You can't run and nor can you hide in a Syrian bath house, explains JJ Somerset.

A Palestinian man who masqueraded as a Jew to have sex with a Jewish woman has been convicted of rape "by deception" and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Syria has forbidden the country's students and teachers from wearing the niqab - the full Islamic veil.

Fifteen lucky poker players are headed from Auckland to Queenstown this week for a chance to strike it rich.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is battling to control his coalition as he heads for a showdown with his hardline foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

Prime Minister John Key will kick off a parade to honour the All Whites in Wellington next Wednesday.

The three Gurkhas who died stood no chance. Two - believed to be British nationals - died in the operations room when it came under attack by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Claims that more than one hundred Iraqi civilians were tortured and abused by British soldiers must be fully investigated, Britain's High Court was told yesterday.

General David Petraeus has formally assumed command of the 130,000-strong international force in Afghanistan.

The Iranian Red Crescent is planning to send humanitarian aid by sea to Gaza in a brazen challenge to Israel's sea blockade.

Amnesty International says a US cruise missile armed with cluster ammunition was used in an attack in Yemen which left 52 dead.

Former New Zealand prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer has been suggested to lead an inquiry into the raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla a week ago.