Syria's UN ambassador will head the government delegation to upcoming peace talks, a Syrian daily reported Tuesday, while the opposition said it would be represented by rebel negotiator Mohammad Alloush.

Istanbul's governor says that the New Year's nightclub attack that killed 39 people was executed on behalf of the Islamic State group.

A number of Egyptian MPs told reporters Monday that several parliamentary committees are currently finalising a report on the "crimes of the Muslim Brotherhood" to be submitted to US Congressmen and officials next week. The report will be presented by an Egyptian delegation arriving in Washington 21 January – one day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as the new president of the United States.

Ehab Ramzy, lawyer of the Christian woman who was stripped of her clothes by a Muslim mob in Minya, said he would resort to the last legal step he could take regarding the incident, which is filing a grievance with the top prosecutor to reinitiate investigations.

Egypt blasted the EU and Britain on Saturday for criticizing a recent court decision to freeze the assets of three rights activists, accusing both of double standards, telling them to mind their own business, and demanding that it be left alone to pursue its goal of becoming a "modern" state. An Egyptian court on Wednesday ruled to freeze the assets of three rights activists, including a prominent women's rights campaigner, Mozn Hassan. It's the latest chapter in a widening crackdown against civil society groups that includes travel bans and a recent law that gives security agencies extensive powers over their work.

Egypt's state news agency says the state prosecutor has ordered the arrest of an Al-Jazeera TV news producer for "fabricating reports" on the country's internal situation with the aim of harming national security and sedition against the state.

Egypt's Grand Mufti Shawky Allam held a meeting in Cairo on Thursday with a visiting Dutch parliamentary delegation, in which he said that terrorism and violent extremism constitute a threat to every country in the world.

France said on Thursday Syrian peace talks should resume as quickly as possible under the auspices of the United Nations and appeared to question plans for Russian-backed discussions on the subject in Kazakhstan.

North Sinai security services thwarted an armed attack against two checkpoints in Sheikh Zuwaid city on Wednesday.

An offshoot of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has claimed responsibility for last week's car bomb attack on a checkpoint in western Turkey, a news agency which regularly releases news from the PKK said on Wednesday.

The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s attacks on North Sinai police checkpoints which Egyptian authorities say killed eight policemen and one civilian. The militant group claimed that the death toll was higher than that reported by Egyptian authorities. “Twenty-five policemen were killed on Monday in a surprise attack launched by the Islamic State’s fighters on El-Matafe checkpoint in El-Masaeed neighbourhood west of Al-Arish in North Sinai,” the group’s Amaq news agency said in a statement.

Iraqi forces have fought their way into two more southeastern districts of Mosul but their advances are being slowed by Islamic State (IS) tactic of using civilians for cover, a military spokesman said on Tuesday. The United Nations said civilian casualties had streamed into nearby hospitals in the last two weeks as fighting intensified in the Islamist militia's last major stronghold in Iraq.

Two militant attacks hit two police checkpoints at dawn on Monday in the North Sinai city of Al-Arish. Both attacks left eight policemen and one civilian killed, according to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry’s official Facebook page.

The Giza Criminal Court decided on Monday to suspend the trial of 379 defendants in the case known as “Al-Nahda sit-in dispersal” until the court rules a final verdict in the dissolution of the case’s judges’ panel.

The Libyan army announced on Sunday that it has killed an Egyptian militant affiliated with the IS group in the east of Libyan town Ajdabiya, Al-Ahram Arabic website reported, citing a Libyan army source.

A car bomb blast killed at least 12 people and wounded 50 others at a vegetable market in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, police and medical sources said. The explosion hit the mainly Shi'ite district of Jamila, the sources said.

Four more suspects have been arrested over involvement in Botroseya Church blast, which occurred last month leaving 28 worshippers dead.

The Shubra El-Kheima Criminal Court sentenced Thursday three Muslim Brotherhood members to five years in prison in the case of blocking Qalyub highway. The sentenced defendants include Abdel-Rahman Al-Bar, the group’s top cleric, local media reported.

Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayeb paid a visit on Wednesday to the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo to offer tidings to Pope Tawadros II on the occasion of the Coptic Orthodox Christmas on 7 January. El-Tayeb was accompanied by high clergymen and youth from Al-Azhar institution.

Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi and other high ranking officials from the Armed Forces paid a visit on Wednesday to Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral where they met with Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria to congratulate him on the occasion of the Christmas feast, according to a video released on the army spokesperson’s Facebook page.

Egypt's endowments minister visited on Tuesday Pope Tawadros II in the Abbasiya Cathedral to extend his good wishes prior to the Eastern Coptic Christmas on 7 January, state news agency MENA reported.