Senior leaders in Egypt’s Orthodox Church denominational council have announced they will join opposition groups’ 30 June protests to demand early presidential elections.

Prosecutors in Daqahliya on Tuesday ordered the release of Dr. Aslan Hammouda, the man allegedly responsible for the death an Egyptian girl during a female genital mutilation (FGM) operation, pending investigation.

A policeman was killed in Sinai on Sunday after a confrontation with unidentified gunmen.

The United Arab Emirates found itself once again compelled to respond to the ‘biased’ accusations of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, denying claims that it was among the many countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to fund the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Minority Copts in Egypt continue to live with discrimination, oppression and persecution from the Islamic majority. Muslim attacks on Christians, random and unprovoked, are based on jihad and often sanctioned by the state—Coptic victims often hauled off to jail for the crimes committed against them. In 1,400 years, not one Egyptian Muslim authority – civic, social, or religious – has apologized, denounced, or condemned these actions, including an entire succession of Al-Azhar grand imams, leaders of Sunni Muslims.

Six Islamic extremists were handed lengthy jail terms in Britain on Monday for plotting a murderous attack on a far-right group.

Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II has denied that Christians migrating from Egypt has become a trend, adding that there have only been individual cases.

Al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, an Islamist movement based in Egypt, has said that civil groups are trying to destroy the nation and are wrong to think that demonstrations scheduled for the end of this month will bring about "another revolution".

Division within the Arab world and decline of the application of Islamic law in the region is the reason behind the loss of Jerusalem, according to the deputy head of the Salafi Da’wa (Salafi Calling). Yasser Al-Borhami made the comments during a conference in Gaza on Thursday.

Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II has denied that Christians migrating from Egypt has become a trend, adding that there have only been individual cases.

The Salafi Da’wa group is concerned about “the dangers of Shi’a expansion” in Egypt and is working to combat this.

Ongoing differences between Egyptian Salafist parties and the Muslim Brotherhood "cannot be denied," Yasser El-Borhami, deputy head of the ultra-conservative Salafist Call, said on Thursday. Speaking to the press during a visit to Gaza, El-Borhami added that, despite these differences, Salafist groups would "not allow the state to collapse," Egyptian state news agency MENA reported.

Eleven Islamist parties announced holding a national, popular dialogue on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Saturday. The parties met on Wednesday to discuss what could be done about the dam, which many fear will decrease Nile water shares to Egypt and Sudan. The meeting was followed with a press conference when they announced a set of points of agreement.

The European Court of Human Rights Thursday asked France not to deport a Coptic Christian who fled Egypt, saying he still risked religious persecution back home.

Egypt's Islamist parties have called, in a meeting initiated by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, for a new national conference to discuss responses to a Nile dam being built by Ethiopia. "Concerning the threat to Egypt's historical and legal rights to Nile water, we fully support the state's duty in protecting the inherent rights of its people," a joint-statement asserted.

Prominent intellectual figures stormed the main gate of the Culture Ministry on Wednesday afternoon to start a sit-in inside the ministry, protesting what they call the “Brotherhoodization” of the ministry. The protestors demanded the dismissal of Minister Alaa Abdel Aziz, and chanted anti-Muslim Brotherhood slogans.

The Construction and Development Party, the political arm of Jama’a al-Islamiya, slammed, on Tuesday, reform advocate and National Salvation Front Coordinator Mohamed ElBaradei for apologising to Ethiopia over the national dialogue session which discussed the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis.

Jama’a al-Islamiya said it is contacting other Islamist groups to lobby supporters of President Mohamed Morsy to participate in mass demonstrations on June 30, coinciding with protests planned by liberal opposition groups marking the first anniversary of Morsy’s inauguration as president.

Egypt's Islamist parties have called, in a meeting initiated by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, for a new national conference to discuss responses to a Nile dam being built by Ethiopia.

Ahram Online spoke to producer Mohamed El-Adl and publisher Mohamed Hashem about recent protests by artists and other members of Egypt's cultural scene against new culture minister Alaa Abdel-Aziz. Ahram Online (AO): Do you think the Minister of Culture, Alaa Abdel-Aziz, wants to "Brotherhoodise" the ministry, as some have argued was the case in the education ministry?

A group of Egyptian human rights groups on Tuesday issued a statement denouncing a recent court verdict against Coptic Christian lawyer Romani Mourad.