We’ve all heard of the biblical “road to Damascus” but, in the case of two childhood friends, the path has led away from the Syrian capital all the way to West Cork.

The Irish-Egyptian siblings being held in Egypt may have been on the security forces’ watch list after they addressed hundreds of thousands of protesters several weeks ago.

A crowd of about 300 villagers yelled “death to the US” and blocked a main road in eastern Afghanistan today as they swore that US forces had killed three innocent villagers, officials said.