Terrorists consider the Scandinavian country a "prioritized target," its domestic security service warned. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said some attacks have already been thwarted.

Although youth gang wars affect all of Indonesia, Yogyakarta, a city of 400,000 inhabitants on the island of Java, has become the epicentre of a worrying new phenomenon. There, teenage boys clash in the streets at night. They travel on motorbike, armed with truncheons or rusty swords. Their victims are rival gang members, but sometimes also innocent passersby.

For a long time, the island of Jolo, one of the southernmost points of the Philippines archipelago, was off limits. It was the stronghold of one of the most violent terrorist movements in the world, Abu Sayyaf. In 2000, a group of 20 tourists were kidnapped in Malaysia and taken to Jolo. Journalists who covered the kidnapping were then also captured. Negotiations for their release took several months.

Brussels stopped short of labeling Revolutionary Guards a terrorist group in its latest raft of Iran sanctions. Meanwhile, the UK summoned a top Iranian diplomat over alleged threats to UK-based reporters.

The EU's terror list could soon include Iran's Revolutionary Guards. Those already blacklisted face a barrage of restrictions, from frozen assets to travel bans.

Following the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan, the Pakistani Taliban (Tehrik-i-Taliban, or TTP) have retaken their positions in areas along the border. With the return of Taliban fighters, the picturesque Swat Valley has once again descended into violence and fear.