Al-Azhar s 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 top clergymen and youth from Al-Azhar institution, the country s highest Islamic Sunni authority. El-Tayeb congratulated the pope on the opening of the new cathedral in the New Administrative Capital, and stressed that the feelings of compassion and the exchange of visits between Muslims and Christians are in accordance with the teachings of Islam, which urge followers to communicate with their fellow countrymen.

The International Electronic Fatwa Centre of Egypts Al-Azhar Mosque has said that Muslims may greet and exchange gifts with Christians during their religious celebrations and on social occasions. In a fatwa, or religious edict, published on its official Facebook page, the centre said that tolerance and coexistence between Muslims and Christians, and courtesy for each other during holidays, weddings and social events, is not only acceptable but “desirable.”

Iraq sentenced more than 600 foreigners including many women and dozens of minors in 2018 for belonging to the Islamic State (IS) militant group, the judiciary said on Monday. Iraq declared "victory" over IS at the end of 2017 after a three-year war against the jihadists, who once controlled nearly a third of the country as well as swathes of neighbouring Syria.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has issued an order to set up a higher committee to prevent sectarian incidents in the country, the official gazette said on Sunday. The committee will comprise members of the Armed Forces, military intelligence, general intelligence, the Administrative Control Authority and the National Security Agency. The committee will be chaired by the president s advisor on security and anti-terrorism affairs.

Sudan s top Islamist party, a member of President Omar al-Bashir s government, called Wednesday for a probe into the killings of protesters in demonstrations that have rocked the economically troubled country. Angry crowds have taken to the streets in Khartoum and several other cities since December 19 when the government tripled the price of bread

Egypt condemned in "the strongest terms" on Tuesday a terror attack on the Libyan foreign ministry in Tripoli, which killed at least three ministry employees and injured others. In an official statement, Egypt s foreign ministry reiterated the importance of mobilising international support for UN efforts to achieve peace and security in Libya, especially in executing security arrangements in the Libyan capital, and that Libyan institutions should be solely responsible for handling the security situation in the country.

Hundreds of Coptic Catholics arrived at the Keyama (Resurrection) Church in Alexandria to attend the Holy Liturgy on Monday evening amid tightened security measures. The security services took over the security at the entrance to the church and closed the street where the cathedral is located from both sides to vehicles and put barriers to prevent the passage of cars to and from the street, especially in the area facing the cathedral. This move coincides with the start of the Christmas Mass.

Egypt s Armed Forces, in coordination with the Ministry of Interior, has intensified measures to secure New Year s and Christmas celebrations nationwide, a statement by military spokesperson Tamer El-Refai said on Monday. "The general command of the Armed Forces has taken every measure... to secure the celebrations of New Year and the glorious Christmas in all governorates of the Republic," the statement read.

A Cairo Court of Cassation has accepted an appeal by the head of Egypt s Muslim Brotherhood Mohamed Badie and 36 others, decreasing their prison sentences in the so-called Beni Suef violence case. The court reduced Badie s sentence from life imprisonment to 10 years. The remaining defendants had their sentences reduced from 15 years to three years.

Members of the Egyptian parliament s African Affairs Committee held a meeting on Thursday with Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II to discuss the expected role of the Coptic Orthodox Church in furthering Egypt s relations with African countries in 2019. The meeting comes a few days before Egypt takes over as chair of the African Union in 2019.

Egypt s Coptic Orthodox Church has decided to appoint a team of international lawyers to restore its legitimate ownership of the Deir Sultan Monastery in Jerusalem, said Ibrahim Azmi, the international media officer of the Coptic Orthodox Church, according to Al-Ahram Arabic news website. Azmi said that the church has also filed a complaint with the Ministry of Justice and the prime minister against the practices of Israeli police, and will also file a lawsuit to demand the right to restoration of the monastery.

Egypt s general prosecution has said that it is referring a police sergeant to criminal court over the murder of a Coptic man and his son in Upper Egypt s Minya last week. In an official statement, the prosecution said police sergeant Rabie Mostafa Khalifa, who was assigned to guard the Church of Nahdet El-Qadasa, was referred to court in an emergency session for killing Emad Kamal and his son David.

Shady Lewis Botros says his recently published novel — “Ways of the Lord” — can be broadly viewed as an attempt to answer one question: What it’s like to be a Christian in Egypt? The answer, given in stories narrated by the book’s chief character, is complex and often disheartening. It’s giving your children neutral names that don’t identify them as Christians in hopes they’ll have a sporting chance of progress in the mainly Muslim nation. It means facing baseless but dangerous charges of spying for Israel at time of war. It means turning off the lights at home and gathering the family in one room to escape the attention of a Muslim mob on the street.

Masked for centuries by the soot of candles and lately by scaffolding, the mosaics of Bethlehem s Church of the Nativity have been restored to their Crusader-era splendour in time for Christmas. Over the past 15 months, experts have cleaned and repaired surviving fragments of the 12th century masterworks, preserving 1,345 square feet (125 square metres) of what was once 21,528 square feet (2,000 square metres) of glittering gold and glass. The rest has been eaten away by wear, humidity, wars and earthquakes.

Police have arrested police guard Rabea Mustafa Khalefa over charges of killing two Orthodox Copts in front of the Church of Nahdet al-Qadasa on Wednesday in al-Serafa Street in Minya. The Diocese of Minya and Abu Qurqas stated that the guard shot at “Emad Kamal Sadek, 49, and his son David Emad, 21” after a quarrel erupted between them when they were lifting house ruins in front of Church of Nahdet al-Qadasa.

Egyptian security forces have killed 27 "very dangerous" terrorists during recent security operations, the Armed Forces said in a statement on Wednesday. The army said that 24 terrorists were killed in a shootout during raids in Sinai and Suez Canal cities, and that the terrorists were in possession of weapons and ammunition. Air forces killed three others in the country s Western Desert bordering Libya, it added.

A gunman entered a Catholic cathedral in the Brazilian city of Campinas on Tuesday and fatally shot four people attending midday mass before killing himself at the altar, fire department officials said. Four elderly people were seriously wounded by the man, who began shooting at the congregation with two guns, according to a spokesman with the fire department in Campinas, an industrial city 100 kilometers (62 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo, where the shooting took place.

Iraq s premier on Monday marked a year since his country declared victory against the Islamic State (IS) militant group by pledging to fight corruption next, even as he faces a political crisis within his government. A year ago, his predecessor announced the conclusion of a three-year battle to oust IS, putting an end to the so-called jihadist "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq after they seized swathes of Iraq.

An Afghan official says the Taliban have attacked an army checkpoint in the western Farah province, killing at least eight Afghan soldiers. Abdul Samad Salehi, a provincial council member, says the insurgents abducted another 10 soldiers in the attack late Saturday.

The first visit by a pope to the Arabian peninsula will take place in February when Francis travels to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the Vatican said on Thursday. The Feb. 3-5 trip, Francis latest to a predominantly Muslim nation, will be centred around the theme of inter-religious peace. The Vatican said the pope had accepted an invitation from Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and the small Catholic community there.

An Egyptian criminal court sentenced Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and five others Brotherhood figures to life in prison on Wednesday on violence-related charges which date back to 2013. Brotherhood leaders Khairat El-Shater and Mostafa Abdel-Azim, and two others, were also among those convicted to life in prison by the verdict on Wednesday. Other leading figures including Essam El-Erian, Mohamed El-Beltagy and former parliament speaker Saad Al-Katatni were acquitted, as were three other Brotherhood members.