Egypt

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.

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.

Hamas condemns the fatal shooting by Egyptian border guards of what they said was a Palestinian minor on the Gaza border Militant group Hamas condemned Jan. 3 the fatal shooting by Egyptian border guards of what they said was a Palestinian minor on the Gaza border a day earlier.

The Middle East entered the new year with a new balance of power.

Two weeks ago, Qatar and Egypt started normalizing their relations. This reconciliation, however, affects not only these two countries, but also the wider region to a great extent and implies a newly emerging equilibrium.

Internal migration made Turkey. Families packing up and leaving their hometowns was one of the major building blocks of our growth model. But no more, according to the new World Bank report on Turkey’s transitions. Turkey is now reaching its limits regarding urbanization via internal migration.

By Stathis Kousounis

Greece enjoyed the biggest global rise in German visitors last year.

According to German tourism publisher FVW, which cited figures from the German federal statistical authority, air arrivals to Greece from Germany grew by 19 percent compared to 2013 to exceed a total of 2 million.

Three Al-Jazeera journalists faced Jan. 2 the prospect of at least several more weeks in prison after Egypt's top court granted them a retrial in a case that sparked international uproar.
      

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.
      

The main purpose of year-end reviews, of course, is to hold the ads apart. But they can also serve as a kind of annual check-up on the political health - and also on the economic, demographic and even physical health - of the planet and its teeming human population.

As 2014 continued with instability in the Middle East, Turkey remained surrounded by tensions in the region. Turkey remained embroiled in frozen conflicts with Israel, Egypt and Syria, while opening a new page with the new administration in Iraq.