Mena Today

The race for UNESCO’s top position is heating up, with Khaled El-Enany, Egypt’s former Minister of Tourism, emerging as a strong contender.

Syrian rebels pressed their lightning advance on Saturday, saying they had seized most of the south, as government forces dug in to defend the key central city of Homs to try to save President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule.

Qatar is engaging with the incoming Trump administration on Gaza after sensing a new momentum with the administration on ceasefire talks, Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Saturday.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has failed to seize the opportunity to engage in dialogue with his people and facilitate the return of refugees during a period of relative calm in Syria, Qatar's Prime Minister said on Saturday.

Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim ruling parties and armed groups are weighing the pros and cons of armed intervention in Syria, viewing as a grave threat the advance of Sunni Islamist rebels who have taken two Syrian cities and now bear down on a third. 

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah sent a small number of "supervising forces" from Lebanon to Syria overnight to help prevent anti-government fighters from seizing the strategic city of Homs, two senior Lebanese security sources said on Friday.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi began his European tour with a state visit to Denmark, meeting King Frederik X in Copenhagen on Friday.

Iran is "dramatically" increasing the amount of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% of weapons grade, that it is able to produce, the watchdog's chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters in an interview.

Romania's top court annulled the result of the first round of the country's presidential election after accusations of Russian meddling and said on Friday the entire process, which was due to conclude this weekend, would have to be re-run.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his support on Friday for the continued advance of Syrian rebels, stating that their ultimate goal is Damascus, the Syrian capital.

The collapse of Russia's ally Syria in the face of an assault from rebel groups shows Moscow cannot fight on two fronts, Ukraine's foreign ministry said on Thursday while reiterating denials that Kyiv was involved in the fighting there.

A U.S.-backed alliance led by Syrian Kurdish fighters has seized the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zor, three Syrian sources told Reuters on Friday, the third city to fall out of President Bashar al-Assad's control in a week.