Boko Haram gunmen massacred residents who tried to jump into Lake Chad seeking safety and burnt others alive after overpowering soldiers in a weekend attack in the restive region, a witness said Monday.

A military court in the seaport city of Suez sentenced four people affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood to life in prison in absentia on Monday.

Security sources in North Sinai announced on Monday that nine militants allegedly belonging to Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, a terrorist group active in North Sinai, were killed during a crackdown by the armed forces and police in south Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah.

A military court in Suez on Monday sentenced eight Brotherhood members in absentia to 15 years in prison as well as life imprisonment for inciting riots and violence.

International rights watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the Egyptian authorities of carrying out an unfair trial against former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, in a statement it published on Sunday.

Is there hope? Here we are just a few weeks following the celebration of our Lord’s glorious resurrection,​ and we are struggling. The media is still reporting genocide. Christians from different countries are being beheaded, raped​,​ and thrown overboard for their conviction to their faith. We are saddened​,​ and they are dying. Various Christian leaders are heralding ​that ​we have reached the end times. The future of Christianity seems so very bleak.

Some 17 alleged takfiris (hard-line Islamists) were killed in an attack by a military plane against militants on the desert road south of Sheikh Zuwayed, North Sinai, Youm7 reported Sunday.

Four people were killed in an explosion on Saturday at a makeshift farm building in Beni Suef governorate in Egypt in what police said was a bomb-making operation gone wrong.

Islamist rebels in Syria have taken over the key north-western town of Jisr al-Shughur, activists say. It was the last major town under government control in Idlib province. Correspondents say it may give rebels a route to the ruling elite's heartland.

Pope Tawadros II and a number of church leaders have participated in an Armenian genocide centenary conference held in the capital Yerevan entitled “Remember and Demand”.

Yasser Borhamy, vice president of the Salafi Dawah, addressed a YouTube video circulating online of an Egyptian woman verbally attacking the mufti at the Egyptian embassy in the Netherlands, calling it an act of insolence.

Cairo governor Galal Saeed attended the restoration of the Mar Girgis Monastery ceremony in Old Cairo Thursday, acting for President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, Youm7 reported.

A shell hit a house in North Sinai's Sheikh Zuweid city, leaving one dead and four injured, the state news agency MENA said.

Tens of thousands of Ethiopians marched through the capital Wednesday in a government-organised rally condemning the murder of a group of Ethiopian Christians by Islamic State (IS) militants in Libya.

A total of 174 Muslim Brotherhood detainees were ordered released Wednesday by Attorney-General Hisham Barakat due to their medical conditions, Youm7 reported.

Minya Criminal Court sentenced in absentia 22 Muslim Brotherhood members to 15 years of imprisonment on Wednesday.

Egypt's former ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was given 15 days of detention on Tuesday over new charges related to a massive sit-in held by his supporters after his ouster in 2013, just hours after being slapped with 20 years in prison in another case.

One of Egypt's wealthiest businessmen, Naguib Sawiris, testified for the defense on Wednesday at the retrial of two Al-Jazeera television journalists, possibly boosting their standing in a case criticized from abroad.

With former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi receiving the first prison sentence since his ouster after the mass 30 June protests, Islamist entities, including the Muslim Brotherhoods continue their support.

A Cairo court sentenced former Egyptian president Mohamed Mursi to 20 years of maximum security prison for charges of show of force and detention associated with physical torture during deadly protests in 2012, on Tuesday.

An estimated 150 persons gathered in Giza Tuesday afternoon to protest the morning ruling that sentenced former president Mohamed Morsi to 20 years in prison, Youm7 reported.