More than 2.5 million Muslim pilgrims began the rites of the annual hajj pilgrimage, leaving the holy city of Mecca for Mount Arafat, where the prophet Mohammed is believed to have delivered his final hajj sermon.

Days after Gaddafi was buried, the flag of al Qaeda is flying in Libya and sharia law has been imposed. Now, many rebel fighters fear the rise of a hardline Islamist state - and will fight to the death to stop it. As the decomposing body of Muammar Gaddafi was being buried in the sands of the Sahara last week, a fighter returning home from the Libyan war was busy in his garden.