Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II attempted on Monday to reassure Egyptians after the recent attacks on Copts in North Sinai, stressing that the Coptic families that have fled the governorate out of fear of terrorist violence will return to the city "when the time is right." At the start of this month, the Coptic Orthodox Church announced that 143 Christian families had fled North Sinai to Ismailiya after a spate of killings of Christians by Islamist militants in the governorate.

Islamic State's branch in the Sinai Peninsula posted a video on Tuesday depicting the beheading of two men the militant Islamist group said it had found guilty of practicing witchcraft and sorcery. The video, posted on a Telegram channel often used by IS, showed the group forming a religious police unit known as the Hasbah in northern Sinai, where it has waged an insurgency for years. The rugged, thinly populated peninsula borders Israel, Gaza and the Suez Canal.

Islamic State-affiliate Province of Sinai released a promotional video on Tuesday showing members of the organization carrying out what it alleges to be Hisba, or religious policing. The group claimed the footage is from locations in North Sinai, which it did not identify. Hisba is defined by religious scholars as the practice of commanding virtue and forbidding vice, professor of Islamic law professor at Al-Azhar University Ahmed Kareema told the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper. He added that Hisba should be conducted by a select few who must be efficient, fair, knowledgeable and capable, describing it as a type of guardianship falling to those who have been entrusted with religious matters.

Egyptian authorities have tightened security measure in cities in the Red Sea governorate in preparation for New Year celebrations. Several checkpoints were set up in Hurghada and traffic police were noticeably present, especially in touristic areas ahead of the New Year celebration. Tourism police in Hurghada launched on Thursday several crackdowns to inspect the security procedures of hotels and resorts. They checked surveillance cameras, and prevented vehicles from parking near hotel facilities.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that a blast that ripped through a St Petersburg supermarket the previous day injuring shoppers was the result of an act of terrorism. Putin was speaking at an awards ceremony in the Kremlin for Russian military servicemen and women who served in Syria.

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb expressed felicitations on Wednesday to Egypt s Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II for the upcoming Christmas celebrations during a visit to the Coptic Cathedral in Abbasiya on Wednesday. El-Tayeb urged Muslim and Christian clerics in Egypt to promote national cohesion in the face of extremism that uses false religious beliefs, according to a statement by Al-Azhar, the world s foremost institution of Sunni Islamic learning.

Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church, has affirmed his support for Egypt s efforts to combat terrorism and achieve security and stability in the Middle East, Egypt s foreign minister said in a statement on Wednesday. Pope Francis made the comments in Rome last Friday, as he received Egypt s new ambassador to the Vatican, Mahmoud Sami, the statement read.

Inside the newly renovated Church of Saint George in the Northern Iraqi town of Teleskof, Hayat Chamoun Daoud led children dressed as Santa Claus singing "Jingle Bells" in Aramaic. Like every other resident of Teleskof, this was Daoud s first Christmas back home in three years, since Islamic State militants overran her town and forcibly displaced its 12,000-strong Chaldean Christian community.

Pope Francis used his Christmas message on Monday to call for a negotiated two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after U.S. President Donald Trump stoked regional tensions with his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital. Francis spoke of the Middle East conflict and other world flashpoints in his "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) address, four days after more than 120 countries backed a U.N. resolutionurging the United States to reverse its decision on Jerusalem.

Egypt sent on Wednesday a shipment of aid to Bangladesh to help alleviate the suffering of Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar, Egyptian ambassador to Bangladesh Walid Shams said in a statement published by Egypt s foreign ministry. The aid, which includes housing tents and food supplies, is donated by the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development and the Ministry of Defence to the Bengali Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and the Red Crescent.

Islamic State has claimed an attack on an Egyptian military airport that killed one officer and wounded two near the town of Arish in North Sinai on Tuesday, the group’s Amaq news agency said in a statement. Security sources meanwhile said an army officer and five militants had been killed in clashes as security forces carried out arrest raids near the Arish air base on Wednesday.

The spokesperson for the Coptic Orthodox Church, priest Bolus Halim, announced on Wednesday that Christmas Mass will take place in the largest church in Egypt, a new cathedral in the New Administrative Capital, instead of the Cathedral of St. Mark in Abbasiya, Cairo. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi revealed in January that in January 2018 he plans to inaugurate both the largest church and mosque in Egypt in the New Administrative Capital.

Egypt s army said that a missile hit the airport in Arish in North Sinai on Tuesday, killing an officer and injuring two others. The missile attack has also caused "partial damage" to a helicopter, the military said in a statement. The airport was targeted during a visit by Egypt s defence and interior ministers to inspect forces and security in the city, the statement added.

Following a three year restoration period, Egypt reopened earlier this week an ancient library that holds thousands of centuries-old historical and religious manuscripts at the prominent St Catherine monastery. ` Established in the sixth century and located in the Mount Horeb area of South Sinai, the library is rich with around 3,300 manuscripts of Christian texts in Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Georgian and Slavonic, among other languages. It is the second most ancient collection after what’s held by the Vatican Library.

Pope Francis and Jordan s King Abdullah on Tuesday discussed U.S. President Donald Trump s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel s capital, a move that both say is dangerous to Middle East peace. Abdullah and the pope spoke privately for about 20 minutes at the start of the king s visit to the Vatican and France. A Vatican statement said they discussed "the promotion of peace and stability in the Mideast, with particular reference to the question of Jerusalem and the role of the Hashemite Sovereign as Custodian of the Holy Places".

At least 61 people have been killed in clashes between different ethnic groups in Ethiopia s Oromiya region, officials said, the latest bout of violence to highlight increasing instability in a province racked by bloody protests in 2015 and 2016. From Thursday, 29 ethnic Oromos were killed by ethnic Somali attackers in the region s Hawi Gudina and Daro Lebu districts, regional spokesman Addisu Arega Kitessa said. The violence triggered revenge attacks by ethnic Oromos in another district, resulting in the killing of 32 Somalis who were being sheltered in the area following a previous round of violence.

Egypt’s Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar order the security alert to be raised to the maximum level during Christmas holidays. Ghaffar met on Saturday evening with deputy ministers and security officials to review the security plan to ensure that the celebrations are safe.

The head of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas called Thursday for fresh protests across the world against US President Donald Trump s controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel s capital. "We demand the Islamic world make every Friday a day of anger and revolution in every capital and city until we bring down Trump s decision," Ismail Haniya said. "We ask churches, the Pope and our Christian brothers to devote their Sunday prayers to Jerusalem," he added.

Islamic leaders on Wednesday urged the world to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, as Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas warned the United States no longer had any role to play in the peace process. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened in Istanbul an emergency summit of the world s main pan-Islamic body, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), seeking a coordinated response to the recognition by US President Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel s capital.

The head of Egypt s Coptic Orthodox Church Pope Tawadros II has returned to Cairo and is set to lead the church s weekly meeting on Wednesday after successfully undergoing spinal microsurgery in Germany two weeks ago, state-run news agency MENA reported. "The pope has returned to the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo after finishing a period of recovery in Vienna and was received by members of The Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church," the Church spokesman Bolis Halim said on in a statement on Tuesday evening.

A council of top Muslim clerics of Egypt s Al-Azhar, which is considered the world s highest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, has called on Arab and Muslim governments and organisations to take all necessary political and legal measures to reverse the recent decision by US President Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as Israel s capital. The Council of Senior Scholars said that Trump s decision, which it described as "arrogant" and "reckless," will not change the reality that Jerusalem is Arab, Islamic and Palestinian.