Iraqi forces battled Islamist militants deep inside Mosul Wednesday, edging closer to the River Tigris that divides the city and looking for a breakthrough in the seven-week-old offensive. The fighting to retake the Islamic State (IS) group's last major stronghold in Iraq has prompted a steady trickle of people to leave their homes, many taking refuge in camps where nighttime temperatures have dipped below freezing.

The Egyptian Armed Forces announced in a statement on Wednesday that life is gradually returning to normal in North Sinai's Shiekh Zuwaid city following a days-long military operation that aimed to "cleanse [the city] of terrorists."

Islamic State group has brought its forward defenses from western Mosul towards the east as it fights against Iraqi forces in the battle to liberate the city, a coalition commanding general said.

Dar Al–Ifta’s Islamophobia Observatory condemned on Monday an attack on a Muslim police officer and her son in New York City. The observatory added that laws against both hate crimes and acts fuelled by religious hatred or bias are urgently needed, since these are considered attacks on personal freedoms and freedom of belief. They also stated that such acts are against both international and US laws.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani proposed on Sunday a state budget of about $100 billion for next year, loosening the purse strings to support economic growth as Donald Trump's election threatens to put renewed pressure on Tehran.

Emergency workers have recovered the bodies of three Palestinians who went missing in a smuggling tunnel between Gaza and Egypt.

As mortar bombs landed ever closer, Sunni tribal fighters preparing to attack Islamic State group seemed more preoccupied by the failures of Iraq's political class than the militants trying to kill them. The men - and one woman - from the Lions of the Tigris unit gathered on Wednesday in Shayyalah al-Imam, a village near Mosul, with some of their leaders expressing deep distrust of the politicians and saying Iraq's governance must change once Islamic State group is defeated.

Six years ago, not only did we pay Muslim Brotherhood leader Muhammad Badie’s war declaration against America little heed, but President Barack Obama openly embraced the group, inviting its leadership to the White House. Meanwhile, allies Egypt, Saudi Arabia and later the U.K. denounced Muslim Brotherhood for its Islamist ideology.

An Egyptian delegation including 12 MPs affiliated with parliament's foreign affairs committee will visit London Sunday to exchange views with British politicians and MPs on political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood and relations between Egypt and England.

A Cairo Misdemeanor Court commented sentence of three years in jail to six months- without the execution of the penalty- against columnist and poet Fatma Naoot over charges with contempt the religion on Thursday, Youm7 reported.

Egyptian prosecutors on Wednesday ordered a policeman detained for four days pending investigations over the death of a fish street vendor in police custody last week, a judicial source said.

Egypt's Court of Cassation on Tuesday overturned a June 2015 life sentence against ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in the case of espionage with the Palestinian group Hamas and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, ordering a retrial.

A 10-page report issued by the Egyptian parliament's foreign affairs committee on Sunday launched a scathing attack on EU and UK politicians and MPs who defend "political Islam."

The Egyptian council of Church (ECC) announced that its members will not intervene into the case of the death of a Christian fish cart vendor, allegedly tortured by the police, Youm7 reported ECC Secretary-General Refaat Fathy on Monday.

Egypt's religious institute "Dar El-Eftaa El-Masreya" has condemned the killing of Sheikh Sulaiman Abou Harraz of El-Sawarka tribe in North Sinai by the Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis terrorist group, calling it a "terrible crime."

The "Islamic State" group's affiliate in Egypt claims it has beheaded two men that it mistakenly described in a statement as priests, but were later identified by locals as leading religious figures from among Sinai’s Bedouins.

Cairo Criminal Court on Saturday adjourned to Dec. 10 the trial in the case known as ‘Rabaa Dispersal’, which involves many senior figures of the Muslim Brotherhood group, Youm7 reported.

Egypt's prosecution announced on Wednesday that its initial investigation into the death of a cart driver, whose family believes was tortured to death by police, revealed that the man died in an accident during a police chase.

Egypt’s Court of Cassation on Tuesday overturned sentences of death and life in prison served to former president Mohamed Morsi and other Muslim Brotherhood group leaders over breaking the Wadi Natroun Prison during the 2011 uprising, Youm7 reported.

The Egyptian parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee criticised at a Monday meeting a report issued earlier this month by the UK House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee on the outlawed-Muslim Brotherhood, saying it went out of its way to exonerate the group of the charge of terrorism.

The BBC has been forced to move a debate on Islam and politics from Morocco to another country because of problems over filming permissions, the broadcaster has said.