Egypt

Eid al-Fitr is beginning in the Gaza Strip, but residents are from a celebratory mood amid a mounting death toll exceeding 1,050 and a slim chance of a durable cease-fire with Israel Eid al-Fitr is beginning in the Gaza Strip, but residents are from a celebratory mood amid a mounting death toll exceeding 1,050 and a slim chance of a durable cease-fire with Israel.

Egypt's army said July 27 it has destroyed 13 more tunnels connecting the Sinai Peninsula to the Gaza Strip, taking to 1,639 the overall number it has laid waste to.
      
Cairo has poured troops into the peninsula to counter a rising insurgency since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi last year, and its security operation involves the destruction of these tunnels.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry on July 26 condemned Turkey’s prime minister for calling Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi a "tyrant," warning already sour relations between the two countries could worsen.
 

Yes, although it accuses Israel of committing "genocide" on Palestinians and Egypt of "tyranny," as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in an interview with CNN International, Turkey is in talks with both countries as part of efforts to secure an immediate and lasting truce between Hamas and Israel.

As their name implies, market economists are supposed to follow markets closely. Since I am not one anymore, I am no longer glued to the Reuters terminal. Nor do I feel the urge to check the Bloomberg app on my Blackberry every couple of minutes – even though I have been dumped because I supposedly love my smartphone more than anything or anyone else. Go figure! :)

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has parried speculation about his possible assumption of the prime minister’s post, saying he was focusing on his current job, particularly Palestine and Libya.

“Nowadays, day and night, I try to do my job,” the minister said July 24 in a televised interview.

US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke July 24 to his counterparts in Qatar and Turkey, which support the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as he pressed for a Gaza ceasefire.
      
Kerry -- who is in Egypt, which has drafted a truce proposal for the Israel-Hamas conflict -- spoke by phone with the foreign ministers of Qatar and Turkey, a US official said.
      

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan once again hit out at the international community, particularly Egypt, for “remaining silent” against the ongoing Israeli military operations in Gaza, while addressing his parliamentary group July 22. During the speech, Erdoğan wore a scarf resembling a keffiyeh across his shoulders, symbolizing solidarity with the Palestinians.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were in Cairo July 22 in a bid to broker a truce between Israel and Hamas after two weeks of fighting which has left over 570 Palestinians dead.

A significant part of this year's Bulgarian wheat is expected to be exported through Romania.

The reason is that Romania won a wheat supply auction in Egypt and Bulgaria couldn't participate in it.