AFP, CAIRO: Masked gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead four Egyptian policemen south of Cairo on Saturday, the interior ministry said. The gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle, killing those inside, in an area between the famed Giza pyramids west of Cairo and the Saqarra pyramids to the south, the ministry…

AFP, ROME: The Italian government intends to close down clandestine mosques in the country as part of the fight against terrorism, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano announced Friday. “In Italy, we have four mosques and over 800 places of Muslim worship,” said Alfano. “We are going…

AFP, AL-HOL, Syria: Outside her home in a town of northeast Syria, four-year-old Baydaa scribbles on a leaflet of religious rules left behind by the Islamic State group as they fled earlier this month. Her face is adorned with make-up of the sort banned by the jihadist group, which was expelled from…

AFP, LONDON: Around 4,000 people joined a protest in London Saturday against Britain potentially joining air strikes against the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria. Parliament is expected to vote on the issue next week after Prime Minister David Cameron pushed MPs to back the move in the wake of this…

AFP, Colorado Springs: A gunman opened fire at a prominent family planning centre in Colorado, killing three people and wounding several in a standoff that dragged on for five hours before he surrendered Friday. An usually busy area of snow-covered Colorado Springs was placed on lockdown into the early…

AFP, KANO: Boko Haram on Saturday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing on a Shiite Muslim procession near the northern Nigerian city of Kano that killed 22 people. The hardline Islamist group said in a statement in Arabic on social media its bomber “detonated his explosives which led to…

AP, Colombo: The Maldives’ opposition on Saturday vowed to regroup for a second  night of demonstrations hours after police broke up a planned 72-hour protest demanding the release of the country’s ex-president and other political leaders. Maldivian Democratic Party spokesman Hamid…