Mena Today

Major stock markets in the Gulf rose in early trade on Tuesday, on course to recover some losses as fears of wider geopolitical strife eased.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning to visit Saudi Arabia, where he is expected to take part in the World Economic Forum in Riyadh starting on April 28, Axios reported, citing two unidentified U.S. officials and one Arab official.

Newly installed Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa announced a package of reforms on Tuesday aimed at strengthening the Palestinian Authority (PA) amid increased global pressure for a revival of political dialogue with Israel.

A Russian court on Tuesday rejected the latest in a series of appeals by Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich against his pre-trial detention on charges of espionage.

Qatar said on Tuesday that Hamas's political leadership would stay in Doha as long as their presence remained beneficial to mediation efforts aimed at ending the war in Gaza. 

Sudan's army used anti-aircraft missiles on Tuesday to shoot down drones targeting its headquarters in the city of Shendi, witnesses and army sources said, the latest in a series of such drone attacks.

An Israeli attack on Iranian territory could radically change dynamics and result in there being nothing left of the "Zionist regime", Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi was quoted as saying on Tuesday by the official IRNA news agency.

Spain's High Court on Tuesday reopened an investigation into the use of Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group's Pegasus software to spy on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and other Spanish politicians.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group said on Tuesday it had launched a drone attack against Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre, in its deepest strike into Israeli territory since the Gaza war began.

David Cameron called for the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas since October 7th.

The same day Iran launched its first ever direct attack on Israel it embarked on a less-noticed confrontation at home, ordering police in several cities to take to the streets to arrest women accused of flouting its strict Islamic dress code.

Attacks around the Sudanese city of al-Fashir have shattered a truce that protected it from a year-old war, leading to warnings of a new wave of inter-communal violence and humanitarian risks for 1.6 million residents crammed into the North Darfur capital.