Softly spoken schoolgirl Mariam Malak has become an unlikely symbol of the fight against corruption in Egypt after scoring the sum total of zero in her final exams.

The Giza Criminal Court on Wednesday upheld a life sentence handed down in April to a convict for arson of Kerdasa’s Virgin Mary Church, Youm7 reported.

A Nour Party source speaking on condition of anonymity said the government ordered the party to run with two, instead of four, lists in the parliamentary elections, adding that the party agreed to do so in order to avoid threats to the security and stability of the country.

Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali ordered Monday the dissolution of 57 non-governmental organizations accused of affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood , Youm7 reported.

The Cairo Criminal Court postponed to Thursday the ongoing trial against former president Mohamed Morsi and 10 other defendants, to listen to the testimony of current Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Lieutenant General Mahmoud Hegazy.

This week the churches of Egypt celebrated Saint Verena's day. Saint Verena is known in the Coptic tradition as the mother of nuns and as the person who taught Europe the basics of general health and hygiene.

A planned protest demanding new elections for the Coptic Orthodox Church's congregation councils has been cancelled, said Wahid Shenouda, organizer of the protest.

The Giza Criminal Court has postponed the trial of ousted President Mohamed Morsi and 10 other leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood to Thursday, due to bad weather preventing Morsi's transfer from prison to the courtroom. He and the other leaders are accused of colluding with Qatar.

The Giza Criminal Court has sentenced Tarek Ibrahim, the Kerdasa church arsonist, to life in prison. Ibrahim had been handed down the same sentence in absentia, earlier, with 73 other outlaws. They were charged with possession of unlicensed and banned firearms, attempted murder, blocking public transport, resisting authority and deliberately setting fire to the Virgin Mary church in Kerdasa.

A commander of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group was killed by an Iraqi woman after he forced her to become a sex slave for his fighters.

Germany's foreign intelligence agency BND has collected evidence ISIS jihadists used mustard gas in an attack in Iraq, a German newspaper reported Monday.

France warned on Tuesday that it would be a mistake for Europe to take in all refugees persecuted by Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, and called for a plan of action to ensure the Middle East's diversity remained despite the mounting crisis.

Egyptian secularists are pushing for the country’s Islamist parties to be declared illegal amid an ongoing security clampdown on Islamists.

The armed forces killed 29 terrorist suspects in North Sinai in operation “Retribution for the martyr” launched on Monday night. According to a military statement, security raids cover Rafah, Sheikh Zuweid and Al-Arish.

An Egyptian court released a detailed ruling Sunday on why it sentenced Canadian Mohammed Fahmy and two other Al-Jazeera English journalists to three years in prison for airing what it described as “false news” and biased coverage, a case long criticized by press freedom advocates and others.

Death sentences handed to nine people charged with belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood were approved Monday by the Mansoura Criminal Court.

His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom issued the following statement on Friday:

A Kuwaiti media worker made contact with Muslim Brotherhood members to give them TV coverage, the Federal Supreme Court heard.

Egypt's Social Solidarity Ministry ordered on Monday the dissolution of 57 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) for "ties with the Muslim Brotherhood."

Egypt's prosecution referred at least 38 alleged Islamists, including an influential exiled cleric, to military trial Saturday, accusing them of setting up militant cells that killed a police officer.

Al Shabaab took control of a populous town in central Somalia on Sunday after African Union forces left the area – the third town the Islamist insurgents have seized since Friday, militants and local officials said.