Yemen’s army said it wrested control of several northern towns from the Iran-backed Houthi rebels Monday, a step toward reversing the rebels’ rapid gains in the strategic area. Yemeni forces, supported by Saudi air power, announced on Twitter that they retook cities in the vast Khub...

Japan is set this week to revise a law allowing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to declare a state of emergency over the coronavirus if needed, as he takes heat for his handling of the outbreak ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games. In perhaps his biggest test since returning to office in 2012,...

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince meant to send a strong message to critics within the royal family by detaining senior princes this weekend: Don’t you dare oppose my succession to the throne. The main target in the crackdown, sources said, is King Salman’s brother, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz,...

Khalifa Haftar, Libya’s eastern military commander, told France’s president that he would sign a ceasefire and keep to it if militias backed by the internationally-recognized government respected it, a French presidency source said on Monday. “Marshal Haftar assured (us) that he was...

Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will impose a fine of up to 500,000 riyals ($133,000) on people who do not disclose their health-related information and travel details at entry points, as the Gulf state works to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The kingdom on Sunday imposed a temporary...

Two U.S. service members were killed in north central Iraq while accompanying Iraqi security forces on an mission targeting Islamic State, the U.S. military said in a statement on Monday attributing the deaths to “enemy forces.” The two U.S. military members, killed on Sunday, were not...

Iran has temporarily freed about 70,000 prisoners to combat the spread of the coronavirus in jails, the head of the judiciary said on Monday as officials reported hundreds of new infections and dozens more deaths across the country. Iran has reported 595 new infections and 43 new deaths...

Lebanon is waiting for bondholders to decide whether they will cooperate in a debt restructuring or pursue legal action against the country following its move to suspend a foreign currency debt repayment, the economy minister said Monday. Raoul Nehme told Reuters he did not yet have a sense...

Trading on Wall Street was temporarily halted early Monday as U.S. stocks joined a global rout on crashing oil prices and mounting worries over the coronavirus. The suspension was triggered after the S&P 500's losses hit seven percent, with trading resuming after 15 minutes. After...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's chief rival said Monday that he has agreed with a smaller party to work together to form a new government following national elections last week. The announcement by Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White Party, dealt a new setback to Netanyahu as he...

Iran on Monday reported 43 new deaths from the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall toll to 237 dead. "Our colleagues have confirmed 595 new cases across the country," Kianoush Jahanpour, the health ministry's spokesman said in a televised conference. "This...

A man opened fire in a mosque in northeastern Paris on Sunday night, seriously wounding one person. The mosque is located on Rue de Tanger in the city's 19th administrative district, a religiously and culturally diverse part of the capital. The gunman, wearing a helmet, fled the scene...

The number of coronavirus cases in Germany has passed 1,000, official data from the Robert Koch Institute disease control center showed Monday. There are now a total of 1,112 confirmed cases in Europe's biggest economy, with the region of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) reporting 484...

Afghanistan's two rival leaders were preparing to hold parallel presidential inaugurations Monday, after the pair failed to reach a deal in the face of a unified and resurgent Taliban. The spat has raised fears for Afghanistan's fragile democracy as the US prepares to leave the country...

Sudan's prime minister survived an assassination attempt Monday after a blast in the capital, Khartoum, Sudanese state media said. Abdalla Hamdok's family confined he was safe following the explosion, which targeted his convoy. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack....

Twitter has used a new policy to identify misleading content for the first time on a post retweeted by US President Donald Trump that appeared to show Democratic Party rival Joe Biden endorsing his re-election. The social media platform has struggled with removing deceptive and abusive...

Tehran's nuclear programme is back under the spotlight after the UN's nuclear watchdog revealed the extent of Iran's uranium enrichment drive and reprimanded it for denying access to two locations. The revelations may lead to heated exchanges at the International Atomic Energy Agency's...

North Korea fired three unidentified projectiles into the sea on Monday, Seoul's military said, the second such weapons test by Pyongyang in a week. The three devices were fired in a northeasterly direction from the Sondok area in South Hamgyong province, the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff...

Older Americans, especially those with chronic medical concerns, should probably avoid big social gatherings and airline flights, given the rapid spread of coronavirus, a top U.S. health official said on Sunday, as investors braced for another volatile week in financial markets. Anthony...

Stock markets in the energy-rich Gulf states nosedived at the start of trading Monday after oil prices crashed amid a price war after oil producers failed to reach agreement. Kuwait's Premier index tumbled 9.5 percent and trading was temporarily suspended, while the All-Shares Index lost...