Youssef Hanna didn't tell his mother he was going to celebrate Coptic Christmas at the church of Saint Takla in Alexandria. Almost a week after a deadly attack on the Two Saints Church that left 23 dead, Youssef's mother urged her son to pray at home. Although Youssef is not a regular churchgoer, he insisted on going this time. Alexandria's Coptic Christmas this year is a show of defiance. Indeed, worshipper turnout wasn't down in Alexandria. On the contrary, the Two Saints Church saw attendees from other neighbourhoods. All churches in Alexandria were surrounded by security. IDs had to be shown and bags were thoroughly inspected.

A year ago Eman Wassef fell unconscious and lost sight of her husband at New Year's Eve prayers at the Two Saints Church in Alexandria following a deadly attack that left Eman's husband, Samuel Iskandar, and 19 other worshipers dead. Eman, in her mid-40s, and her two daughters, Nardine, 22 at the time, and Sherry, 12, and some 125 others were gravely wounded, physically and otherwise.

Pope Shenouda III was born Nazeer Gayed in August 1923 to a conservative Christian Family. By his teens, he was heavily involved in the Sunday School movement, which encouraged the return of religious education programs in Coptic communities. In 1949, he completed his undergraduate studies in history at Cairo University. Upon graduation, he joined the Coptic Orthodox Seminary, becoming a faculty member after ordination.

While participating in a panel on freedom of expression, Muslim Brother and MP Helmy al-Gazzar said that all citizens should be guaranteed the right to practice their own faiths. “Islam provides freedom of Religion,” he said. “Which means that non-Muslims are not compelled to convert to Islam nor hindered to practice Islam. Such a great freedom is an indicator for the unlimited freedom that God have granted to all mankind.”

The ongoing trial over the bombing of the Two Saints Church in Alexandria on New Year's Eve 2010-2011 was postponed Sunday following the death of Pope Shenouda III. Joseph Mallak, the church's lawyer, officially requested the delay of the hearing, out of respect for the Pope's the period of mourning declared after his death.

CAIRO - The spread of a new strain of foot-and-mouth disease has so far affected about 5,000 animals and caused the death of 255. Not only the prices of meat will be affected, but also those of poultry and fish Experts say consumers will have to put up with a 10 per cent rise or even more. The current rate is between LE60 and LE70 per kilo, depending on the social standard of the area and the meat quality.

At least 500 Egyptians have taken the first step to run for president, a sign of the excitement generated by the country's first presidential elections in which the outcome is in doubt, election officials told AP on Wednesday. AP reported that 500 people have obtained applications to officially register their candidacy for the poll, which follows last year's ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

The parliamentary committee in charge of national security will set up a panel to ask leaders of the National Security Agency about allegations that one of its officers incited an attack on Parliament. Ahmed Salah Eddin, the NSA officer in question, was apprehended by protesting Petrojet Company employees who claimed he was inciting them to break into the Parliament building on Tuesday.

Egyptian Prosecutor-General Abdel Megeed Mahmoud has ordered the detention of Port Said security officials, including the head of security and his three assistants, in relation to the Port Said stadium disaster. Among those who have been detained are the former head of security General Essam Samak, his deputy, General Mahmoud Fathy, and security officials General Bakr Hisham, General Abdel Aziz Fahmy, Colonel Mohamed Saad and General Mohsen Sheta.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Wednesday approved the retrial of the defendants in the bombings in of Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh, Thursday. The Supreme State Security Court of Ismailia had on 30 November 2006 sentenced three defendants to death for killing 24 people, including 9 Egyptians, and injuring 157 others in the bombings, and two other defendants to life imprisonment.

The ruling that acquitted the military doctor who allegedly carried out virginity tests on female protesters opens up the possibility of an international body prosecuting Egypt's military leaders, rights groups said Tuesday. A statement released by 30 Egyptian organizations said that the acquittal “was not surprising,” particularly because the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces “has denied several crimes in which it has been involved.”

Dozens of families of protesters killed during the January 2011 uprising and those injured during the events marched Tuesday morning to the People's Assembly building, protesting the closure of the council tasked with their welfare. The protesters, demonstrating for a second day, chanted slogans critical of Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri's cabinet during the march, which started outside the National Council of Care for the Revolution Martyrs' Families and Wounded.

Mohamed Emad Eddin, a leader of the Freedom and Justice Party, has threatened to expel young members of the Muslim Brotherhood if they support Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh in the presidential election. “If they violate the unanimous decision of the group not to support Abouel Fotouh, then they must go,” he said.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said on Tuesday it recognized its demand to sack Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri's cabinet is unlikely to be heeded by the ruling generals but that it did not want a standoff with the army, toning down tough talk by some of its MPs.

Prominent Egyptian businessmen jailed on corruption charges are offering to hand back assets in a bid to reconcile with the government, the country's finance minister Momtaz El-Saeed has said, according to Ahram's Arabic-language portal. Among the prisoners are Ahmed Ezz, steel magnate and former chief whip of ousted president's Hosni Mubarak's now-defunct ‎National Democratic Party, and Ahmed El-Maghrabi, a former ‎housing minister, according to Al-Saeed.

By 8 March, a total of 353 proposals for the formation of the 100-member constituent assembly – which will be tasked with drafting Egypt's new constitution – had been received by the parliamentary committee charged with overseeing the process. The committee includes 25 officials drawn from the general secretariats of the People's Assembly and Shura Council, the lower and upper houses of Egypt's parliament. The job of committee members is to classify all proposals before they are passed on to two joint meetings of the two houses of parliament, slated for 17 and 24 March.

The People’s Assembly approved in principle during its session on Monday to increase compensations paid to the families of protesters killed during the January 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak’s regime. The compensations will increase from LE30,000 to LE100,000 for each family, according to the draft law.

David J. Kramer, president of Freedom House, has hit back at Egypt's Planning and International Cooperation Minister Fayza Aboul-Naga after she accused the American NGO of working in Egypt without authorisation.

CAIRO — For more than a dozen years, Khairat el-Shater guided his family of 10 children, his sprawling business empire and Egypt’s largest Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, all from a prison cell. Each week, he held court behind prison walls as young Muslim Brothers delivered to him dossiers about the organization that sometimes were as long as 200 pages. His corporate employees paid regular visits for strategic advice about his investments in software, textile, bus manufacturing and furniture companies and other enterprises. And before consenting to the marriages of his eight daughters, he met in prison with each of their suitors. Some of the grooms were prisoners with him, others made the pilgrimage, and five said their vows in his presence, behind bars.

CAIRO — The last American facing criminal charges here for his work with United States-backed nonprofit groups appeared in court on Thursday as the trial reopened, standing in the metal cage where Egyptian criminal courts keep defendants during proceedings. The American, Robert Becker, chose to stay in Egypt to stand trial even after his federally financed employer, the National Democratic Institute, paid $330,000 in bail to allow him a chance to leave the country. He has not returned an electronic message and could not be reached for comment.

A senior official has said that the government of Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri would not tender its resignation because of the attack on it by members of Parliament. MPs had called for withdrawing confidence from the government against the backdrop of the NGO illegal funding issue.