Turkey's inflation slowed in November for the first time since May 2021, official data showed on Monday, delivering a boost to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of next year's election.

The rate slowed to 84.39 percent, according to state statistics agency TUIK, down from 85.51 percent in October.

Turkey's inflation has risen steadily since reaching a low of 16.6 percent in May 2021.

The emerging market's troubled economy has turned into a major stumbling block on Erdogan's path to a third decade in power in a presidential poll due by next June.

The United Arab Emirates' president on Monday made his first visit to Qatar since the end of a nearly four-year regional blockade that put ties in a deep freeze.

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan was greeted by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani at the airport and left after an official lunch in a brief trip that coincided with the football World Cup in Qatar.

"The meeting explored UAE-Qatar relations and the prospects for growing their cooperation to boost prosperity in both countries and serve their common interests," the UAE's official WAM news agency said.

Wearing sky blue overalls near Gaza's port, technician Mohammed Jerboa celebrates the chance to finally repair fishing boats after a 15-year Israeli ban on vital materials.

It's a "great achievement", he said after sanding down the faded paint as part of a team of workers patching up rickety boats with sheets of newly imported fibreglass.

The material has been prohibited from entering the Palestinian enclave since 2007, as one of scores of items Israel deems could be used for military purposes by Gaza militants.

After fierce criticism of the Qatar World Cup, the head of the UN labour agency on Sunday pressed FIFA's president for a greater role scrutinizing future World Cup hosts.

International Labour Organisation director general Gilbert Houngbo told AFP before meeting with Gianni Infantino that Qatar has been a victim of "double standards" and has made significant progress but more needs to be done for its migrant labourers.

The ILO is seeking a role carrying out "due diligence" on future candidate countries, Houngbo said in an interview.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed Sunday to oppose Israeli settlements or annexation in the West Bank, but promised to judge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's incoming government by actions and not personalities.

Netanyahu is expected within days to return to power after sealing a coalition deal with extreme-right movements including Religious Zionism, which is set for a post in charge of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

World Cup fans in Qatar say the atmosphere is different without alcohol -- but they are divided over whether that is good or not.

Some say the absence of booze in stadiums and its limited availability elsewhere in the Arab nation has detracted from the atmosphere inside and outside stadiums.

Others say it has made no difference or even improved it, making it more family-friendly and less aggressive, and want it replicated at future World Cups.

Proudly Muslim Qatar has taken advantage of the World Cup to reach out to the hundreds of thousands of visiting fans to change minds about Islam or even make conversions.

The Gulf emirate is the first Muslim nation to stage a football World Cup and its gas riches have endowed it with an array of grand mosques to pique the curiosity of visitors.

Canadian couple Dorinel and Clara Popa listened to the call to prayer at an Ottoman-style mosque in Doha's Katara cultural district.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Bahrain on Sunday on the first trip by an Israeli head of state to the small Gulf kingdom, following the normalisation of relations in 2020.

Herzog, whose role is largely ceremonial, met with King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa and Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa.

They discussed issues including regional security and "ways to encourage communication between the representatives of the private sector in the two countries", the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said.

Iran has scrapped its morality police after more than two months of protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini following her arrest for allegedly violating the country's strict female dress code, an official said Sunday.

Women-led protests, labelled "riots" by the authorities, have swept Iran since the 22-year-old Iranian of Kurdish origin died on September 16, three days after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran.

In Jerusalem's Old City there are dozens of churches, but as Christmas beckons there is just one Santa Claus -- a towering Palestinian former basketball player.

Each December, the streets sparkle green and red as Christian pilgrims and others arrive to celebrate Christmas in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Seven years ago one resident, Issa Kassissieh, transformed the ground floor of his 700-year-old home into a grotto, complete with candy, mulled wine and a chance to sit on Santa's lap.