Mena Today

Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita held a telephone conversation on Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 

Tunisian President Kais Saied has dismissed Minister of Religious Affairs Brahim Chaïbi following the death of dozens of Tunisians during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, which took place under extreme heat conditions.

A merchant vessel reported an explosion in its vicinity 126 nautical miles east of Yemen's port city of Aden, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said late on Friday.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the number of people killed during the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, has already risen to over 1,170. 

Barcelona, a top Spanish holiday destination, announced on Friday that it will bar apartment rentals to tourists by 2028, an unexpectedly drastic move as it seeks to rein in soaring housing costs and make the city liveable for residents.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday he is profoundly concerned by escalating tensions between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah and that U.N. peacekeepers are working to calm the situation and prevent miscalculation.

A Tunisian soldier was killed and another injured on Friday in a military helicopter crash during a routine exercise, according to the Ministry of Defense.

Global commodities trader Trafigura loaded diesel onto a supertanker in the Middle East this week, taking advantage of lower freight rates for crude tankers to send more fuel to the West, according to shipping data and several trade sources.

Islamist terrorism is the main security worry ahead of the upcoming Paris Olympics, the French capital's chief of police Laurent Nunez said on Friday.

Regular puffs of smoke from missile intercepts over northern Israel and fires from air strikes in southern Lebanon are outward signs of a fear that the Gaza war may be expanding into a wider conflict, which analysts say poses risks for both sides.

Saudi Arabia and Switzerland are poised to deepen cooperation in finance and economics as top officials convened for the 4th Saudi-Swiss Financial Dialogue in Zurich.    

South Korea's foreign ministry said it had summoned the Russian ambassador in protest of a pact between Russia and North Korea signed in Pyongyang this week, as a Reuters witness saw him enter the ministry building on Friday afternoon.