The Islamic State group's "caliphate" enters its second year Monday with the jihadists expanding their territory in Syria and Iraq and their global reach by claiming attacks in Tunisia and Kuwait.

The extremist group headed by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced on June 29, 2014 that it was reviving a form of Islamic government known as the "caliphate", pledging it would "remain and expand".

By snubbing a bailout deal and slapping capital controls on its banks Greece has set a course into choppy, uncharted waters that could lead to fresh economic upheaval and a euro exit.

After five months of torturous negotiations and just days away from a default, Greece's radical leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras threw the political equivalent of a curve ball by calling a referendum on the bailout proposals for next Sunday.

Just three months after an attack on the National Bardo Museum, Tunisia is reeling from an even deadlier attack on tourists, raising questions about its ability to counter the jihadist threat.

Friday's assault by a Tunisian student at a popular resort at Port El Kantaoui that killed 38 people illustrates the complexity of the challenges ahead for Tunisia four years after its revolution.

Saudi Arabia is pursuing its own nuclear projects and building alliances to counter Iran, which is days away from a potential atomic deal Riyadh fears could further destabilize the region.

The United States and other major powers will hold weekend talks with Iran in Vienna, aiming to finalize by Tuesday an agreement to prevent Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon.

Larry King's back on the air, beaming his high-octane brand of talk to households around the world. Where can you catch him? Kremlin-backed TV.

Moscow wants you to pay better attention to what it's saying, and to better reach your eyes and ears it's spending around a half-billion dollars a year and carrying top-name talent like King and former governor and professional wrestler Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

Parading across a desert base, hundreds of Sunni tribesmen who graduated a crash-training course stood ready to take on the Islamic State group on behalf of a government that many believed left them to die at the hands of the extremists.

Among them were tribesmen who watched as Iraqi forces abandoned Ramadi a month ago to the Islamic State group. Their suspicions toward the Shiite-led government in Baghdad could be seen as they pushed forward to receive their first government salary in 18 months, with one brandishing a Kalashnikov assault rifle as he neared the front.

A year after its establishment, the Islamic State group's self-declared "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq remains well-funded and heavily armed, and experts say it could be around for years to come.

The would-be state headed by IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi -- called Caliph Ibrahim by his followers -- has suffered setbacks in the months since it was proclaimed.

Military posturing and increasingly hostile rhetoric between Russia and the West are raising the risk of an accidental slide towards a wider conflict that neither nuclear-armed side wants, experts warn.

Within days of reports that the United States was poised to send heavy military equipment to eastern Europe and the Baltic states, Russia retorted by announcing it planned to add 40 intercontinental nuclear missiles to its arsenal.

It's called Heaven Square, but after the Islamic State group started using the roundabout in Raqa for gruesome public executions it earned a new name: Hell Square.

In the year since the jihadist group announced its "caliphate" last June, its de facto Syrian capital of Raqa has been transformed into a macabre metropolis.

In the year since it declared its "caliphate," the Islamic State group has become the world's most infamous jihadist organisation, attracting international franchises and spreading fear with acts of extreme violence.

IS proclaimed its self-described caliphate on June 29, 2014, urging Muslims worldwide to pledge allegiance to its Iraqi leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, renamed Caliph Ibrahim.