Iran's judiciary said Tuesday that it has temporary released more than 1,000 foreign prisoners due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, following criticism by U.N. human rights experts. "What Iran has done in guaranteeing prisoners' health and granting furlough to them is a significant...

The United States is preparing a "substantial contribution" to help Yemen combat the coronavirus, but it may have to find alternatives to the World Health Organization (WHO) to spend it, a senior U.S. official told Reuters, days after President Donald Trump slammed the U.N. agency's handling of...

The Saudi stock market led Gulf bourses down on Tuesday, a day after US oil prices slumped to historic lows over sluggish demand, a supply glut and a lack of storage. The Saudi Tadawul stock market, the largest in the Arab world, dropped 2.1 percent at the start of trading before recovering...

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 94th birthday on Tuesday, but the traditional gun salute was called off this year because of the coronavirus crisis. The monarch was said to be marking the occasion with her 98-year-old husband, Prince Philip, at Windsor Castle, west of London....

Israel's coalition deal between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz breaks a year-long deadlock but has pitfalls -- from power sharing mechanisms to West Bank policy and the premier's corruption charges. Monday's agreement for a unity government, signed by Netanyahu and...

Lebanon's parliament sat Tuesday in a conference hall to allow for social distancing between lawmakers amid the coronavirus pandemic, while outside anti-government protesters demonstrated in a car convoy. As the country struggles with a battered economy, MPs approved a $120 million loan...

The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that any lifting of lockdowns to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus must be gradual, and if restrictions were to be relaxed too soon, there would be a resurgence of infections. Lockdown measures have proved effective, and people must...

Russia recorded 5,642 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, bringing its nationwide tally to 52,763, the Russian coronavirus crisis response centre said on Tuesday. Fifty-one people with the virus died in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 456, it said. The number of...

A northwestern province on the frontline of China’s coronavirus battle reported on Tuesday its first cases in nearly three weeks, all involving travellers from overseas, as imported infections started to level off elsewhere. The province of Shaanxi reported 21 new infections from abroad, as...

Apple on Tuesday said it would expand its App Store, Apple Music and other services to dozens of new markets in Africa, the Middle East and beyond in the biggest geographical expansion of its services in almost a decade. Apple said it would expand the App Store to 20 countries, eight of...

The number of deaths worldwide from the novel coronavirus surpassed 170,000 late Monday, according to a running tally by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.  The university’s data counted 170,042 fatalities while the number of cases and recoveries stood at 2,473,209 and 646,012,...

South Korea played down a report Tuesday that the North's leader Kim Jong Un was being treated after surgery, as speculation mounted over his absence from a key anniversary. Pyongyang marked the birthday of its late founder, Kim's grandfather Kim Il Sung, on April 15 -- by far the most...

Italy's Prime Minister said on Tuesday that by the weekend he would reveal the steps the country will take to loosen restrictions, reopen the economy and emerge from the coronavirus crisis. Italy, which has reported more coronavirus deaths than any other European country, has been under...

U.S. oil prices rebounded above zero Tuesday, a day after futures ended in negative territory for the first time as a coronavirus-triggered collapse in demand leaves the world awash in crude. In afternoon Asian trade, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was changing hands...

Months after the United States killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad, it has offered millions for any details on the mysterious man filling his boots - Hezbollah power-broker Muhammad Kawtharani. Washington charged last week that Kawtharani had "taken over some of the political...

Italy Monday reported its first symbolic drop in the number of people currently suffering from the novel coronavirus since it recorded its first infection in February. The civil protection service said 108,237 people were either being treated in hospital or were recovering at home after...

France on Monday announced it had become the fourth country worldwide to register over 20,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus, after recording 547 new fatalities in the epidemic. "Tonight, our country has passed a barrier that is symbolic and particularly painful," top health official...

Behind a Saudi-Russian truce to stabilize oil markets with a record output cut, market players are seeing the two production heavyweights still trading blows in the physical market. It is here, rather than in the world of futures prices, that a long-standing battle for market share carries...

Iran has increased the range of its naval missiles to 700 kilometers, the head of the Revolutionary Guards navy said Monday, according to the Fars news agency. "There was a time when the longest range of our naval missiles was 45 kilometres and needed to be operated with the help of...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his centrist election rival Benny Gantz have reached an agreement to form a coalition government that would end a year of political deadlock, Israel's Channel 12 News reported Monday. Officials from Netanyahu's Likud party and Gantz's Blue and...