Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Yemen have severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of fuelling crisis and causing instability in the region. The five mainly Arab counties say Doha supports Iranian spearheaded terrorism in the region.

Iranians have hit the polls on Friday May 19 to vote in the country's 12th presidential election with results due to be announced on Saturday May 20. Given that the field of candidates has narrowed in recent weeks, it is not expected that a second round of voting will be needed.

ISIS

US intelligence believes ISIS is bringing together all of its experts on chemical weapons from Iraq and Syria into a new "chemical weapons cell," according to a US official.
The cell is comprised of chemical weapons specialists from Iraq and Syria who have not previously worked together, the official added.

The Japanese Self Defense Forces and visiting U.S vessels carry out a three day military drills in the sea of Japan,following mouting threats resulting from North Korea's weapon programs.

Iranian President- Hassan Rouhani

Iranian Foreign Ministry on Thursday denounced the new sanctions imposed by the U.S. on its ballistic missile programme, calling them illegal and unacceptable. The ministry in a statement said Iran’s right to strengthen its military capabilities is not a violation of the country’s nuclear agreement with world powers.

The United States said on Sunday that the North Korean medium range missile crashed into the sea just 60 miles off Russia's Pacific coast line. Russia has disputed US claims that a missile launched by North Korea on the weekend landed dangerously close to the Russian city of Vladivostok.