Egypt

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is to be sworn in Wednesday for a new term in a war-ravaged country, as other conflicts in the turbulent region hog the international community's attention.
      

A woman and a child were among three people killed in an Israeli strike on southern Gaza on Wednesday, raising the overall death toll to 208, the emergency services said.        

Israel on July 16 warned 100,000 Gazans to flee their homes, as the military intensified its nine-day air campaign after Hamas snubbed an Egyptian ceasefire effort.
      

Israel approved the Egyptian-proposed Gaza truce on July 15, minutes before it was to come into effect at 6 a.m. GMT, Israeli officials said.

They said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet had convened to vote on the deal at Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Israel’s operation against Gaza is nothing but brutal and indiscriminate collective punishment against the Palestinians and is deplorable. The pictures we see in the press of celebrating Israelis as bombs fall on the people of Gaza are reminiscent of another era when the Jews were on the receiving end, but this appears lost on Israelis today.

The Turkish government and Palestinian authorities are in talks for providing humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip as Israeli jets continue to pound the enclave.

Global food prices will likely decline in the upcoming few years before stabilizing as farmers boost production at a faster rate than demand rises, the OECD and United Nations have said The outlook for world food inflation looks lower and more stable as agricultural commodity prices settle over the next decade following years of volatility, the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organisation

Israeli warplanes kept up deadly raids on Gaza July 11 but failed to stop Palestinian militants firing rockets across the border, as the United States offered to help negotiate a truce.

With the violence growing worse, U.S. President Barack Obama in a phone call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government was willing to broker a ceasefire.

Egypt opened its Rafah border crossing to Gaza on Thursday to receive wounded Palestinians as Israel pounded the enclave with air strikes, an official at the border said.
      
Hospitals in north Sinai, which borders Gaza and Israel, have been placed on standby to receive the Palestinians, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.
      

Defense minister, Egypt's ambassador discuss cooperation

BELGRADE -- Defense Minister Bratislav Gašić and Egyptian Ambassador Menha Mahrous Bakhoum discussed Tuesday the development of defense cooperation programs.