Opponents and supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi have taken to the streets of Cairo, converging on the presidential palace in another day of demonstrations that have gripped the capital.

Thousands of Morsi supporters gathered outside the Al-Azhar mosque for the funerals of two men killed in this week's bloody clashes.

VOA's Cairo Bureau Chief Elizabeth Arrott said anti-Morsi crowds are also marching and have given no indication they plan to back down any time soon.

Syrian activists say the army has bombed two Damascus suburbs and poured in military reinforcements in an effort to try to reclaim territory controlled by rebels.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday the army fired rockets at the rebel-held Daraya and Moadamiah suburbs southwest of the capital. The group said it feared that troops massing on the suburbs' outskirts could be the prelude to an imminent ground assault.

Attacks by Somali pirates have fallen dramatically in 2012, a development chalked up to multi-national naval efforts, increased security measures by ships, and developments on land in Somalia.

In the Regional Marine Rescue Coordination Centre, overlooking the port in Mombasa, Kenya, officers watch monitors displaying the location of all the ships along the Horn of Africa.

Vessels continuously broadcast signals to the center, but if hijacked by pirates, the signal is cut and they disappear from the screen.

Afghan officials say the country's intelligence chief is in surgery after being wounded in an assassination attempt in Kabul.

The National Security Directorate said Asadullah Khalid was wounded in what it called a “terrorist attack” Thursday when an explosion hit a guest house in the capital. Khalid reportedly suffered injuries to the lower part of his body, but medical officials say they are not life-threatening.

President Hamid Karzai visited Khalid in the hospital and said he may be sent abroad for treatment.

U.S. and allied forces would face major challenges if they intervene in Syria's civil unrest to prevent President Bashar al-Assad from using chemical weapons against his own people, according to military experts.

​U.S. news media began discussing the possibility of a U.S.-led intervention in Syria after the United States and its partners in the NATO alliance warned that they would not stand by if Mr. Assad tried to use chemical munitions in the conflict, or if he lost control of such weapons to certain militant groups in the country.

As U.S. officials raise the alarm about perceived Syrian government preparations to use chemical weapons in the country’s civil war, some analysts see those weapons playing other roles in the conflict.

They say the United States and its allies also are weighing several options and risks in planning their response to the threat of chemical warfare in Syria.

The threat appeared to grow Monday as U.S. officials said intelligence sources detected moves by Syrian authorities to combine the components of the nerve agent sarin.

Citing the appearance of bias, the highest military appellate court yesterday ordered the removal of Army Col. Gregory Gross as trial judge in the court-martial of an Army psychiatrist accused in a November 2009 shooting spree at a deployment center.

Maj. Nidal M. Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

Demonstrators in Egypt gathered Tuesday in a march on the presidential palace to protest against President Mohamed Morsi and an upcoming referendum on the constitution. News outlets are also protesting what they consider as a clampdown on press freedoms.

Leaders of the protest, including former presidential candidates Amr Moussa, Hamdeen Sebahi and Mohamed ElBaradei dubbed it a “final warning” to Morsi to withdraw the draft constitution. The draft law was hastily approved Friday by a committee from which secular, leftist and Christian members had withdrawn.

African Union troops and Somali government forces captured the key port city of Kismayo from militant group al-Shabab in October. Since then, the AU and government troops have established a heavy presence in and around the city, and have beefed up security with the aim of preventing further al-Shabab attacks.

Sixteen-year-old Ahmed Ali Olow is locked up in an abandoned, windowless charcoal storage facility that serves as a prison. The prison doesn’t have a door, only a small hole that is blocked by a rusty old freezer, which only the guards can move.