A massive all-night prayer event, "A night to repent and return to God", was held in Cairo on 11 November 2011. It was attended by 71,000 people, many of them brought by bus from all over Egypt.

Christian student Ayman Nabil Labib (17), a pupil at a school in Mallawi in Minya province in upper Egypt, was murdered on 16 October 2011. His parents said that he was murdered in "cold blood because he refused to take off his cross as ordered by his Muslim teacher".

In a video interview with the NGO Copts United, Ayman's father Nabil Labib said that his son had a cross tattooed on his wrist as per Coptic tradition, as well as another cross which he wore under his clothes.

After several years of legal battles, Coptic twins Andrew and Mario Ramses (17) have been recognised as Christians by the authorities, and on 11 October they were issued with new ID cards that state their religious registration as "Christian".

Coptic Christians and human rights groups in Egypt and abroad are calling for an independent Egyptian judicial inquiry into the deaths of 26 Coptic Christians in Cairo on 9 October, which has been dubbed Egypt's "Bloody Sunday".

At least 25 people were killed yesterday (Sunday 9 October) during a demonstration in Cairo by Christians protesting about the destruction of a church building in Aswan Province on Sunday 30 September (Photo credit - Mohammed Hossam/AFP).

Parents and lawyers of Christian teenagers Nancy Fathy (14) and her cousin Christine Fathy (16) were shocked to find in early July that the girls have been taken from their care home by security officers.

On 3 July 2011 Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court ruled in favour of Christian reconverts, allowing them to be identified as Christians on their national ID cards and birth certificates.

The Egyptian government has drawn up draft legislation that could make it quicker and easier to obtain permission to build and repair church properties.

Christians in Cairo are protesting on the streets again, following an attack on a church last Saturday (7 May 2011) in which twelve people (Muslim and Christian) died and about 200 were wounded.