Fourteen Iranian border guards have been killed in a clash with gunmen on the border with Pakistan, the official Iranian news agency Irna says.

At least 30 people have been killed after a suicide bomber blew up a truck laden with explosives at an army checkpoint in Syria’s central city of Hama, state media and opposition activists report.

Nine Lebanese hostages have been released after 17 months of detention at the hands of Islamist rebels in Syria. The release comes at the same time as two Turkish airline pilots, who were kidnapped in Beirut in August, are freed in Beirut in exchange.

Egyptian security forces have fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of students protesting against military rule at Cairo’s al-Azhar university.

The National Security Agency is deeply involved in US drone strikes against Al-Qaeda militants, using electronic surveillance tools to track down terror suspects, The Washington Post reported.

Muslims around the globe commemorate on Monday the Day of Arafat, considered the most important day of hajj during which pilgrims gather on the desert planes of Arafat, near Makkah, to pray to their Lord.

Around 25 Jewish settlers stormed the Aqsa Mosque compound in the city of al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem) early Monday where they raised the Israeli flag, a mosque guard said.

Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai says US assassination drone strikes are fuelling extremism and terrorism in her country, calling on Washington to end the attacks on the country’s tribal areas.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) has announced that it is prepared to abide by a “temporary truce” in Homs and Rif Dimashq with Assad forces during Eid Al-Adha in order to facilitate humanitarian access to the two governorates.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai have said that major issues over a bilateral security agreement had been resolved but the question of immunity for US troops would have to be decided by a assembly of elders and leaders.