Turkey's president on Sunday underlined that the Hagia Sophia's status is an internal matter, urging other countries to respect the final decision of the country. "The final decision-maker on the status of the Hagia Sophia is the Turkish nation, not others. This is our internal affair,"...

The novel coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 20,000 people across the Middle East, half of them in Iran, according to an AFP tally at 1000 GMT Sunday based on official tolls. But despite having 907,736 reported infections and 20,005 deaths from the COVID-19 illness, the Middle East...

Jordan's King Abdullah II said Sunday that his country had successfully brought the novel coronavirus "under control" and that it was time to focus on restarting the economy. "We have successfully dealt with the coronavirus, which today is under control in Jordan," he said during a meeting...

The Palestinian Authority on Sunday imposed a night-time and weekend curfew on the occupied West Bank for the coming 14 days to try and rein in rising coronavirus numbers. "Travel will be prohibited daily from 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) to 6:00 am in all governorates," as well as from Thursday...