Egypt

The death toll from this year's hajj has exceeded 1,000, an AFP tally said on Thursday, more than half of them unregistered worshippers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia.

The new deaths reported Thursday included 58 from Egypt, according to an Arab diplomat who provided a breakdown showing that of 658 total dead from that country, 630 were unregistered.

Diplomats has said at least 550 pilgrims died during the hajj, underscoring the grueling nature of the pilgrimage which again unfolded in scorching temperatures this year.

At least 323 of those who died were Egyptians, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, two Arab diplomats coordinating their countries' responses told AFP.

In the northern Greek port city of Kavala, an ultra-luxury Greek hotel owned by Egypt and built by Mohammad Ali Pasha has become a base to not only explore Kavala, but also Greece's historic ties to the Balkans, the Eastern Mediterranean, and the broader Middle East.

Details have surfaced regarding the apprehension of fugitive writer Eylem Tok and her son upon the request of Türkiye 109 days after they fled to the U.S. following a fatal traffic accident in Istanbul, with eyes on the June 18 hearing for their extradition.

Israel's military said Sunday it would "pause" fighting around a south Gaza route daily to facilitate aid deliveries, following months of warnings of famine in the besieged Palestinian territory.

People walk towards a devastated building at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

Israeli forces struck Gaza and battled Hamas militants on Friday as truce efforts failed to make progress and tensions surged on Israel's northern border with Lebanon.

Witnesses reported strikes on the southern city of Rafah and central areas of the Gaza Strip.

 U.S. authorities detained fugitive writer Eylem Tok and her son, Timur Cihantimur, who fled to the U.S. after killing one person in a traffic accident in Istanbul back in March, upon the request of Türkiye, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said Friday.

A court in Boston has arrested suspect Eylem Tok and her son Timur Cihantimur as part of our extradition request, Tunç wrote on X.

Demonstrators were due to rally in Athens on Friday to mark the anniversary of a shipwreck that killed hundreds of migrants off Greece and demand answers about the causes of the disaster and the fate of relatives.

The world's oldest book in a private collection, and one of the earliest books in existence, sold at auction in London on June 11 for more than £3 million.

The Crosby-Schoyen Codex was previously owned by the Norwegian businessman and rare book collector Martin Schoyen, and contains the earliest complete copies of two texts from the Bible, the book of Jonah and Peter's first epistle.

Palestinians walk on the rubble of destroyed buildings following an operations by the Israeli Special Forces in the Nuseirat camp, in the central Gaza Strip.

Israeli helicopters struck Rafah on Thursday, residents said, with militants reporting street battles in the southern Gazan city as U.S. President Joe Biden called Hamas the "biggest hang-up" to another truce.