All Security Watch
- Islamic State video intensifies concerns about foreign jihadis
Two militants in a video showing the beheadings of a dozen hostages, including US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig and Syrian fighters, are thought to be French. The video, which was released Sunday, also appears to include two Britons.
- Jewish Israeli stabbed as tension rises in Jerusalem
Settlement construction, controversy over the Temple Mount, and an antagonistic relationship between Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas have Jerusalem in danger of more conflict.
- Is the tide turning against Islamic State?
Iraqi security officials said today their forces had recaptured Baiji oil refinery, while US Defense Secretary Hagel said yesterday that IS advances had been stalled. IS leader Baghdadi, meanwhile, released an audio call for more attacks.
- Russia bomber patrols near US shores: How provocative is that?
Russia's decision to increase its military patrols of the West comes amid increasing tensions over the situation in Ukraine.
- Afghanistan opium production hits new high as foreign troops pack up
Opium output in Afghanistan, the world's largest producer, is forecast this year to be 17 percent higher than in 2013, possibly because security personnel were pulled off opium crop eradication duty.
- Military 'near misses' rise dramatically between Russia and NATO: report
The European Leadership Network chronicled some 40 incidents over the past eight months, saying that Russian forces 'seem to have been authorized to act in a much more aggressive way.'
- Israel bolsters security at Jerusalem holy site ahead of Friday prayers
Worshipers under 35 were barred from the Al Aqsa shrine in Jerusalem on Friday as the Israeli government tried to tamp down anger among both Palestinians and Jordanian officials over access to the site.
- Pakistan PM vows justice after mobs kills Christian couple over 'blasphemy'
A young Christian couple was accused of having desecrated a Quran on Tuesday and brutally murdered by a village crowd. Pakistan leader Nawaz Sharif vowed the attackers would be punished.
- Amnesty calls Israeli airstrikes on homes in Gaza 'war crimes'
Israel's foreign ministry rejected the allegations and questioned why Hamas wasn't accused of terrorism. The report was published on the day of another apparent terror attack along Jerusalem's rail line.
- Top UK spy: Twitter, Facebook are jihadi 'command and control networks'
Robert Hannigan called on US Internet giants to do more to help fight the militants using their networks to recruit new members abroad. The companies' cooperation has dropped off since Edward Snowden's intelligence leaks became public.
- Pro-Russian rebel leaders declared winners in eastern Ukraine elections
Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky won sizable majorities in Donetsk and Luhansk in controversial elections Sunday. Kiev and the West denounced the results, having called the votes illegitimate from the start.
- Death toll from Islamic State massacre of Sunni tribe in Anbar surges
The brutality of the Islamic State, which it's relying on to terrify Iraqi Sunnis into submission, continued with the recent murder of 322 captives, Iraqi officials say.
- Jerusalem holy site reopens as tensions churn
Israel reopened access to the Al Aqsa Mosque to Palestinian women and men over 50 years old for Friday prayers, but security forces are on alert after Fatah and Hamas called for 'a day of rage.'
- Tensions flare as Israeli police kill suspect in Temple Mount shooting
Police said the Palestinian man attempted to assassinate Yehuda Glick, a controversial rabbi who advocates for greater Jewish access to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, a holy site for both Muslims and Jews.
- Iraqi Kurds, Syrian rebels join fight against Islamic State in Kobane
Two hundred Free Syrian Army fighters entered the besieged Syrian border town Wednesday. Turkey is also allowing Kurdish peshmerga fighters from Iraq to transit through Turkey to Kobane.
- Captive John Cantlie is a propaganda prop for Islamic State
Using John Cantlie, whose friend and colleague James Foley was beheaded by the group two months ago, is one of the Islamic State's lesser crimes. But it's still a crime.
- British hostage John Cantlie is face of Islamic State propaganda from Kobane
Turkey's prime minister told the BBC that the US-led coalition against Islamic State must broaden its mandate to target the overthrow of Syria's president. The battle for Kobane on the Syria-Turkish border is ongoing.
- In Egypt, avenues of political dissent are closing steadily
A slew of ruling by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, have turned the clock back to the Mubarak era. On Friday, at least 31 Egyptian soldiers died in Sinai attacks blamed on militants.
- Nigeria's Boko Haram forces kidnapped girls into marriage: Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch says more than 7,000 civilians have died since 2009 at the hands of the extremist group. Nigeria recently announced a cease-fire that it said would allow for the release of more than 200 schoolgirls abducted in April.
- Boko Haram cease-fire hopes fade as militant group grabs more girls
The Nigerian government claimed earlier this week that it had reached a cease-fire deal with the Islamist group. But the reported kidnapping of between 20 and 70 more schoolgirls, on top of the more than 200 it already holds, is souring hopes for peace.