An Egyptian criminal court has sentenced 102 defendants it describes as Muslim Brotherhood supporters to 10 years in prison each on charges of violent rioting in a Cairo neighborhood and possession of weapons.

Egypt’s state news agency said the Saturday ruling puts the defendants under police surveillance for a period of five years after the end of their prison sentences.

The ruling is linked to demonstrations staged to protest the overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi by the military in July. Morsi’s ouster followed days of mass demonstrations demanding his resignation.

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Egyptian security officials say a senior police officer has died after an explosive device placed under his car went off in a western Cairo suburb.

The officials say Brig. Gen. Ahmed Zaki was heading to work from his home in 6th of October suburb when the bomb detonated on Wednesday morning.

The officials say the explosion critically wounded Zaki and he later died in the hospital.

Attacks against Egyptian police and military have stepped up as militant groups wage an increasingly violent campaign following the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.

Since Morsi was removed by the military last July, more than 1,300 protesters, mostly pro-Morsi supporters, and over 450 troops have been killed.

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Jordan’s ambassador to Libya was kidnapped Tuesday in central Tripoli, the foreign ministries of both nations said.

Ambassador Fawaz al-Aytan and members of his security detail were abducted and his driver was injured, Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said.

A spokesman for the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said masked gunmen in two vehicles ambushed the ambassador’s convoy and whisked away al-Aytan.

Militia groups have routinely targeted and intimidated officials in the fractured nation.

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US officials have reportedly told Israel to stop killing off Iranian nuclear scientists.

Israel Moussad spy agancy has supposedly taken out at least five top Iranian nuclear experts in an attempt to slow the country’s nuclear program and continues to do so despite recent agreements reached to end the country’s nuclear ambitions.

The brazen hits were carried out using mostly car bombs, and the assassins were never captured, CBS News revealed Sunday in a shocking report as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington.

An unidentified US official disclosed the program to CBS while claiming the Obama administration is leaning on its Middle Eastern ally to stop the targeted killings and wait for the current deal to disarm to play out.
Netanyahu’s visit to the US capital is also expected to touch upon Israel – Palestine peace talks, and where the two nations stand on Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

An Egyptian court sentenced 26 people to death over allegations of forming a terrorist group and targeting the vital Suez Canal water corridor.

Cairo Criminal Court issued its verdict on Wednesday. All defendants but one was tried in absentia.

The prosecutors charged the group with planning attacks on ships passing the canal last year, security buildings, foreign tourists, Christians and police.

An al-Qaida-inspired group has claimed responsibility for a rocket-propelled grenade attack targeting the canal last year.

Egypt’s army-backed government resigned Monday, state-run Nile TV said.

The government headed by Prime Minister Hazem El Beblawi turned in its resignation to President Adly Mansour, the station said.

Analysts expect Army Chief Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi, who served as defense minister, to run for president.

In order to run, he will have needed to resign his military post.

A Syrian opposition figure says delegates to the peace talks in Geneva may hold bilateral meetings with U.S. and Russian officials on Friday.

The U.N. says there will be a three-way meeting in Geneva Friday including U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Gennady Gatilov and Wendy Sherman, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs.

Monzer Akbik, a senior member of the Syrian opposition delegation, told reporters Tuesday that the Syrian sides may join in bilateral meetings with the Americans and Russians.

Akbik also says officers from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army rebel group have arrived in Geneva to help coordinate security issues related to the peace talks.

The Syrian government announced Friday it will take part in a second round of peace talks in Geneva next week, as a first batch of civilians prepared to leave besieged rebel-held areas in a battleground Syrian city under an evacuation deal struck with the United Nations.

The Syrian opposition has also said it will take part in the second round of talks. The first was adjourned with no signs of progress on Jan. 31.

The negotiations aim to broker a political solution to Syria’s civil war. The nearly three-year conflict has killed more than 130,000 people, forced more than 2.3 million to seek refuge abroad, and sent sectarian tensions soaring across the region.

State TV quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad as saying that the government delegation will head to the talks scheduled to resume on Monday in Geneva.

Also Friday, the governor of the central Syrian province of Homs said the evacuation of civilians from besieged rebel-held neighborhoods in the provincial capital is expected to begin “within hours.”