Two people died and another three were injured Tuesday when a pre-dawn explosion rocked a factory south of Tehran, Iran's official IRNA agency reported, blaming human error. The blast in "a completely industrial zone" of Baqershahr, 23 kilometres (14 miles) from the capital, was caused by...

 Iran has recorded its highest number of deaths from COVID-19 within a 24-hour period, Health Ministry figures showed Tuesday. The 200 deaths reported Tuesday exceed the previous record from Sunday, when the ministry reported 163 deaths in a day. The Islamic Republic has recorded a...

With a new cabinet full of rightwing stalwarts, French President Emmanuel Macron is betting that his 2022 re-election hopes are best built on a conservative base that wants economic recovery to be the priority, analysts say. After his centrist party's rout in municipal elections last month...

A top Israeli health official resigned Tuesday, saying her guidance on combatting the coronavirus was being disregarded and the country's containment efforts were "disoriented" as it faced a surging caseload. The resignation of Siegal Sadetzki, the health ministry's director of public...

Masirah Saqer could barely open her eyes, as she struggled to swallow the milk her grandmother attempted to feed her with a syringe. Nearby the cries of other malnourished children reverberated around the pink-walled hospital ward, a vivid reminder of the human cost of Yemen's devastating...

The January US drone strike in Iraq that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and nine other people represented a violation of international law, a UN human rights investigator said Monday. The United States has failed to provide sufficient evidence of an ongoing or imminent attack...

A fervent supporter of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the US envoy to Israel has emerged as a central figure in the uncertainty surrounding Israel's annexation plans in the Palestinian territory. Ambassador David Friedman has, according to some experts, encouraged Israeli Prime...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the US is "looking at" banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok, over allegations Beijing is using them to spy on users. India has already barred the wildly popular TikTok app over national security and privacy concerns while other...

Australia warned its citizens Tuesday they could face "arbitrary detention" if they travel to China, the latest sign of growing tensions between the two nations. The foreign ministry issued the warning in updated travel advice, which also noted that Chinese authorities had detained...

Three members of a family in Libya suffered injuries Tuesday when a landmine planted by forces loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar exploded.  The blast occurred in the south of the capital Tripoli, according to a statement from Health Ministry officials. Two volunteers from two...

 It's hard to say what exactly will change in the West Bank if Israel follows through on its plans to annex parts of the occupied territory, but east Jerusalem, which was annexed more than a half-century ago, may provide some answers. Israeli leaders paint Jerusalem as a model of...

As US coronavirus cases surge and deaths topped 130,000, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo harshly criticized the White House's COVID-19 response Monday, accusing President Donald Trump of "enabling" the virus and downplaying its threat. Infections are on the rise in 39 states, according to a...

Britain on Monday identified 49 "notorious" individuals and organisations, 25 of them Russian and 20 Saudis, to be sanctioned under its first post-Brexit targeting of accused human rights violators, prompting immediate anger from Moscow. The Russians are listed for their alleged involvement...

Daesh expert Hisham al-Hashemi was shot outside his home in Baghdad Monday and died shortly thereafter at a local hospital, an official from the Iraqi interior ministry told AFP. Hashemi was an authoritative voice on Sunni extremist factions including the Daesh group, but was also...

Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group and the Palestinian Hamas Monday said Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank is an "aggression against the Palestinian people" and called for unity to confront it. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh sent a letter to Hezbollah’s chief Hassan Nasrallah in...

The Turkish foreign minister Monday called on the European Union to be an "honest broker" in disputes between Ankara and EU member states France, Greece and Cyprus. Mevlut Cavusoglu warned that Turkey would be forced to "reciprocate" against any decisions the bloc takes against the country....

More than 200 scientists have called for the World Health Organization and others to acknowledge that the coronavirus can spread in the air - a change that could alter some of the current measures being taken to stop the pandemic. In a letter published this week in the journal Clinical...

Wall Street's major indexes climbed Monday as data showing unexpected growth in the US services sector last month and optimism over China's economic revival helped investors look past a surge in new cases of COVID-19 at home. The ISM's non-manufacturing activity index jumped to 57.1 in...

The Lebanese central bank will provide foreign currency at a fixed exchange rate of 3,900 Lebanese pounds per dollar for importers and manufacturers of essential food items, it said on Monday. The central bank “will secure the necessary amounts in foreign currency to meet the needs of...

Iran’s hardline lawmakers plan to summon the president for questioning, a move that could ultimately lead to impeachment, media reported on Monday, amid growing discontent over the government’s economic policies. Iranians’ daily struggle to make ends meet has become harder since the...