Mena Today

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was expected in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on Friday to discuss proposals for restarting peace talks with the United States, but Pakistani sources said he was not due to meet U.S. negotiators there.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday visited Saudi Arabia for the second time in a month, as Kyiv seeks to bolster security co-operation and advertise its battle-tested technology in the Middle East amid the Iran war. 

Ahmad al-Sharaa was received in Cyprus alongside Arab leaders as Brussels prepares to open a new chapter with Damascus. His trajectory from rebel commander to statesman remains deeply uncomfortable for many.

Lebanon's Hezbollah said a U.S.-mediated ceasefire in the war with Israel was meaningless a day after it was extended for three weeks, as Lebanese authorities reported two people killed by an Israeli strike and Hezbollah downed an Israeli drone.

Speaking at the World Policy Conference in Chantilly, the UAE's top diplomatic adviser delivered a blunt verdict on Tehran, and a striking signal of shifting regional allegiances.

EU leaders have asked officials to prepare a blueprint for how the bloc's previously obscure mutual assistance clause would work, host Cyprus said at a summit on Friday, amid doubts over the U.S. commitment to the NATO military alliance.

Syria's Interior Ministry said on Friday it had arrested the main suspect in the 2013 Tadamon massacre, one of the worst acts of violence attributed to the former government of Bashar al-Assad, in which 288 civilians were killed.

US ride-hailing giant Lyft has acquired the London taxi operations of Israeli app Gett for an estimated $50 million, according to Israeli financial daily Globes, which broke the story on Friday. 

The Slovenian world champion leads UAE Team Emirates-XRG into Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège, seeking yet another milestone in a historic season.

Energy prices, the Strait of Hormuz and the Lebanon ceasefire dominate a summit that brings European and regional leaders face to face.

An internal Pentagon email outlines options for the United States to punish NATO allies it believes failed to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from the alliance and reviewing the U.S. position on Britain's claim to the Falkland Islands, a U.S. official told Reuters.

Despite the Iran-US ceasefire announced on 7 April, Washington continues to reposition forces across the region in preparation for potential future operations.