Mena Today

Israel was approved on Thursday to participate in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest, prompting Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and Slovenia to withdraw and pushing the event into one of the most divisive moments in its history.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has appointed his military secretary, Maj. Gen. Roman Gofman, as the next director of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Thursday to start a two-day state visit, and India and Russia both said they want to boost mutual trade and expand the variety of items in transactions.

Syria's economy is growing much faster than the World Bank's 1% estimate for 2025, due to the flow of refugees back to the country after a 14-year civil war ended, aiding plans for the country to relaunch its currency, Syrian central bank governor AbdulKader Husrieh told Reuters NEXT on Thursday.

This war did not fall from the sky. On October 7, Hamas crossed the border into Israel and carried out mass murder. They went house to house, burned families alive, raped, tortured, dragged hostages away. More than one thousand Israelis were killed and hundreds were kidnapped in one day.

Turkey summoned Ukraine's ambassador and Russia's acting charges d'affaires to the foreign ministry to convey its concerns over a series of attacks on Russia-linked vessels inside its exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea, Deputy Foreign Minister Berris Ekinci said on Thursday.

The Syrian Liberal Party, led by Fahad Al Masri, has issued a strong condemnation of what it describes as horrific crimes committed in Sweida. 

Etihad Airways is gearing up for what promises to be one of its busiest winter seasons ever, with more than 2 million travellers expected to pass through Abu Dhabi in December alone. 

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi invited Lebanon's Foreign Minister Youssef Raji to visit Iran in the near future to discuss bilateral ties, Iran's foreign ministry said on Thursday, amid a U.S.-backed roadmap in Lebanon to disarm the Iran-aligned Hezbollah group.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that its forces have killed around 40 Hamas terrorists who had been trapped in tunnels below Rafah in southern Gaza, in an area now under Israeli control.

Turkey's defence ministry said on Thursday construction work had started on its first indigenous submarine (MILDEN), adding that Ankara had also completed its first sale of a corvette warship to a NATO ally by inking an agreement with Romania.

Tunisian police arrested on Thursday top opposition figure Nejib Chebbi, one of President Kais Saied’s fiercest opponents, to enforce a 12-year jail term on a conviction for conspiracy against state security, his family said.