Egypt

Yasmina al-Habbal always wanted to take in an orphan but only did so last year after Egypt's government eased regulations over who could do so and campaigned to change public attitudes, enabling her to take home baby Ghalya.

Turkey and Egypt could negotiate and sign a maritime demarcation deal in the eastern Mediterranean if their ties, which have been strained, allow for such a move, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.

A fleet of yellow Mercedes taxis lines up outside Gaza's newly reopened Rafah crossing into Egypt, polished again and ready to roll, but with no idea for how long.

Delegations from Qatar and Egypt met in Kuwait on Tuesday for the first time since an agreement last month to end a rift, both countries' foreign ministries said, in a further push to bury a Gulf Arab diplomatic feud with repercussions around the Middle East.

The U.S. State Department on Friday said Washington will de-link its pause on some aid to Ethiopia from its policy on the giant Blue Nile hydropower dam that sparked a long-running dispute between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.

Russian civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia said on Friday it could not confirm that flights to Egypt's resort towns were set to resume in March, following comments made by its Egyptian counterpart.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met incoming Libyan prime minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh in Cairo on Thursday and offered his country's support in achieving stability in its troubled neighbour,‮ ‬the presidency said in a statement.

Egypt is planning to reopen its embassy in Libya's capital for the first time in six years, according to Egyptian sources and Libyan officials, marking a shift to a more conciliatory approach to western Libya-based factions.

Paralysed by financial crisis and riven with political risk, a number of Lebanon's banks are struggling to meet a central bank target to raise their capital defences by 20% by the end of this month.