Islamic State militants battled rival insurgent groups on Wednesday north of the city of Aleppo, where officials say the Syrian army is preparing an offensive of its own backed by Iranian soldiers and Russian jets.

Pope Francis asked forgiveness Wednesday for recent scandals that have hit Rome and the Vatican, showing once again he doesn't much care about making waves if it's for the sake of reassuring his flock.

The Islamic State group's spokesman confirmed on Tuesday the killing of the militant organisation's second in command in a US air strike earlier this year.

The ministry of religious endowment announced on Tuesday the names of Egyptians killed and missing in September's hajj stampede in Saudi Arabia, state news agency MENA reported.

Nigeria has warned civilians that Boko Haram is using deadly cluster bombs but campaigners say the Islamists may have got the banned weapons from the military in the first place.

Egyptian censorship authorities detained on Saturday the director of the Christian TV channel SAT-7 and confiscated studio equipment, on charges of operating without a licence, the channel said on Monday.

Egypt's Dar Al-Ifta announced on Tuesday that Wednesday would mark the Hijiri new year 1437 According to an astronomical observation undertaken by Dar Al-Ifta, Egypt's state religious institution, Wednesday will mark the first day of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar.

A group linked to Al-Qaida’s North Africa branch in Tunisia says it has executed a shepherd it abducted Sunday from a mountainous zone near the Algerian border.

Egypt’s Court of Cassation overturned the convictions of five men who were sentenced to death for storming a police station and killing 11 policemen in the town of Kerdasa in 2013.

Islamic State is the focus of investigations into a twin suicide bombing that killed at least 97 people in the Turkish capital Ankara and investigators are close to identifying one of the suspects, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday.

Days before elections are set to begin, the Al-Nour Party and its religious arm, the Salafi Call, have been embroiled in internal conflicts.

According to Egyptian law 46/2014, 24 seats are allocated for Copts inside the upcoming parliament. This quota represents 20% of the total seats elected via closed-list systems, which in total form 120 seats of over 500 members of the House of Representatives.

The Salafi Al-Nour Party is focusing on making reform promises for voters and providing services for citizens in its electoral campaign.

The Interior Ministry announced on Sunday that a leading terrorist suspect belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood died while trying to escape a police raid in his hideout in Alexandria.

The United States and its allies staged 24 air strikes on Islamic State in Syria and Iraq on Saturday, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement on Sunday.

A misdemeanours court upheld a five-year prison term previously handed down to controversial religious researcher Islam al-Beheiry for contempt of religion, dismissing his appeal on Saturday.

The “No to Religious Parties” campaign group announced it collected 1.25m signatures at a press conference it held Sunday in Downtown Cairo to reveal its achievements one week before the beginning of the first round of the parliamentary elections.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls met Sunday with Al-Azhar's Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb during his visit to Cairo that started Saturday.

Egypt's High State Security Prosecution appealed Thursday a criminal court decision to release controversial preacher Mahmoud Shaaban and 10 other defendants being investigated in what is known as the “Salafist Front” case.

Spokesperson to the Higher Elections Committee (HEC) Omar Marawan has said the law stipulates that all niqab-wearing women will only cast ballots if they remove the face veil while voting, for identity verification purposes. Otherwise they will be barred.

The Supreme Electoral Commission (SEC) will ban women from wearing the ‘Niqab’ (face covering) while casting their ballots, state-run media Al-Ahram reported on Thursday.