Forces of Libya’s UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) neutralized 25 militia members loyal to renegade General Khalifa Haftar early Friday during clashes in the capital.  Tripoli-based Febrayer TV reported that troops taking part in the GNA’s Volcano of Rage Operation and...

France’s Cannes Film Festival, one of the film industry’s most important annual events, has been postponed to June or July amid concerns over the novel coronavirus, its organizers said Thursday.      “The Festival de Cannes cannot be held on the scheduled dates, from May 12...

With millions of face masks, low interest loans and teams of medical experts, China is trying to paint itself as a Good Samaritan while deflecting criticism over its initial missteps in handling the coronavirus. Beijing has showered struggling European nations with aid as part of a...

French senators have approved a bill giving the government special powers to fight the worsening coronavirus outbreak as the death toll rose to 372 on Thursday. The text, which will be examined by the National Assembly on Friday, allows the government to restrict people’s freedom of...

Lebanese-American Amer Fakhoury, who was detained in Lebanon in September, has been released and is on his way back to the United States, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday. Fakhoury, a 57-year-old New Hampshire resident, was accused of overseeing the torture of Lebanese at a...

Moroccan police have arrested at least a dozen people for spreading rumours about the coronavirus, including a woman who used her YouTube channel to say the disease did not exist, authorities said on Thursday. “Fake news is the first cause of panic among citizens,” said Prime Minister Saad...

The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy rose in the last 24 hours by 427 to 3,405, overtaking the total number of deaths so far registered in China, officials said on Thursday. Thursday's figure represented a slight improvement on the day before, when Italy recorded 475...

The Dutch, Spanish and Monaco Formula One Grand Prix races were Thursday postponed due to the global spread of coronavirus, officials announced, with the start of the season now pushed back to June at the earliest. The triple postponements follow the cancellation of the season-opening...

Saudi Arabia announced 50 billion riyals ($13.3 billion) in budget spending cuts after the crash in oil prices and the coronavirus outbreak wreaked havoc on its public finances. As the kingdom doubled down in its price war with Russia, authorities signed off on expenditure reductions...

The shutdown of English football was extended until at least April 30 on Thursday after the Premier League and English Football League (EFL) held crisis meetings. "We've collectively agreed that the professional game in England will be further postponed until no earlier than Thursday 30...

Lawmakers in breakaway northern Cyprus voted Thursday to postpone a Turkish Cypriot leadership election scheduled for April 26 by six months because of the coronavirus. The election will now be held on October 11, and dovish incumbent Mustafa Akinci will remain in office in a caretaker...

The United States on Thursday slapped sanctions on five companies based in the United Arab Emirates for allegedly shipping oil from Iran in defiance of President Donald Trump's unilateral sanctions. The Treasury Department said that the five companies bought hundreds of thousands of metric...

India banned incoming international flights on Thursday, restricted public gatherings and blocked roads to seal Kashmir after the insurgency-torn region reported its first coronavirus infection. Elsewhere in densely populated South Asia, Sri Lanka postponed parliamentary elections as the...

The Taliban should commit to a ceasefire as a way of tackling the novel coronavirus, Afghanistan's defence minister said Thursday, while also vowing that security forces would respond to continued insurgent attacks. "Our proposal is that to prevent this plague, a ceasefire should come, so...

Civil liberties activists asked Israel's Supreme Court Thursday to suspend cellphone monitoring put in place under emergency regulations to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Surveillance began this week after the government approved special orders that circumvented customary...

Turkey has sent 500,000 coronavirus test kits to the United States upon their request, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Thursday. In a speech to parliament, Koca said that Ankara aimed to increase rapidly its own testing within Turkey and had a target of carrying out 10,000 to 15,000...

Saudi Arabia canceled “Jeddah Season”, a weeks-long entertainment and cultural festival in the Red Sea port city, as part of measures to curb the coronavirus outbreak, state television reported on Thursday. The event, which had been scheduled for June and July, was first run last year under...

World athletics chief Sebastian Coe admitted on Thursday that the Tokyo Olympics could be moved to later in the year by the coronavirus outbreak, but said it was too early to make a definitive decision. Olympic bosses acknowledged on Wednesday there was no "ideal" solution as a growing...

Turkish clothing retailers said on Thursday they were shutting stores and shopping centers were set to close due to the spread of the coronavirus, after Ankara promised economic support and advised Turks to stay home for three weeks unless necessary. Turkey announced a second death and said...

Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak jumped to 1,284 on Thursday, a health ministry official told state TV, as the total number of infected people increased to 18,407 in the Islamic Republic, the worst-affected country in the Middle East. “With 149 new deaths in the past 24...