Mena Today

The CEO of Zorlu Holding, Cem Koksal, has been forced to resign after being accused of violating the religious freedom of his employees and briefly arrested, according to Turkish media reports on Sunday. A court has also banned him from traveling abroad as the legal proceedings continue.

For years, soldiers from Russia's Hmeimim Air Base in Syria roamed freely through coastal cities. War planes flew from the complex to bombard Islamist rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad's repressive regime.

Iran's parliament voted on Sunday to remove the country's Economy Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati from office over mismanagement of the economy and a plunging national currency, state media reported.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged European leaders on Sunday to step up their defence efforts to not only help secure peace in Ukraine but stability across the continent at a summit staged as a show of support for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza on Sunday as a standoff over the truce that has halted fighting for the past six weeks escalated, with Hamas calling on Egyptian and Qatari mediators to intervene.

Turkish and British officials will discuss Syria's future during a meeting in Ankara on Monday, with security, sanctions and economic development on the agenda, a Turkish foreign ministry source said on Sunday.

Residents in Diyarbakir, Turkey's largest Kurdish-majority city, said on Sunday that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party's (PKK) decision to heed its jailed leader's call for peace was correct and prosperity would follow if the decades-old conflict ended.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Sunday that Egypt's Gaza reconstruction plan, which ensures Palestinians remain in their land, is ready and will be presented at an emergency Arab summit in Cairo on Tuesday.

An Israeli delegation in Cairo is negotiating to extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire when it expires on Saturday rather than move to the second phase as originally planned and as Hamas wants, two Egyptian security sources said on Friday.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun extended his warm wishes to Muslim Lebanese on Saturday as they marked the beginning of Ramadan, emphasizing the rare coincidence that sees the Islamic month of fasting align closely with the beginning of Lent for Christian communities.

Iraq's Ministry of Oil said on Saturday it had invited global foreign companies operating under the Association of the Petroleum Industry of Kurdistan (APIKUR) umbrella, along with firms contracted by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), to a meeting in Baghdad on March 4.

African leaders past and present gathered in Namibia on Saturday to bury the country's "founding father" Sam Nujoma, who challenged colonialism and a military occupation by South Africa's racist white minority government.