Mena Today

Iraq's parliament elected on Thursday Sunni lawmaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani as its speaker, lawmakers said, breaking a nearly year-long deadlock over the position that had remained vacant due to protracted disagreements among political factions.

Israeli intelligence suggests Iran is preparing to attack Israel from Iraqi territory in the coming days, possibly before the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5, Axios reported on Thursday, citing two unidentified Israeli sources.

Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has signed five Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with Japanese financial institutions worth up to an overall $51 billion, it said on Thursday.

Brazilian planemaker Embraer has signed a preliminary deal with Morocco to invest in the nation's civilian and defence aerospace sector, including setting up a maintenance and repair plant, Morocco's industry ministry said late on Wednesday.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia has had a political rapprochement with Tehran in recent years, which has helped ease regional tensions, but relations remain difficult.

Israeli cabinet ministers were to start voting later on Thursday on a long-awaited wartime budget for 2025 that will rein in spending and raise a host of taxes to pay for the military conflicts that have engulfed the country.

In the wake of renewed Israeli military action in southern Lebanon, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berry, a close Hezbollah ally, are now calling for the rapid implementation of UN Resolution 1701 to end hostilities between Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia militia, and Israel. 

Germany will shut all three Iranian consulates in Germany but allow the embassy to remain open in reaction to the execution of a German-Iranian national, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

A Hezbollah attack on northern Israel's Metula killed five people including an Israeli farmer and four foreign workers, Israel's Channel 12 said on Thursday, while Beirut said Israeli strikes had killed six health workers in southern Lebanon.

Growing regional instability and changing political dynamics have prompted the first bid in a decade to end Turkey's 40-year conflict with Kurdish militants, but its chances of success are unclear as Ankara has given no clues on what it may entail.

Growth in the Middle East and North Africa region is expected to rebound to 4% next year, but will hinge on a phase out of oil production cuts and headwinds subsiding, including from conflicts, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.