The recently-announced presidential candidacy of leading Muslim Brotherhood figure, Khairat El-Shater, and the suspected illegibility of Salafist poster-child, Hazem Salah Abu-Ismail, to run for president, has fuelled speculation over May's eagerly-anticipated elections.

In a press conference on Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Freedom and Justice Party defended their decision to go back on an earlier resolution not to field a candidate in the upcoming presidential election. Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie said that when the group made the decision not to run it was "being sincere, and when it decided to nominate Khairat al-Shater, it was also was honest with the people."

The Salafi Scholars Shura Council, which includes prominent preachers like Mohamed Hassan and Mohamed Yacoub, criticized the Muslim Brotherhood for fielding Khairat al- Shater in the presidential elections.

The Coptic Orthodox Church decided to boycott the Islamist-dominated panel charged with drafting Egypt’s future constitution, state-run news agency MENA reported Monday. The 20-member Holy Synod made a unanimous decision to withdraw the two church officials elected to the committee.

A deft businessman and politician tempered by years in Hosni Mubarak's prisons, Khairat al-Shater is aiming to bring Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to the pinnacle of power for the first time in its 84-year history. But his candidacy for the presidency has exposed rifts within the Islamist group's ranks, worried liberals and could turn up the heat in a row with Egypt's ruling army.

Saad El-Husseini, a Muslim Brotherhood MP, says the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Brotherhood's political wing, has drawn up the basic features of the constitution to be drafted by the Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly.

The Social Popular Alliance Party condemned the imprisoning of eight activists who were protesting in solidarity with Copts following the bombing of the Two Saints Church in Alexandria on New Year’s Eve in 2010. The party said in a statement Sunday that imprisoning activists is a “crime against the revolution.”

Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church has announced it is withdrawing from talks on a new constitution, saying Islamist domination of the drafting body made its participation "pointless," Egypt's state news agency said.

In a major policy turaround, the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful political force, has asked its second in command, Khairat El-Shater, to resign from the organisation inorder to run for president in the elections set for May.

Hundreds of Christian pilgrims marked Palm Sunday in the Holy Land on Sunday, holding masses and processions retracing Jesus' triumphant return to Jerusalem. Palm Sunday marks the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem, where he was greeted by cheering crowds bearing palm fronds, according to the Bible.

Nour Party president, Emad Abdel-Ghafour, said on Sunday that the largest Salafist party has yet to officially endorse a presidential contender, refuting reports that it would back up businessman Khairat El-Shater, who has just parted ways with the Muslim Brotherhood – by mutual consent – in order to run for president.

The Holy Virgin and Anba Bola church in the village of Kidwan, Minya, was attacked this morning, and its contents completely destroyed. Fr Angelius Naim, the church’s priest told Watani that he left the church this morning after he had performed the funeral service for a 23-year old Coptic woman. A few hours later

Fury engulfed Egypt once the names of the 100-member constituent assembly tasked with drafting the constitution were announced last weekend. The list of names included some 60 Islamists, among them 37 MPs, all of whom were selected the previous day by Parliament during a joint session of both its houses. The other members included public figures, also selected by Parliament. Only six Copts were chosen; among them Rafiq Samuel Habib who is the second man in the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party

Prominent Egyptian Coptic-Christian thinker Michael Fahmy is calling for the establishment of a "Christian Brotherhood" along the same lines as Egypt's well-known Muslim Brotherhood movement. The idea is not a new one. In late 2007, Coptic journalist Joseph Nagy made asimilar proposal. The idea, however, was quickly shot down by both the Mubarak regime and Egypt's official Coptic Church under recently-deceased Pope Shenouda III.

The name and face of the Muslim Brotherhood leader, businessman Khairat El-Shater, has dominated the political sphere for weeks now, and for good reason. The multimillionaire has unrivaled leverage within the organisation and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, and enjoys enormous influence over the Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau and Shura Council, the two highest bodies within the group. But what has really gripped the attention of pundits and the media have been the slew of leaks from the Brotherhood that El-Shater may be the organisations' candidate for president, despite earlier promises that it would not be fielding a nominee.

Egypt's Coptic Church on Thursday issued a statement criticising the system used to form Egypt's recently-established constituent assembly, tasked with drafting a new national constitution. Half the members of the 100-seat assembly were drawn from Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliament – roughly three quarters of which is controlled by Islamist parties – and half from among non-parliamentarians.

The People's Assembly on Thursday lifted parliamentary immunity from Salafist Nour Party MP Anwar El-Balkimy following publication of a report into his conduct by parliament's legislative affairs committee. Parliamentary speaker and senior Muslim Brother Saad El-Katatni said El-Balkimy had request the move so he could fight the lawsuit against him.

Salafist presidential hopeful Hazem Saleh Abu-Ismail has denied rumours that he is ineligible to run as a candidate because his mother holds US citizenship. Media reports circulating since Wednesday evening claimed that Abu-Ismail's mother is an American citizen are completely false, Abu-Ismail said. Other reports claimed that his wife holds US citizenship as well.

The Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt announced Tuesday that it formed a committee to study candidates to replace the late Pope Shenouda III. The decision came after a meeting of the Holy Synod chaired by the acting pope, Bishop Pachomius, and attended by a large number of Coptic bishops from inside and outside Egypt.

The Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, launched a sharp attack on media outlets on Monday, accusing them of tarnishing the image of the group. “The devil inspires the media to create an image of the Brotherhood as a substitute of the National Democratic Party (NDP) that will destroy the country,” said Badie in a symposium in Beni Suef city, south of Cairo, marking the inauguration of the group’s headquarters in the governorate.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Shura Council decided to postpone until Tuesday 3 April a meeting to discuss the group's decision on the endorsement of a presidential candidate from inside or outside of the group. Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a council member, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the meeting was postponed for "more pondering," adding that "all the cards are on the table."