The head of African football Ahmad Ahmad has been suspended by FIFA for five years for corruption, the global governing body announced on Monday. Ahmad, from Madagascar, has been president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since March 2017 and was standing for re-election in...

Russia hit a record daily high of over 25,000 coronavirus cases on Monday as government resists uniform nationwide restrictions. As many as 25,173 people tested positive for COVID-19 over the last 24 hours, taking the tally to over 2.11 million, health authorities announced. Recoveries...

Britain’s AstraZeneca said on Monday its vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be around 90% effective without any serious side effects, giving the world another important tool to halt the COVID-19 pandemic. The vaccine developed by Oxford University was 90% effective in preventing...

Ten years ago, a wildfire of revolts in the Arab world touched off an unlikely series of events that swelled, then dashed many hopes, and irrevocably changed the region. From the quickfire collapse of seemingly invincible regimes to the rise and fall of a jihadist caliphate in its heart,...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secretly visited Saudi Arabia on Sunday and met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo there, Israel's Kan public radio and Army Radio said on Monday. Netanyahu's office and the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem...

Yemen's Houthi rebels said they struck a Saudi oil facility in the port city of Jeddah on Monday with a new cruise missile, just hours after the kingdom finished hosting its virtual Group of 20 leaders summit. The kingdom did not immediately acknowledge any attack as videos on social media...

 US President-elect Joe Biden will name his first cabinet picks on Tuesday, his chief of staff said, even as Donald Trump clung to unsubstantiated claims of fraud despite growing dissent from within his own party. Biden has pushed ahead with preparations to assume the presidency on...

No country has been spared the coronavirus epidemic, nor the scourge of domestic violence, which has surged during lockdowns as the day marking such violence approaches on Wednesday. From a spike in rapes in Nigeria and South Africa, increased numbers of women missing in Peru, higher...

The Houthi rebel group in Yemen announced early Monday it targeted a facility of Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Aramco in Jeddah by a missile.  "The missile force managed to target the Aramco distribution station in Jeddah with a winged Quds 2 missile," the group's military...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an apparent message to U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, said on Sunday there should be no return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal abandoned by President Donald Trump. Biden, who takes office on Jan. 20, has said he would rejoin the accord if Tehran...

The first Americans could receive a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as Dec. 11, the chief scientific adviser for the U.S. government's vaccine program said on Sunday. "Within 24 hours from the approval, the vaccine will be moving and located in the areas where each state will have told us where...

Tens of thousands of Belarus opposition protesters took to the streets on Sunday, the latest large-scale rally against President Alexandre Lukashenko's contested re-election. For more than three months Belarus has been gripped by historic weekly opposition rallies following Lukashenko's...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday he was ready to work with any U.S. leader and would congratulate whoever emerges the winner of the U.S. presidential election once all the legal formalities are settled, Russian news agencies reported. Putin has withheld comment, while...

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that his country, an official candidate for European Union membership, sees itself as an inseparable part of Europe but will not give in to attacks and double standards. "We see ourselves as an inseparable part of Europe...However this does...

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday defended his tour of Gulf Arab states and the Trump administration's continued efforts to squeeze Iran, even as a new U.S. administration led by Joe Biden prepares to enter the White House in January. Although Pompeo has not taken questions from...

A sharp rise in coronavirus infections in the Gaza Strip could overwhelm the Palestinian enclave's meagre medical system by next week, public health advisers said on Sunday. Gaza, where the dense and poor population of 2 million is vulnerable to contagions, has logged 14,000 coronavirus...

Iraq's Salahaddin province declared three days of mourning from Sunday over a deadly attack blamed on the Islamic State group, as some criticised authorities for failing to fight back jihadists. Late Saturday, a roadside bomb hit a civilian car on an open road near Mt. Makhoul, about 200...

Ethiopia’s army plans to surround the rebel-held capital of Tigray region with tanks and may use artillery on the city to try to end a nearly three-week war, a military spokesman said on Sunday, urging civilians to save themselves. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which is...

France’s foreign ministry has demanded Pakistan authorities withdraw comments made by one of its ministers that President Emmanuel Macon was treating Muslims like Nazis had treated Jews in World War 2. The comments posted on Twitter by Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen...

G20 leaders will pledge to "spare no effort" in ensuring the equitable distribution of coronavirus vaccines worldwide and reaffirm support for debt-laden poor countries, according to a draft communique seen by AFP Sunday. The leaders also struck a unified tone on supporting "multilateral"...