Yemen

A gun battle takes place inside Yemen’s defence ministry, after a suicide bomber drove into the compound’s gates. More than 20 people are reported to have been killed.

Eighteen of the 19 United States embassies closed across the Middle East due to fears of a potential terrorist attack will reopen on Sunday, the US State Department said on Friday.

At least six suspected al Qaeda militants in Yemen’s southeastern province of Maareb are dead after a US drone strike, officials said – the sixth such strike in less than two weeks.

A Yemeni government official says the authorities have foiled an al-Qaeda plot to capture oil and gas export facilities and a provincial capital in the eastern part of the country.

Britain pulls all embassy staff out of Yemen due to “increased security concerns”, whilst the US orders all non-essential personnel to exit the country.

The US says it will keep 19 embassies in north Africa and the Middle East closed for up to a week, due to a possible militant threat against western targets in the region.

The British embassy in Yemen is to close and several other embassies have been told to be vigilant as the US issues a global travel alert.

This article was first written for The Independent in relation to Unreported World on Channel 4 at 7.30pm Friday May 24th or on 4OD

Drone attacks are causing serious psychological harm to children in Yemen, an expert reports, and may also be pushing young men into the arms of al-Qaeda.

Mali is the country that falls the furthest in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index as a result of the conflict which still divides the nation.

The United Nations launches an inquiry into the extent to which drones, the unmanned military weapon favoured by the United States in its “war on terror”, cause civilian deaths.

The herbal stimulant khat should not be banned in Britain, say official drugs advisers, who also dismiss suggestions that its trade funds terrorism.

Channel 4 News maps the new frontiers of the terror network al-Qaeda and its affiliates across Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

A host of leaders from the Middle East used the platform of the UN General Assembly to criticise Israel in a series of speeches.

A Californian filmmaker linked to an anti-Islamic film which sparked a wave of violent protests across the world is taken in for questioning by officers.