Britain begins the day as a member of the European Union. Its status at the end of the day — as a proud nation that has reclaimed its sovereignty, or a diminished presence in Europe and the world — will still be up for debate. Britain officially departs the EU at 11 p.m. local time Friday,...

MOSCOW (AP) — When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left the White House after the unveiling of President Donald Trump’s Mideast plan, which hugely favors Israel, he and his entourage could barely contain their glee as they boasted of realizing their dream of swiftly annexing large...

Carrying permits demanding “fast passage,” truck drivers rushed a 560-ton shipment of disinfectant from eastern China to Wuhan, the locked-down city of 11 million people at the center of a vast effort to contain a new viral disease. Outside the metropolis in central China, the cargo was...

China suspended all football in the country Thursday, hours after the World Indoor Athletics Championships and World Cup skiing were postponed, adding to a long list of sports events hit by the coronavirus outbreak. The world's most populous country has become an increasing powerhouse in...

Jordan has signed a new $1.3 billion programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the state news agency Petra said on Thursday. Petra said it was a four-year programme, but it gave no further details. In December, the country’s finance minister said a new IMF deal would secure...

The United States is trying to secure permission from Iraq to bring Patriot missile defenses into the country to better defend U.S. forces after Iran’s Jan. 8 missile attack, which wounded 50 American troops, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Thursday. The United States did not have...

Saudi Arabia has opened a discussion about moving the upcoming OPEC+ policy meeting to early February from March, four OPEC+ sources said, after a swift slide in oil prices alarmed Riyadh. Worries over the economic impact of China's coronavirus has rattled global markets, helping send the...

Losses from the closures of Libya's major oil fields and production facilities have continued to increase, surpassing $560 million for a 10-day period, the country's national oil company said. The closures came about when powerful tribal groups loyal to Libyan military commander Khalifa...

A young man has died after being hit by a hijacked bus in Santiago, the second fatality in renewed unrest in the Chilean capital, police said on Thursday. The Transantiago bus that hit the 22-year-old, who died in hospital early Thursday, had been stolen moments earlier by masked...

The United Nations said Thursday it was suspending its operations at a refugee reception centre in Tripoli over safety fears as the conflict in the war-ravaged country worsens. The UN refugee agency's chief of mission in Libya, Jean-Paul Cavalieri said the decision had been taken after the...

Thirty-six people have been killed in a suspected militia attack in the eastern DR Congo region of Beni, where hundreds have died in violence since November, a local official said Wednesday. Congolese troops have been carrying out a military operation on an armed group in the east of the...

Oil prices fell on Thursday on concerns over the potential economic impact of the coronavirus that continues to spread worldwide, while the market also considered the possibility of an early OPEC meeting. Brent crude LCOc1 was down $1.29, or 2.16%, at $58.52 a barrel by 1321 GMT, having...

The United States will allow Russian, Chinese and European firms to continue work at Iranian nuclear sites to make it harder for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, but will impose sanctions on its nuclear entity and top official, sources said on Thursday. The Trump administration, which in...

While uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East have been quelled by deadly force, Algerian authorities are on the way to becalming a powerful protest movement without a shot fired - at least for now. Thousands still march, but protests are smaller than those that toppled the...

Russian airline S7 said Thursday one of its planes had been forced to make an emergency landing at Moscow's Domodedovo airport after a passenger stood in the aisle and said she had an explosive device. Police detained the passenger after threatening to blow herself up. However no explosives...

Swathes of southeast Australia were bracing on Thursday for a days-long heatwave that threatens to stoke bushfires that have been burning for months. As firefighters and residents prepared for the heightened danger, the New South Wales (NSW) state government launched a six-month inquiry to...

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has decided to postpone talks with the northeastern restive region of Catalonia until after the region holds elections, the government said on Thursday. The announcement came one day after Quim Torra, the pro-independence head of the Catalonian...

An unidentified man fired at a protest against India’s new citizenship law near a university in Delhi on Thursday, wounding a student, witnesses said, the first such incident in the capital during more than a month of demonstrations. Witnesses said the man holding a gun shouted slogans...

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner said Washington wants Israel to wait until after its March 2 election before making any moves towards settlement annexation in the West Bank following the announcement of a U.S. peace plan. Kushner, an architect of the peace proposal hailed by Israel...

Russia said Thursday it was closing its border with China to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus and would stop issuing electronic visas to Chinese nationals. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told a government meeting that the order had been signed "to take measures to close the...