Egypt

Egypt said Jan. 8 it is to hold parliamentary elections from March 21 but analysts said the new legislature will offer no meaningful opposition to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's iron-fisted rule.
      
The elections, which will be held in phases culminating on May 7, will be the first since Sisi overthrew his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi on July 3, 2013.
      

An Egyptian court is to deliver a verdict on April 21 in the trial of ousted president Mohamed Morsi and 14 others charged with inciting the killing of protesters, judicial officials said Jan. 8.
      

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.

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.
      

Ankara wants to repair its relationship with Cairo, but Egypt needs to take steps "to end human rights violations" against its people, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said, noting there has been attempts to establish a dialogue between two countries.

Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute, does not beat around the bush. “On Syria, Turkey needs to cut and run. Built a wall on its border and turn away,” he said when we talked last month in Istanbul.

Turkey’s bilateral ties with Egypt could “normalize if the country properly returns to democracy, if the Egyptian people’s free will is reflected in politics and social life,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç said.

Turkey should mend fences with Egypt, as the rest of the world sees Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government as "normal," Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

The United States has delivered 10 Apache helicopters to Egypt in recent weeks after lifting part of a freeze on aid to the north African nation, a U.S. official said Dec. 20.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had been promising Cairo's new leadership that the aircraft - aimed to join counter-terrorism operations in the Sinai peninsula - would be delivered soon.

The British embassy in Cairo said on Dec. 15 it has resumed services to the public, nine days after they were suspended over security concerns about the mission's main building.
      
The Canadian embassy next to the British embassy, which also suspended services, remains shut to the public.