Aztec tradition anticipates the end of the world, accompanied by violent earthquakes, on December 24, 2012.

Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, is elected fifth President of Egypt on June 24, 2012, sparking mixed reactions and protests throughout the country.

Egypt's Prime Minister Hisham Qandil announces his thirty-five-member cabinet comprising twenty-eight newcomers, including four from the Muslim Brotherhood, on August 2, 2012.

Israel launches Operation Pillar of Defense against the Palestinian-governed Gaza Strip, killing Hamas military chief Ahmed Jabari on November 14, 2012.

In the following week one hundred and forty Palestinians and five Israelis are killed in an ensuing cycle of violence.

A ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is announced by Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after the week-long escalation in hostilities in Southern Israel and the Gaza Strip.

President Morsi issues a temporary declaration immunizing his decrees from challenge and seeking to protect the work of the constituent assembly on November 22, 2012.

The move leads to massive protests and violent action throughout Egypt.

On December 5, 2012, tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of President Morsi clash, in what is described as the largest violent battle between Islamists and their foes since the country's revolution.

Mohamed Morsi offers a "national dialogue" with opposition leaders but refuses to cancel the December 2012 constitutional referendum.

The European Union agrees to a €10 billion economic bailout for Cyprus on March 25, 2013.

The bailout loan will be equally split between the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism, the European Financial Stability Facility, and the International Monetary Fund.

The deal precipitates a banking crisis in the island nation.

Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi is deposed in a military coup d'état on July 3, 2013, after a wave of public discontent with autocratic excesses of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood government.

Amid mass protests across Egypt, leading to widespread violence, the military dissolves the Shura Council and instalsl a temporary interim government.

Sixty-eight-year-old Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt Adly Mansour is sworn in on July 4, 2013, as acting president over the new government following the removal of Morsi.

The new Egyptian authorities crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters, jailing thousands and forcefully dispersing pro-Morsi and/or pro-Brotherhood protests.

Two anti-coup camps are raided by the Egyptian security forces on August 14, following the military coup in Egypt, leaving two thousand six hundred and ninety-six dead.

The raids are described by Human Rights Watch as "one of the world's largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history".