Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tested negative for coronavirus, his office said in a statement Sunday. Netanyahu was asymptomatic before undergoing the precautionary test, which was also administered to officials working close to him.
Germany plans to close its borders with Austria, France and Switzerland from Monday, Focus Online and newspaper Bild reported on Sunday. Without citing a source, Bild reported that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her interior minister had agreed the closures with the state premiers...
Lebanon’s president called on Sunday for citizens to work from home and avoid socializing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. “Each of us is called upon to continue his work, from home, in the way he sees appropriate,” President Michel Aoun said in a televised address at the start of...
The tomb of Imam Reza in Iran's holy Shiite city of Mashhad has been closed to pilgrims until further notice in line with measures to stop the new coronavirus, a spokesman said Sunday. "Currently, the porches of the mausoleum and generally all the covered spaces of the holy shrine are...
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Sunday the impact of the coronavirus pandemic was producing a "slowdown" in the American economy but that he did not expect a full-blown recession. Asked by an ABC interviewer if the country was already in recession, he replied, "I don't think so."...
Morocco on Sunday suspended day all international passenger flights to and from its airports as a protective measure against the spread of coronavirus, the foreign ministry said. Morocco has confirmed 28 coronavirus cases including one death and one recovery.
French voters appeared to be holding back from taking part in local elections on Sunday after the government pressed ahead with the vote despite a raft of new measures to curb public gatherings amid a rapid acceleration of the coronavirus. France is set to choose mayors for 35,000...
A spike in deaths from the coronavirus in Spain has pushed the global toll past 6,000, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources. The worldwide death toll rose to 6,036, with 159,844 infections after 105 died in Spain. While China remains the country with the most...
Gulf Arab states expanded measures to contain the spread of coronavirus on Sunday with Oman banning open ship-to-ship transfers with Iranian vessels, Abu Dhabi’s bourse closing trading halls and Dubai shuttering cinemas, gyms and arcades. Citizens and residents in Kuwait, which went into...
Ammar Jouini had been optimistic about this year, hoping that after Tunisia’s tourism sector finally recovered from years of pain caused by militant attacks in 2015, his souvenir business might also be looking up. But with the coronavirus devastating holiday bookings, he is thinking of...
Thousands of Muslims returning to Turkey from a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia were being taken into quarantine on Sunday due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, Turkish officials said. Television pictures showed buses transporting pilgrims along the highway from Ankara’s airport...
China tightened checks on international travellers arriving at Beijing airport on Sunday, after the number of imported new coronavirus infections surpassed locally transmitted cases for a second day in a row. Travellers who are transiting through Beijing to other destinations will be given...
India on Sunday reported that the number of coronavirus infections had risen to 107, an increase of 23 from the day before, with a western state home to the country’s financial capital the worst hit. Data from India’s federal health ministry showed that there were now 31 confirmed...
Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock will shut their doors as a precaution against coronavirus, Islamic religious authorities said on Sunday, while outdoor prayers will still be allowed at the complex that houses Islam’s third holiest site. “The Islamic Waqf department decided to...
Italians are cooped up at home by a government decree to combat the spread of coronavirus. They are coping creatively. A trumpeter on a balcony in Sicily blasts out "Imagine." At the same precise moment, a saxophonist plays some jazz rifts through an open apartment window in northern Turin....
The official leading Iran's response to the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East on Sunday acknowledged that the pandemic could overwhelm health facilities in the country, which is under severe U.S. sanctions. Iran is battling one of the worst outbreaks outside China, with nearly...
Oil giant Saudi Aramco 2222.SE on Sunday posted a 21% decline in 2019 net profit due to a drop in oil prices and production, and said it plans to “rationalize” capital spending in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. This was Aramco’s first earnings announcement after it listed in December...
France on Saturday drastically stepped up its measures against the spread of the coronavirus, announcing the closure of all non-essential public places including restaurants and cafes from midnight (2300 GMT). "I have decided on the closure until further notice from midnight of places that...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's corruption trial has been postponed until May 24 due to concerns about coronavirus, Jerusalem's District Court said Sunday. Netanyahu, the first Israeli premier ever to be indicted in office, had been scheduled to stand trial from Tuesday over...
Spain locked down its 46 million citizens and France ordered the closing of just about everything the rest of the world loves about it — the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the cafes and restaurants — as governments took increasingly desperate measures to put more space between people and contain the...
