ISTANBUL, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A Turkish court rejected on Friday a lawsuit from jailed Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu challenging the cancellation of his university degree, his legal team said, in a further blow to his plans to run for the presidency in the next election.

Imamoglu, who is President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, has been in jail since last March, pending trial on corruption charges. He received a separate prison sentence in July for insulting and threatening the city’s chief prosecutor.

By Lili Bayer

BRUSSELS, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The European Union’s foreign policy arm has raised questions about U.S. President Donald Trump’s broad powers over his new Board of Peace, according to an internal document seen by Reuters.

Trump has urged world leaders to join hisBoard of Peace initiative aimed at resolving conflicts globally, but many Western heads of government have been reluctant to take part.

ROME, Jan 23 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday he would be ready to join U.S. President Donald Trump's Board of Peace initiative for the sake of Gaza but could not accept the plan in its current form.

"In the form in which the peace board is currently set up, we cannot accept its governance structures in Germany for constitutional reasons," Merz said in a joint news conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome.

WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on nine vessels of what is known as the shadow fleet and eight related firms, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement, as Washington sought to escalate pressure on Iran over the recent killing of protesters.

The Treasury said the vessels and their respective owners or management firms, which include entities based in India, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have collectively transported hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil and petroleum products to foreign markets.

By Maha El Dahan, Timour Azhari and Humeyra Pamuk

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, Jan 23 - Washington has threatened senior Iraqi politicians with sanctions targeting the Iraqi state — including potentially its critical supply of oil revenue sourced via the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — should Iran-backed armed groups be included in the next government, four sources told Reuters.

By Alexander Cornwell

TEL AVIV, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Israel wants to restrict the number of Palestinians entering Gaza through the border crossing with Egypt to ensure that more are allowed out than in, three sources briefed on the matter said ahead of the border's expected opening next week.

DUBAI, Jan 23 (Reuters) - An influential Iranian cleric warned on Friday that Iran may target U.S.-linked investments in the region in retaliation for any U.S. attack on the Islamic Republic, Iranian news agencies reported.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the United States had an "armada" heading toward Iran but hoped he would not have to use it, as he renewed warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear programme.

The UN Human Rights Council decided Friday to deepen its scrutiny of Iran over its crackdown on protests that left thousands dead, including children, amid demands it end its "brutal repression".

The 47-member body voiced alarm about "the unprecedented scale of the violent crackdown on peaceful protests by security forces" in Iran.

With 25 votes in favour, seven opposed and the rest abstaining, it decided to extend and broaden the mandate of independent investigators gathering evidence towards ensuring accountability for rights violations in the country.

Europeans were among 150 senior Islamic State group detainees transferred this week by the US military from Kurdish custody in Syria to neighbouring Iraq, whose premier urged EU countries to repatriate their nationals.

They were among an estimated 7,000 jihadists due to be moved to Iraq as the Kurdish-led force that has held them for years relinquishes swathes of territory to the advancing Syrian army.

By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A training centre for hundreds of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank could be closed within days by Israeli authorities, jeopardising the education of students, the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said on Friday.

The Kalandia Training Centre, which teaches 350 young male students from across the West Bank skills such as plumbing and vehicle maintenance, could be shut, as the land it sits on is at risk of expropriation by Israeli authorities, UNRWA said.