Egyptian Christians can now take paid vacations from work to perform a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Naguib Gabriel – the lawyer who successfully challenged the constitutionality of an article in a 1978 law for civil servants that grants Muslims paid vacation to perform the Hajj – told Ahram Online on Sunday.

The Council of Senior Scholars, the top body of al-Azhar institution, convened in an emergency meeting on Sunday to discuss the case of verbal divorce potentially being eliminated. The meeting was headed by Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayyeb.

Syrians fleeing the Islamic State (IS) militant group in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor are taking dangerous smuggling routes through mined territory to reach safety, but harsh conditions await near the Iraqi border.

Al-Qaeda is gaining ground in Yemen and could benefit from military actions like the deadly raid by elite US forces ordered by President Donald Trump, the International Crisis Group warned Thursday. "The Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda is stronger than it has ever been," ICG said in a report documenting the spread of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

More than 1,100 German police searched 54 homes, business premises and mosques in Frankfurt and other towns in the western state of Hesse in the early hours of Wednesday and arrested a Tunisian man suspected of planning an attack, German authorities said.

Some families of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks spoke out Tuesday against President Donald Trump's ban on travellers from seven majority-Muslim countries.

High-level security sources revealed that 39 suspects have been arrested and 10 terrorist cells destroyed in a crackdown across different areas in North Sinai. Joint police and army forces conducted crackdowns on outlaws and wanted suspects in Arish, Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah cities, the sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Leading Sunni Muslim body Al-Azhar, Egypt and Jordan on Monday condemned an attack in which six people were killed during prayers at a mosque in the Canadian city of Quebec. Gunmen stormed the Islamic Cultural Center in Quebec on Sunday evening, killing six and wounding eight before police arrested two alleged assailants.

Egypt's Prime Minister Sherif Ismail issued on Monday a decision to form a committee to legalise the status of churches that were constructed without licenses, in accordance with the 2016 law regulating the construction and renovation of churches.

US President Donald Trump has declared his support for Christians "executed in large numbers" in the Middle East, two days after he issued an immigration order that barred citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the US.

Six Syrians including Christians were turned away from Philadelphia International Airport in the United States and sent back to Lebanon, an official at Beirut airport told AFP on Sunday.

The militant Islamist group "Al Shabaab" said its fighters killed dozens of Kenyan troops when they attacked a remote military base in Somalia on Friday, while Kenya's army dismissed the report and said "scores" of militants were killed.

The Ministry of Interior said Wednesday that it arrested several people accused of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood banned group. “The National Security unit obtained information on plans of some Muslim Brotherhood members to irritate public opinion by taking advantage of the economic circumstances facing the country, and coordinate with extremist bodies to disturb security and order, through assigning their affiliated members to fabricate crises in several popular and workers’ fields,” a statement by the ministry read.

"Islamic State" (IS) militants put at least 12 people to death in execution-style killings in the ancient city of Palmyra, which they re-captured from the government for a second time in December 2016, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Thursday.

Eight leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood group in Cairo have been arrested, the Interior Ministry announced. The arrest took place during a group meeting where members were planning to "provoke the wrath of the public". According to a statement on Wednesday: “the ministry's national security sector was informed that terrorist leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood were planning a scheme to provoke the public regarding the country's poor economic situation, and were coordinating with extremist entities to harm national security. The group members were going to create several crises."

Egypt's Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) in downtown Cairo's Bab El-Khalq area is set to open its doors to visitors Friday after two years of closure for restoration and repair. On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany inaugurated the museum, in a ceremony attended by other top officials.

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.