Cairo Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced seven expatriate Coptic Egyptians to death in absentia over involvement in the production of an anti-Islam film made in the US.

President Mohamed Morsy will not step back from the constitutional declaration he issued on Thursday, prominent Muslim Brotherhood figures told the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper Tuesday.

Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali stated late on Monday that President Mohamed Morsi's recent controversial decree would not be subject to modification, noting that the decree may have been "misunderstood" by the public.

President Mohamed Morsy will not step back from the constitutional declaration he issued on Thursday, prominent Muslim Brotherhood figures told the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper Tuesday.

Hundreds of Al-Azhar University students demonstrated on campus Monday in support of President Mohamed Morsy’s constitutional declaration and his decision to dismiss former Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud.

The Muslim Brotherhood has decided to postpone a mass protest it had called for Tuesday in Cairo in the interest of preventing violence, an official from the Islamist group's Freedom and Justice Party said on Misr 25 TV channel.

Clashes broke out between supporters and opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood in the large Delta town of Tanta, Ghariba governorate, in the late hours of Sunday as violence over president Mohamed Morsi’s decree escalated.

The Egyptian president's office said on Sunday it was committed to engaging "all political forces" to reach common ground on the constitution and stressed the "temporary nature" of a decree expanding President Mohamed Morsy's powers.

Ahmed Fahmi, chairman of the Islamist-dominated Shura Council (the upper, consultative house of Egypt's parliament), seized on Thursday's council session to criticise the constitutional declaration issued by President Mohamed Morsi on 22 November.

The Islamist group Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya on Sunday warned of increased violence and divisions in Egypt following President Morsi's Constitutional Declaration.

Jama’a al-Islamiya senior leader Nageh Ibrahim has warned that liberal political figures may be targeted for assassination during the next month.

The Muslim Brotherhood has declared that it would move its mass demonstration planned for Tuesday from downtown's Abdeen Square to Cairo University headquarters to avoid clashes with a rival demonstration planned to take place in Tahrir Square.

President Mohamed Morsy is expected to issue some important political decisions Thursday evening, sources within his office have said.

Mozakerat Mohamed Habib(Diaries of Mohammed Habib on Life, Politics and Thought) by Mohammed Habib, Cairo: Shorouk Publishing House, 2012. 528pp.

Environment Minister Mostafa Hussein Kamel vowed the government would remove a monastery encroachment on the Wadi al-Rayan reserve Tuesday, angering monks, who say they will defend their land with their lives.

A police officer was injured after intervening in clashes between Muslim Brotherhood members and protesters in Ismailia.

Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb and Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa visited Pope Tawadros II Wednesday to congratulate him on being ordained as the 118th pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Two Coptic activist movements have called for demonstrations Friday to condemn violence committed by security services during the ongoing clashes with protesters on Mohamed Mahmoud Street near the Interior Ministry.

Former Salafist Nour Party MP Ali Wanis has been sentenced to four months in jail by the Delta Appeal Court for performing an "indecent" sexual act in public and assaulting a police officer.

Muslim leaders will meet Thursday as Pakistan hosts a rare summit designed to increase trade and investment but likely to be overshadowed by the Gaza conflict as diplomats scramble to arrange a ceasefire.

Muslim Brotherhood students staged protests on Tuesday at seven universities across the country condemning the Israeli attacks on Gaza.