QENA - Thousands of Egyptians gathered outside a church in Qena in Upper Egypt on Saturday night to observe the first death anniversary of their loved ones, who were killed by a gunman on Coptic Christmas Eve last year.

CAIRO: Muslims joined Christians in celebrating Coptic Christmas in churches throughout Cairo on Thursday night and, under tight security measures, prayed side-by-side for the safety of Egypt. At Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Abbasiya, Pope Shenouda III — the head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church — gave his sermon in the presence of a large quantity of ministers, government officials, Islamic scholars, celebrities, and foreign diplomats.

CAIRO - The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) is looking into an idea to issue a unified law on places of worship for Muslims and Christians. However, the final draft of the bill has yet to take shape, a senior party official said.

ASSIUT - About 500 young Egyptian Christians have defied a call by their leaders to avoid demonstrations and descended into the main streets of the southern city of Cairo protesting the New Year's Day church bombing that killed 21.

CAIRO: A suspected suicide bomber who killed 23 people outside a church probably intended to set off the explosives inside so as to kill as many people as possible, Egyptian investigators said on Monday. The main lead in the investigation into the New Year's Day attack in Alexandria, which no one has claimed, was a severed head found at the scene they said probably belonged to the bomber.

WASHINGTON - We are certainly aware of a recent string of attacks against Christians from Iraq to Egypt to Nigeria," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. "We are deeply concerned about what seems to be an increasing trend. Crowley, speaking to reporters, said the US State Department condemns all violence based on religion or ethnicity and includes such attacks in its annual human rights report.

CAIRO - A suspected suicide bomber who killed 21 people outside a church probably intended to set off the explosives inside so as to kill as many people as possible, Egyptian investigators said on Monday.

CAIRO - Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud ordered the release of the last 23 Coptic defendants who were arrested after clashes with police during a protest in late November in Omraniya, Giza, south of Cairo. "The Chief Prosecutor ordered the release of the final group of Copts detained over the Omraniya rioting," a judicial source said.

CAIRO: Four policemen and 38 security force officers were injured on Sunday amid clashes with Coptic protesters during a demonstration inside the Coptic Orthodox St. Mark Cathedral in Abbasiya. Thousands of disgruntled Copts threw stones and water bottles at security forces when the police tried to forcibly disperse the crowds, yet police managed to end the protest on Monday at dawn.

Egyptian Coptic Christians angered by a deadly bombing at a church in Alexandria have clashed with police for a second day. Hundreds demonstrated in Alexandria, Egypt's second city, and Cairo, the capital, calling for better protection for Christians.

CAIRO - Top Government and religious officials have expressed their full outrage over Saturday's attack on el-Kiddesseen Church in Alexandria, demanding that all the Egyptians should be united against terrorism. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said he was "shocked" by the assault on the church, adding that the attack targeted all the Egyptians, Cabinet spokesman Magdi Radi announced.

CAIRO - Egyptian authorities Sunday tightened security around churches across the nation in the wake of a suicide bombing outside a church in Alexandria that killed 21 people and injured nearly 100. The measure came as dozens of grieving worshippers returned to pray in the blood-spattered Al-Qiddissein (The Two Saints) Church, while hundreds of other Christians protested in several parts of the nation against the blast.

CAIRO - Authorities in Egypt imposed tight security around churches across the country Sunday, in the wake of a suicide bombing outside a church in Alexandria that 21 people and injured nearly 100.

CAIRO - Egyptian newspapers warned on Sunday that "civil war" could break out unless Christians and Muslims close ranks after a deadly attack on a Coptic church that triggered angry protests.

CAIRO: A car exploded in front of a Coptic Christian church as worshippers emerged from a New Year's Mass in the Egyptian city of Alexandria early Saturday, killing at least 21 people, officials said.

ALEXANDRIA--A solemn funeral was held Saturday evening in the coastal city of Alexandria for 21 Christians killed in a car explosion outside a church in the city half an hour after the stroke of midnight on Friday.

CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak accused "foreign hands" of carrying out a deadly New Year's day attack on a church early Saturday that killed 21 people and wounded 79 others.

CAIRO: The ruling National Democratic party will name the presidential candidate during a general conference that will be held prior to the presidential elections in 2011, Gamal Mubarak, the head of the NDP Policies Committee, said in a press conference Monday.

CAIRO - A bad weather is expected to hit Egypt as of Tuesday with winds, heavy fog and rainfall forecast on most areas, the Meteorological Authority warned Monday.

CAIRO: The issue of women’s rights was used as a political tool by the government and other entities in 2010, according to an annual report by the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR).

CAIRO: In case South Sudan becomes a separate state, its membership in the Arab League will be subject