Egypt judiciary extends Mursi detention

Cairo : Egypt’s judiciary said on Monday it was extending ousted president Mohammed Mursi’s detention for a further 15 days pending an investigation into his collaboration with Hamas.

Mursi, overthrown by the military on July 3, was placed in detention on July 26 over his links with the Palestinian Islamist militant group, which rules neighbouring Gaza.

Militants kill 44 people praying at a mosque in Nigeria

MAIDUGURI: Suspected Islamic militants wearing army fatigues gunned down 44 people praying at a mosque in northeast Nigeria, while another 12 civilians died in an apparently simultaneous attack, security agents said on Monday.

Sunday's attacks were the latest in a slew of violence blamed on religious extremists in this west African oil producer, where the radical Boko Haram group, which wants to oust the government and impose Islamic law, poses the greatest security threat in years.

Saudi king donates $100 million to UN anti-terror centre

RIYADH - King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has announced a further donation of $100 million (75 million euros) to set up a United Nations centre for fighting terrorism, Saudi media reported on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with the UN in 2011 to create the centre and the oil-rich Gulf monarchy has already donated $10 million towards its launch.

Iraq violence including Baghdad bombings kills 47

BAGHDAD: A series of bombings across Baghdad were the deadliest in a spate of nationwide attacks that killed 47 people on Tuesday, as Iraq struggles with its worst violence since 2008.

At least eight car bombs and several roadside bombs struck the capital just before Iraqis broke their daytime Ramadan fast, the latest in brutal violence during the Muslim holy month that has left hundreds dead.

Gunmen kill 13 bus passengers in Pakistan

QUETTA, Pakistan: Dozens of gunmen disguised in police uniforms shot to death 13 people they pulled off of a convoy of buses in southwest Pakistan and dumped their bodies in a nearby ravine, officials said Tuesday.

The motive for the attack Monday night was unclear since no one has claimed responsibility. But suspicion may fall on separatists who have been waging a low-level insurgency in southwest Baluchistan province for decades.The buses were headed to central Punjab province, and the separatists have a history of attacking Punjabis who they view as outsiders encroaching on their independence. The province is also home to many Islamic militants who have carried out attacks in the past, especially on minority Shiite Muslims.

Syrian TV shows Assad after reported attack on his motorcade

Syrian rebels said on Thursday they targeted President Bashar al-Assad's motorcade as he was heading to attend prayers at a Damascus mosque to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but footage broadcast by state television showed him unharmed.

The Tahrir al-Sham rebel brigade, a unit of the Free Syrian Army, said in a statement: "After conducting reconnaissance (on) the timing and course of Bashar al-Assad's motorcade the area was hit with artillery. We pray to God and await the field report about the results."

Al-Qaeda leader Zawahiri is said to have ordered terrorist attack

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri ordered the head of the terrorist group’s Yemen affiliate to carry out an attack, according to intercepted communications that have led to the closure of U.S. embassies and a global travel alert, said a person briefed on the case.

In one communication, Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden, gave “clear orders” to Nasir al-Wuhayshi, the founder of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to undertake an attack, the source said. McClatchy newspapers first reported the exchange on Sunday.

Turkey’s ‘Ergenekon’ trial comes to an end, with 17 life sentences handed out

SILIVRI: A Turkish court on Monday sentenced a former army chief to life in prison in a high-profile trial of 275 people accused of plotting against the Islamic-rooted government, a ruling that sparked angry protests in the streets.

Police fired tear gas and water cannon at thousands of protesters outside the court near Istanbul after the verdicts were delivered in the divisive case, which resulted in lengthy prison sentences for the majority of the accused, including top brass, journalists and opposition lawmakers.

Malaysia arrests 10 over bizarre claim on throne

KUALA LUMPUR: Ten people dressed in ninja-style garb have been detained after they arrived at Malaysia's royal palace in a bizarre attempt to claim the throne, police said Tuesday.

The unarmed group, reported by local media to be suspected followers of a Malaysian Muslim figure claiming royal descent, were stopped by police guards in the confrontations early Monday morning at the palace in Kuala Lumpur.

Hassan Rouhani becomes new Iranian president

Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, vowed after assuming office on Saturday to work to lift the international sanctions imposed on Tehran over its controversial nuclear drive.

My government, "will take fundamental steps in elevating Iran's position based on national interest and lifting of the oppressive sanctions," the moderate cleric said in a first address, broadcast live on state television.

Rouhani was officially endorsed by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who praised the newly-elected president's decades of service to the Islamic establishment.

