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.

Jordan has said it is ready to swap an Iraqi woman it is holding for a Jordanian pilot captured in December by extremists from the Islamic State group.

In the past, Japan has acquiesced to terrorist demands. But recent threats by Islamic State jihadists have exposed Japan’s lack of options, writes Yuriko Koike

“What has my child done wrong?...There’s no more time.”

Jordan marked the first anniversary of al-Qaida’s triple hotel bombings today, voicing a fresh resolve to fight terrorism and commemorating the 60 people who lost their lives in the attacks.

Seven people have been sentenced to death for the triple hotel bombings that killed 60 people in Jordan’s capital last November.

A prosecution witness in a trial in Amman, Jordan, today said an Iraqi woman lied when she said she did not plan to blow herself up in Amman’s triple hotel blasts.

A man whose wedding was destroyed by a suicide attack today asked a Jordanian court to condemn to death by public hanging the one assailant who survived the bombing.