Mena Today

Saudi Arabia's King Salman has recovered after successfully completing medical tests for lung inflammation on Wednesday, the state news agency (SPA) said, citing the royal court.

Mexico's new President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Wednesday that she does not have plans to meet soon with her U.S. counterpart President Joe Biden, but she added that close coordination with Mexico's top trade partner will continue.

France will hold an international ministerial conference over the crisis in Lebanon on Oct. 24 that will focus on the political situation there and humanitarian aid amid an escalation between Israel and Hezbollah, the foreign ministry said.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati stated on Wednesday that "Arab and international" efforts to pressure Israel into a "specific duration ceasefire" in Lebanon are ongoing, lamenting what he called Israel's "intransigence." 

Leaders from Islamist group Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement discussed plans for cooperation after the war in Gaza in a new round of talks in Cairo on Wednesday, a Hamas official told Reuters.

Turkey has blocked access to instant messaging platform Discord in line with a court decision after the platform refused to share information demanded by Ankara, Turkish authorities said on Wednesday.

At least six people were wounded, two of them seriously, in a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Hadera on Wednesday, Israeli authorities said.

Oil prices edged up on Wednesday as developments in the Middle East took centre stage against cautious demand expectations and ahead of a government meeting on China's fiscal policy.

Tehran rejects "accusations" put forward by a British security official, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Wednesday, a day after UK's MI5 spy chief said 20 Iran-backed potentially lethal plots had been disrupted in Britain since January 2022.

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, Israeli officials said, for talks expected to include a discussion of Israeli plans for a retaliatory strike on Iran.

Hezbollah's call for a ceasefire on Tuesday shows the militant group is on the back foot and "getting battered," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a regular briefing on Tuesday.