Mena Today

The United States imposed sanctions on three entities and one individual based in Turkey and Lebanon on Wednesday for giving "critical financial support" to a financial network used by Iran's Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

It could take until the closing years of the century for Gaza's economy to regain its pre-conflict size if hostilities in the Palestinian enclave were to cease immediately, the U.N. trade body said in a report published on Wednesday.

Law enforcement agencies in Cyprus, Latvia and Portugal have made 15 arrests involving dozens of alleged marriages of convenience on the eastern Mediterranean island, police in Cyprus said on Wednesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Turkey on Feb. 12 to meet counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, a Turkish official told Reuters on Wednesday, in what will be the Russian leader's first trip to a NATO ally since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Iran will respond to any threat from the United States, Tehran's Revolutionary Guards' chief Hossein Salami said on Wednesday, as Washington prepares its response to the killing of American servicemen by presumed Tehran-aligned militants.

India has deployed at least a dozen warships east of the Red Sea to provide security against pirates and has investigated more than 250 vessels as Western powers focus on attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis, Indian officials said.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, in a phone call with his Jordanian counterpart on Tuesday, condemned an attack on a U.S. military outpost on Jordanian territory near the border with Syria, state media reported.

Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah announced on Tuesday the suspension of all its military operations against U.S. troops in the region, in a decision aimed at preventing "embarrassment" of the Iraqi government, the group said.

The United States said on Tuesday that the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees needs to make "fundamental changes" before Washington will resume funding that was halted over Israeli accusations that some agency staff took part in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants.

Hong Kong's government announced on Tuesday that it hopes to swiftly pass new national security laws. A public consultation document was also released. A deadline for its eventual passage into law has yet to be announced.

The United States will look hard at what steps the United Nations' aid agency for Palestinians takes in response to what he called "deeply troubling" allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.