Between plummeting oil prices, political deadlock and reduced global appetite for a bail-out, Iraq is on the cusp of financial calamity that could force austerity measures and renew anti-government protests. But officials appear remarkably optimistic, a view experts described as being "in...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday lockdown orders would be issued unless people stepped up compliance with guidelines urging them to stay at home to help halt the spread of the coronavirus. “Yesterday we gave clear instructions ... asking people to stay at home as much...

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday the coronavirus was hitting Turkey just as it was recovering from a 2018 lira crisis but that there would be big opportunities if it could bring the outbreak under control in the coming weeks. Turkey confirmed its first death related to the...

Iran said its novel coronavirus death toll surpassed 1,000 on Wednesday as President Hassan Rouhani defended the response of his administration, which has yet to impose a lockdown. The COVID-19 outbreak in sanctions-hit Iran is one of the deadliest outside China, where the disease...