Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros II rejected as "insulting" the publication of new Prophet Mohammed cartoons on Wednesday by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that was attacked by jihadists last week.

The first issue of Charlie Hebdo to be published since the attack in Paris that decimated its staff and sent shockwaves around the world was sold out within minutes at kiosks across France.

Egyptian troops found the body Tuesday of a policeman who had been reported kidnapped in the Sinai Peninsula after a search operation during which 10 "terrorists" were killed, the army said.

Police Captain Ayman al-Desouky, who had gone missing near the town of Rafah on the border with the Gaza Strip on Sunday, was "killed by terrorist elements," it added.

An Egyptian appeals court on Tuesday overturned a three-year prison sentence against ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak on corruption charges and ordered a retrial in the sole case pending against him.

Supporters of the 86-year-old former leader broke into cheers and chanted "Long Live Justice!" as the court announced its decision.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will travel Wednesday to Egypt to seek the release of Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fahmy, who was jailed in December 2013 with two other Al-Jazeera journalists.

Ottawa's top diplomat said last week he was close to reaching a deal with Egypt on deporting Fahmy to Canada, adding negotiations were at a "critical phase."

An Egyptian court on Monday acquitted 26 men accused of "debauchery" after their night-time arrest from a Cairo bathhouse for suspected homosexual activity, in a case which triggered international concern.

The men were arrested in the December 7 raid on a hamam in the Azbakeya district of the capital, amid fears of a widening police crackdown on gays in Egypt.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi Sunday criticized the "slowness" of the U.S.-led international coalition against Islamic State jihadists in providing military support to his army.

The IS group last year took control of large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria. 

Egypt on Sunday freed an ailing former aide to ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi following 18 months in jail without charge, his Canada-based family said.

"On Monday December 29, 2014 the attorney general issued an order for Khaled al-Qazzaz's release. Today, Khaled was released from his hospital room," the family said in a statement.

An Egyptian court has sentenced a student to three years in jail for announcing on Facebook that he is an atheist and for insulting Islam, his lawyer said Sunday.

Karim al-Banna, a 21-year-old whose own father testified against him, was jailed by a court in the Nile Delta province of Baheira on Saturday, lawyer Ahmed Abdel Nabi told Agence France-Presse.

Two headless bodies were found in a village in Egypt's restive North Sinai region on Saturday, police said, the latest in a series of beheadings allegedly carried out by jihadists.

The bodies of two men, believed to be civilians in their 30s, were found near the town of Sheikh Zuweid.

Egypt is to hold a parliamentary election in stages from March 21 to May 7, organizers said Thursday, its first since the July 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The vote is expected to help consolidate the regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who ousted Morsi and targeted his Muslim Brotherhood movement in a crackdown that has left hundreds dead.