The boost in troop levels in Iraq has increased the cost of war there and in Afghanistan to $12 billion a month, and the total for Iraq alone is nearing a half-trillion dollars, congressional analysts say.

Lebanese troops have fought new battles with Islamist militants around a Palestinian refugee camp in the north of the country, reports say.

Egypt should receive record net foreign direct investment of more than $10 billion in the current fiscal year ending in June, according to the country’s primary governmental authority on investment.