Pilgrims from across the world descended on Jesus's birthplace in Bethlehem Wednesday to begin the global celebration of Christmas after a violence-plagued year brought suffering to many Middle Eastern Christians.

Christmas masses will be held at Catholic churches in Egypt on Thursday evening, amid tight security measures by the Interior Ministry and armed forces.

Egypt's top prosecutor referred a man to the criminal court on Tuesday for "threatening employees at embassies and consulates" in the country, two weeks after the closure of two embassies for security reasons.

Unknown saboteurs bombed on Tuesday the main gas pipeline south of al-Arish in Sinai, repeating what has become a common occurrence since the January 25 uprising which toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

On December 5, 2014, Interpol issued a “Red Notice” alert, seeking the arrest of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, at the request of the Egyptian government, on charges including, “Agreement, incitement and assistance to commit intentional murder, helping…prisoners to escape, arson, vandalism and theft.” Qaradawi’s support of terrorism led the United States to ban him from entering the country in 1999. Britain barred his entry in 2008, and France in 2012.

India is the latest country in which Christians have spoken out about their persecution. Christians of all denominations have issued a joint pre-Christmas statement in which they speak of “violence against our churches in various parts of the country, especially in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and now in the territory of the capital city Delhi”. This, they said, was a “well organised campaign, also by senior members of parliament belonging to the ruling party”.

As the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamist movement in general ‎face an existential problem in Egypt, and with the rise of militant ‎Islamist groups that found a margin to grow after the 25 January ‎‎2011 uprising, Nabil Abdel-Fattah, an expert in political ‎Islamist movements and editor-in-chief of the annual Religion in ‎Egypt report published by Ahram Center for Political and Strategic ‎Studies, shares with Ahram Online his views on the prospects for the new ‎relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and the state. ‎

The Giza Criminal Court sentenced on Monday former parliamentarian and Wasat Party leading figure Essam Sultan to a year's labour for physically and verbally assaulting policemen securing the North Giza Court.

Tchaikovsky's famed Nutcracker ballet... One of the standard repertoire elements, performed by the Cairo Opera Ballet Company, the ballet returns to the Cairo Opera's stage starting 25 December. With most performances taking place in the evening, the troupe will give one matinee performance on 29 December.

Nabil Abdel-Fattah, an expert in political ‎Islamist movements and editor-in-chief of the annual Religion in ‎Egypt report published by Ahram Center for Political and Strategic ‎Studies (Photo: Al-Ahram)

After a long wait, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis – a group active in northern Sinai – has moved from the stage of sympathizing with ISIS to being a part of the international organization. It has sworn allegiance to ISIS and changed its name to Wilayat Sinai. This is but one reflection of the growing radicalization among Egyptians, particularly Islamist youth.The formal announcement of the pledge of allegiance was delayed – after Ansar Beit al-Maqdis’ preacher prayed for ISIS during this year’s Eid al-Fitr prayers – because the group held a consultation between all jihadi factions in Sinai. While some of them objected to the pledge, given that they had already sworn allegiance to Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, in the end they agreed to support ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to sources close to the group.

Egypt's armed forces killed 14 "terrorists" in raids in Sinai from Thursday to Saturday, the army spokesman said on Sunday.

Egypt’s security situation is improving after over 10,000 people were detained since January, assistant to the Minister of Interior, Abdel Fattah Uthman, was quoted as saying in state-owned news agency MENA.

The Cairo Criminal Court Saturday postponed the trial of activist Alaa Abd El Fattah and 24 other defendants being tried on charges of involvement in clashes outside the Shura Council in 2013 until Dec. 27 to listen to defense testimony, Youm7 reported Saturday.

Hamas is committed to the Egyptian brokered ceasefire agreement, Deputy Head of the Political Bureau of the Hamas movement Mousa Abu Marzouk said Sunday.

Israel launched two air strikes on Gaza late Friday night, in response to rocket fire from Gaza earlier in the day. No Palestinian organisation claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks.

They were accused of taking part in acts of violence in Assiut last year during which five churches, several police stations and a number of shops were set on fire. There were no reported casualties.

Palestinian factions held a meeting in Gaza on Thursday to announce a new political initiative that seeks to revitalise a unity government.

Nader Bakkar, responsible for the Nour Party media affairs, criticized the government on Thursday for what he accused of hastily issuing the electoral constituencies law.

The South Cairo Criminal Court directed Thursday an acquittal verdict for 30 defendants on charges of possessing bladed weapons during the clashes of the June 30 Revolution, Youm7 reported.