Egypt's Coptic patriarch delivered a cautious but unusually sharp criticism of the nation's Islamist leadership in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, dismissing the new constitution as discriminatory and rounds of national dialogues sponsored by the president as meaningless.

Emad Abdel Ghafour, who resigned as chairman of the Salafi Nour Party, is another step closer to formally establishing his new Islamist political force.

The Islamic Forces Coalition, which consists of 13 Egyptian Islamic parties and movements, has called for the criminalisation of all "disruptive" political activity, including the blocking of streets and public squares.

Egypt's top cleric told visiting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday not to interfere in the affairs of Bahrain or other Gulf states, and to uphold the rights of his country's Sunni minority.

The Salafi Front and the National Center for the Defense of Freedoms condemned the arrest of four Islamist youth outside Al-Azhar Tuesday.

Pope Tawadros II visited the Al-Mahraq Monastery in Assiut on Monday to attend the sixth conference on the Coptic history of monasticism.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday he is ready "to be the first man in space" under Iran's ambitious programme which aims to send a human being into orbit by 2020.

The National Salvation Front (NSF), formed in the aftermath of President Mohamed Morsy’s constitutional declaration in November, has a foreign agenda that targets burning Egypt and its institutions through protests that demand downfall of the president, said Mohsen Rady, member of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)’s supreme body and party secretary in Qalyubiya.

Egypt’s Salafist Nour Party submitted a draft law on wages to the upper house of parliament, the Shura Council, through party members Salah Abdel Mabood and Ahmed Youssef on Monday.

The Salafi Nour Party decided not to participate in a demonstration planned for Friday called for by other Islamists, saying it hoped to avoid violence and chaos.

Mohammed el-Gindy, a 28-year-old activist, died of his wounds early Monday at a Cairo hospital

A fourteen year-old bone cancer patient in police custody is being refused chemotherapy treatment amid a rise in disappearances and arrests of minors.

Islamist group Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya and its political arm, the Building and Development Party, announced that it will hold mass demonstrations on Friday 15 February at Cairo University.

The North Cairo Criminal Court sentenced two men Monday to three years imprisonment for stealing an Armed Forces machine gun

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) announced their provision of medical help for over 230,000 citizens as part of their "Together we build Egypt" campaign launched on the second anniversary of the January 25 Revolution.

Salafist preacher Yasser Borhami has accused head of the Constitution Party Yasser Borhami of inciting violence through his social media statements.

Al-Gamaa Al-Islamyia's Building and Development Party has called for a "million-man" march on Friday because it fears the country is "sinking into a sea of chaos."

The Salafist El-Nour Party said Sunday it rejects demands echoed by a large number of demonstrators over the past weeks, calling for President Mohamed Morsi to step down, new presidential elections to be held, and for the new constitution to be amended if not abandoned.

After almost two months of ultimate solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafi Nour Party turned against its Islamist peers amid one of the severest political crises facing Egypt since the ascent of Mohamed Morsy to power.

Egypt's National Salvation Front (NSF), the main opposition bloc, and the Salafist Nour Party agreed on a unified initiative that aims to end Egypt's ongoing political crisis, following a meeting held in Cairo on Wednesday.

Around 150 Nour Party members in Giza resigned Thursday in protest over a meeting between Nour leaders and National Salvation Front figures earlier that day.