China launched its most ambitious Mars mission ever on Thursday in a bold attempt to join the United States in successfully landing a spacecraft on the red planet. The Tianwen-1 was launched on a Long March-5 carrier rocket from a launch site on Hainan Island. It marked the second...

Sudan’s transition government has appointed 18 civilian state governors as a key part of a democratic transition after the ouster of Omar al-Bashir last year, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said on Wednesday. He also told a televised news conference the civilian government, ruling with the...

Spain is re-emerging as a European hotspot for COVID-19 with the Spanish Health Ministry reporting on Wednesday 9,011 new infections within the last week – the highest figure in months. Over the last two weeks, Spain has confirmed 14,520 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of...

Israeli police arrested two prominent Palestinian cultural leaders Wednesday at their home in east Jerusalem on a suspicion of "funding terrorism", their lawyer and police said. Rania Elias, who heads the Yabous Cultural Centre and her husband Suhail Khoury, Director General of the Edward...

 Researchers are making good progress in developing vaccines against COVID-19, with a handful in late-stage trials, but their first use cannot be expected until early 2021, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert said Wednesday. "Realistically it is going to be the first part of next...

Gazans are thronging beaches and crowding markets filled with holiday sweets and clothes as they prepare to celebrate Eid al-Adha largely free of the coronavirus restrictions affecting the Muslim festival elsewhere. The 360 sq. km. coastal strip has had little access to the outside world...

The global tally of people infected with the coronavirus neared 15 million Wednesday, while in the worst-hit pandemic hot spot of the United States, President Donald Trump warned the pandemic would "get worse before it gets better." With COVID-19 set to pass another shocking milestone,...

Britain’s government announced Wednesday that it will open a new special pathway to obtaining UK citizenship for eligible Hong Kongers from January 2021, taking another step toward solidifying a policy denounced by China. In a statement, the Home Office said holders of the British National...

Kuwait's 91-year-old ruling emir will travel Thursday to the United States morning to seek further medical care after recently undergoing surgery, its state-run news agency reported. Kuwait has yet to elaborate on what required Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah to seek a previously unannounced...

Russia and Turkey have agreed to continue efforts to bring about a long-term and sustainable ceasefire in Libya, Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday. Russia, alongside Egypt and the UAE, backs eastern Libya commander Khalifa Haftar, whose fighters have been battling the...

Greece's navy has deployed ships in the Aegean in "heightened readiness" over Turkish energy exploration activities, a navy source said Wednesday. The move came after the Greek foreign ministry formally protested to Ankara Tuesday following the announcement that a Turkish drilling ship...

Gerald Darmanin has had a tumultuous first two weeks as France's interior minister as the country questions whether someone under investigation for rape allegations can and should be its "top cop." The 37-year-old's appointment on July 6 drew immediate outrage that has showed no signs of...

Wandering Cairo's bustling streets, Zeinab was struggling to survive by selling tissues when the coronavirus left her even more vulnerable, along with thousands of other homeless people and street children. The only good news was that, amid the pandemic fears, physical violence against the...

A group of Palestinian cyclists say they were attacked by Israelis in the occupied West Bank after a popular trail app landed them on a remote path dotted with Jewish settlements. Avid cyclist Amer Kurdi set out Saturday with his brother and three others on what was supposed to be an...

 Democratic candidate Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by eight percentage points in support among registered voters, and the former vice president appears to have a significant advantage among voters who are undecided, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll. The July 15-21...

When Kapil left his Nepali village for an airport job packing cargo in the United Arab Emirates, he thought he was securing a future for himself and his family. But less than a year after arriving in the Middle East trade and tourism hub, he questions whether it was the right decision after...

The coronavirus death toll in the United States has spiked again with Donald Trump conceding the pandemic crisis will get worse, as record infections in Australia underscored second-wave dilemmas globally. Nearly 15 million cases have been confirmed and 615,000 lives lost since the virus...

Acute food insecurity is forecast to rise sharply in war-ravaged Yemen over a combination of factors exacerbated by the coronavirus, a report by several UN agencies said Wednesday. The report, which covers only the southern parts of Yemen, forecasts that the number of people "facing high...

Lebanon's hospitals, long considered among the best in the Middle East, are cracking under the country's financial crisis, struggling to pay staff, keep equipment running or even stay open amid a surge in coronavirus cases. Private hospitals, the engine of the health system, warn they may...

Saudi King Salman held a cabinet meeting via video call from hospital in the capital Riyadh Tuesday, a day after the 84-year-old monarch was admitted with what state media said was inflammation of the gall bladder. Three Saudi sources had previously told Reuters that the king was in stable...