The Minya Criminal Court upheld Tuesday death sentences in absentia to eight Muslim Brotherhood supporters for violence-related charges, a judicial source told Youm7 Tuesday.

Two soldiers and 55 "terrorists" were killed on Tuesday in an ongoing joint security operation in al-Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid of North Sinai, said an army statement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic state has little to show for itself, a year after its establishment.

The family of late Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar has pledged allegiance to new chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour after a secret meeting in which the two sides agreed a power-sharing deal, officials said.

The Minya Criminal Court sentenced eight alleged Muslim Brotherhood members to death in a case involving violence that occurred in Samalout in Minya governorate, following the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in dispersal.

After a prolonged spell of silence, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has come alive with a series of audio messages. And they're raising a few eyebrows because -- in two separate messages -- al-Zawahiri has extended an olive branch to ISIS, even while describing ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's "caliphate" as illegitimate.

The criminal court in the Upper Egyptian province of Minya sentenced eight supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi to death and 83 others to life in prison on Tuesday over charges of setting the Samalut police station on fire, resulting in the death of a police officer.

Pope Francis is likely to meet Fidel Castro during his upcoming trip to Cuba, the Vatican said Tuesday. "A meeting with Fidel Castro is probable, even if it is not yet scheduled for a specific time in the programme", spokesman Federico Lombardi told reporters ahead of the pontiff's eight-day trip to Cuba and the United States, which begins Saturday.

The moderate Islamist Wasat Party has declared it revised its policies since the release of its leader from custody detention last month, yet another sign that it might break with its past support for deposed president Mohamed Morsi.

A court in Upper Egypt's Minya sentenced to death eight individuals and handed 106 others varying prison terms on Tuesday, for accusations of involvement in violence dating back to 2013.

The centrist Islamist Wasat Party said in a statement on Monday that it will not run in the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 18, reiterating its independence from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Taliban insurgents stormed a mud fort being used as a prison in Afghanistan on Monday, killing police and releasing more than 400 inmates, and then attacked troops rushing to help, officials said.

North Sinai security forces killed 53 militants on the seventh day of the “martyr’s right” operation in al-Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, said the military spokesman Sunday.

A soldier and 11 militants were killed on the eighth day of a joint security operation in al-Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid of North Sinai, the Egyptian military spokesman said on Monday.

Two suspected militants were killed Sunday following clashes with police forces near the Suez-Cairo highway, according to an Interior Ministry statement detailing the police raid targeting the two men.

The ultra-conservative Salafist Nour Party announced on Friday it is going to run only for two party-based electoral lists in the upcoming parliamentary elections, according to an official statement by the party.

The Salafi-led Nour Party's presidential board will meet on Tuesday to discuss the administrative court ruling which obliges the Political Parties Affairs Committee to study the legal situation of parties with religious backgrounds ahead of the parliamentary elections.

A criminal court in Cairo sentenced six Muslim Brotherhood supporters to 10 years in prison on charges of illegal assembly.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry condemned "the storming by Israeli occupation forces of the yard of al-Aqsa Mosque" after prayers at dawn on Sunday.

The North Cairo Criminal Court, headed by Judge Saeed al-Sayyad, sentenced six defendants to 10 years of hard labor in absentia on Sunday, for protesting outside the Nasr City Police Station without a permit.

The military announced Thursday the killing of 86 "takfiri elements" and the arrest of another 195 in the last three days, as part of operation “Retribution for the martyr” against militant groups in North Sinai.