Mena Today

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to confirm on Saturday that new negotiations were under way to recover hostages held by Hamas, after a source said Israel's intelligence chief met the prime minister of Qatar, a country mediating in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Algerian Football Federation has chosen Togo as the preparation location ahead of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN), which will take place in Ivory Coast in a month's time.

French shipping group CMA CGM said on Saturday it was pausing all container shipments through the Red Sea in the wake of attacks on commercial vessels in the region.

Gulf countries offered on Saturday their condolences to Kuwait over the death of Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad Al Sabah.

A large crane hoisted a new copper rooster back to the top of the spire of Notre-Dame on Saturday, a meaningful milestone as workers race to finish renovating the fire-damaged Paris cathedral in the next twelve months.

A month-long display of light and color will light up skies across Dubai from Friday, with four weeks of firework displays across the city including spectacular New Year’s Eve pyrotechnic displays and record-breaking drone shows.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the most senior Catholic Church official ever to stand trial before a Vatican criminal court, was convicted on Saturday of embezzlement and fraud and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail.

Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria plan to sign a deal in January on a joint plan to clear mines floating in the Black Sea as a result of the war in Ukraine, Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler said on Saturday, after months of talks between the NATO allies.

Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah was named as Kuwait's new emir on Saturday after the death of his brother Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah aged 86.

Several Moroccan officials have been questioned in Morocco as part of the investigation initiated in Belgium into an alleged corruption scandal involving the European Parliament and benefiting both the Kingdom of Morocco and the State of Qatar, according to the federal prosecutor's office.

Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces battled the army outside the central city of Wad Madani on Saturday, pressing an attack that has opened a new front in the eight-month-old war and forced thousands to flee, witnesses said.

Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah died on Saturday, aged 86, according to the royal court, just over three years after assuming power in the U.S.-allied Gulf oil producer.