Mena Today

Iran is to boycott next week's draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup in the United States in protest at the limited allocation of visas, the Iranian football federation said on Friday.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's powerful chief of staff Andriy Yermak, a close ally who has headed Ukraine's negotiation team at fraught U.S.-backed peace talks, quit on Friday, hours after anti-corruption agents searched his home.

The head of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem, said on Friday that the group reserves the right to respond to Israel’s killing of its top military commander, while leaving open the possibility of a future conflict.

UAE residents are gearing up for a long weekend as the country marks its 54th National Day, also known as Eid Al Etihad. The annual celebration commemorates the founding of the UAE on December 2, 1971, when six emirates united to form a single nation. 

Blasts rocked two tankers from Russia's shadow fleet in the Black Sea near Turkey's Bosphorus strait on Friday, causing fires on the vessels, and rescue operations were launched for those on board, Turkish authorities and sources said.

Qatar is no mystery anymore. The danger is not that we don’t understand what it is doing. The danger is that we do—and still pretend we don’t.

Lebanon started its 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualifying campaign with a narrow but valuable victory, defeating hosts Qatar 75–74 on Thursday in Lusail. 

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Israel on December 6 and 7 for his first official visit since taking office, a German government spokesperson said on Friday.

Pope Leo condemned violence in the name of religion on Friday at a landmark event with Christian leaders from across the Middle East, urging them during his first overseas trip as leader of the Catholic Church to overcome centuries of heated divisions.

War simplifies and clarifies everything. When one’s own life or the very survival of family, friends and country is at stake, one learns to think quick and to act straight, to sweep away routine, clichés, and dead paradigms - and stick to fundamentals. 

Thirteen people were killed in an Israeli raid in southern Syria on Friday, Syrian state media reported, with Damascus accusing Israel of a "criminal attack" in a village where Israel said its troops came under fire during an operation to arrest militants.

A Tunisian appeals court on Friday handed jail terms of up to 45 years to opposition leaders, businessmen and lawyers, a court document showed, in what critics said was a sign of President Kais Saied's increasingly authoritarian rule.