jordanian pilot captured by Isis after his plane crashed pleaded for his son's release, as reports emerged that the jihadists were preparing to publicly execute him.

Captured Yazidi girls in Iraq are killing themselves to escape rape and torture at the hands of Isis (Islamic State) militants holding them prisoner.

It happened just out of Cairo and it really wasn't my idea. I was visiting some pyramids - about the only tourist in town - when the lonely soldier standing guard decided to walk with me.

The UN's refugee agency has revealed "the most lethal route in the world" after a record number of deaths.

The Iraqi army includes 50,000 "ghost soldiers" who do not exist, but their officers receive their salaries fraudulently, according to the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

Urgent changes to the law introduced to combat the threat of "foreign fighters" had been flagged by the Prime Minister as for short-term only.

British journalist and Islamic State (Isis) group hostage John Cantlie says in a newly released propaganda video he is likely to suffer the same fate as other US and UK hostages, who were beheaded.

The global halal industry excluding financial services is estimated to exceed $2 trillion and will grow 4 per cent to 5 per cent annually.

Standing atop a sand dune silently contemplating the rising sun, Jim Eagles understands why these vast wastes are the cradle of the world's great religions.

Israel revived one of its most controversial policies by blowing up the home of a Palestinian man who killed two people, including a 3-month-old baby, by smashing his car into a crowded tram stop.

Shades of Silicon Valley are bubbling up in Tehran, which is home to a growing tech ecosystem, despite significant challenges.

Three NZ Defence Force personnel have already left for the Middle East to scope out a role for New Zealand forces to help train Iraqi forces fight ISIS.

The Prime Minister's landmark speech on national security has two messages for New Zealanders, but they are somewhat discordant.

A video has emerged purportedly showing Isis fighters haggling over the price of captured Yazidi women during a "slave market day".

John Key says any NZ commitment to the campaign against Isis in the Middle East would be for a long time, pointing to the 10-year deployment of troops to Bamiyan.

Palestinian leaders accused Israel of an act of war in closing the sacred Temple Mount religious site after a dramatic rooftop ambush of an Arab accused of trying to kill a far-Right Jewish activist provoked rioting.

A 14-year-old boy suspected of planning a series of bombings in Vienna was reported yesterday to have been offered US$25,000 by Isis to carry out the attacks and claims that two other youths recruited in the same way remain at large.

Iraqi forces have driven militants from Jurf Al-Sakhar, but all that’s left is a shell. The town is now emptied of its 80,000 residents, and building after building has been destroyed.

A teenage jihadist who ran away from his family in Australia to join the Islamic State terror group in Syria, has reportedly appeared in a new video.

In the weeks and months before he was brutally murdered on camera by militants from Isis, James Foley was beaten, starved, subjected to mock executions and even waterboarded by his captors.

Ginger jihadist Abdullah Elmir could face 25 years in jail if he ever sets foot on Australian soil again.

Abdullah Elmi, an Australian jihadist, has been lambasted by his Australian relatives as an idiot for his chilling video message.

Islamic State (Isis) militants are believed to be learning to fly three captured fighter jets, which could signal the terrorist group taking to the air for the first time.