Seemingly coordinated attacks left over 140 dead across four countries in what social media users are dubbing "Bloody Friday"—one year after declaration of the ISIS "caliphate."
ISIS, retreating before an advance by Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, launched a stealth attack on the Kurdish town of Kobani, with a wave of car bombs and random shootings.
A report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian war states that new reports of chemical attacks this year are under investigation.
A Bahraini court sentenced prominent Shi'ite leader Sheikh Ali Salman to four years in prison for insulting the Interior Ministry and inciting hatred against Sunnis.
As Syrian Kurdish forces advance towards Raqqa, the ISIS capital, Turkish state media have launched a campaign charging them with ethnic cleansing of Arabs in seized territory.
Syrian al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front acknowledged that its followers were responsible for a massacre at a Druze village, which was quickly condemned by other rebel factions.
The Obama administration sent a report to Congress criticizing Egypt for human rights abuses and lack of progress toward democracy but still supporting $1.3 billion in mostly military aid.
The families of two Yemeni men who were killed by drone strikes filed a lawsuit against the US, claiming the men were "innocent bystanders" who were wrongfully killed.
A Saudi court upheld the sentence of 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for pro-secular blogger Raif Badawi for "insulting Islam through electronic channels."
The pro-Kurdish opposition enters parliament for the first time in an upset for Turkey's ruling AK Party—despite a wave of terror attacks on Kurdish party rallies and offices.
An Egyptian court ordered a retrial for former president Hosni Mubarak, who was acquitted in the killings of hundreds of protestors during the 2011 uprising that ousted his regime.
Nine Turkish miners demanding justice in last year's Soma mining disaster that killed over 300 face six years in prison for violating the law restricting demonstrations.
