The meeting was the most high-profile encounter between Iranian and Saudi Arabian officials.

Egypt’s foreign minister is in Damascus in the first such high-level visit since the start of the foreign-backed militancy in Syria in 2011.

At least 41 killed have been killed and 45 others injured after a fire broke out in a Coptic Christian church in the Egyptian city of Giza, near the capital Cairo.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman dismisses recent remarks by Bahraini and Egyptian officials against Tehran as biased and unconstructive.

The amendments give the Egyptian president the authority to take “measures necessary to preserve security and public order,” including imposing lock-downs, among other sweeping powers.

The UK government has planned to conclude an agreement with Egypt for the sale of two ex-Royal Fleet Auxiliary solid stores ships for the first time in more than 30 years, a deal criticized by human rights groups.

Shipping traffic through Egypt's Suez Canal resumes after a giant container ship that had been blocking the busy waterway for almost a week was refloated.