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...

Iran is scrambling to buy millions of tons of wheat, corn and soybeans to shore up its reserves, Iranian officials and traders said, despite President Hassan Rouhani's assertions that the coronavirus would not endanger food supplies to the Middle Eastern country worst hit by the pandemic....

Syria postponed a parliamentary election for a second time Thursday as part of measures to protect the war-battered country from the coronavirus pandemic. The Syrian government has recorded 44 cases, including three deaths in areas under its control, while the Kurdish administration in...

 Syrian business tycoon Rami Makhlouf remains at one of his homes in Syria, despite publicly criticising President Bashar al-Assad in a rare display of dissent by a key member of the country's ruling family, Middle East Eye has learnt. Makhlouf, who is also Assad's cousin, is...