A three-year prison sentence served to an Egyptian youth accused of atheism is part of a "wider government push to combat atheism and other forms of dissent," Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.

An Egyptian criminal court referred the case of four young men on trial on charges of spying for Al-Qaeda to Egypt's Grand Mufti to review the preliminary death penalty verdict reached on Monday. The final verdict is set for 8 February.

Egypt's Grand Mufti warned the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Tuesday against publishing a new caricature of the Prophet Mohammad, saying it was a racist act that would incite hatred and upset Muslims around the world.

The absentia conviction of four men was referred to Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam for an advisory opinion; the four were charged with collaborating with Al-Qaeda, MENA reported.

Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie told court on Sunday that he "has been framed in about 41 cases and all of them are slander.. they are revenge for a political dispute after the military coup."

Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarch Mathias I headed the divine liturgy Sunday morning at Our Lady of Zeitoun Church during his first visit to Egypt.

There is religious coordination between the Shiite institution Marja’ of Negev in Iraq and the Sunni institution of al-Azhar to combat terrorism, said Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab during a press conference with the Iraqi President Heidar al-Abadi Sunday.

Austria has detained two teenage girls after they tried to travel to Syria to marry fighters of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS), a spokesman for the prosecution said on Sunday.

Pope Francis has called for more regulation of financial markets and rejected suggestions that his criticisms of unbridled capitalism smack of Marxism.

Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarch Mathias I landed in Cairo early Saturday on his first visit to Egypt. Mathias I, who is to stay for six days, came to Egypt heeding an invitation from Pope Tawadros II.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi visited the Orthodox Cathedral in Abasseya Tuesday night during the Christmas mass, the first time an Egyptian head of state participated in a Christmas ceremony. Al-Sisi delivered his speech amid chants from the mass attendees.

Cairo Criminal Court announced it would issue a verdict April 21 in the case of 2012 Ithadeya clashes, in which former President Mohamed Morsi and 14 others are charged, reported Youm7 Thursday.

A delegation of Egypt's Copts Coalition on Thursday submitted a draft law on sectarian strife to Pope Tawadros II, who promised to study it and set a date to discuss it with them.

The Islamist militant group Islamic State, which seeks an Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria, and notorious for beheadings of foreign reporters, has failed in its attempt to win the hearts of Muslims, British ambassador to Cairo John Casson said.

The Arab League and Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious centre of learning, both condemned a deadly attack Wednesday on a Paris satirical newspaper.

Newly appointed intelligence chief Khaled Fawzy and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited the Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo’s Abasseya neighborhood to meet with Pope Tawadros on the occasion of the Christmas Mass Wednesday, Youm7 reported.

Al-Ahram’s French weekly, Ahram Hebdo interviews leader of the Coptic Church, PTII to discuss Egyptian civil, political and religious life.

Egyptian non-Islamist political activists whose names were included in a recent government ruling that ordered the seizure of the assets of over a hundred members of the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood, say they were targeted by a "vindictive" move meant to intimidate them.

Hooded gunmen stormed the Paris offices of a weekly satirical magazine renowned for lampooning radical Islam, killing at least 12 people, including two police officers in the worst militant attack on French soil in recent decades.

Egypt's leading Islamic authority, Al-Azhar, condemned a fatal attack by hooded gunmen on Wednesday on the Paris offices of a satirical magazine known for lampooning radical Islam.

Hundreds of people in Suez Monday evening attended the funeral of the two brothers who were shot dead on suspicion by police officers at a checkpoint. Protestors gathered outside the Suez Security Directorate and chanted slogans against the police. Security dispersed the crowd with tear gas and closed the streets leading to the directorate.