The Egyptian Salafists’ political arm of al-Nour party has suffered a crushing defeat in their strongholds of Alexandria, Marsa Matrouh, and Beheira in the first round of the 2015 parliament elections, according to the initial results of two-day voting.

British Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled a new strategy on Monday to combat extremism, saying the battle was "perhaps the "defining one of this century", but his proposals were condemned by Muslims as demonising their communities and set to fail.

As the parliamentary elections begin, at least 12 preachers in Alexandria were referred to investigations for preaching without permission and using mosques for election publicity, the Ministry of Religious Endowments said in a statement Saturday.

Without much fanfare and publicity, another pope has arrived in the United States for a three-week visit. Following the footsteps of Pope Francis who made a six-day visit to the US last month, Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II arrived in Atlanta on Oct. 7, his first official visit to the US since his papacy began in 2012, reports said.

Tens of Muslim Brotherhood supporters and members of the National Alliance for Legitimacy took to the streets Friday morning in Alexandria, tearing down the campaign banners of parliamentary hopefuls running in the upcoming elections.

The government’s new one-nation Counter-Extremism Strategy launches today to confront and defeat all forms of extremism.

“No to Religious Party” and “Expose Them” signed a cooperation protocol in an attempt to coordinate their strategies.

One party — the banned Muslim Brotherhood — will be conspicuously absent from ballot papers Sunday when Egypt's voters head to the polls for long-delayed parliamentary elections.

The defendants faced a number of major charges, including attempting a military coup, terrorism and joining the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as attempting to forcibly occupy public institutions.

Hardline Muslims in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province on Sunday demanded the local government close 10 Christian churches, just days after a mob burnt down a church, leaving one person dead and several injured.

Two bombs exploded Sunday morning, on the first day of parliamentary elections, in front of one of the schools in Kerdasa. No injuries were reported.

Al-Nour Party will lead shuttle-tours in a number of provinces on the last campaigning day for the forthcoming parliamentary elections, to mobilise the largest possible number of votes. Figures of the Salafists community, including Yasser Al Borhamy, and Younes Makhioun will be participating in the conferences.

An Egyptian criminal court cleared on Thursday Mohamed Rabie Al-Zawahri from charges against him in what is known in the media as the "Zawahri cell" case, but prosecutors were quick to file a new case against him for forming a terrorist group called "Alta'efa AlMansoura" (The Victorious Sect).

A conscript and a citizen died late Wednesday in a blast that detonated in the North Sinai city of El-Arish, Egypt's interior ministry announced in a statement.

Islamist parties will be largely absent on the polling cards in Egypt’s upcoming elections, with the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest Islamist group, outlawed and in disarray, and other Islamists boycotting.

The “no to religious parties” popular campaign, which strives to pressure the Egyptian authorities to dissolve all religious parties, announced Wednesday it had collected 2 million signatures of support so far, Youm7 reported.

Four imams have been banned from delivering sermons and transferred to administrative positions until investigations into alleged membership in the Muslim Brotherhood are completed.

Two civilians were injured in blasts caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria on Tuesday night, the Interior Ministry said

Islamic State militants battled rival insurgent groups on Wednesday north of the city of Aleppo, where officials say the Syrian army is preparing an offensive of its own backed by Iranian soldiers and Russian jets.

Pope Francis asked forgiveness Wednesday for recent scandals that have hit Rome and the Vatican, showing once again he doesn't much care about making waves if it's for the sake of reassuring his flock.

The Islamic State group's spokesman confirmed on Tuesday the killing of the militant organisation's second in command in a US air strike earlier this year.