LUXOR, Egypt – A security official in Egypt says a mob of angry Islamists has burned shops owned by Coptic Christians near the ancient city of Luxor hours before a trial for a Coptic Christian accused of blasphemy.

A security official in Egypt says a mob of angry Islamists has burned shops owned by Coptic Christians near the ancient city of Luxor hours before a trial for a Coptic Christian accused of blasphemy.

An Egyptian court resumed on Monday the trial of ousted President Mohamed Mursi and 35 other Muslim Brotherhood leaders over allegations that they spied for foreign bodies.

You might recall the case of 27-year-old Meriam Yahia Ibrahim, a pregnant Christian woman married to a naturalized American citizen who was imprisoned in Sudan, which we reported here.

Human rights group Freedom for the Brave organised a protest on Sunday calling for the release of detained Al Jazeera journalist, Abdullah Elshamy, and fixer Mohamed Sultan.

An Egyptian court sentenced on Saturday 34 Muslim Brotherhood supporters to two years, fining them 1,000 pounds each, and acquitted two others over clashes in Old Cairo during celebrations of the third anniversary of the January 25 uprising.

The new draft House of Representatives Law will include seats for women, Copts, as well as Egyptian expats and special needs representatives, reported Al-Ahram newspaper Sunday.

The Giza Criminal Court decided on Monday to postpone the trial of 20 Al Jazeera journalists in the case known as the “Marriott Cell” to 5 June to hear the prosecution's defense.

Three police officers were injured in a targeted explosion south of Sheikh Zuwayed in North Sinai Sunday evening, an official source said.

Alexandria police on Sunday referred a well known activist to prosecutors on charges of possession of material "insulting the armed forces."

On Friday, 16 May, as part of a group of diverse national and religious background, I had the opportunity to attend the moulid, or festival, of St. Dimyana at her namesake monastery in the village of Dimyana in the district Barrary-Belqas in the Egyptian Delta. In general, the trip, organised by the Center for Arab-West Understanding, provided a fascinating look into the dynamics of a popular religious celebration, as well as into the lives of the nuns that live and work on the grounds of the monastery.

Brotherhood supporters marched on Al-Haram street on Wednesday evening, disrupting traffic and chaning slogans against the armed forces and the police in an expression of their rejection of the presidential elections.

Amid the preliminary results of Egypt's presidential poll announced on Thursday, a "third revolutionary wave" has been declared by the largest coalition supporting ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour issued a presidential decree on Thursday cancelling Mohamed Morsi's presidential decree to pardon over 50 Islamists imprisoned on terrorism-related charges.

Giza Criminal Court headed by Judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata will resume Thursday the trial of 51 Muslim Brotherhood leaders including group Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie in the case known as Rabaa task force.

Pope Francis and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traded words on Monday over the language spoken by Jesus two millennia ago.

An Egyptian soldier was shot dead by unknown attackers in Sinai's Rafah on Wednesday, security sources said.

On Wednesday, gunmen killed an Egyptian soldier at Salah Eddin Square in Rafah, North Sinai.

Sources within the Nour Party, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the members dfied the instructions of the party leaders to vote for Sisi and boycotted the presidential elections.

Since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime president Hosni Mubarak, the Arab world’s most populous country, Egypt, has faced an uncertain future. Briefly ruled by the long-repressed Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt was retaken by its dominant military after widespread dissatisfaction with the rule of president Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood member.