Israel-Palestine
Reconstruction of the beseiged Gaza Strip is set to begin, local authorities have said, four months after an Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave. Qatar and Egypt each donated US$500m towards the complicated effort. About 2,000 homes were destroyed during the 11-day bombardment, 22,000 were damaged, at least four-high rise buildings were levelled and 74 public buildings were hit. The violence in May killed 256 Palestinians, including 66 children, and 13 Israelis, including two children.
More from Al Jazeera here.
Somalia
A suicide car bomb today killed eight people in the Somali capital Mogadishu, the government said. The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab armed group claimed the attack in which Hibaq Abukar, a women’s affairs adviser in Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble’s office, was among those killed. The bomb targeted a security checkpoint near the presidential palace that is often used by convoys carrying the prime minister and the president. Al-Shabab, which has been battling the government for more than a decade, controls territory in rural areas and carries out regular attacks in Mogadishu.
More from VOA here.
Afghanistan
Gruesome photographs circulated on social media today after the Taliban said it had executed four men who it alleged kidnapped a businessman and his son. One of the bodies was hung from a crane in a public square with a sign hanging from it, which read: "Abductors will be punished like this." The Taliban head of the prison service, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, had said only yesterday that harsh punishments for crime, including executions and amputations, would be returning to the country.
More from BBC here.