Mena Today

Traffic was suspended in Turkey's Bosphorus on Tuesday after a bulk carrier had an engine failure at the southern end of the straits that run through Istanbul.

The Israeli military took control of the vital Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Tuesday, pushing into the southern Gazan town after a night of air strikes and as prospects for a ceasefire deal hung in the balance.

The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement that "the War Cabinet unanimously decided that Israel will continue its operation in Rafah in order to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to promote the release of our hostages and the other goals of the war."

New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates will begin negotiations over a free trade agreement, the Pacific nation's trade minister said on Monday.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday he welcomed the decision by militant group Hamas to accept a ceasefire in Gaza, which he said was made in line with Ankara's suggestion, adding he hopes Israel would do the same.

Hamas said on Monday that it had accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar.

Turkey hit northern Iraq with airstrikes on Monday and claimed to have killed 16 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) sheltering there.

The historic Saint-Sauveur-in-Chora church, a stunning relic of Byzantine architecture in Istanbul, has recently been converted into a mosque, a move initiated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Several thousand Jews, including Holocaust survivors personally affected by the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, walked through the former Auschwitz Nazi German death camp on Monday for the annual March of the Living ceremony in Poland.

U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi will hold talks with senior officials in Iran on Monday and Tuesday, hoping to bolster his agency's oversight of Iran's nuclear activities.

Italy's mafia rarely dirties its hands with blood these days.

Jordan's King Abdullah told U.S. President Joe Biden in a private meeting on Monday that an Israeli offensive in Rafah would lead to a "new massacre" of Palestinian civilians and urged the international community to take urgent action.