Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of the Belarusian capital Minsk on Sunday to demand the resignation of veteran president Alexander Lukashenko, despite a threat by officials to use firearms against protesters. Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with...

Long-time chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, diagnosed with coronavirus, was being hospitalised in Israel on Sunday after his condition worsened, the Palestine Liberation Organization and his brother said. The PLO said in a statement that "following his contraction of Covid-19, and...

A Saudi artist has created the world's "largest coffee painting", becoming the first woman from the country to achieve a record title single-handedly, the Guinness World Records announced Sunday. Ohud Abdullah Almalki used expired coffee to illustrate renowned leaders from the kingdom and...

Thousands of people rallied in central Paris Sunday in a defiant show of solidarity with a teacher beheaded for showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Demonstrators on the Place de la Republique held aloft posters declaring: "No to totalitarianism of thought" and "I am a teacher"...

An arms embargo imposed since 2007 by the UN Security Council (UNSC) ended Sunday, according to Iran’s foreign ministry. All restrictions on the transfer of arms, related activities and financial services to and from Iran, and all prohibitions regarding the entry into or transit through...

Under a controversial normalization deal, an Israeli trade delegation will travel to the Gulf state of Bahrain on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced.  In a written statement, Netanyahu said Israel’s first-ever trade delegation to Bahrain will be led by National...

Despite a second attempt at a cease-fire, Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations Sunday of violating the new truce in their destructive conflict over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The latest truce, which was announced Saturday and took force at midnight, was the second...

Saudi Arabia allowed its citizens and residents inside the kingdom to perform prayers in one of the most holy religious sites in Islam, Al-Haram mosque in Mecca, for the first time in seven months, state television reported early on Sunday. Earlier this month Saudi Arabia allowed...

An Egyptian activist and satirist detained for more than two years has been released, his family has announced. Shady Abu Zeid was arrested in May 2018 and held in pre-trial detention over charges of "membership of a banned group" and "disseminating false news", according to rights...

The latest première at the Jewish State Theater in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, explores the horrors of the Holocaust via a survivor's memories of the Auschwitz and Plaszow concentration camps. Friday's debut of “The Beautiful Days of My Youth” by Romanian Jewish Holocaust survivor...

At a Kabul museum honoring Afghanistan’s war victims, talking to visitors reveals just how many layers and generations of pain and grief have piled up during four decades of unrelenting conflict. Fakhria Hayat recalled an attack that changed her family forever. It was 1995, and the...

Barcelona fell to their first defeat in La Liga under new coach Ronald Koeman as they lost 1-0 at Getafe Saturday, hours after champions Real Madrid slipped to a shock 1-0 defeat at home to promoted Cadiz. Getafe forward Jaime Mata sent Barca goalkeeper Neto the wrong way from the...

Spanish champions Real Madrid suffered a shock 1-0 loss at home to promoted Cadiz Saturday, their first La Liga defeat in over seven months. Honduran forward Anthony Lozano put Cadiz ahead in the 16th minute, darting between Madrid defenders Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane to meet a...

Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller both scored twice as Bayern Munich banished their early-season blues with a thumping 4-1 win over Bundesliga minnows Arminia Bielefeld Saturday. Treble winners Bayern started the day in mid-table following a shock defeat to Hoffenheim last month, but...

Jacinda Ardern turned speaking from the heart and smiling through adversity into a winning formula for a blowout re-election as New Zealand’s leader on Saturday. Now Ardern, who made a name for herself by crushing COVID-19 in the country and healing the nation after a massacre of Muslims by...

Global coronavirus cases rose by more than 400,000 for the first time late on Friday, a record one-day increase as much of Europe enacts new restrictions to curb the outbreak. Europe, which successfully tamped down the first surge of infections, has emerged as the new coronavirus epicentre...

Turkey’s president has announced the discovery of an additional 85 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in the Black Sea. Speaking aboard the drill ship Fatih Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said explorations in the Tuna-1 well were complete after reaching a depth of 4775...

Iran announced Saturday that its death toll from the coronavirus has passed the milestone of 30,000 killed, in what has been the Mideast region's worst outbreak. The announcement by Health Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari saw Iran put its total death toll from the outbreak at 30,123...

Millions of Europeans on Saturday faced tough new coronavirus restrictions as governments try to combat spiralling infections. Paris and other French cities are under a nighttime curfew which will last for at least a month, while England is banning mixed household gatherings in the capital...

A divided world has failed to rise to the challenge of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Saturday and warned concerted action was needed to prevent millions of people being pushed into poverty and hunger. The former Portuguese prime minister said far...