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.

The Coptic Pope Tawadros II, of the Church of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, set off to the US for five weeks beginning on Thursday, to visit various churches and Eparchies in the northern states. Bishop of 6th October city and Oaseem city Domadius, General Bishop of Hadayk al-Qoba and al-Waili Churches Marcous, and Pope Tawadros s two secretaries Angelos Isaac and Ammonius Adel will accompany the Coptic leader on his visit.

Egypt s judicial Inventory, Seizure and Management Committee of Muslim Brotherhood Funds has ordered the seizure of 1,589 alleged Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters, 118 companies of different activities, 1,133 Non-Governmental Organizations, 104 schools, 69 hospitals, and 33 websites and TV networks. The seized money and assets, including those of ousted ex-President Mohamed Morsi, have been all transferred to the state s Public Treasury.

Saudi Police arrested an Egyptian hotel worker on Sunday following an online video of his breakfast with a female Saudi coworker in the hotel s reception area in Jeddah. The Saudi Public Prosecution stated that “Residents in the kingdom must commit to the orders, values, customs and feelings of the Saudi community.”

We have carried six dead people and 16 others injured. The death toll may rise," Abdikadir Abdirahman, director of Amin Ambulance service, told Reuters. Al Shabaab - which is fighting to topple the government and establish its own rule based on its interpretation of Islamic law - said it was behind the attack.

The Azhar Institution and Azhar’s Global Center for Online Fatwa launched a campaign titled “Wa Ashrohn Belmaarouf” (Live Together Kindly) to prevent divorce and maintain the proper foundation for establishing a happy family. Azhar added that the campaign would release videos on common reasons for divorce and the best ways to avoid them on Azhar’s Official Pages, with the hopes to reduce divorce rates.

A suicide attack at a wrestling club in a Shia neighborhood of the Afghan capital Kabul and a second explosion apparently targeting emergency services and journalists killed at least 20 people and wounded 70 on Wednesday, officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack in Dasht-e-Barchi, home to many members of the mainly Shia Muslim Hazara ethnic minority which has been targeted in the past by Sunni militants of Islamic State group.

The US Embassy in Cairo announced on its official Facebook page that business was back as usual, following false concerns over a bomb attack earlier today. “Police have finished their investigations at the scene of the incident. The Embassy is resuming normal business,” the statement read.

Egypt s Defence Minister Mohamed Zaki inspected security units from the armed forces in North Sinai governorate on Tuesday, to follow up on developments in the Operation Sinai 2018, a counter-terrorism operation underway since February. As part of the completion of the planned stages of Operation Sinai 2018, Zaki inspected the implementation and development stages at the Armed Forces Operations Center.

The death toll from a Boko Haram attack on a Nigerian army post on the border with Niger has risen to 48, military sources said on Monday. Scores of Boko Haram fighters in trucks stormed the base on Thursday in Zari village in northern Borno state and briefly seized it after a fierce battle.

Defense attorneys for the main suspect, Ash eyaa al-Makary, in the murder of Bishop Epiphanius on Saturday demanded that the case be reinvestigated, claiming their defendant was forced into confessing. Public Prosecution charged monks Ash eyaa and Faltaous al-Makary (Raymon Rasmy Mansour) with premeditated murder.

The archbishop who sparked a crisis in the Catholic Church by calling on Pope Francis to resign has denied he was motivated by personal vendetta and said he sought to show that corruption had reached the top levels of the Church hierarchy. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano has gone into hiding since conservative media published an 11-page statement in which he alleged the pope knew for years about sexual misconduct by an American cardinal and did nothing about it.

Seven people were killed Wednesday in a suicide car bombing claimed by the Islamic State group in a former stronghold of the jihadists in western Iraq, a security official said. The attacker detonated his explosives-laden vehicle at a joint security checkpoint managed by the Iraqi army and the Popular Mobilization Forces at the southern entrance to the town of al-Qaim, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Syrian border, Maj. Gen Qasem al-Dulaimi said.

Al-Azhar mosque, the most prestigious religious institution in the Sunni Muslim world, has issued a statement denouncing sexual harassment following recent incidents where people have been attacked trying to stop it. “We have followed media reports on recently circulated incidents of (sexual) harassment. In some of them the harasser assaulted those who tried to stop him,” Azhar said in a statement on Monday.

Islamic State on Sunday claimed responsibility for an attack on an Egyptian police checkpoint in northern Sinai, the group s Amaq news agency reported, saying 15 soldiers were killed or wounded in what it described as an infiltration operation. Egypt s state news agency MENA said on Saturday that security forces foiled an attack on a checkpoint west of the city of al-Arish, and killed four militants while other fled.

Egypt said it will be opening the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip for five days to receive Palestinian pilgrims returning from the hajj in Saudi Arabia. According to official state news agency MENA, travel will be limited to the return of the pilgrims on 27 and 31 August, and 1, 2, and 3 September.

The leader of the Islamic State jihadist group Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi called on Muslims to wage "jihad" in a purported new audio recording released on Wednesday. He also called for attacks in the West in the Telegram message on Eid al-Adha, which comes as IS has lost most of its territory in Iraq and Syria.

Pope Francis, facing sexual abuse crises in several countries, wrote an unprecedented letter to all Catholics on Monday, asking each one of them to help root out “this culture of death” and vowing there would be no more cover ups. In a highly personal letter addressed to “the people of God,” Church language for all members, the pope appeared to be launching an appeal for all Catholics to face the crisis together and not let it tear the Church apart.