A fierce battle between Syrian Kurds and Islamic State jihadists has killed nearly 50 fighters from both sides as the Kurds seized several IS POSITIONS, a monitoring group said Thursday.

Women in Damietta are forbidden from receiving communion if they are wearing trousers or make-up, according to new rules issued by Bishop Bishoy of Damietta, Youm7 reported Thursday.

Some leaders from the National Alliance to Support Legitimacy, formed to support the legitimacy of toppled President Mohamed Morsy, called on its supporters to abandon their peaceful tactics in protests scheduled for 14 August on the anniversary of Rabaa al-Adaweya and al-Nahda sit-in dispersals, adding it is their last chance to confront the current regime.

The Sunday service had been taking place in a morning of quietness and calm, a rare chance of reflection amid the turbulence of war. That ended as the last prayers were being held, the sound of air strikes and tank rounds echoing not far from the church: the ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ was over.

A car bomb on Wednesday killed three people in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Reuters reported, citing Egypt’s state-run Nile Television.

Secretary of State John Kerry’s attempts to sideline Egypt in Israel-Hamas cease-fire talks has forced the Egyptian government to move closer to Hamas’ positions in Gaza, according to an Egyptian official involved with the truce talks who spoke to WND on condition of anonymity.

Nour Party’s stance contradicts with the Salafi Call (al-Da’wa al-Salafiyya) over the Endowment Ministry’s decision to ban non-Azhar scholars to take the stands in mosques during Eid al-Fitr unless they are licensed from the ministry to deliver sermons.

Jailed Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti has called for national and international support to Gaza in the face of Israel’s ongoing military assault on the embattled enclave.

A Palestinian delegation, including representatives from Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, are to meet with Egyptian officials on ending the violence in Gaza, Al-Arabiya reported.

The Islamist Hamas movement denied on Tuesday an earlier statement by the Secretary General of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation- Yasser Abed Rabbo- that it was accepting a 24-hour ceasefire.

Ezz Eddin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed Hamas wing, announced Tuesday it has killed 110 Israeli soldiers and officers since the start of the Israeli invasion to Gaza on 7 July.

The Islamic State, which advocates public stoning for adultery, has opened a “marriage bureau” for women who want to wed its fighters in territory they control in Syria and Iraq.

Hamas declared its decision to abide by a 24-hour truce, called for by the international community, after Saturday’s truce was intercepted on Sunday morning.

Millions of Muslims across the world celebrated the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday Monday, which marks the end of the monthlong fast of Ramadan.

The Muslim Brotherhood ordered its members on Sunday to prepare public spaces in the squares of all governorates for the Eid prayers irrespective of any warnings from SECURITY AGENCIES or the endowments ministry.

Whoever kills in the name of Islam “does not belong to it” as they commit violent action the religion does not call for, Minister of Religious Endowments (Awqaf) Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa said during his sermon after the Eid prayer Monday, Youm7 reported.

An Egyptian court sentenced the spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party to a suspended sentence of two years, commutable on payment of a fine of LE5,000.

The Muslim Brotherhood ordered its members on Sunday to prepare public spaces in the squares of all governorates for the Eid prayers irrespective of any warnings from security agencies or the endowments ministry.

The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas announced on Saturday evening that it would not accept a truce with Israel unless Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza and displaced Palestinian residents are allowed to return to their homes.