A deadline is approaching in the Middle East for Jordan to release an Iraqi prisoner or face the death of a captured Jordanian air force pilot, according to the latest threat apparently issued by the Islamic State group.

The Jordanian monarch has said that elections in Iraq are impossible because of the current chaos and that “in the immediate” future he sees no chances of improvement.

JORDAN’S King Abdullah II yesterday issued a decree pardoning a Japanese photographer who was sentenced to 18 months in jail for the explosion of an Iraqi war memento that killed an airport security guard, a court official said.