A major British clinical trial has found hydroxychloroquine has "no benefit" for patients hospitalised with COVID-19, scientists said Friday, in the first large-scale study to provide results for a drug at the centre of political and scientific controversy. Hydroxychloroquine, a decades-old...

The United States said Friday it had shared a draft UN resolution with rival Russia that aims to extend an arms embargo on Iran that expires in October. Moscow has already voiced opposition to prolonging the ban on conventional arms sales to Tehran, with Russian firms expecting to conclude...

President Donald Trump took a victory lap Friday morning after the government reported surprising job gains for last month, seizing on the data to predict that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic disruption was in the rear-view mirror. The unemployment rate dropped to a...

The United Nations' atomic watchdog agency says Iran has continued to increase its stockpiles of enriched uranium and remains in violation of its deal with world powers. The International Atomic Energy Agency reported the finding Friday in a confidential document distributed to member...

The World Health Organization (WHO) updated its guidance Friday to recommend that governments ask everyone to wear fabric face masks in public areas where there is a risk of transmission of COVID-19 to help reduce the spread of the pandemic disease. In its new guidance, prompted by evidence...

 France demanded Friday that Franco-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, whom Tehran has sentenced to six years in prison, be released immediately, saying her detention was harming trust between the two countries. "One year ago, Fariba Adelkhah was arbitrarily arrested in Iran. It is...

Airbus is ready to sue airlines that refuse to honour contracts to take aircraft, its chief executive was quoted Friday as saying, raising the stakes in a stand-off between some manufacturers and airlines over the coronavirus crisis. The warning came as Airbus prepared to unveil what...

Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday said he expected metals giant Norilsk Nickel to fully restore the environment after an unprecedented Arctic fuel spill, as responders said they had managed to stop the slick from spreading further. A national-level state of emergency was announced...

The US conducted its first air strikes against the Taliban since a rare ceasefire between the insurgents and Afghan forces ended more than a week ago, the US military said Friday. The two assaults took place Thursday and Friday in separate provinces in Afghanistan, spokesman Sonny Leggett...

Lionel Messi has sustained a "minor" thigh injury, but Barcelona remain confident he will be fit for the team's first game back against Mallorca on June 13, the club said Friday. Messi has not trained with the rest of the squad since Tuesday after working separately in the gym on both...

Seizing on Donald Trump’s conciliatory tone after Tehran released an American Navy veteran, Iran’s foreign minister challenged the US president Friday to return to the nuclear deal that Washington abandoned two years ago. Iran freed Michael White Thursday as part of a deal in which the...

Palestinians in the West Bank on Friday rallied to mark 53 years of Israeli occupation and protest against the Jewish state's plans to annex part of the territory. In Tulkarem, in the northern West Bank, dozens of demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans against Israeli...

China said Facebook was unfairly targeting its biggest media companies on Friday after the network began attaching disclaimers to pages run by the country's state-controlled news outlets. Pages managed by news agency Xinhua and the fiery nationalist tabloid Global Times are now labelled...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cancelled Friday a weekend curfew introduced to halt the spread of coronavirus, pointing to concerns over the economy. Turkey has been locked down on weekends and public holidays since April, and the interior ministry said in the early hours of Friday...

French police have banned a demonstration planned to take place in front of the US Embassy in Paris on Saturday as protests mount around the world over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The Paris police department said on Friday it had decided to ban the demonstrations because of...

Russia has managed to contain a massive diesel spill into a river in the Arctic, a spokeswoman for the emergencies ministry told AFP on Friday. "We have stopped the spread of the petroleum products," the spokeswoman for the taskforce in charge of the accident clean-up said. "They are...

Libya's UN-recognised government announced Friday another victory in its counter-offensive against eastern-based strongman Khalifa Haftar, overrunning his last western stronghold Tarhuna, launchpad of an abortive 14-month assault on the capital. The recapture of the strategic town southeast...

About 1,300 civilians have died from conflict and violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo in just a matter of months, while over half a million people have fled their homes, the UN said Friday. Some attacks "may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes," United Nations rights...

France on Friday denied that Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido had been given refuge at its mission in Caracas, after Venezuela's foreign minister claimed he was hiding at the embassy. "Mr Juan Guaido is not at the French residency in Caracas. We have confirmed this to the Venezuelan...

The head of Britain’s spy agency GCHQ said Thursday that hackers from hostile states were trying to steal secret coronavirus vaccine research.       GCHQ Director Jeremy Fleming said the hackers were targeting the UK’s health infrastructure and research labs. ...