The Times this morning reports that progress is being made in forming a new Israeli government. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must present a new coalition to President Shimon Peres by Saturday night. The unlikely informal alliance between Yesh Atid, led by former journalist Yair Lapid and the national-religious party Jewish Home, led by Naftali Bennett, are set to become Netanyahu’s major coalition partners, with ultra-Orthodox parties excluded from the new government. The Times notes that Netanyahu is likely to hold the post of foreign minster himself, effectively holding it for Avigdor Lieberman who is currently fighting corruption charges, while Moshe Ya’alon is thought likely to become defence minister.

The online editions of the Guardian and Financial Times cover ongoing violence and unrest in Egypt, particularly in the northern city of Port Said. There were widespread disturbances in the city yesterday after a court on Saturday confirmed the death sentence of 21 football supporters, convicted of causing the death of around seventy rival football fans from Cairo last year. The case has led to demonstrations in both cities and the Guardian online reports that protesters in Port Said have attempted to disrupt trade at the Suez Canal.

Comments made by the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, on the growing number of Syrian refugees are reported in the online editions of the Guardian and Telegraph. Having announced last week that the number of refugees who have fled Syria has topped one million, Guterres warned yesterday during a visit to Turkey, that the number of Syrian refugees could reach as many as three million by the end of the year if “nothing happens to solve the problem.”

In this morning’s Israeli media, most papers focus on the late-night coalition negotiations that took place yesterday between Prime Minister Netanyahu, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and Jewish Home head Naftali Bennett. It is the lead story in Israel Hayom, Makor Rishon, Yediot Ahronot and Haaretz, which all note that the remaining points of contention standing in the way of a coalition agreement is the drafting of ultra-Orthodox religious students and the allocation of ministerial portfolios. Maariv in particular focuses on the battle for the education ministry, with Yesh Atid pushing for its’ number two candidate, Shai Peron, to take control of the ministry, while Netanyahu desires that current education minister and leading Likud figure Gideon Sa’ar remain in his post.

All dailies also report that Netanyahu has apparently withdrawn his support from current Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin to retain his position. Rivlin, a senior Likud parliamentarian, is considered to be widely respected across the Knesset. However, Yediot Ahronot carries the headline “The ouster” and suggests that Netanyahu views Rivlin as too conciliatory in parliamentary matters and would like to see him replaced with one of two alternative Likud members of Knesset, Yuli Edelstein or Yuval Steinitz, who are both outgoing government ministers. Writing in Yediot Ahronot, Nahum Barnea writes scathingly, “Netanyahu could have, barely, forgiven Rivlin for his sin of being decent. But the sin of being loved was too much for him.”  Meanwhile, Maariv reports that a jihadist group based in the Sinai Peninsula in neighbouring Egypt has tested a rocket with a 45-kilometre range.