For Saad Malik, losing his father to the novel coronavirus was only the beginning of his nightmare. For over a week, cemeteries across Iraq refused to allow the elderly man's burial. Fearing the respiratory illness could somehow spread from the corpses to nearby population centres, Iraqi...

When Nima Amraa returned to the Gaza Strip from neighboring Egypt earlier this month, she was surprised to learn she was being placed in a makeshift quarantine center set up by the ruling Hamas group. But her initial jitters turned to fear when two fellow travelers in another facility...

Moscow's mayor announced strict isolation rules for the city from Monday, the latest in a series of measures introduced in Russia to fight the spread of the coronavirus. The new restrictions would apply to all the city's residents, regardless of age, mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a...

Cheering erupted from balconies and windows in Lebanon on Sunday evening, as the country's citizens celebrated their "heroic" medical workers battling the coronavirus pandemic. The initiative spread online with the Arabic hashtag "a cheer for the heroes", shared by public figures including...

Some Shi’ite pilgrims returning to Iraq from Syria have tested positive for coronavirus, raising concern that such pilgrim travel could be a source for a larger spread of the disease around the country, a senior Iraqi official and health officials said on Sunday.  So far, Iraq has...

As many as 23 more people died of coronavirus in Turkey in the past 24 hours, according to the country's Health Ministry on Sunday, bringing the death toll to 131. The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases surged to 9,217, as 1,815 more people tested positive for the virus in the past...

A military spokesman for Yemen’s Houthis on Sunday said the group’s forces had launched rockets and drones at “sensitive” sites in the Saudi capital Riyadh and at economic and military sites in Jazan and Asir, near the Yemeni border. Saudi Arabian air defenses intercepted two ballistic...

Iran's coronavirus death toll has risen to 2,640, a health ministry official said on Sunday, as the Middle East's worst-hit country grapples with the fast-spreading outbreak. "In the past 24 hours we had 123 deaths and 2,901 people have been infected, bringing the total number of infected...

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Japanese organizers are in final stages of talks to set the opening date for the Tokyo Games in July next year, Japanese media said. The Tokyo event, postponed last week due to the coronavirus pandemic, will most likely have its opening ceremony...

A Japan-bound plane caught fire on takeoff at Manila airport in the Philippines late Sunday, killing all eight people on board, airport authorities said. The Westwind aircraft was headed for Haneda airport on a medical evacuation mission carrying six Filipino crew members and two...

Saudi Arabia recorded four new fatalities from the coronavirus, bringing its death toll to eight, the health ministry spokesman told a news conference on Sunday. The kingdom has also registered 96 new infections, taking its total to 1,299, the highest among the Gulf Arab states.

Spain and Italy demanded more European help as they fight still-surging coronavirus infections amid the continent’s worst crisis since World War II. In the U.S., authorities urged millions in the hard-hit New York City region to stop traveling to keep the virus contained. From Milan to...

Egyptian banks have been instructed to apply temporary limits on daily withdrawals and deposits in a move seemingly designed to control inflation and hoarding as concern grows over the spread of the coronavirus. The daily limit for individuals would be 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($635) and...

The U.S.-led coalition withdrew on Sunday from a military base in northern Iraq that nearly launched Washington into an open war with neighboring Iran. The K1 Air Base is the third site coalition forces have left this month in line with U.S. plans to consolidate its troops in two locations...

Older people remain most at risk of dying as the new coronavirus continues its rampage around the globe, but they’re far from the only ones vulnerable. One of many mysteries: Men seem to be faring worse than women. And as cases skyrocket in the U.S. and Europe, it’s becoming more clear that...

As Italy mourns thousands of coronavirus dead, and survivors brace for life in an economic wasteland, one rung of society looks to win big: organised crime. "The Italian mafia can turn threats into opportunities," top government anti-mafia investigator Giuseppe Governale told AFP. Over...

Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus has risen to 2,640 and the number of infected people has reached 38,309, a health ministry official tweeted on Sunday, as the Middle East’s worst-hit country grapples with the fast-spreading outbreak. “In the past 24 hours we had 123 deaths and 2,901...

Polish composer and conductor Krzysztof Penderecki, who blazed a trail in classical music with innovative religious and symphonic works, died aged 86 Sunday in his home city of Krakow. His family told local media he’d undergone a long illness. Venerated as one of the 20th century’s most...

Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau, the wife of Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has recovered from the novel coronavirus, she said Saturday. "I am feeling so much better and have received the all clear from my physician and Ottawa Public Health," she wrote on her Facebook page. "From the...

Angela Merkel's long-struggling conservatives have rebounded in the polls thanks to the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis and widespread faith in the outgoing German chancellor's ability to manage the upheaval. Shaking off years of record-low popularity, Merkel's centre-right...