Mena Today

Israel said on Friday it would send a delegation to Qatar for fresh talks on a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza, keeping faint hopes for a truce alive despite rejecting a long-awaited counter-offer from Hamas.

G7 nations are prepared to respond with severe new penalties that could include a ban on Iran Air flights to Europe if Iran proceeds with the transfer of close-range ballistic missiles to Russia, a senior U.S. official said on Friday.

French-Lebanese tycoon Rodolphe Saade has acquired Altice Media on Friday, which includes several television channels in France, including BFM.

The Islamist group Hamas on Friday criticized the "unilateral" designation by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of an ally and leading business figure as prime minister with a mandate to help reform the Palestinian Authority (PA) and rebuild Gaza.

U.S. President Joe Biden condemned on Friday what he called an ugly resurgence of Islamophobia since the Oct. 7 start of the Israel-Gaza war.

At least 16 people drowned, including four children, when a rubber boat carrying migrants sank off Turkey's northwest province of Canakkale, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday.

The U.N. children's agency warned on Friday of a potential catastrophic loss of lives in Sudan as the civil war worsens hunger and called for a massive mobilisation of resources.

Algerian opposition figure Karim Tabbou was sentenced on Wednesday by an Algerian court in Algiers to six months of suspended prison, notably for "incitement to unarmed gathering" and "defamation," as reported by a human rights NGO.

Air raid sirens wail almost daily in the southern Russian city of Belgorod, sending people rushing for cover and reminding residents the full-scale war in neighbouring Ukraine is a reality for them too.

Egypt is seeking to reach a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza, increase entry of aid and to allow displaced people in the south of the enclave to move to the north, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Friday.

A daylight inspection showed that a merchant vessel was not hit or damaged in the Red Sea off Yemen's Hodeidah after initial reports it was struck by a missile, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and British security firm Ambrey said on Friday.