St. Mary monastery in Dronka, Assiut, celebrated the fasting of the Virgin and started its annual celebration on that occasion. Hundreds of thousands of the Coptic people are visiting the monastery to attend the celebrations that will end on August 21.

Egypts Ministry of Interiors issued a statement to assure that an explosives-laden vehicle driven against traffic on a major road in Cairo plowed into oncoming cars. Statement added that that car was stoled couple of month ago and was moving explosives to be used in a terrorist attack planned by a terrorist cell of Hasm movement of the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist group. The collision caused a massive fireball which shattered the windows and facade of Egypts National Cancer Institute and killed at least 20 people.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patirarch of St. Mark See, visited the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Dr. Ahemd al-Tayeb to congratulate him on Eid al-Adha. The Coptic delegation included a number of members of the Holy Synod.

The Egyptian Ministry of Emigration is launching a campaign to encourage Egyptians abroad to visit Egypt aiming to improve the tourism industry. The participants share a 2 minutes video about Egypt and concludes it with the slogan of the campaign No_Place_Like_Home. The campaign was launched last month during the visit of Minister Nabila Makram to Canada.

Coptic Museum in Cairo organizes a celebration about friendship on Friend Day on August 3rd. Jihan Atef, head of the museum said that the celebration targets a group of the primary school students, and will teach them about museums and art workshops.

Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, received a number of Copts from the Netherlands who are currently visiting Egypt. The delegation was accompanied by HG Bishop Arsany of the Netherlands and a number of priests.

Pope Tawadros II received an African delegation currently visiting Egypt invited by the Egyptian Agency for Media and Development. They discussed the Coptic history and the relation between the Coptic church and other churches, before they exchanged presents and took pictures.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II received on Sunday morning the envoy of Cardinal of Austria Mr. Manuel Mann and received his invitation to attend the inter-church dialogue conference. Pope promised to participate, even with a delegate in case he was not able to attend.

Bishop Takla of Dishna honored the Coptic student Kirilos Anwar Girgis who achieved the best excellent marks in High school. Krilios who did t miss any grade in the exams is among the congregation of Archangel Michael in Rahmania, Dishna.

The Monastery of St. Shenouda in Suhag celebrated the feast of its patron saint in the presence of Bishop Ologious, head of the monastery, and Bishop Pachom of Suhag and monks of the monastery. The celebration continues to August 4th, and is usually attended by thousands of the Coptic congregation.

The Youth and Family Services in Abnoub and Fath diocese organized a conference at St. Mina and St. Abraam in Alexandria for the youth from July 4-6th entitled ‘Tower of Fortification’ and discussed atheism and the need for holiness. The diocese also organized a conference for the family from July 7-10, and discussed a number of challenges that face the families. The conferences were attended by Bishops Lucas and Bavly, members of the Holy Synod and a number of clergy.

Copts of Suhag celebrated yesterday the feast of St. Shenouda in his monastery in the west mount. The celebration was attended by Bishop Ologious, head of the monastery, and the monks and the congregation.

Manfalout diocese received its new Bishop, Abba Theofelis, and held the enthronement ceremony in the presence of 22 members of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church and a number of senior officials of Assiut. Hundreds of children received the new bishop with flowers and several speeches were delivered on that occasion.

Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zaid, ambassador of Egypt in Canada, opened the second Coptic Festival in Totonto in the presence of thousands of Egypitans in Canada, and Canadian Conservative Party leader Andrew Sher, prime minister of Ontario and a number of senior officials from the Canadian government. In his speech, Abu Zaid said that such festival reflects various components of the Egyptian culture, arts and civilization.

St. Antony s oasis in Minya witnessed yesterday the ceremony to distributing the cups of Keraza festival in the presence of governors of Minya and Assiut. The ceremony was attended by His Eminence Bishop Moussa of Youth and Bishop Agathon of Magaghah and Adwa, and Bishop Makarios of Minya and Abu Qurqas.

Bishop Youannis of Assiut promoted 3 priests to the rank of Hegumin. The promoted priests are Fathers Philip Kamel, Ephraim Youssef, and Toma Yacoub. This came at

HG bishop Hedra of Aswan ordained yesterday a new priest at the church of the irgin and St. Phlopatir in Kalah village. The ordination of Father Salib Samuel was attended by Bihsop Youacim of Esna and Armant.

The Egyptian cabinet headed by Dr. Mostafa Madbouly issued a decision to legalize 127 new churches and service buildings. This raises the total number of churches and service buildings so far to 1021.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of St. Mark See, received today priests of teh church of the Virgin in Ezbet al-Nakhl at the Cathedral of St. Mark in Abbasiya. They discussed problems and challenges of the service and offered a report about the church for the Pope who promised to visit them.

Churches of Qubba Gardens, Waily and Manshiyet al-Sadr organized the first faith conference with the participation of Pope Tawadros II and a number of members of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church and Coptic scholars. The conference discusses the book The Incarnation of the Word of God by Pope Athanasius.

n officer and 6 soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack west of El Arish in a terrorist attack in Sinai. The Interior Ministry announced that four terrorists were killed in the attack, one of which exploded by an explosive belt. Explosive belts, automatic weapons and grenades were also found with the terrorists.