Egypt

The mummification technique, which is used to preserve the body after death, has been used by several different civilizations throughout history, including the mummies of Anatolia.

A tanker near Texas loaded with $100 million of disputed Iraqi Kurdish crude has disappeared from satellite tracking, the latest development in a high stakes game of cat-and-mouse between Baghdad and the Kurds.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Wednesday hailed the announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians brokered in Cairo, Egypt, late on Tuesday following a seven-week conflict.

Hamas leaders have said that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have reached a cease-fire agreement to end seven weeks of fighting in Gaza.

"An agreement has been reached between the two sides and we are awaiting the announcement from Cairo to determine the zero hour for implementation," Hamas Spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said on Tuesday, according to reports of Al Jazeera.

UAE warplanes secretly bombed Islamist militia targets in Libya, apparently catching Washington off guard, as turmoil in the North African country deepened with the Islamists naming a rival premier.
      
American officials said on Aug. 25 that the United Arab Emirates' jets launched two attacks in seven days on the Islamists in Tripoli using bases in Egypt.
      

Violence reverberated across Gaza on Monday with four Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes as Egypt proposed a new ceasefire that would open key crossings into the blockaded territory.        

An Israeli air strike killed two Palestinians in Gaza Sunday as militants kept up rocket fire, a day after an Egyptian call for an open-ended ceasefire to enable new truce talks.
      
The pace of Israeli raids was slower than Saturday when at least 60 strikes pounded Gaza, killing 10 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and bringing down a 12-storey apartment block.

Archaeologists excavating a large burial mound in northern Greece have asked politicians and others seeking guided tours of the site to leave them in peace.

The Culture Ministry appealed for «understanding» Thursday while the Amphipolis excavation proceeds.

‘The Inevitable Caliphate? A History of the Struggle for Global Islamic Union, 1924 to the Present’ by Reza Pankhurst (Hurst, £18.99, 280 pages)

Israel hauled its negotiators back from talks in Cairo and warplanes hit Gaza Aug. 19 after Palestinian rockets smashed into the south as the two sides were observing a 24-hour truce.