The number of coronavirus cases worldwide topped four million as some of the hardest-hit countries readied Sunday to lift lockdown restrictions, despite concerns about a second wave of infections. Governments around the world are trying to stop the spread of the disease while scrambling for...

With parents and policymakers agonising over when to reopen schools as lockdowns ease, scientists are still struggling to find out how the new coronavirus affects children. While youngsters can become infected with the new coronavirus, very few have died or contracted serious symptoms....

Two policemen and four other people were killed in Afghanistan Saturday after a deadly clash at a public food donation in central Ghor province, officials said. Hundreds of people had gathered outside the governor's office in the provincial capital Firozkoh, where a Qatari group was...

Global leaders marked 75 years since the end of World War II in Europe Friday, urging citizens to draw inspiration from the historic victory as the world battles against the coronavirus pandemic. With parades and commemoration events cancelled or scaled down as part of efforts to...

The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to launch an app this month to enable people in under-resourced countries to assess whether they may have the novel coronavirus, and is considering a Bluetooth-based contact tracing feature too, an official told Reuters Friday. The app will ask...

The United States recorded Friday its steepest job losses in history over the coronavirus pandemic as Europe moved to keep its borders shut for another month. Hopes have been rising that the worst of the global catastrophe, which has killed more than 270,000 people, has passed, and the...

A second White House worker this week has tested positive for coronavirus, officials said Friday, even as President Donald Trump continued to go mask-free at a World War II commemoration with veterans in their 90s. A member of Vice President Mike Pence's staff was found to have coronavirus,...

Scientists the world over are scrambling to perfect an anti-viral treatment for the novel coronavirus, and following what might seem to be some unusual trails. Belgium's top researchers insist that their efforts to isolate an anti-body grown in a llama -- the Andean beast of burden -- is...

President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States was not behind a failed covert plot in Venezuela allegedly involving two Americans, but that if he did order an attack it would be an open "invasion." "If I wanted to go into Venezuela I wouldn't make a secret about it," he told Fox...

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that the coronavirus pandemic keeps unleashing "a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering" and appealed for "an all-out effort to end hate speech globally." The U.N. chief said "anti-foreigner sentiment has surged...

China said Friday it supports a World Health Organization-led review into the global response to the coronavirus outbreak, but only "after the pandemic is over". The comments from foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying came as China faces increasing global pressure to allow an...

China's new prototype spacecraft "successfully landed" on Friday, marking an important step in its ambitions to run a permanent space station and send astronauts to the moon. The spacecraft -- which was launched Tuesday -- arrived safely at a predetermined site, the China Manned Space...

Regional and political rifts are emerging in many countries over how fast to lift the lid on the coronavirus lockdowns, as worries about economic devastation collide with fears of a second wave of deaths. French mayors are resisting the government’s call to reopen schools, while Italian...

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday laid out the broad outlines of the next massive coronavirus-response bill Democrats will seek, with possible votes as soon as next week. Pelosi said the bill's major components will include additional aid to state and local...

Latin America saw its coronavirus cases pass 300,000 Thursday as the region's death toll topped 16,000, according to an AFP count. Brazil, the region's largest country, is also by far the worst affected with more than 8,500 deaths -- over half the total -- and 125,000 cases. Neighboring...

German officials warned on Thursday that the coronavirus crisis is far from over despite the country slowly reopening its economy and trying to get life back to normal. Germany has reported more than 166,000 infections and more than 7,000 deaths but the European Union’s most populous...

Millions more Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, suggesting layoffs broadened from consumer-facing industries to other segments of the economy and could remain elevated even as many parts of the country start to reopen. The Labor Department's weekly jobless claims report...

The United Nations on Thursday issued a new appeal for $4.7 billion in funding to "protect millions of lives and stem the spread of coronavirus in fragile countries." The money is on top of the $2 billion the UN already called for when it launched its global humanitarian response plan on...

China accused the United States Thursday of trying to shift blame over the coronavirus, after President Donald Trump said the pandemic was a worse "attack" than Pearl Harbor or 9/11. Tension between the world's two biggest economies has reached fever pitch in recent days as they have...

A chemical gas leak at an LG Polymers plant in southern India on Thursday killed at least 9 people, and emergency services rushed more than 300 to hospital and evacuated hundreds more from nearby areas, a police official in Andhra Pradesh state said. South Korean battery maker LG Chemical...