Israel is taking an increasingly balanced approach towards Libya’s internationally recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. Haaretz, citing foreign sources, said the Mossad, which has been supporting eastern warlord Khalifa Haftar, has...

Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm has begun Phase III clinical trials of a COVID-19 vaccine in Bahrain, after launching similar trials in the United Arab Emirates last month, Bahrain’s health ministry said on Monday. The human trial, which launched in the UAE capital Abu...

Saudi Aramco is moving ahead with plans to boost crude output capacity by 1 million barrels per day (bpd) to 13 million bpd despite cuts in capital expenditure this year and next year, the state oil group’s CEO said on Monday. Aramco’s capital spending plan for 2021 will be “significantly...

Lebanon’s prime minister was set on Monday to announce the resignation of his government, the health minister said, after a devastating explosion in Beirut that has stirred public outrage and spurred a string of ministers to step down. The Aug. 4 port warehouse detonation of more than 2,000...

Behind the rising numbers of registered novel coronavirus cases and deaths -- both expected this week to reach 20 million and 750,000, respectively -- is "a great deal of pain and suffering," and leaders need to embrace new measures to turn the outbreak around, the top official of the World...

Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko has won a sixth term in office with a landslide of over 80% of the vote, the country's election commission announced Monday. Voter turnout in Sunday’s polls was over 84%, and the results of the election are considered "valid," Lidia Ermoshina, head of...

Ahmed Amarneh's home, with a wooden door opening onto cushion-lined rooms, is not the first Palestinian residence in the occupied West Bank to receive a demolition notice from Israel. But it may be the first built inside a cave which the Jewish state has threatened to destroy. Amarneh,...

Reporting 28 more coronavirus infections on Monday, South Korea also said it had found three new cases of “mutated genome sequences” of the virus. “Genetic mutations were detected to spike protein, the major surface protein of the virus, from the three COVID-19 imported cases – two from...

The novel coronavirus outbreak claimed 572 lives in Brazil over the past 24 hours, health authorities said on Monday. The COVID-19 death toll in Brazil -- the second-hardest hit by the virus worldwide -- rose to 101,049, while the tally of cases surged to over 3.35 million, including more...

Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Penny Gantz said Monday Israel is ready for a war with Lebanon if such war is imposed on Tel Aviv. In his briefing to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Gantz warned that such war would have serious consequences on Lebanon....

 China Monday announced unspecified sanctions against 11 US politicians and heads of organizations promoting democratic causes, including Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, who have already been singled out by Beijing. Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Monday said the 11 had...

Iran has rejected as "unrealistic" a call by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for the United Nations to extend an international arms embargo on Tehran that ends in October, state TV reported Monday. The GCC, made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi...

A US cabinet member heaped praise on Taiwan's democracy and its success in battling the coronavirus as he met the island's leader on Monday during a historic visit that China has slammed as a threat to peace. Health Secretary Alex Azar is in Taipei for a three-day visit billed as the...

The Taliban said Monday they were ready for peace talks with the Afghan government, as authorities announced that the release of hundreds of militants accused of serious offences would begin in the next few days. The fate of some 400 Taliban prisoners has been a crucial hurdle in launching...

Lebanon's government was teetering Monday as two ministers' resignations over the deadly Beirut port explosion threatened to snowball and protesters' fury on the scarred streets showed no sign of abating. The under-fire cabinet, struggling to weather the political storm, was due to meet in...

Egyptian lawmakers are pushing for a new law to protect the identity of women coming forward to report sexual abuse and assault as the nation's MeToo movement picks up speed. An Egyptian parliamentarian committee has approved a draft law that would give survivors of sexual assault and...

The Israeli military said late Sunday that it struck a Hamas target in the northern Gaza Strip in response to the continued launches of explosives-laden balloons from the Palestinian territory into Israel. In a brief statement, the army said an aircraft struck a Hamas observation post in...

Iran said Monday that countries should refrain from politicizing the massive blast in Beirut last week, adding that the United States should lift sanctions against Lebanon. "The blast should not be used as an excuse for political aims ... the cause of the blast should be investigated...

France’s President Emmanuel Macron led a virtual international donors conference Sunday to rush aid to Lebanon's capital city of Beirut, which suffered extensive damage last week from two devastating blasts. A total of 250 million euros ($294.5 million) was pledged by all countries...

India’s recoveries from the novel coronavirus rose to 1,530,070 on Monday, accounting for 69% of its cases.  “The recovery of more than 1.5 million has been made possible because of the policy of testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently. Better ambulance...