African Union Chairman Thomas Boni Yayi on Tuesday called for NATO troops to join African Union forces in a mission to stabilize Mali following a coup last year.

Malian soldiers fired warning shots at Islamist fighters overnight amid fears they plan to advance on the government-controlled south of the country, a military source said Tuesday.

Malian soldiers fired warning shots at Islamist fighters overnight amid fears that they plan to advance on the government-controlled south of the country, a military source said Tuesday.

Thousands took to the streets in predominantly Shiite southern Iraq on Tuesday in a show of support for the Shiite premier after more than two weeks of protests in the mainly Sunni Arab north and west.

Rights groups urged the Indonesian government to block a proposed law banning women from sitting astride motorcycles in deeply Islamic Aceh province, where the position is deemed "improper".

Al-Qaeda's front group in Iraq has claimed a wave of attacks across Iraq in the run-up to Shiite mourning rituals on New Year's Eve that killed 23 people, the SITE Monitoring Service said on Monday.

Taliban militants have threatened to attack a rally for election reforms, to be held in Islamabad next week, Pakistani interior minister Rehman Malik said on Monday.

A 15-year-old in the Maldives whose father is accused of repeatedly raping her and killing the resulting baby risks being flogged for "fornication" with another man under the nation's strict Islamic law, a police source said Monday.

A mother who was convicted of beating her seven-year-old son to death for failing to learn the Koran by heart was jailed in Britain for a minimum of 17 years on Monday.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday warned of "polarisation" across the region as he led a low-key ceremony marking the anniversary of the founding of the country's armed forces.

Iran's parliament on Sunday urged "judicial action" against police officers involved in the death in detention of a blogger last year, adding he may have died of "shock."

Egypt's minority Coptic Christians celebrate on Monday their first Christmas under Islamist rule and amid a climate of fear and uncertainty for their future.

It served as an Ottoman headquarters, a prison, an ice factory and a mill before falling into neglect. Now Najaf's historic and much loved Khan al-Shilan is getting a new lease of life -- as a museum.

The United Arab Emirates has rejected a request from Egypt for the release of 11 of its nationals detained for suspected links to Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood, according to the Gulf News newspaper.

One of the Islamist groups controlling north Mali said in its political programme handed to regional mediators that it wants autonomy for the north and the rule of sharia law, according to the document seen Friday.

The rival leaders of Sudan and South Sudan arrived in Ethiopia Friday for a summit to push stalled economic, oil and security deals between the former civil-war foes, officials said.

The death toll from a truck bomb targeting pilgrims after the conclusion of annual mourning rituals for a revered figure in Shiite Islam has risen to 23, an official said on Friday.

Thousands of protesters in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq called Thursday for the release of prisoners and the resignation of the Shiite premier, the latest in more than a week of anti-government rallies.

Mistrustful ties between Islamist-run Egypt and the United Arab Emirates deteriorated further this week with the reported arrest in the UAE of more than 10 Egyptians allegedly spying for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

One of the armed Islamist groups occupying northern Mali, Ansar Dine, said on Thursday that it had revoked a pledge to end hostilities, accusing the government of giving nothing in return.