Militants in southern Nigeria blew up gas and crude pipelines belonging to Shell and Agip in an increasingly fierce campaign that has cut Nigeria’s oil production in half, militants and residents said. A new militant group calling itself the Niger Delta Avengers said it dynamited a line linking Shell’s Bonny terminal and the Brass export terminal of Agip on Saturday. Syrian rebels have retaken two villages from Islamic State militants as they fight to undo gains made by the extremist group in a surprise offensive in Syria’s north Friday that displaced more than 100,000 people. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, said rebels retook the villages of Kafr Shoush and Braghida on Sunday, expanding their buffer around the rebel-held town of Azaz, home to tens of thousands of war refugees. The Islamic State advance threatened to swallow up the northern town, sparking alarm from relief organizations. 6 Egypt crackdown: A military court sentenced eight alleged Muslim Brotherhood members to death on terrorism charges Sunday, a security official and state media reported. Military prosecutors had accused the defendants of belonging to an illegal group and plotting to assassinate police and army personnel. 7 Racist ad: A Chinese detergent maker has apologized to black people hurt by the spread of an ad in which a black man “washed” by its product was transformed into a fair-skinned Asian man.