Egypt's lawmakers on Tuesday passed the country's first law spelling out the rules for building a church, a step Christians have long hoped would free up construction that was often blocked by authorities. But angry critics in the community say the law will only enshrine the restrictions.

After four hours of stormy debate, Egypt’s parliament has approved on Tuesday a landmark law aimed at making it easier for Christians to build and restore churches.

The speaker of Egypt's parliament, Ali Abdel-Al, said on Monday that a landmark law aimed at regulating the construction and restoration of churches will be debated in a plenary session Tuesday.

Five committees at the parliament approved Article 5 of the draft law on building churches that gives a governor a grace period of four months to license church applications. The committees are the Housing Committee, the Legislation Committee, the Religious Affairs Committee, the Local Administration Committee and the Culture and Media Committee.

Coptic student Mariam Malak, known as zero schoolgirl, scored 94% during the high school exams this year after ending her Arabic language exam delayed by a decision from Egypt’s minister of Education, According to sources.

Bishop Mounir Hanna of the Episcopal Church in Egypt and Africa said he will file a new lawsuit against the Evangelical Church to separate the two churches, Youm7 reported.

MP Suzy Nashed criticized Article 2 of church building draft law, saying it raised a state of controversy among the parliamentarians during its discussion, Youm7 reported on Monday.

The State Council's legislation department began its review of the church building and renovation draft law on Saturday, head of the department Ahmed Abo al-Azm said.

One more, the Coptic Orthodox Church announced its approval of the government’s draft law on the construction of churches. The announcement follows weeks of public debate in the Christian community out of concern that the law would not remove long-time imposed restrictions on churches.

Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church says it has reached a concord with the government over a long-awaited draft law on the building and restoration of churches.

Six terrorists were killed by security forces on Thursday in an attack on the Al-Masoura security checkpoint in Rafah city, North Sinai.

Egypt's state news agency says a knife-wielding attacker has been shot and killed after he stabbed a guard at a Coptic church.

The debate on the drafting of a law that would regulate the construction of churches has intensified since the end of last week, generating more negative responses by Egyptian churches, as opposed to the praise they had given to the government’s initial draft law at the beginning of August.

Three army conscripts were killed and another 12 injured by an improvised explosive device (IED) that targeted their armoured vehicle in the North Sinai city of Al-Arish, several residents told Daily News Egypt Wednesday evening on condition of anonymity.

Security officials have identified the perpetrators of the assassination attempt on Egypt's former Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, an official source with Giza Security Directorate said on Tuesday.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail is making strenuous efforts to hammer out an agreement over the final version of the law on the building and reconstruction of churches, taking into account concerns from Church authorities that unnacceptable amendments have been introduced by parliament.

The debate on the drafting of a law that would regulate the construction of churches has intensified since the end of last week, generating more negative responses by Egyptian churches, as opposed to the praise they had given to the government’s initial draft law at the beginning of August.

Pastor Andrea Zaki, president of the Evangelical church in Egypt, called for an emergency board meeting on Monday night to discuss the recent debates surrounding the law on the construction of churches, local media reported.

Fighters of Libya's unity government, backed by US air strikes, have recaptured more ground from militants holed up in the centre of the coastal city of Sirte, loyalist forces said Monday.

Turkey said on Monday Islamic State (IS) jihadists must be totally pushed out of the Syrian border region, after a weekend suicide bombing in the city of Gaziantep blamed on the group left at least 54 dead.

The East Alexandria Court released on Sunday detainee Islam Khalil after he spent over one year in pretrial detention on bail of EGP 50,000, according to his brother Nour Khalil.