Syria crisis can only be solved by 'striking terror with iron fist': Assad

DAMASCUS: Syria's crisis will only be solved by stamping out “terror”, President Bashar al-Assad said on Sunday, in reference to rebels fighting his regime.

In a rare speech on Syrian state television, Assad also dismissed the political opposition to his regime as a “failure” that could play no role in solving the country's brutal war.

“No solution can be reached with terror except by striking it with an iron fist,” said Assad.

Air raids kill 11 Syrian kids

BEIRUT: Seven children in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo and another four in Homs in the center were among 17 civilians killed in air raids on Tuesday, a watchdog said.

The deaths in Homs come as troops pressed an offensive against remaining rebel areas there, while in Aleppo province, the raid comes exactly a year into the rebel takeover of the targeted town of Anadan.

ECC approves sugar export to Iran

ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday allowed sugar export to Iran against electricity import.It also allowed continued higher margins to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and petroleum dealers and put an immediate ban on import of gold and export of live animals.

The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, presided over by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that also decided to strictly go by the procurement rules in import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to ensure transparency instead of seeking exemptions.

JUI-F may get two ministries

ISLAMABAD: The JUI-F’s strategy to delay till last minute its decision to support PML-N’s nominee Mamnoon Hussain in the presidential election is going to pay it with two posts in the federal cabinet, Dawn has learnt.

Although the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F officially denies having any “underhand deal” with the ruling PML-N, sources in the two parties said the PML-N had agreed to offer two ministries to the religious party as a reward for its support.

Tensions rise in Tunisia as rival protesters clash

TUNIS: Pro and anti-government  demonstrators clashed in two Tunisian cities on Monday, witnesses said, as tensions rose over opposition efforts to oust the Islamist-led government.

Angry opposition protesters tried to storm municipal offices in Sidi Bouzid and stop employees there from working, residents said, sparking clashes between them and supporters of the Islamist Ennahda party, which leads the transitional government.

Tensions rise in Tunisia as rival protesters clash

TUNIS: Pro and anti-government  demonstrators clashed in two Tunisian cities on Monday, witnesses said, as tensions rose over opposition efforts to oust the Islamist-led government.

Angry opposition protesters tried to storm municipal offices in Sidi Bouzid and stop employees there from working, residents said, sparking clashes between them and supporters of the Islamist Ennahda party, which leads the transitional government.

Tensions rise in Tunisia as rival protesters clash

TUNIS: Pro and anti-government  demonstrators clashed in two Tunisian cities on Monday, witnesses said, as tensions rose over opposition efforts to oust the Islamist-led government.

Angry opposition protesters tried to storm municipal offices in Sidi Bouzid and stop employees there from working, residents said, sparking clashes between them and supporters of the Islamist Ennahda party, which leads the transitional government.

Twin blasts near courthouse in Libya's Benghazi: sources

Two powerful explosions went off near the courthouse in Libya's second city of Benghazi on Sunday night, leaving 10 people injured and causing damage, witnesses and a security source said.

The blasts came a day after 1,000 inmates escaped during a prison riot in the restive eastern city, birthplace of the 2011 armed uprising that ousted and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi.On Friday night, hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Benghazi to condemn the assassination in the city earlier the same day of Abdessalem al-Mesmari, an anti-Islamist lawyer who campaigned for a civil state.

Imran says fall from forklift saved him from dying in a blast

KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan has confirmed speculations doing the rounds in the country in the run-up to the May 11 elections that there was a plot to assassinate him and that the fall off a forklift at a Lahore rally on May 7 that nearly killed him “had quite possibly saved my life”.

In an article carried by Britain’s MailOnline on Sunday, Mr Khan wrote he had been told he was number one on the terrorist hit-list. There are perhaps 25 militant groups which call themselves ‘Taliban’ and any one of them could have been hired by his political opponents.

Malaysia court quashes Hindu kids' conversion to Islam

KUALA LUMPUR :A Malaysian court on Thursday ruled against the 2009 conversion of three Hindu children to Islam without their mother's knowledge, a verdict welcomed by non-Muslim groups.

A high court in the northern city of Ipoh declared the conversion of Ms Indira Gandhi's children, now aged five, 15 and 16, by their father to be unconstitutional, said Indira's lawyer K. Shanmuga. The judge ruled that the father failed to take the mother and children to Islamic authorities for their consent to the conversion, in a rare verdict in the multiracial but Muslim-majority nation, Mr Shanmuga said.