As the number of novel coronavirus cases in India nears 7 million, the country's Central Bank projected that the economy would contract by 9.5% this fiscal year. After a meeting of India's monetary policy committee on Friday morning, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI),...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia to Moscow for peace talks Friday.     “The president of Russia is issuing a call to halt the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh on humanitarian grounds in order to exchange dead bodies and...

Republican President Donald Trump Friday prepared to return to the campaign trail with a pair of weekend rallies after his COVID-19 diagnosis sidelined him for a week in the race against Democratic nominee Joe Biden for the White House. Trump, who announced he had been infected with the...

 President Donald Trump rejected plans Thursday for a virtual debate on Oct. 15 with Democratic rival Joe Biden, a format switch intended to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 in light of Trump's infection, and said he feels well enough to resume campaign rallies. The first debate...

Business shutdowns amid the coronavirus pandemic imposed an economic cost, but removing restrictions is no guarantee of a quick recovery unless the virus is defeated, the IMF said Thursday. Voluntary social distancing played nearly as large a role in the economic impact of Covid-19 as the...

Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians fought new clashes Thursday before talks at which the United States, France and Russia will discuss how to secure a ceasefire and avert a wider war in the South Caucasus. Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov will meet US, Russian and French envoys in Geneva...

Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic challenger Kamala Harris clashed over the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic during their debate Wednesday, as the White House struggled to contain an outbreak that has infected President Donald Trump and dozens of others....

Eight months into a strict, coronavirus-triggered border shutdown, nuclear-armed North Korea is widely expected to stage an attention-grabbing display of its latest and most advanced weaponry at a mass military parade in Pyongyang on Saturday. The cavalcade will mark the 75th anniversary of...

Confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Brazil have passed 5 million, with the country’s death toll approaching 150,000, health authorities confirmed Wednesday.   The country reported 31,553 new cases, bringing the total number of infections to 5,000,694.  More than...

In normal times, vice presidential debates don't matter much. But in an election year as wild as 2020, everything is magnified. Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday faced considerable pressure to boost coronavirus-stricken President Donald Trump's flagging reelection hopes as he...

The United States will go down to 2,500 troops in Afghanistan early next year, U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien said on Wednesday, offering greater detail about the pace and scope of the drawdown from America’s longest war. “When President Trump took office, there were over...

US President Donald Trump has been clear from coronavirus symptoms for more than 24 hours, his physician said Wednesday. Sean Conley said in a White House memo that Trump said Wednesday morning that he feels "great" and his physical exam and vital signs "all remain stable and in normal...

As many as 115 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty this year due to the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the World Bank warned Wednesday. That is higher than the bank previously estimated, even as recently as August, when the worst case was put at 100...

President Tayyip Erdogan’s strong backing for Azerbaijan in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has set Turkey apart from other big nations and alarmed NATO allies that are demanding a ceasefire. But for Erdogan, the resolute stance is a strategic priority and a costly necessity that...

India’s coronavirus caseload crossed 6.7 million Wednesday as the country registered 72,049 infections in the past 24 hours.  The overall tally of coronavirus cases in the country has now reached 6,757,131, according to the Health Ministry. There were also 986 new fatalities...

US President Donald Trump, under coronavirus quarantine in the White House and restricted from traveling, is grasping for ways to put a spark back in his struggling re-election bid and mount a big comeback with four weeks left until Election Day. Trump, who is still contagious, has been looking...

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called on the Taliban to "have courage and declare a national ceasefire" on Tuesday as he visited Doha where peace talks between government and Taliban negotiators have stalled. At the end of a two-day trip, his first to Doha since the talks began, Ghani gave a...

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday said he supports NATO efforts to defuse tensions between Greece and Turkey, and that agreements to establish a military deconfliction mechanism and resume diplomatic talks are steps in the right direction. “The Trump administration...

Defying critics, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Americans were learning to live with COVID-19, a day after returning to the White House for further intensive treatment after being hospitalized with the coronavirus. Trump, who returned late on Monday after nearly four days at...

A vaccine against COVID-19 may be ready by year-end, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday, without elaborating. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, addressing the end of a two-day meeting of its Executive Board on the pandemic, said: "We will need...