North Africa

At least 52 Egyptian police and conscripts were killed and six more wounded in a gun battle on Friday during a raid on a suspected militant hideout in the western desert, three security sources said.

A court in Tunisia has jailed a couple for kissing in public after officials describe the action of the lovers as "public indecency".

The new UN envoy for disputed Western Sahara, Horst Köhler, was visiting Morocco on Monday as part of a regional tour aimed at restarting stalled peace talks between Rabat and the pro-independence Polisario Front.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi has extended the state of emergency in Egypt for another three months.

The European Union is seeking to reopen its embassy in Libya pending security conditions, officials said on Tuesday, offering further political support for the Tripoli government struggling to establish control.

A Belgian court on Monday ordered a halt to the deportation of around two-dozen Sudanese migrants following an uproar over Belgium's invitation to officials from Khartoum to identify them.

A Swiss humanitarian aid worker has been abducted in the conflict-torn Darfur region of Sudan, Switzerland's foreign ministry and a United Nations source said on Sunday.

The health minister of Tunisia on Sunday died after suffering from heart attack after participating in a charity marathon.

British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson came under fire on Tuesday for saying Libya could become a magnet for tourists and investors - if it can "clear the dead bodies away" first.

Human rights groups on Monday claimed that officials in Egypt have arrested 22 people over the past three days in a crackdown on gays.