Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi, in severing ties with Damascus, aims to show solidarity with Western and fellow Arab states opposed to Syria's regime and also boost his under-fire image at home, analysts said.

A Cairo court has sentenced Islamist preacher Ahmed Abdullah, known as “Abu Islam,” to 11 years in prison on charges of tearing up a Bible, defaming religion and disturbing peace and security.

In an atmosphere similar to a Friday sermon, a prominent Salafist preacher recently described participants in the upcoming demonstrations against Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi as hypocrites and unbelievers.

The bread queue can be a dangerous and dishonest place in Egypt. People have killed over state-subsidized loaves. Corruption blights much of the trade.

Egyptian Islamist groups, including the centrist Wasat Party and the ultra-conservative Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya, have said they will hold a "million-man anti-violence rally” on 21 June.

Attackers desecrated graves in an Arab Christian cemetery in Jaffa and damaged property nearby in an incident that bore the hallmarks of a "price tag" hate crime, Israeli police said Thursday.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition Rebel campaign have blamed each other for starting clashes in Alexandria on Wednesday night.

Islamist parties called for a million man march in front of Rabaa Al-Adaweya mosque in Nasr City on Friday 21 June under the slogan “No to violence”.

The Muslim Brotherhood have not yet decided how to respond to mass protests against President Mohamed Morsi planned for 30 June, but hope the day "will pass quietly."

Coptic Pope Tawadros II has stressed the spiritual role of Egypt’s Christian church, as the debate surrounding Copts joining 30 June protests grows.

Opposition protests scheduled for 30 June will not force President Morsi to call early presidential elections, Freedom and Justice Party spokesperson Hamza Zobai said on Tuesday.

Egypt’s Constitution Party announced Wednesday the launch of its 'Muslim Brotherhood are liars' campaign in Al-Sharqiya governorate.

Clashes took place outside the Ministry of Culture on Tuesday when Muslim Brotherhood supporters attempted to break up a sit-in calling for the dismissal of Culture Minister Alaa Abdel-Aziz.

The new head of the Egyptian National Library and Archives, Khaled Fahmy, told Ahram Online on Monday that he has Islamist leanings.

Luxor’s Misdemeanour Court on Tuesday ordered that a teacher convicted of contempt of religion pay a fine of EGP100, 000, in a verdict handed down by presiding Judge Mohamed El-Tamawi.

Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II held a meeting with Egyptian Christian public figures on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing row over Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam project.

Senior leaders in Egypt’s Orthodox Church denominational council have announced they will join opposition groups’ 30 June protests to demand early presidential elections.

Prosecutors in Daqahliya on Tuesday ordered the release of Dr. Aslan Hammouda, the man allegedly responsible for the death an Egyptian girl during a female genital mutilation (FGM) operation, pending investigation.

A policeman was killed in Sinai on Sunday after a confrontation with unidentified gunmen.

The United Arab Emirates found itself once again compelled to respond to the ‘biased’ accusations of the ruling Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, denying claims that it was among the many countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to fund the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

Minority Copts in Egypt continue to live with discrimination, oppression and persecution from the Islamic majority. Muslim attacks on Christians, random and unprovoked, are based on jihad and often sanctioned by the state—Coptic victims often hauled off to jail for the crimes committed against them. In 1,400 years, not one Egyptian Muslim authority – civic, social, or religious – has apologized, denounced, or condemned these actions, including an entire succession of Al-Azhar grand imams, leaders of Sunni Muslims.