The Maspero Youth Coalition has called for Copts to pray for Pope Shenouda III in the Coptic Cathedral from 5pm to 8pm on Wednesday under the slogan "your people love you." Pope Shenouda's health has been deteriorating recently. He apologised for giving his weekly sermon today, due to his health problems.

The campaign of Islamist presidential hopeful Hazem Abu Ismail denied reports that circulated saying he could gather more than the required 30 signatures to run for president in a statement posted on the campaign’s Facebook page on Tuesday. “The purpose of circulating these reports is to make signatories reluctant to [support] the hopeful,” said the statement.

A number of MPs expressed their rejection of how members of the National Council for Women were appointed, saying it suggests the country never had a revolution. The issue came up during a meeting for the People's Assembly Human Rights Committee on Tuesday to discuss amendments to the personal affairs law.

The Muslim Brotherhood has announced that it has not yet decided on which presidential candidate to support during the elections scheduled for June. Mahmoud Ghozlan, the Brotherhood’s official spokesperson said that any reports circulated in the media about the matter are "completely false."

Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby on Monday expressed his regret for the comments of Mahmoud Ghazlan, spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, against the United Arab Emirates, which he called "hostile." Ghazlan criticized the Dubai Police for intending to ask Interpol to arrest the head of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who was also a member of the Brotherhood, for condemning Emirati authorities for deporting Syrian nationals demonstrating against Bashar al-Assad in violation of UAE laws.

The Wasat Party has decided to form a committee to convince either Mohamed Selim al-Awa or Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh to withdraw their candidacy for president so one would stand for elections while the other supports him. The party announced that it made the decision during a meeting Sunday and that it realizes the coming period will require great effort to achieve national progress.

A Salafi leader has for the first time spoken openly on Monday about a possible deal between the Salafi Nour Party and the military over a particular candidate in the upcoming presidential election. The website of the state-run daily Al-Ahram quoted Salafi Front spokesperson Khaled Saeed as saying the party would not support Salafi presidential hopeful Hazem Abu Ismail, possibly because of an agreement with the military not to support an Islamist for the presidency.

Khaled Saeed, spokesman for the heavy weighted Salafist Front – formed after the January 25 Revolution to call for the adoption of Islamic law in Egypt – on Monday said an agreement had been in place since August for the group to support Hazem Salah Abou-Ismail's presidential bid. The decision was "not because he is a Salafist or has an Islamic orientation, but because we haven't seen another programme like his and his ideas are the closest to our own," he added.

Michael Mounir, Coptic rights activist and head of the liberal Hayat Party, has said that Coptic Christians do not agree on a specific presidential candidate but are united in their opposition to Islamist candidates. "I hope Egyptians choose a president to serve the country and don’t base their choice simply on a candidate's religion," Mounir said in an interview on Dream TV's Good Morning Egypt.

Egyptian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Tamer Mansour has denied reports that the Emirati Foreign Ministry contacted embassy officials regarding criticism by Mahmoud Ghozlan, the official spokesperson for the Muslim Brotherhood, of the UAE.

Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan has warned that group members who throw their support behind presidential hopeful and former Brotherhood official Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fotouh would be dismissed from the movement, which currently controls almost half the seats in Egypt’s parliament. In a telephone interview with Al Jazeera Mubasher-Misr television channel on Saturday evening, Ghozlan said: "The group is looking for an appropriate candidate for the position [of president]. Once we determine who that will be, Brotherhood members will not be allowed to support any other candidate."

Salafist MP Mamdouh Ismail of Asala Party stated in parliament's first joint session of the upper and lower house held on Saturday, which deliberates the formation of the country's constituent assembly, that Egypt's constitution should reflect the "Islamist identity" of the nation.

A top Gulf official slammed Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Saturday, following a Brotherhood leader’s criticism of United Arab Emirates policies. The official said the remarks may hurt longstanding bilateral ties between Egypt and Gulf countries. Last week, Mahmoud Ghozlan, Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, sharply criticized the UAE over its stance against the influential Muslim cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi.

The Maspero Youth Union, a revolutionary Coptic youth group, has called for a demonstration to take place on Sunday in front of the general prosecutor's office at the Supreme Court to protest a prison sentence given to priest Makarius Boulos of the Mar Girgis Church in El-Marinab, Upper Egypt. Father Boulos was handed a six-month prison sentence on charges of violating construction regulations. His church was found to be a few metres higher than permitted.

Pope Shenouda's health is stable and reassuring, the pope's secretary told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Saturday. Bishop Armia denied reports that the Church is praying for the Pope due to a sharp deterioration in his health. He added that the Church prays daily for the safety of the Church, the pope and all officials in Egypt now.

Al-Masry Al-Youm met with presidential hopeful Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, who expounded on his criticism of political deals surrounding presidential candidates and his positioning as an Islamist candidate in the map of political support from established parties, particularly Salafi-oriented ones. The paper published its Q&A with the presidential hopeful on Sunday.

Leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood Ali Bateekh stated on Monday that the Brotherhood will not be nominating a candidate for the presidential race and nor will it be backing a candidate belonging to an Islamist party or movement. Bateekh is a member of the Brotherhood's Shura Council, a group responsible for the planning and charting of general policies of the movement.

The Salafi movement will likely support Islamists Hazem Abu Ismail, Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh or Mohamed Selim al-Awa for president in the upcoming elections, a party leader told Shabab magazine. The movement will make a final decision on which candidate it will back after the nomination process ends in April, movement spokesperson Abdel Moneim al-Shahhat said in an interview with the magazine, which is published by state-owned Al-Ahram.

Authorities banned 37 Egyptian Copts from flying to Italy en route to Russia, a security source at Cairo International Airport has said. The head of the Italian airline company requested the travel ban because the travelers did not have visas required to access European Union countries, the source said, expressing concerns they would head to Italy and ask for political asylum.

Authorities referred the Salafi NGO Ansar al-Sunnah to investigation by the Public Funds Prosecution over charges of embezzlement and illegally receiving foreign funding, judicial sources told privately owned Al-Tahrir newspaper Tuesday. Last September, police raided 17 NGO offices, including several US-based pro-democracy groups. The government said at the time that the raid was part of wider probe into the massive amounts of illegal funds pouring into the country following the ouster of the former President Hosni Mubarak last year.

Deputy Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood Khairat al-Shater traveled to Doha on Monday for talks with Qatari officials about recent developments in the region. The visit will last for few days. An informed source who was with Shater at Cairo International Airport said talks “will tackle coordination between Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party on developments in Egypt and the Arab region.”