Iran called Thursday for the US to be held accountable for "cruel" sanctions that have hampered its efforts to fight a coronavirus outbreak that it said claimed another 90 lives. The Islamic republic has been struggling to contain the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease since revealing...

A Gaza court has sentenced a Palestinian man to six months in jail for escaping from a coronavirus quarantine facility on the Egyptian border, the Interior Ministry said on Thursday. The 33-year-old was arrested on Saturday, a few hours after breaking out of the compound at Rafah, where...

The electric lanterns and ornate decorations of Ramadan would normally be hanging in the streets of Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem by now, but not this year amid coronavirus restrictions and growing economic woes. The holy fasting month is expected to start on Friday but, as...

Iran will destroy U.S. warships if its security is threatened in the Gulf, the head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards told state TV on Thursday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran over “harassment” of U.S. vessels. “I have ordered our naval forces to destroy any...

For some $15 a day, deliverymen don masks and gloves in Iran's capital to zip across its pandemic-subdued streets to drop off groceries and food for those sheltering at home from the virus. Like the wider Mideast, from skyscraper-studded Dubai to the narrow alleyways of Cairo, Iranians in...

 Spain said Thursday 440 people died in the past 24 hours from the new coronavirus, a slight increase for the third day running, bringing the overall death toll to 22,157. The country has suffered the third-highest number of deaths in the world from the pandemic after the United States...

China announced Thursday it will give another $30 million to the World Health Organization to help in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, days after Washington said it would freeze funding. The US, which is the WHO's biggest contributor, accused the organisation last week of...

The Premier League is considering screening some behind-closed-doors matches on free-to-air television in Britain when the season restarts, the culture secretary has said. Sky Sports and BT hold the UK television rights for live Premier League matches in what remains of the 2019/20 season,...

Long a lifeline for families back home, migrant workers in oil-rich Gulf Arab states now find themselves trapped by the coronavirus pandemic, losing jobs, running out of money and desperate to return to their home countries as COVID-19 stalks their labor camps. Whether on the island of...

Analysts warned the rise could be temporary as storage tanks fill around the world, but prices recovered ground as investors reassessed the resiliance of the world’s economy amid the global health emergency. Brent crude LCOc1 was up 99 cents, or 15%, at $21.36 a barrel by 0506 GMT after...

Turkey has accepted Palestine’s call for medical and financial assistance in the fight against the novel coronavirus, according to an official statement Thursday.  Turkey announced an aid package for Palestine during an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation...

Air Force One is mostly grounded. Fundraisers are canceled. And the closest thing to a campaign rally is President Donald Trump’s nightly coronavirus briefing. The president's reelection campaign has been thoroughly upended by the coronavirus. But Trump's team has revived a plan to quickly...

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic is “a human crisis that is fast becoming a human rights crisis.” The U.N. chief said in a video message that there is discrimination in the delivery of public services to tackle COVID-19 and there are...

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said on Thursday that he did not think that this week's outbreak of violent clashes in French housing estates would result in scenes similar to the 2005 riots that broke out throughout the country. "We are not in this sort of scenario," Castaner...

Iran reopened parks and recreational areas Wednesday, pressing ahead with measures to ease its coronavirus curbs despite one of the worst outbreaks of the disease in the Middle East. Ninety four people died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours raising the overall toll to 5,391, Health...

Clashes between Afghan forces and Taliban militants killed dozens nationwide in the past 24 hours, officials said Wednesday, even as the United States tries to broker peace talks between the warring sides. Abdul Qadeer Mutfi, spokesman for the Mine and Petroleum Ministry, said in a tweet...

All it took was a few sturdy swings with a sledgehammer and a prized painting by Vincent van Gogh was gone. A Dutch crime-busting television show has aired security camera footage showing how an art thief smashed his way through reinforced glass doors at a museum in the early hours of March...

 U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday it was an Israeli decision whether to annex parts of the West Bank and the United States will offer its views on this to the new Israeli government in private. "As for the annexation of the West Bank, the Israelis will ultimately make...

The British government came under sustained pressure over its coronavirus response on Wednesday when members of parliament got their first major opportunity in a month to hold it to account. With the latest hospital death toll from the virus rising to 18,100 in the United Kingdom and...

North Korean state media on Wednesday made no mention of leader Kim Jong Un’s health or whereabouts, a day after intense international speculation over his health was sparked by media reports he was gravely ill after a cardiovascular procedure. North Korean media presented a business as...