The three Egyptian churches have excused themselves from the televised national dialogue session called for by President Mohamed Morsy for Tuesday.

Controversial Egyptian Islamist Ahmed Abdullah, known as Abu-Islam, was freed on bail on Monday after he was held in custody for four days on charges of insulting Christianity, a judicial official said.

A group of Islamists surround the Abu Maqar Church in Shubra al-Kheima on Monday in an attempt to stop construction on the church's annex, claiming that the building is not licensed, said sources from the Qalyubiya security department.

The Nour Party said on Monday it would put an end to its criticism of President Mohamed Morsy over the dismissal of his advisor Khaled Alam Eddin, out of appreciation for Morsy and in preparation for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

Deputy head of the Salafist Nour Party Bassam El-Zarqa announced on Monday that his party will stand in the parliamentary elections, which are due to start on 22 April.

The Salafi Jihad Movement announced that it's political arm, the Islamic Party, would run in the upcoming House of Representatives elections in alliance with Jama'a al-Islamiya, the Nation Party, Hazemon and the Salafi Front.

"We're told it's a good thing that they decided to change the date of parliamentary elections to avoid their falling on the Easter holidays," said Nabil, a Coptic-Christian silversmith in Cairo's Heliopolis district. "I was really dismayed by the original date, but – let's face it – these aren't the easiest times for Christians."

Hassan Malek, a prominent businessman and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, called on investors to break the state of frustration and artificial despair they face on a daily basis, and focus on working and taking on challenges toward the goal they yearn to achieve.

Aboud El-Zomor, Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya leader and member of the Shura Council, stated Sunday to Ahram Arabic website that "Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya electoral alliances will separate from the Muslim Brotherhood, Freedom and Justice Party, and the Salafist El-Nour Party."

Pope Benedict, speaking in his last Sunday address before becoming the first pope in almost six centuries to step down, said he was following God's wishes and that he was not abandoning the Roman Catholic Church.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) will win a majority of seats in upcoming parliamentary elections, the party's media advisor predicts.

Calls from Egypt's opposition to boycott this year's parliamentary elections is considered to be "political bankruptcy" as the voter bloc that will cast ballot for opposition groups is negligible, stated Mohamed Zidan, spokesman of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim has denied that a "Brotherhoodization" of the police is underway, and has also said that representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood Guidance Bureau do not attend meetings of the police's supreme council.

Egyptian prosecutors ordered controversial Islamist preacher Abu-Islam Ahmed Abdullah to be held in detention for four days detention pending investigation into an accusation of insulting Coptic Christian women on his TV show.

A meeting will be held between the presidential council and the supreme body of the Nour Party Sunday, after which the party will decide whether or not it will compete in House of Representatives elections in April, said party spokesperson Nader Bakkar.

Shura Council Speaker Ahmed Fahmy said he has received information from the president's office confirming that the date of House of Representatives elections will be changed in order to avoid conflicts with Coptic Christian holidays.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said it doesn’t interfere in the affairs of the presidency or any other executive bodies.

In recent years, Egypt has witnessed an increase in cases of disappearance among Coptic girls. According to the Association of Victims of Abduction and Enforced Disappearances (AVAED), 500 cases were reported in 2012 and 10 already in January 2013.

Egyptian prosecutors have questioned an award-winning novelist over accusations he insulted religion, in the latest of a series of cases to cause concern over freedom of expression in Islamist-run Egypt.

The head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, Coptic Patriarch Tawadros II, has insisted that statements attributed to him in Middle Eastern newspapers, saying the country's rulers should be obeyed, are entirely false.

An Egyptian court ruled on Wednesday that policemen may grow beards, ending a decades-old convention barring them from making what is often seen here as a display of Islamic piety.