Mena Today

-France's opposition left-wing parties pledged to work together and nominate joint candidates in snap parliament elections later this month, to challenge the government and Marine Le Pen's far right, but had not yet struck a deal by Tuesday morning.

Tourism revenues estimated by the Banque du Liban – the only entity in Lebanon to publish official figures for this sector – reached $5.41 billion in 2023, representing a slight increase (+1.7 percent) on the $5.32 billion achieved a year earlier. T

Yemen's Houthis said on Monday they have arrested an "American-Israeli spy cell", a few days after the Iran-backed group detained about a dozen United Nations personnel.

The United Nations Security Council on Monday backed a proposal outlined by President Joe Biden for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip and urged the Palestinian militants to accept the deal aimed at ending the eight-month-long war.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrived in Jordan on Monday to attend a conference focused on providing aid to Gaza. 

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen will turn to the social democrats and liberals in Brussels, with whom she has worked in the past, to form a majority following elections to the European Parliament, she said in Berlin on Monday.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday, as he began a trip to the Middle East, that he was urging leaders in the region to press Hamas to say yes to a ceasefire proposal to halt fighting in Gaza.

Israel has intensified covert strikes in Syria against weapons sites, supply routes and Iranian-linked commanders, seven regional officials and diplomats said, ahead of a threatened full-scale assault on Tehran's key ally Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Political upheaval in France won't affect preparations for the Olympic Summer Games, IOC President Thomas Bach said on Monday after President Emmanuel Macron shocked France with his call for new parliamentary elections.

Egypt's annual urban consumer price inflation decreased to 28.1% in May from 32.5% in April, slowing even faster than analysts had expected, data from the statistics agency CAPMAS showed on Monday.

The Turkish competition authority said on Monday that it imposed a fine of around 482 million lira ($14.85 million) on Google over its failure to fulfill obligations related to hotel searches.

A senior Hamas official urged the United States on Monday to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza, ahead of the planned visit on Monday by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region to push forward ceasefire efforts.