Buddha statues have joined Barbie dolls and characters from The Simpsons as banned items in the conservative Muslim nation of Iran.

French troops, backed by helicopters and planes, have advanced on the key Malian town of Diabaly, seized a week ago by Islamic extremists.

Radical Islamists have fled a key Malian town on foot following French air strikes.

French troops pressed northwards in Mali today, towards territory occupied for months by Islamist militants, military officials said, announcing the start of a land assault which will put soldiers in direct combat “within hours”.

French fighter jets pounded Islamist rebel strongholds deep in northern Mali yesterday as Paris poured more troops into the capital Bamako, awaiting a West African force to dislodge al Qaeda-linked insurgents from the country’s north.

Egypt’s opposition has called for an investigation into allegations of vote fraud in the referendum on an Islamist-backed constitution.

Egypt’s controversial Islamist-backed constitution has been approved, according to preliminary referendum results released by the country’s Muslim Brotherhood today.

Thousands of opponents and supporters of Egypt’s Islamist president have flocked to key locations in the nation’s capital ahead of rival mass rallies, four days before a nationwide referendum on a contentious draft constitution.

An Israeli envoy held talks with Egyptian officials today on a ceasefire in his country’s offensive on Gaza as Israel widened the range of its targets, striking more than a dozen homes of Hamas militants and two media officials.

Four radical Islamists have admitted plotting a major pre-Christmas terror attack on the London Stock Exchange.

Tens of thousands massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and other Egyptian cities, marking a year after an uprising erupted that toppled Hosni Mubarak, spurred revolts across the region and exposed rifts in the Arab world’s most populous state.

MOROCCO was yesterday awaiting the final results from polls in which moderate Islamists emerged as the dominant political force, the latest religious party to achieve huge gains on the back of the Arab Spring.

More rain soaked flood-ravaged Pakistan today and even heavier downpours were forecast for coming days, deepening a crisis in which hard-line Islamists have rushed to fill gaps in the government’s patchy response.

A group of Somali Islamists has vowed to attack pirates who have captured a Saudi tanker carrying €100m worth of oil.

Islamists chanting slogans against Pakistan’s military leader rallied outside the Supreme Court today as judges heard petitions challenging President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s right to contest presidential elections set for October 6.

Relatives of Islamic fighters holed up in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon began leaving the besieged area today, a Muslim clergyman mediating between the militants and the army said.

SOMALI Government troops backed by Ethiopian soldiers have entered Kismayo, the last major stronghold of a militant Islamic movement, residents said yesterday.

Thousands of angry tribesmen and Islamists protested today across Pakistan against an airstrike that killed 80 people at a religious school near the Afghan border this week, as state TV aired video footage purportedly showing militants in training there before the attack.

Saudis in the Riyadh region began voting in the country’s first nationwide elections as polls opened today.