Mena Today

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 15 prisoners in a decree on Thursday that follows talks last week with an envoy for US President Donald Trump.

Iranian flights to Gulf neighbours including travel hub Dubai appeared to have been cancelled on Thursday after a US deadline passed for global firms to halt work with Iran's airlines, a major step in a campaign President Donald Trump calls "economic D-Day".

Israel's army radio (GLZ) announced Thursday a "significant" reduction in the number of brigades deployed in the occupied "buffer zone" in southern Lebanon.

Saudi Arabia intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis on Thursday, thwarting attacks on the southern province of Taif and Yanbu area on the Red Sea, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said.

Yemen's Saudi-backed government forces repelled overnight attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis on a key supply route to the southern port city of Aden where the internationally recognised administration is based, government sources said on Thursday.

Thousands of newcomers are joining returning evacuees, a quiet verdict on who won the southern front.

A liberal, centrist party founded by an adviser to Morocco's king came out on top in parliamentary elections after a late boost from the man credited with leading the national football team to global fame, early results showed on Thursday.

Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to use his UN address on Thursday to berate New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for calling him a war criminal, a feud that highlights the Israeli leader's growing isolation ahead of elections at home that he may lose.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said it was unrealistic to expect all countries to make the same progress on climate policy while inequalities in access to financing and technology persisted, adding he expected support from all nations for Turkey's COP31 Climate Summit action agenda.

Turkey and Iraq agreed on Wednesday for Turkish forces to hand over a military camp in northern Iraq to the Iraqi government gradually, they said after talks in New York, adding they also agreed to end the presence of "outlawed armed elements" in northern Iraq.

"Last year, I said that Syria had returned. Today, I say that Syria is rising," Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa told the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, one year after becoming the first Syrian leader in nearly six decades to address the body.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a speech at the UN on Wednesday that Tehran would never surrender to the US but still believes in diplomacy, a day after President Donald Trump used the same forum to threaten to "annihilate" Iran.