Hatem Ali, an award-winning Syrian actor and director, died on Tuesday from a heart attack in a Cairo hotel, his family said. Born in 1962 in Syria's Golan Heights, which was occupied by Israel in 1967, Ali graduated from the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus in 1986, before...

Britain on Tuesday registered a new daily high of more than 53,000 Covid-19 cases, as concern mounted about spiralling numbers of positive tests and pressure on health services.  UK Government figures showed 53,135 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, up...

Rights groups on Tuesday demanded that Palestinian authorities free a woman disc jockey arrested after a dance event at a Muslim religious site near the West Bank city of Jericho.  Palestinian Authority police arrested Sama Abdulhadi, 30, on Sunday, the day after she performed at Nebi...

Legendary French fashion designer Pierre Cardin died Tuesday at the age of 98 at a hospital in Neuilly in western Paris, his family told AFP. Cardin was born in Italy in 1922 but emigrated to France as a small child.  Cutting his teeth working at top couture houses such as...

Former Spain and Chelsea striker Diego Costa's contract with Atletico Madrid was terminated on Tuesday, six months before it was scheduled to end. "Atletico de Madrid and Diego Costa have reached an agreement for the termination of the striker's contract, which was to end on June 30, 2021,"...

A powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake tore down buildings in central Croatia on Tuesday, striking near the town of Petrinja where rescue teams raced to comb through the rubble. The tremor, one of the strongest to rock Croatia in recent years, collapsed rooftops in Petrinja, home to some...

Turkey’s top court on Tuesday ruled that high-profile philanthropist Osman Kavala’s detention had not violated his right to liberty and security, state media said, after he spent more than three years in jail without a conviction. Kavala, 63, has been jailed since late 2017 and was remanded...

Global shares rose for the fourth straight day on Tuesday and oil followed suit as hopes of fresh U.S. stimulus teed up a strong end to the year for riskier assets. The MSCI World Index was up 0.3% at 0751 GMT, extending recent gains after gains in Asia, where Japanese stocks hit a 30-year...

An unusual battle in Congress over President Donald Trump’s demand for $2,000 coronavirus aid checks for Americans shifts on Tuesday to the Senate, where Republicans opposed to higher spending are under pressure to approve the additional relief. The Democratic-led House of Representatives...

Four Bangladesh navy ships on Tuesday took the second and biggest group of Rohingya Muslims yet from crowded refugee camps to an uncertain future on a bleak island three hours from the mainland. The government insisted that the 1,800 refugees, who have been in camps since fleeing a Myanmar...

Palestinian armed groups staged military exercises in Gaza on Tuesday, including firing rockets into the sea, to mark the anniversary of the start of the 2008 conflict with Israel. The demonstrations were scheduled to last several hours and involve about 10 groups in the Israeli-blockaded...

American troops stationed in South Korea received the first doses of coronavirus vaccine to be administered in the country on Tuesday, as health officials in Seoul reported a daily record of 40 deaths amid a surge in new cases. U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), which includes around 28,500 American...

- Europe will see its biggest transfer of share trading in more than two decades when stock exchanges open for business in 2021, with Brexit shifting its centre of gravity away from London. While market players hope that years of preparations since Britain voted to leave the European Union...

Yemeni men, women and children filled a hall earlier this month in rebel-held Sanaa, laughing and clapping as actors took to the stage with comic relief for their war-wracked country. Yemen's conflict has sparked the world's worst humanitarian crisis, the UN says, and the Arab world's...

Fifty journalists and media workers were killed in connection with their work in 2020, the majority in countries that are not at war, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Tuesday. The figure shows an increase in the targeting of reporters investigating organised crime, corruption or...

The charming German city of Luebeck was lovingly done up for the holidays with fairy lights and garlands but the usual festive bustle was eerily absent this pandemic-scarred winter. Across the country, all non-essential businesses have been forced to shut until at least mid-January to help...

Oil was little changed on Monday as optimism over the U.S. stimulus package and the start of a European vaccination campaign was offset by weak demand and the prospect of higher OPEC+ output. After U.S. President Donald Trump backed down from a threat to block a $2.3 trillion package to...

Houssam puts the diesel stove in the corner of the house as if it were an unnecessary piece of his home furniture. He has long waited to get his annual share of diesel that does not exceed 100 liters, but like any other person from Idlib or Damascus, he does not have money to buy it despite the...

 The EU campaign to vaccinate Europeans against COVID-19 has got off to an uneven start in what will be a marathon effort to administer shots to enough of the bloc's 450 million people to defeat the viral pandemic. The vaccination drive kicked off at the weekend, with health workers...

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Monday that a National Assembly of unelected delegates would meet in February for the first time since 2016, part of a reform plan critics view as a stalling tactic to weather a political crisis. Belarus has been rocked by mass protests since...