Egypt

TRIESTE - The tournament in Trieste ended in a defeat for the Serbian men's national basketball team, which lost to hosts Italy 80-71 (22-11, 15-24, 12-17, 31-19) in the last round late Tuesday.

It was the first defeat for head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic's team in the preparations for the upcoming World Championship in Spain.

Egypt plans to build a new Suez Canal alongside the existing 145-year-old historic waterway in a multi-billion dollar project aimed at expanding trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
   

Israel on Aug. 5 completed the withdrawal of all troops from Gaza as a 72-hour humanitarian truce went into effect following intense global pressure to end the bloody conflict.

Just minutes before the ceasefire took hold, Israel's military and Hamas both engaged in shows of firepower, seemingly determined to have the last word on the 29th day of their hostilities.

A shortage of space at migrant detention facilities near Athens has prompted Greek authorities to intensify deportations.

According to Greek Police data released Monday, the Attica Aliens Buraeu deported 332 undocumented migrants in June compared to 185 during the same month last year, an increase of 79 percent.

BELGRADE - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic expressed the belief on Monday, during the meeting with ambassadors of several Arab countries, that the crisis in Near East would be resolved by peaceful means and that the international community will have the strength to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

PM meets with Arab ambassadors, urges ceasefire in Gaza

BELGRADE -- Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić on Monday met with several ambassadors of Arab countries, and spoke in favor of "an urgent ceasefire" in the Gaza Strip.

Israel's right to security does not justify its actions in Gaza, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Monday, as he called for a political solution to be "imposed" by the international community.
      
"How many more deaths will it take to stop what must be called the carnage in Gaza?" Fabius said in a statement.        

A Hamas team arrived in Cairo on Aug. 3 for talks with Egyptian mediators on a possible truce in Gaza, an airport official and state news agency MENA said.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Aug. 2 an Egyptian truce plan provides a "real chance" to end the Gaza conflict, stressing the need for its speedy implementation.

"The Egyptian proposal is the real chance to find a solution to the crisis in Gaza and to end the bloodshed," Sisi told a joint news conference with visiting Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Last week American television journalist Charlie Rose hosted former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. When answering Rose’s question on Israel-Palestine, Clinton said: “Turkey is the principal interlocutor that I would look to.”