Israeli forces Wednesday assaulted Egyptian Coptic monks and arrested at least one, according to the Palestinian Maan news agency, during a demonstration against the restoration of a monastery believed to belong to the Egyptian Coptic Church. The Coptic Christian clerics were demonstrating against restoration work set to be carried out by the Israeli government at the Sultan Monastery in Jerusalem s Old City without the Coptic Church s consent.

Egyptian security forces have killed 11 fugitive militants in a shootout in the country s Western Desert, the interior ministry said in a statement Wednesday. The shootout occurred during a dawn raid on a hideout in a mountainous area in the Farafra Oasis region, southwest of Cairo, the ministry said in a statement published on its official Facebook page.

The Cairo Appeal Court, headed by Counselor headed by Counselor Mohammad Reda Shawkat, decided to start the first proceedings of the retrial of Youssef Boutros Ghali, the former Minister of Finance on 6 November. The former Minister of Finance will be re-trialled for squandering public money by using cars held in customs and 15 years for abusing his

MP Ghada Agamy, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, proposed on Saturday that the Egyptian government should prevent women from wearing full-face veils in government workplaces. Algerian authorities on Thursday banned full-face veils for women workers in government departments for the first time. The Directorate of the Public Service, which is subordinate to the Prime Minister, called on officials of government departments to “prevent any dress that impairs the exercise of public administration functions, particularly full-face veil which is completely banned in workplaces.”

In an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Shahed on 13 October, President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi rejected the possibility of the Muslim Brotherhood staging a return in Egypt, reports Gamal Essam El-Din. Asked about the future of the group in Egypt, Al-Sisi said “the Ikhwan [the Brotherhood] will never have a role to play as long as I am in power.”

Monk Faltaous al-Makary cried when he heard of the death of monk Zenon al-Makary, Faltaous’s lawyer Michelle Halim said. He added that Feltaous told him that Zenon knew the real murderer of Bishop Epiphanius, head of the Saint Macarius Monastery in Wadi al-Natroun who was murdered on July 29.

Egypt s Interior Ministry on Monday said that nine terrorists were killed in clashes with security forces in a rugged mountainous area near the Assiut-Sohag Western Desert Road near al-Ghanayem city in Upper Egypt s Assiut Governorate. The ministry said in a statement that the National Security Agency received information of a group of terrorists in the mountain area, possessing various firearms, preparing explosive devices, and planning to move during the coming period to carry out a series of attacks targeting vital institutions.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced that the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group would have no power in Egypt during his presidency. In an interview with Kuwait s al-Shahed newspaper, Sisi said that the Egyptian people would not accept the MB s return, as their way of thought is not viable and clashes with the lives of ordinary people.

An Egyptian military court sentenced on Thursday 17 people to death and handed dozens of others hefty jail terms over their involvement in three deadly church bombings and joining the terrorist group Daesh. The defendants were convicted for involvement in the bombing of Cairo s Coptic Cathedral in December 2016, which killed at least 25 people, as well as the simultaneous bombings of churches in Alexandria and Tanta, which killed more than 45 people in April 2017.

Ten alleged militants were killed during a fire exchange with Egyptian security forces in Al-Arish, North Sinai, according to the Interior Ministry. In a statement, the ministry said that security forces stormed on Tuesday a deserted farm, where the militants were hiding, and killed them all in a fire exchange.

Egypt s interior ministry said "it has killed ten terrorist elements in a shoot-out during a pre-emptive raid against terrorism Al-Arish in North Sinai." In an official statement released on Tuesday, the ministry said the terrorists were killed after security forces attempted to raid a deserted farm used as a shelter, leading to a shoot-out between both sides.

The devil is alive and well and working overtime to undermine the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis says. In fact, the pope is so convinced that Satan is to blame for the sexual abuse crisis and deep divisions racking the Church that he has asked Catholics around the world to recite a special prayer every day in October to try to beat him back.

The withdrawal by rebels of their heavy weapons from a planned buffer zone in northwestern Syria is due to last several days, a Turkish-backed alliance of fighters said Sunday. The National Liberation Front (NLF) announced Saturday that it has begun withdrawing heavy arms from the zone as part of an agreement between Syrian regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.

Seven Turkish soldiers were killed and three others were wounded after a roadside bomb in the southeastern province of Batman was detonated by Kurdish militants, security sources said on Thursday. Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants detonated the improvised explosive during the passage of a military convoy in the Gercus region of the province, the local governor s office said. An operation was launched to capture the perpetrators, it said.

Egypt s Coptic Orthodox Church Pope Tawadros II mourned Coptic Metropolitan Bishoy of Damietta, Kafr El-Sheikh and the abbot of the Monastery of Saint Demiana of Barrari, Belkas, who died late Tuesday at the age of 76, the state owned MENA agency reported. In an official statement issued by the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II said, "We are saddened by his sudden death after he served the Church for 45 years and was a meticulous theologian who has shared his knowledge in drafting Coptic and theologic statements, and taught at theological schools here and abroad."

Egypt s Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II asserted that the Coptic Church does not have any political agenda regarding the country s political situation when asked if his visit to the United States (US) – started on 13 September—aimed to pave for the visit of Egypt s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to New York (NY), who attended the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last week. During his sermon at Virgin Mary & St. Pachomius Coptic Orthodox Church in Stony Point, NY, Pope Tawadros II said “I am very surprised by this kind of questions. I am here to check out my children.” He added that “this is my responsibility in the Church, and I have nothing to do with politics.”

The number of civilians killed last month in Syria was at its lowest since the start of the conflict more than seven years ago, a war monitor said Monday. A total of 139 civilians, including 58 children, were killed in conflict-related violence across the country in September, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A Cairo criminal court has added new charges against 13 defendants accused of involvement in violence against protesters in front of the Muslim Brotherhood office in Cairo in 2013. The prosecution is accusing the Brotherhood s supreme guide Mohamed Badie, his deputy Khairat El-Shater and seven other defendants of inciting assaults on protesters in return for money or Hajj visas. The defendants are also accused of supplying the attackers with weapons. The prosecution also is accusing two other defendants of beating and injuring 74 of the protesters who had gathered outside the Brotherhood office on 30 June and 1 July 2013 for demonstrations against then-president Mohamed Morsi. The court has postponed the trial until 7 October to hear arguments by the defence team.

Syrian rebels said on Thursday they have growing confidence that their jihadist rivals will comply with a requirement to leave a demilitarized buffer zone set up by Turkey and Russia to avert a Russian-backed Syrian army offensive. Last week Turkey and Russia agreed to enforce a new demilitarized zone in Idlib province from which "radical" rebels will be required to withdraw by the middle of next month.

Pope Francis on Wednesday asked the Chinese government to move ahead with "trust, courage and farsightedness" to continue a dialogue started when the Vatican and Beijing signed a landmark agreement on the appointment of bishops. In a message to Chinese Catholics, Francis also said that while they should be good citizens, they will not shrink from offering "a word of criticism" when necessary to defend human dignity.