The Syrian army and Islamic State militants waged fierce battles on Wednesday around Khanaser, a strategic town southeast of Aleppo, where an attack by the jihadist group has cut the main land route to the city during three days of fighting.

Islamic State (IS) group in Libya briefly took over the security headquarters in the western city of Sabratha, killing and beheading 12 security officers before being driven out early Wednesday morning, two city security officials said. The incident highlighted the enduring presence and unpredictable striking power of the local IS group militants in this strategic city which serves as a hub for migrants heading to Europe.

Russia is urging the Taliban to start direct talks with the central government in Afghanistan and hopes that such negotiations will begin soon, Interfax news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying on Wednesday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Russia’s Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Wednesday his government was ready to help implement a cessation of hostilities in Syria.

Prosecutors ordered on Tuesday that a judge be placed under detention for four days pending investigation over alleged contempt of court during a disciplinary board hearing held for a number of judges for supporting former president Mohamed Mursi.

A Cairo criminal court ordered on Tuesday the release of prominent Jihadist Mohamed El-Zawahri on parole pending trial.

The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday condemned Italy over the 2003 kidnapping by the CIA of an Egyptian imam who had been granted political asylum by Italian authorities.

The Middle East's largest ever war games are now underway and will boost military cooperation between the 20 Muslim nations taking part, host country Saudi Arabia said on Monday, as it seeks to check the growing influence of arch rival Iran.

An important Syrian government supply route to Aleppo was shut for a second day on Tuesday because of an Islamic State attack, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Dozens of Niqab-wearing women from the Faculty of Medicine and Qasr Al-Aini hospitals staged a protest on Sunday outside the Qasr Al-Aini conference hall against Cairo University President Gaber Nassar's decision to ban nurses and doctors from wearing the full-face veil in Qasr Al-Aini Medical School (QAMS) and its affiliated teaching hospitals.

The head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II, opened a new church in the Fifth Settlement neighborhood of Cairo on Monday.

Giza security services arrested an individual for allegedly being involved with a terrorist opperation and for possessing materials used in making bombs.

Al-Azhar University’s branch in Assiut decided on Monday to dismiss a student for wrongfully stating that he had won first place in an international Quran recitation competition in Malaysia.

Former presidential candidate and Salafi leader Hazem Salah Abu Ismail and 17 other defendants will stand trial April 2 for besieging Nasr City Court in 2012, Youm7 reported.

Pope Francis on Sunday called for a worldwide ban on the death penalty, saying the commandment "You shall not kill" was just as valid for the guilty as for the innocent.

Heavy clashes in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi have left at least 14 people dead and 32 wounded, medical officials said on Saturday.

Dozens of Al-Qaeda militants took control of the southern Yemeni town of Ahwar on Saturday, residents said, consolidating the group's control over much of the region.

The Australian government warned on Sunday that terrorists may be planning attacks in and around the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

The Islamic State militant group said it carried out two suicide bombing attacks Sunday near a Shia shrine south of Syria's capital that a monitoring group said killed 62 people.

A police officer at the civil protection department in Aswan lost part of his palm while trying to detonate an explosive device along with three other conscripts, who were also wounded, Youm7 reported Thursday.

The Islamic State militant group shot down an Iraqi military helicopter west of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least one person, officials said.