Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayeb paid a visit on Wednesday to the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo to offer tidings to Pope Tawadros II on the occasion of the Coptic Orthodox Christmas on 7 January. El-Tayeb was accompanied by high clergymen and youth from Al-Azhar institution.

Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi and other high ranking officials from the Armed Forces paid a visit on Wednesday to Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral where they met with Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria to congratulate him on the occasion of the Christmas feast, according to a video released on the army spokesperson’s Facebook page.

Egypt's endowments minister visited on Tuesday Pope Tawadros II in the Abbasiya Cathedral to extend his good wishes prior to the Eastern Coptic Christmas on 7 January, state news agency MENA reported.

The Western Cairo Prosecution ordered on Monday that the detention of police officer Karim Magdy and three other low-ranking officers be extended for an additional 15 days. Magdy and the others have been charged with torturing street vendor Magdy Makeen to death last November.

A suicide car bomb attack in a densely-populated neighbourhood of Baghdad on Monday killed at least 32 people and left dozens wounded, police and hospital officials said.

Turkish authorities believe the attacker who killed 39 people at an Istanbul nightclub over the New Year is linked to Islamic State (IS) jihadists and may be from Central Asia, the Hurriyet daily said. Hurriyet said

A military court in Upper Egypt's Assiut sentenced on Sunday 175 people to life in prison and acquitted 10 on charges of committing violence and storming the Malawy museum in Minya in 2013.

The Egyptian Armed Forces announced on Saturday evening that it has finished the renovation work on the St. Peter and St. Paul Church, which was attacked on 11 December by a suicide bomber allegedly affiliated with the Islamic State.

Security services in governorates across Egypt resumed on Wednesday tightened measures taken to secure churches ahead of the Christmas celebrations.

The Cairo Criminal Court ordered on Tuesday the release of ten defendants on health grounds in the case known as the “Rabaa sit-in dispersal”, which includes the Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide and 738 others.

Streets decorated with lights, trees with garlands and ornaments in most malls and city centres, people taking pictures with the tree while Christmas songs play in the background—this is the Christmas spirit in Egypt. Despite the fact that Christmas is a commemoration of the birth of Jesus, many Muslims share the different festive rituals of Christmas with Christians. For many Muslims, decorating their houses with Christmas trees, having dinner together on Christmas Eve, and exchanging gifts with friends are as essential as buying “Halawet El-Mouled” (candy distributed to celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad).

Pope Francis said on Saturday that Christmas had been "taken hostage" by dazzling materialism that puts God in the shadows and blinds many to the needs of the hungry, the migrants and the war weary.

The Muslim Brotherhood group has been hit by another internal dispute between two key factions, with rival members of the region's oldest political-Islam movement engaging in a war of statements via the media.

The Muslim Brotherhood group has been hit by another internal dispute between two key factions, with rival members of the region's oldest political-Islam movement engaging in a war of statements via the media.

The Cairo Opera Company has planned two shows for Christmas at the Small Theater of the Cairo Opera House. The shows are scheduled for December 22 and 23 at 8 pm and ticket prices range between LE10 and LE20. Performers who would take part in the two events include soprano Jacqueline Rafiq, baritone Ezzat Ghanem, and pianist Greg Martin.

Islamic State militants in Mosul are deliberately targeting civilians who refuse to join them as they retreat ahead of advancing Iraqi forces involved in a large-scale government operation to retake the militant-held city, an international watchdog said on Wednesday.

A terrorist belonging to the "Islamic State" (IS) group carried out a truck attack that killed 12 people at a Berlin Christmas market, a news agency linked to the jihadists said Tuesday.

10-year-old Maggy Mo'men who was injured in the Botroseya church bombing died of her injuries at Al-Galaa Military Hospital on Tuesday, bringing the death toll of the blast to 26.

Islamic State militants claimed responsibility on Tuesday for a shootout at a Crusader castle in the southern Jordanian city of Karak, in which at least nine people including a Canadian tourist were killed and scores injured.

Egypt Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar on Sunday suspended from work a police officer currently detained for alledgedly torturing a suspect to death.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Sherif Ismail decided on Saturday to compensate the families of the victims killed in the St. Paul and St. Peter Church bombing. The families of the deceased will receive EGP 100,000 in compensation, along with a monthly pension of EGP 1,500 per victim, local media reported.