Mena Today

Turkey has arrested an LGBTQ+ youth activist over criticism he made abroad at Europe's main rights body about the repression of opponents by President Tayyip Erdogan's government.

Syria signed 12 investment deals worth $14 billion on Wednesday in a ceremony attended by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, including infrastructure, transportation and real estate projects aimed at reviving the war-damaged economy.

Lebanon's cabinet has told the army to draw up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms in a challenge to the Iran-backed Shi'ite Muslim group Hezbollah, which rejects calls to disarm.

Hezbollah said on Wednesday the Lebanese government was committing a "grave sin" by tasking the army with establishing a state monopoly on arms, sharpening a national divide over calls for the Shi'ite Muslim group to disarm.

Israel's military chief has pushed back against Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to seize areas of Gaza it doesn't already control, three Israeli officials said, as the prime minister faces increasing pressure over the war both at home and abroad.

Egypt has officially announced that the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) will open its doors to the public on November 1. Located near the iconic pyramids of Giza in Cairo, the billion-dollar museum is poised to become a global cultural landmark.

Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter left Washington empty-handed on Wednesday after a hastily arranged trip to avert a crippling 39% tariff on the country's exports to the United States, its biggest market, three sources familiar with the matter said.

Iran executed a man on Wednesday convicted of spying for Israel and passing on information about a nuclear scientist killed in Israel's June attacks on the Islamic Republic, the judiciary's news outlet Mizan reported.

Lebanon's cabinet on Tuesday tasked the army with drawing up a plan to establish a state monopoly on arms by the end of the year, a challenge to Hezbollah, which has rejected calls to disarm since last year's devastating war with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met senior security officials to finalise a new strategy for the nearly two-year war in Gaza, his office said on Tuesday, with media reporting he favoured a complete military takeover of the Strip.

The United Arab Emirates is facing surging temperatures this summer after its hottest spring ever, with temperatures soaring close to record highs at the start of August, according to data from the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM).

Israel says it will allow gradual and controlled entry of goods to Gaza through local merchants, an Israeli military agency that coordinates aid said on Tuesday, as global monitors say famine is unfolding in the enclave, impacting the hostages Hamas holds.