Mena Today

Most stock markets in the Gulf slipped on Wednesday as investors turned cautious after strong readings on the U.S. economy tempered bets on interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year.

Gulistan Sonuk, 31, sailed to election victory in Turkey's conservative heartland at the weekend, part of a wave of new women mayors who dealt President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party and its allies a watershed defeat.

The main Palestinian faction in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday accused Iran of trying to spread chaos in its territory and said it would oppose operations from outside that had nothing to do with the Palestinian cause.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday that the Islamist movement at war with Israel was sticking to its conditions for a ceasefire in Gaza, including an Israeli military withdrawal.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative Party is set to slide to a heavy defeat at a national election expected this year, according to a opinion poll published on Wednesday which showed the opposition Labour Party winning more than 400 seats.

The U.S. designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group puts "additional pressure" on the group that may discourage attacks on ships in the Red Sea, but ultimately a diplomatic solution will have to be found in Yemen, the U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen said on Wednesday.

A Lebanese Army official told AFP that the preliminary results of an investigation into the explosion on Saturday that injured UNIFIL personnel found that it was caused by landmine.

The European Union expressed its concern after the Israeli parliament approved a law granting the government the power to prevent foreign media from operating in Israel, particularly the Qatari news channel Al Jazeera.

Six primary-school students were killed and 14 others were injured when a refrigerator truck veered into a group of children in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

For the past five years, Egyptian Laila Abdel Maksoud and her family have run a charity offering free meals during the holy month of Ramadan, serving more and more people even as soaring inflation has driven up costs for the organization.

Cyprus appealed on Wednesday for vigorous action from the EU to stem a recent tide of mostly Syrian refugees arriving by sea via Lebanon, saying the island's reception capacity was at breaking point.

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday formally asked for renewed consideration by the United Nations Security Council of its 2011 application to become a full member of the world body.