China on Monday said the preliminary death sentence handed out to Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi by a court this week is a domestic affair, declining to join other states which have criticised the ruling.

A Muslim Brotherhood member was sentenced to death and 33 others were sentenced to life in separate cases Monday in Mansoura, Dakahlia governorate, Youm7 reported.

A bomb-disposal expert had a part of his leg amputated Monday after he was injured attempting to diffuse an explosive device near a police club in Sharqia governorate, Youm7 reported.

Islamic State militants advanced east on Monday from the Iraqi city of Ramadi towards an army base where Shi’ite paramilitaries were massing for a counter-offensive, witnesses and a military officer said.

Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church has granted Egyptian and Ethiopian Christians beheaded by the Islamic State branch in Libya the title of “Martyrs of the 21st Century,” Ethiopian newspaper Sendek reported Sunday.

Two members of Hamas sentenced to death along with former President Mohamed Morsi were already killed in 2008 and 2014, respectively, the Gaza-based organization claimed in a Saturday statement.

Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) condemned Sunday the wave of criticism that followed the death sentence passed Saturday against former president Mohamed Morsi and other defendants, saying the reactions of critics reflected "ignorance and inaccuracy."

France's United Protestant Church (EPUdF) voted on Sunday to allow pastors to bless same-sex marriages, two years after Paris legalized gay nuptials amid protests backed by the majority Roman Catholic Church.

“Five members of our group had visited the so called the atheists’ street in downtown Cairo, I think it should be named the street of astray,” said Salafist leader Yasser Borhami Saturday.

Islamic State sympathisers in the Gaza Strip are making their presence felt on social media, but the enclave's Hamas rulers said on Thursday the group has no real foothold in the Palestinian territory.

Eight suspected militants were killed in confrontations with security forces in North Sinai's city of al-Arish on Thursday, military sources said.

Egypt’s football superstar Mohamed Abou-Treika has denied that the tourism company – which he co-owns and is facing legal action for – is linked to the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

The defunct Freedom and Justice Party, the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, announced late Wednesday the death of its leading figure Farid Ismail, who is serving time in prison for violence crimes.

The share of US residents who identify as Christian has shrunk over the past seven years while adults unaffiliated with organized religion now represent a larger portion of the public, a poll released on Tuesday found.

Security authorities in Qena arrested Chairman of Gamaa Islamiyya Essam Derbala, a security source told Youm7 Wednesday.

Islamic State fighters killed dozens in an attack on Syrian army-held areas in Homs province overnight, an organization monitoring the war said, as the group intensifies efforts to expand beyond its strongholds.

Four security personnel were killed in an explosion near Rafah city in North Sinai on Wednesday, Egypt's armed forces spokesman said.

Sixteen students at an industrial high school in Egypt's Nile Delta Beheira governorate were injured in a birdshot-drive-by shooting by unknown assailants, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported.

The Vatican has officially recognized the state of Palestine in a new treaty. The treaty, which was finalized Wednesday but still has to be signed, makes clear that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic relations from the Palestinian Liberation Organization to the state of Palestine.

A senior Pakistani police officer says gunmen shot and killed two paramilitary troops and two workers for an army-owned company at a canal construction site in the country’s southwest.

Eight Morsi supporters were sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia Tuesday over charges of illegal protesting and for acts of violence in the eastern Al-Marg district of Cairo.