The investment company of Egyptian billionaire Nassef Sawiris has taken a 9.7 percent stake in Raleigh construction-aggregates company Martin Marietta.

Egypt is attempting to arrange safe passage to the West Bank for approximately 340 Palestinian refugees who fled to Egypt in the aftermath of the Hamas victory in Gaza.

As of Tuesday, June 19, 2007, at least 337 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures June 19, 2007.