Cairo

Czech archaeologists have unearthed the tomb of a previously unknown queen believed to have been the wife of Pharaoh Neferefre who ruled 4,500 years ago, officials in Egypt said Jan. 4.

The newly elected head of Syria's key opposition National Coalition on Monday ruled out taking part in a Russian-led bid for new talks to end the Syrian conflict.
     
Khaled Khoja, who was elected early on Monday to head the opposition grouping, said Moscow's proposal was impossible.
     

Egypt disputed Jan. 4 a claim by British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney that she had been warned she risked arrest last year if she released a report in Cairo critical of the judiciary.

Egypt's top court Thursday ordered a retrial of three Al-Jazeera reporters whose imprisonment on charges of  aiding the Muslim Brotherhood triggered global outrage, but kept them in custody pending a new hearing.
      

Ankara wants to repair its relationship with Cairo, but Egypt needs to take steps "to end human rights violations" against its people, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said, noting there has been attempts to establish a dialogue between two countries.

Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute, does not beat around the bush. “On Syria, Turkey needs to cut and run. Built a wall on its border and turn away,” he said when we talked last month in Istanbul.

Turkey’s bilateral ties with Egypt could “normalize if the country properly returns to democracy, if the Egyptian people’s free will is reflected in politics and social life,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said.

Egyptian and Qatari intelligence officials met in Cairo to discuss a possible reconciliation as part of Saudi efforts to broker an end to the 18-month standoff over Doha's support of the Muslim Brotherhood, security sources said.

Turkey should mend fences with Egypt, as the rest of the world sees Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government as "normal," Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

Egyptian and Turkish football pitches are set to re-emerge as battlegrounds between ultras and authoritarian leaders in a life-and-death struggle that involves legal proceedings to brand the supporters as terrorists and efforts to undermine their widespread popular base.