Egypt

Seven countries on Thursday adopted the institutional framework for creating the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum that will be based in Cairo.

Turkey's presidential spokesman discussed developments in Syria and Libya over the phone with the U.S. national security advisor, Turkish presidential sources said early on Jan. 17.

One of Anadolu Agency's four employees detained in Egypt earlier this week has arrived back in Turkey, the agency's director said on Jan. 17.

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church honours Friday the memory of the Venerable Anthony the Great, on the holiday called Antonovden.

Anthony was born in about 250 AD in Egypt. During his life he spent 20 years in complete solitude in the desert. Sick and suffering people came to him for help.

By George Gilson

In a resounding response to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to bar Greece from the 19 January Libya peace conference, Libya National Army leader General Khalifa Haftar arrived in Athens for talks with Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias and PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis just two days before the conference.

80 competitors from Bulgaria, Pakistan, Egypt, Romania, Spain and Greece began their squash year with an international tournament at the Fireball Sports Hall. After 305 games of tough battle, Georgi Yanev, Alexander Alexandrov and Anelia Dukova won gold medals in the respective categories.

The course of events in the broader region of the Southeastern Mediterranean is exceptionally indeterminate.

Today no one in Athens can predict the course of events.

Israel began exporting natural gas to Egypt on Wednesday under one of the most important deals to have been signed by the neighbors since they made peace decades ago.
A private firm in Egypt, Dolphinus Holdings, will purchase 85 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas, worth an estimated $19.5 billion, from Israel's Leviathan and Tamar offshore fields over 15 years.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov will take part today in the official opening of the new Egyptian Berenice Naval Base on the Red Sea coast.

Turkey should play a mediation role between the two rival camps in Libya better instead of siding with one of the parties, the main opposition leader has said, urging the government to repair ties with other regional actors Syria, Israel and Egypt.