Israel on Wednesday threw its weight behind Egyptian efforts to broker a truce with Hamas in and around Gaza but at the same time ordered its armed forces to prepare for a possible offensive.
Breakfast at an upmarket hotel in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, begins at 6.30am. Nearly three quarters of an hour later, the tables are still set and pristine, the buffet untouched. "There is no one," the restaurant manager said, shaking his head. Beirut should be buzzing, if only with expatriates returning to holiday in their homeland.