Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri declared Wednesday in a video message that the global Islamist extremist movement has launched a new branch to lead its struggle in the Indian sub-continent.

Sudan has closed all Iranian cultural centres in the country and expelled the cultural attache and other diplomats, a government source has said, without giving an explanation for the move.

Yemen’s Houthis yesterday rejected the initiative made by the Presidential National Commission, in charge of negotiating with the group.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a joint session of parliament on Tuesday as a deepening crisis over violent protests demanding his resignation prompted fears of army intervention.

Fighters from a militant Islamic group in Afghanistan, allied to the Taliban, have told the BBC they are considering joining forces with Islamic State (IS).

A controversial proposal to destroy the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad and relocate his grave from the al-Masjid al-Nabawi mosque in Medina, Islam’s second-holiest site, has emerged in Saudi Arabia.

The Islamic State has released a video of the purported murder of the US journalist Steven Sotloff, days after his mother pleaded with the group’s leader to spare his life.

Iraqi Shia militias and Kurdish forces are continuing their advance against Islamic State militants after breaking the siege of Amerli in northern Iraq.

The political crisis in Pakistan has taken another violent turn, as anti-government protesters stormed the state broadcaster’s building in the capital, and police fired tear gas at those gathered outside parliament before calm returned by nightfall.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that Imran Khan could not take resignation from his own parliamentarians but he is demanding resignation of an elected prime minister.