Mena Today

U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit the Middle East this week, aiming to reach a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, and secure the release of hostages held by the Palestinian militant group.

Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II of Jordan recently performed Umrah, a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The prince's visit to the holy city holds significant religious and cultural importance for Muslims around the world.

The third-ranking member of the Palestinian Hamas group was killed last week during an Israeli military operation in Gaza, the White House announced on Monday.

The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) said on Monday it would boycott a parliamentary election in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq scheduled to be held in June in protest over a ruling issued by the federal supreme court.

The Jordanian army said on Monday its air defence radar system had detected suspicious aerial movements from an unknown source along the border with Syria, which a regional security source said were most probably missiles fired by pro-Iranian militias from Iraq.

European Union foreign ministers agreed in principle on Monday to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers for attacking Palestinians in the West Bank and to add further sanctions on members of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.

A day after securing a new six-year term, Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared briefly at an open-air concert on Red Square on Monday to mark the 10th anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Croatia's Constitutional Court on Monday barred President Zoran Milanovic from running for prime minister in elections next month while still in office, ruling he would have to resign first.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi met Iraq's prime minister in Baghdad on Monday as part of a visit to help the country develop a peaceful nuclear programme.

U.S. officials had traveled to Niger last week to express concerns about the country's potential development of ties to Russia and Iran before the ruling junta on Saturday revoked a key military accord allowing U.S. military personnel in the country, the Pentagon said on Monday.

Egyptian police detained an Italian student in Cairo because they thought he was a British spy, taking him to a security facility where he was tortured and murdered, an Italian prosecutor told a Rome court on Monday.

Israeli forces have killed 20 Palestinian gunmen in Gaza's Al Shifa hospital and apprehended dozens of suspected militants, the Israeli military said on Monday.