Mena Today

Abu Dhabi Finance Week (ADFW) 2025 drew more than 35,000 participants, reinforcing Abu Dhabi’s growing status as a major global financial hub after a week of high-level discussions, landmark announcements, and strategic deals.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry on Friday welcomed the permanent lifting of U.S. sanctions, calling the move a key step toward rebuilding a country devastated by more than a decade of civil war.

U.N. officials are hoping to overhaul a "bizarre" rule that could see the global body credit hundreds of millions of dollars in unspent dues to states next year, even as it faces fears of bankruptcy.

France faces emergency stopgap legislation to avoid a government shutdown after lawmakers abandoned 2026 budget talks on Friday, failing to agree on a compromise bill.

President Vladimir Putin offered no compromise on Friday on his terms for ending the war in Ukraine and accused the European Union of attempting "daylight robbery" of Russian assets.

Cairo hosted constructive political consultations today between Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. 

Egypt plans to roll out a digital portal for mining investment opportunities in the first half of 2026, allowing investors to browse available concession areas and complete applications, licensing, and contracting fully online. 

The committee overseeing the Hezbollah-Israel truce in Lebanon focused on Friday on how to return displaced people to their homes, addressing civilian issues to help prevent renewed war if a year-end deadline to disarm Hezbollah is not met.

A man credited with saving lives for wrestling a gun from one of the alleged attackers during a mass shooting at Australia's Bondi Beach received a cheque for more than A$2.5 million ($1.65 million) on Friday, after tens of thousands of people contributed to a donation website.

Israel has charged a Russian citizen with spying for Iran, including photographing Israeli ports and infrastructure under the direction of Iranian intelligence agencies, Israel's police and its internal security agency said on Friday.

The Islamic State group said the killing of U.S. Pentagon personnel in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra was a "blow" to U.S. forces and Syrian armed factions opposed to it, in its first public comment on the incident.

Syrian, Kurdish and U.S. officials are scrambling ahead of a year-end deadline to show some progress in a stalled deal to merge Kurdish forces with the Syrian state, according to several people involved in or familiar with the talks.