Saudi Arabia's top cleric is revving up the kingdom's rhetoric against Iran, saying in comments published on Tuesday that Tehran's leaders are "not Muslims," in response to rancorous remarks from Iran's supreme leader.

The church’s role is to support cooperation with moderate Muslims in each country to keep humanity undermined by extremism in many places among the world, said Coptic Orthodox Church’s Patriarch, Pope Tawadros II.

Pope Tawadros II, the head of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church, is meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan and is set to inaugurate the Monastery of Saint Anthony the Great in Amman later Sunday on his first official visit to Jordan since assuming the papacy in 2012.

Pope Tawadros II arrived in Jordan on Saturday afternoon in his first official visit to the country since he became the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in November 2012.

Less than a week after the new law facilitating the building of churches was approved by Egypt’s parliament last week, a Muslim MP has taken the initiative of submitting the first request to build a new church in his native governorate of Assiut in Upper Egypt.

Egypt’s Grand Mufti Shawqi Allam called on citizens not to leave remnants of sacrificed animals in the streets during Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) and that to maintain healthy environment and adhere Muslim behavior, Youm7 reported.

Security forces killed two militants in North Sinai during special operations targeting armed groups in Rafah city, Youm7 reported.

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.