The Egyptian Foreign Ministry denounced the statements by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch issued in the wake of the cathedral blast, which occurred on Sunday in Cairo.

Egypt’s Coptic Catholic Church has cancelled Christmas celebrations on 25 December at its churches in a show of solidarity with the Coptic Orthodox Church over Sunday’s church bombing, though Christmas mass will still be held on Christmas eve at Catholic churches, Church spokesperson Father Rafic Greiche told news outlets on Thursday.

MPs called during a meeting of the Egyptian Parliament's Human Rights Committee on Tuesday, for the cancellation of religion classes at school, saying it creates generations of extremists. MP Essam Farouk said the cancellation of religion classes at schools has become a necessity. According to Farouk the fact that, during religion classes Christian minority students are required to leave their classes to receive Christian religion lessons in other rooms, communicates a negative message about them to their Muslim colleagues.

Egypt’s interior ministry said on Monday that people in connection with Muslim Brotherhood group were behind the bombing of St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Cairo. The blast, which coincided with the Muslim celebration of the Prophet’s Birthday, killed 25 and injured dozens of worshippers at the church attached to one of Egypt’s most symbolic sites for Copts, St. Mark’s Coptic Cathedral.

Egypt's Minister of Defence Sobhi Sedky visited Sunday’s Cairo church bombing injured survivors, who are receiving treatment at El-Galaa military hospital in the capital, the Egyptian Armed Forces spokesperson announced on his Facebook page.

The IS group has claimed responsibilty for the bombing at the St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, last Sunday.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi identified on Monday 22-year-old Mahmoud Shafiq Mohamed Mostafa as the suicide bomber behind the attack on the St. Peter and St. Paul Church which left at least 25 dead and 49 injured during mass on Sunday.

Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II will lead on Monday the funeral procession for the victims of the Sunday bombing inside a chapel at Cairo's main Coptic Cathedral, a church source told Al-Ahram Arabic news website on Sunday.

The Egyptian army has condemned Sunday's "cowardly" bomb attack targeting churchgoers at the Coptic Cathedral in Cairo's Abbassiya district, saying it will only increase the people's determination and solidarity in the face of terrorism and extremism.

An improvised explosive device (IED) with 12kg of TNT caused the explosion in the Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Abbasiya, according to a security official’s statement to state media. The death toll stands at 25 with 49 injured, according to state TV.

Afghan and American officials are increasingly worried that any deepening of ties between Russia and Taliban militants fighting to topple the government in Kabul could complicate an already precarious security situation.

Osama Morsi, the son of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, was arrested Thursday at his home in Sharqiya over charges related to what has been dubbed in the media as the Rabaa dispersal trial, according to Morsi's defense team.

Iraqi forces battled Islamist militants deep inside Mosul Wednesday, edging closer to the River Tigris that divides the city and looking for a breakthrough in the seven-week-old offensive. The fighting to retake the Islamic State (IS) group's last major stronghold in Iraq has prompted a steady trickle of people to leave their homes, many taking refuge in camps where nighttime temperatures have dipped below freezing.

The Egyptian Armed Forces announced in a statement on Wednesday that life is gradually returning to normal in North Sinai's Shiekh Zuwaid city following a days-long military operation that aimed to "cleanse [the city] of terrorists."

Islamic State group has brought its forward defenses from western Mosul towards the east as it fights against Iraqi forces in the battle to liberate the city, a coalition commanding general said.

Dar Al–Ifta’s Islamophobia Observatory condemned on Monday an attack on a Muslim police officer and her son in New York City. The observatory added that laws against both hate crimes and acts fuelled by religious hatred or bias are urgently needed, since these are considered attacks on personal freedoms and freedom of belief. They also stated that such acts are against both international and US laws.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani proposed on Sunday a state budget of about $100 billion for next year, loosening the purse strings to support economic growth as Donald Trump's election threatens to put renewed pressure on Tehran.

Emergency workers have recovered the bodies of three Palestinians who went missing in a smuggling tunnel between Gaza and Egypt.

As mortar bombs landed ever closer, Sunni tribal fighters preparing to attack Islamic State group seemed more preoccupied by the failures of Iraq's political class than the militants trying to kill them. The men - and one woman - from the Lions of the Tigris unit gathered on Wednesday in Shayyalah al-Imam, a village near Mosul, with some of their leaders expressing deep distrust of the politicians and saying Iraq's governance must change once Islamic State group is defeated.

Six years ago, not only did we pay Muslim Brotherhood leader Muhammad Badie’s war declaration against America little heed, but President Barack Obama openly embraced the group, inviting its leadership to the White House. Meanwhile, allies Egypt, Saudi Arabia and later the U.K. denounced Muslim Brotherhood for its Islamist ideology.

An Egyptian delegation including 12 MPs affiliated with parliament's foreign affairs committee will visit London Sunday to exchange views with British politicians and MPs on political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood and relations between Egypt and England.