Iraqi government forces halted the fight for Mosul yesterday.

Mosul was captured by Isis in June 2014 after the Iraqi army fled the city.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but Isis supporters appear happy about.

The GCSB will soon be able to spy on Kiwis under reforms passed into law today.

Aid deliveries have all but stopped for hundreds of thousands of Syrians.

COMMENT: It's been six years since war broke out in Syria and it shows no signs of ending.

A standoff between Turkey and Kurdish forces is complicating the operation to retake Raqqa, writes Raf Sanchez.

White House press conference on Obamacare and immigration ban.

The true horror of Islamic State's mass killings may never fully be known.

More than 2800 needy children are already being sponsored by the charity Variety's Kiwi Kids scheme, launched in 2013, and a further 600 are on its waiting list.

Russian media denied that chemical attacks had taken place, depicting rescue workers as jihadist militants and doctors as propagandist purveyors of "fake news".

A Russian airstrike in northern Syria has killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded 11 more, senior Russian officials have confirmed.

Royal Air Force jets were scrambled to intercept nuclear-capable Russian bombers over the North Atlantic.

President Donald Trump denounced arguments against his immigration order as "disgraceful".

Twice a week in the middle of the night, men were taken in "meat fridges" to their death inside a military prison. WARNING: Graphic.

Syrian President al-Assad's Govt has secretly executed between 5000 and 13,000 people in just one prison as part of its campaign to eliminate opposition.

Nearly one in two Americans support Donald Trump's block on some immigrants

US Embassy confirms NZ dual citizens excluded from travel ban.

Prime Minister Bill English says it remains unclear whether a US travel ban applies to New Zealanders who also hold a passport from Muslim-majority countries.

Prime Minister Bill English has a duty to speak out against US President Donald Trump's ban on Muslim travellers, the Green Party says.

US President Trump and Russian President Vladi­mir Putin discuss coordinating on ISIS and Syria, Kremlin says.

Travellers with valid visas and green cards have reportedly been prevented from boarding flights and turned away at US border control.

The 750 refugees who arrive in NZ each year now face a whole new journey navigating our foreign land.

The father of a toddler who was found dead lying face down in the mud after trying to flee Myanmar has pleaded with the world to take notice. WARNING: GRAPHIC

Sitting in her family's new apartment in Turkey, Fatemah al-Abed still cannot believe they made it out of Aleppo alive.

Turkish authorities are hunting a lone gunman who opened fire at one of Istanbul's most popular nightclubs, killing 39 and wounding 70.

Herald photographer Brett Phibbs has been recognised by Newsweek in their annual 'most iconic photos' section.

A fragile ceasefire in Syria is hanging in the balance after fresh clashes between government forces and rebel fighters near the capital.

A truce aimed at ending the bloody five-year war in Syria has been announced. But what does it mean?

A black box has been found in the wreckage of a Russian military plane that crashed into the Black Sea on Sunday.