An Egyptian military court sentenced on Thursday 17 people to death and handed dozens of others hefty jail terms over their involvement in three deadly church bombings and joining the terrorist group Daesh. The defendants were convicted for involvement in the bombing of Cairo s Coptic Cathedral in December 2016, which killed at least 25 people, as well as the simultaneous bombings of churches in Alexandria and Tanta, which killed more than 45 people in April 2017.

Ten alleged militants were killed during a fire exchange with Egyptian security forces in Al-Arish, North Sinai, according to the Interior Ministry. In a statement, the ministry said that security forces stormed on Tuesday a deserted farm, where the militants were hiding, and killed them all in a fire exchange.

Egypt s interior ministry said "it has killed ten terrorist elements in a shoot-out during a pre-emptive raid against terrorism Al-Arish in North Sinai." In an official statement released on Tuesday, the ministry said the terrorists were killed after security forces attempted to raid a deserted farm used as a shelter, leading to a shoot-out between both sides.

The devil is alive and well and working overtime to undermine the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis says. In fact, the pope is so convinced that Satan is to blame for the sexual abuse crisis and deep divisions racking the Church that he has asked Catholics around the world to recite a special prayer every day in October to try to beat him back.

The withdrawal by rebels of their heavy weapons from a planned buffer zone in northwestern Syria is due to last several days, a Turkish-backed alliance of fighters said Sunday. The National Liberation Front (NLF) announced Saturday that it has begun withdrawing heavy arms from the zone as part of an agreement between Syrian regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.

Seven Turkish soldiers were killed and three others were wounded after a roadside bomb in the southeastern province of Batman was detonated by Kurdish militants, security sources said on Thursday. Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants detonated the improvised explosive during the passage of a military convoy in the Gercus region of the province, the local governor s office said. An operation was launched to capture the perpetrators, it said.

Egypt s Coptic Orthodox Church Pope Tawadros II mourned Coptic Metropolitan Bishoy of Damietta, Kafr El-Sheikh and the abbot of the Monastery of Saint Demiana of Barrari, Belkas, who died late Tuesday at the age of 76, the state owned MENA agency reported. In an official statement issued by the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II said, "We are saddened by his sudden death after he served the Church for 45 years and was a meticulous theologian who has shared his knowledge in drafting Coptic and theologic statements, and taught at theological schools here and abroad."

Egypt s Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II asserted that the Coptic Church does not have any political agenda regarding the country s political situation when asked if his visit to the United States (US) – started on 13 September—aimed to pave for the visit of Egypt s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to New York (NY), who attended the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last week. During his sermon at Virgin Mary & St. Pachomius Coptic Orthodox Church in Stony Point, NY, Pope Tawadros II said “I am very surprised by this kind of questions. I am here to check out my children.” He added that “this is my responsibility in the Church, and I have nothing to do with politics.”

The number of civilians killed last month in Syria was at its lowest since the start of the conflict more than seven years ago, a war monitor said Monday. A total of 139 civilians, including 58 children, were killed in conflict-related violence across the country in September, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A Cairo criminal court has added new charges against 13 defendants accused of involvement in violence against protesters in front of the Muslim Brotherhood office in Cairo in 2013. The prosecution is accusing the Brotherhood s supreme guide Mohamed Badie, his deputy Khairat El-Shater and seven other defendants of inciting assaults on protesters in return for money or Hajj visas. The defendants are also accused of supplying the attackers with weapons. The prosecution also is accusing two other defendants of beating and injuring 74 of the protesters who had gathered outside the Brotherhood office on 30 June and 1 July 2013 for demonstrations against then-president Mohamed Morsi. The court has postponed the trial until 7 October to hear arguments by the defence team.

Syrian rebels said on Thursday they have growing confidence that their jihadist rivals will comply with a requirement to leave a demilitarized buffer zone set up by Turkey and Russia to avert a Russian-backed Syrian army offensive. Last week Turkey and Russia agreed to enforce a new demilitarized zone in Idlib province from which "radical" rebels will be required to withdraw by the middle of next month.

Pope Francis on Wednesday asked the Chinese government to move ahead with "trust, courage and farsightedness" to continue a dialogue started when the Vatican and Beijing signed a landmark agreement on the appointment of bishops. In a message to Chinese Catholics, Francis also said that while they should be good citizens, they will not shrink from offering "a word of criticism" when necessary to defend human dignity.

Egypt s Coptic Orthodox Church announced Monday the death of a newly transferred monk after a "sudden health crisis." In a statement published by its spokesman on Facebook, the Church said monk Zaynoun El-Makary died after he was transferred to St Maria Hospital in Upper Egypt s Assiut after a sudden decline in health.

Father Philotheos of St Macarius Monastery, who is currently standing trial in front of the Damanhour Criminal Court, charged with the murder of Bishop Epiphanius, has pleaded not guilty on Sunday. Philotheos and another Monk Isaiah, are accused of killing Bishop Epiphanius.

Egypt s Court of Cassation upheld the life imprisonment and death penalty sentences Monday handed to 135 people over the assaults on security forces in the town of Kerdasa in 2013. The court rejected the appeals presented by the defendants over a criminal court sentence from July 2017, which saw 20 defendants sentenced to death, life sentences handed out to 80 defendants.

An Egyptian criminal court sentenced the chief of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group and dozens of others to life in prison on Sunday on charges of incitement of murder and violence during protests five years ago, a judicial source said. The sentence is the latest among a series of trials and re-trials against the Supreme Guide of Egypt s Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie and other senior leaders of the Islamist group that ruled Egypt before Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted following massive protests.

A Turkish court has jailed pending trial 24 people involved in protests over work conditions at Istanbul s new airport last week, broadcaster CNN Turk said on Wednesday. The airport is a centrepiece of a 15-year construction boom under President Tayyip Erdogan. It has an initial planned capacity of 90 million passengers a year, making it one of the world s biggest airports.

Afghan police and volunteer groups of armed civilians tightened controls across the capital Kabul on Wednesday ahead of Ashura, the holiest day of the Shia Muslim calendar, following a series of attacks on Shia targets by Islamic State militants. Armed men stood at key points in areas like Dasht-e Barchi, a zone in western Kabul where many members of the mainly Shia Hazara minority live and where some 20 people were killed in a suicide attack on a wrestling club two weeks ago.

An agreement between Russia and Turkey over the northwestern province of Idlib has "practically excluded" a Syrian government offensive in the region, the spokesman for the opposition Syrian Negotiations Commission told Reuters on Tuesday. The "scenario of attack is practically excluded, at least for a period of time that is not small, and we hope that it will be permanent," Yahya al-Aridi told Reuters by telephone. Aridi said the deal announced on Monday had safeguarded the lives of millions of Syrians and was an indication that the "path of peace" must now be opened.

The Taliban launched multiple attacks on Afghan checkpoints as well as police and military bases in different parts of the country, killing at least 27 members of the security forces, Afghan officials said Monday. The attacks and the high casualty toll underscore the difficulties Afghan forces face in trying to secure the country on their own. The Afghan forces have struggled to combat both the Taliban and an Islamic State (IS) militants affiliate since the U.S. and NATO formally ended their combat mission in the country in 2014.

An Urgent Matter Court in Egypt has overturned a ruling allowing bearded policemen to return to the force, a judicial source told AFP on Thursday. The ruling, issued on Wednesday, came following a lawyer s appeal against an earlier ruling allowing bearded officers to return to work which was issued in July.