The Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Akhmim decided today to cancel all celebrations of the New Year and Christmas in the context of confronting the Corona virus. Christmas Liturgy will be limited to priests and a few deacons without the participation of the congregation.

The Minya Criminal Court issued today its decision to renew the detention of the defendants of Barsha village incident. The defendants are accused of publishing insulting phrases for Islam on their Facebook account.

The Diocese of Mallawi and the Ashmonin, under the auspices of His Eminence Bishop Demetrius, Bishop of Mallawi, announced the suspension of New Year celebrations. Statement added that the services in the diocese will return afterwards and churches will hold the holy masses with attendance rate of 25% of their capacity.

The Diocese of Minya and Abu Qurqas announced under the patronage of His Eminence Bishop Makarios it will hold the spiritual celebration and Holy Mass of the New Year while maintaining strict precautionary measures. Bishop Makarios said that all services were suspended except for the celebrations of the New Year and the Holy Masses.

Yousam Safety, lawyers of the Copts of Barsha village called to the release of the Cotps who are accused of defaming of Islamic religion on their account on Facebook. He added that the situation in the village now is stable and the families only demand the return of their family to celebrate Christmas with them.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of Saint Mark Episcopate, received at the Papal Headquarters in Cairo today, HG Bishop Maqar Bishop of Al-Sharqiya and the tenth of Ramadan. Spokesman for the Coptic Orthodox Church said that during the meeting, some pastoral matters related to the diocese were discussed.

Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, Minister of Youth and Sports, congratulated the Egyptian champion Rami Al-Subaie known as "Big Ramy" for winning the title of Mr. Olympia, praising the champion s determination and ability to win after recovering from Corona virus infection. This came during a press conference to honor the Egypt champion for his unprecedented achievement.

Egyptian Ifta House warned in a statement of potential terrorist attacks on churches on Christmas. This came after terrorist groups invited its members to carry out attacks on Christmas especially in Europe.

HG Bishop Makarios of Minya and Abu Qurqas received Mrs. Souad Thabet, known as "The Lady of Karm village after the decision of the Attorney General, Counselor Hamada Al-Sawy, to study the aspects of appeal to the judgment to acquit the defendants. The National Council for Women in Minya had praised the decision of the Attorney General assuring it comes to save rights of Egyptian women and not only the Lady of Karm village.

The Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center in Germany condemned the judgment issued by the Minya Criminal Court to acquit those accused of attacking and stripping an old Coptic woman in Karm village before they drag her in the streets. Statement of the center said that such the verdict reveals the penetration of the terrorist extremist ideology of fanatics into the state apparatus.

Bishop Malarious, General Bishop of Minya and Abu Qurqas, held his weekly meeting today at the church of St. Anthony in Fekria. The meeting was held several preventive measures adopted by the Coptic Orthodox Church to prevent the spread of the Corona virus.

Bishop Youannis of Assiut celebrated today the Holy Mass at the church of St. Mark in Assiut. Several preventive measures were applied to prevent the spread of Corona virus.

The Coptic Orthodox Church in Abbasia celebrated today the 4th anniversary of the martyrs of St. Peter Church in Abbasia. The church was targeted in 2016 by a terrorist attack, which resulted in the death of 29 church members and the injury of 31 others.

Major General Osama Al-Qadi, governor of Minya, said that the Minya governorate centers is holding several activities to support Citizenship, through a set of awareness campaign and educational activities. Mendy Okasha, Director of Youth Directorate, said that several courses will be offered to the participants including handicrafts and spots activities.

Bishop Aghathon of Maghagha ordained 40 new deacons at the church of St. George in Ezbet Ghattas Church. The deacons were ordained at the basic rank of Ebsaltus translated chanters before the bishop visited several projects of the church including a school and service building.

Bishop Wissa of Balina decided to suspend all services, activities and Sunday schools in the churches of the diocese. He decided to prevent congregation from attending the Holy Masses of Sunday and Friday, and only allow them to attend weekdays masses with reservation.

A report was published in the Egyptian media explaining why the Coptic Orthodox Church allows Copts to eat Fish and seafood on the Christmas fast, except on Wednesdays and Fridays. The monastery of Saint Damiana in Belqas explained that the church allowed eating fish because the word fish is in the Greek language is almost the same as Jesus. Moreover, fish is considered the purest type of animal, because it self-reproduces, without mating, and is considered one of the least desirable types of meat. It is worth mentioning that Jesus Christ has conducted many miracles related to fish.

Father Georgios, priest of Abu Sven Church in Bassous, south of Qena Governorate, participated at the opening of the Al-Azhari Elementary Institute, which was considered a gesture of love to the Muslim community. Sheikh Ahmed Abdel Sayed, director of the institute, praised the participation of the priest, which came along with several officials of the governorate.

Ms. Estalia Faraj, who was injured at Al-Barsha village attack left hospital after receiving treatment and her situation became stable. A customary reconciliation sessions was held at Al-Barsha village crisis where clergy and senior officials came together to assure unity and refute sedition.

Like other sectarian incidents, people held customary reconciliation sessions causing the waste of rights. This scenario was repeated at Al-Barsha village crisis where clergy and senior officials come together to take photos to hide and acquit the defendants. Coptic activists assured that such customary reconciliation session waste the rights and prevent the application of the law, which opens the door to repeat the same attacks over and over without stop.

Osama Al-Qadi, Governor of Minya, inspected today the development of the second phase of the path of the Holy Family project in Samalout. He said that there are 3 projects in the tourism and antiquities sector in the governorate with a total cost of 225 million pounds, which includes the project of reviving the path of the Holy Family in the Deir Jabal Al-Tayer area in the Samalut Center, developing the Islamic Bahnasa Antiquities Zone in the Bani Mazar Center, as well as completing the project for the construction of the Atomic Museum in the Nile Corniche.