Egypt's Al-Azhar, the highest seat for Sunni Islamic learning, condemned Sunday's deadly mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, while expressing concerns about utilising the incident to intensify anti-Muslim rhetoric.

In Cairo the essence of Ramadan is tangible in the air and it seems that the rhythm of the city has been entirely reset. The city goes quiet and deserted around Iftar time and becomes a lot more crowded late at night when people stay out to have their Sohour.

Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the attack in Orlando that killed 50 people and injured 53, which has become the deadliest attack in the United States after 9/11. An American citizen of Afghani origin, Omar Mateen, 22, stormed a gay nightclub and killed 50 people and injured 53 before being shot dead by police.

The discussions in the House of Representatives over the penal code article predominantly used in charges of “contempt of religion” are ongoing as the state’s religious institutions are expected to weigh in on keeping or amending the article. Parliament decided on Sunday to prepare a legal report on article 98 of the penal code following a meeting held by the Legislative Committee.

ORLANDO - The head of a prominent US Muslim advocacy group Sunday strongly condemned the nightclub massacre in Florida, calling members of the Islamic State group an "aberration" amid allegations the gunman was inspired by the jihadists.

AMMAN :Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for car and suicide bomb blasts that killed at least eight people and injured scores in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus on Saturday, the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said

More than 22 people were killed and 70 wounded in two separate bombings on Thursday in Baghdad, one targeting a commercial street and the other an army checkpoint, Iraqi police said.

Forces aligned with Libya's unity government were engaged in fierce clashes with Islamic State on Thursday in the group's stronghold of Sirte, but were facing resistance from snipers as they edged toward the city center.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday rebuked Saudi Arabia and its allies for resorting to "undue pressure" to remove the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from a blacklist of child rights violators.

The appearance of brightly colored copies of the Quran in markets this Ramadan has caused a stir in religious circles, fueling an ongoing debate about the approprate colours for the Muslim holy book.

A car bomb attack by Kurdish militants on a police station in southeastern Turkey killed three people and wounded more than 30 on Wednesday, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, a day after a bomb targeting police in Istanbul killed 11.

Islamic State fighters withdrew from frontlines with Syrian rebel forces north of Aleppo on Wednesday as they mounted a counter attack against the jihadist group near the Turkish border, an opposition source and monitoring group said.

A Central Security Forces conscript was killed by a bomb blast to the south of Sheikh Zuwaid city, North Sinai, on Tuesday.

A Giza misdemeanor court sentenced on Tuesday two pro-Morsi TV hosts in absentia to two years in jail for incitement against state institutions and spreading false news and rumours.

A government report which investigated alleged links between the Muslim Brotherhood and terrorism was a waste of taxpayer money whose delay empowered dictatorships repressing the group, one expert told the UK parliament’s foreign affairs committee on Tuesday.

An Islamist party in Tunisia condemned an official ban on its scheduled annual congress on Saturday and accused the authorities of seeking a confrontation.

More than 2,000 militants have gathered in northern Aleppo, the Russian ceasefire-monitoring center in Syria said on Saturday.

Thirty soldiers from Niger and two from Nigeria were killed in a Boko Haram attack by “hundreds of assailants” on Friday on the southeastern town of Bosso close to the border with Nigeria, the Niger defence ministry said on Saturday.

A Frenchman reported to be carrying weapons and explosives for a planned attack in France was arrested on the Ukrainian-Polish border in late May, the Ukrainian Border Guard said on Saturday.

An Iranian-backed Shia Iraqi militia said on Saturday it planned to storm Fallujah, Islamic State (IS) group's stronghold near Baghdad, once civilians left the city, backtracking on earlier statements that it would leave this task to the Iraqi army.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis met on Monday the grand imam of Egypt's highest Islamic authority, Al-Azhar, looking to heal Vatican relations with the influential centre of Sunni Muslim learning after dialogue was frozen five years ago.