As Joe Biden is declared President-elect of the US, it is clear he has many matters to tackle. From containing coronavirus and managing the economic fall-out, to working to unite the country and begin to heal race relations after the spotlight on systemic racism earlier in the year, there is an...

A man who worked in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's press office has been charged with spying for Egypt, prosecutors said Monday. The German national, named as Amin A., began working for the visitor service of the federal government press office (BPA), headed by Merkel's spokesman Steffen...

Iraq executed 21 men convicted of "terrorism" Monday at the notorious Nasiriyah prison in the country's south, medical and police sources said. The Iraqi men from various provinces had all been convicted under a 2005 Counter-Terrorism Law, which carries the death penalty, but there were no...

Stock markets jumped higher Monday on news that a second coronavirus vaccine showed promise, bolstering hopes even as new infections surged around the world. Pharmaceutical company Moderna said its vaccine appears to be 94.5 percent effective, according to preliminary data. Markets rallied...

: Israeli protesters shouted down a group of European diplomats on Monday who were visiting the site of a planned settlement expansion in east Jerusalem that would make it even harder to establish a viable Palestinian state and could anger the incoming US administration. The diplomats went...

The "worst financial crisis" ever faced by the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees could lead to "disaster" in the Gaza Strip and insecurity in Lebanon, the organisation's chief has warned. Founded in 1949, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East...

In a sun-baked and dusty wasteland in remote eastern Sudan, crews are labouring to rebuild a refugee camp for the 25,000 people who have fled heavy fighting in neighbouring Ethiopia's Tigray region. Exhausted and terrified men, women and children from the conflict zone have struggled...

For the second time this month, there's promising news from a COVID-19 vaccine candidate: Moderna said Monday its shots provide strong protection, a dash of hope against the grim backdrop of coronavirus surges in the U.S. and around the world. Moderna said its vaccine appears to be 94.5%...

Iran confirmed 486 new coronavirus-related fatalities on Monday, taking the nationwide death toll to 41,979, according to the country's Health Ministry. Some 13,053 more people tested positive for the virus over the past 24 hours, pushing the tally up to 775,121, ministry spokeswoman Sima...

Pakistan authorities sealed off a major road into the capital Islamabad for a second day Monday as a far-right religious party held fresh anti-France protests. A rally in the neighboring city of Rawalpindi which attracted up to 5,000 people on Sunday spilled over into Monday, with around a...

The Turkish Presidency on Monday submitted a motion to the parliament to deploy Turkish troops in Azerbaijan. The motion, which was submitted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, seeks to deploy troops for peacekeeping in Upper Karabakh region for one year. The...

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday will focus on plans for reviving a pandemic-battered U.S. economy as he prepares for his new administration, while President Donald Trump vowed to press ahead with long-shot court challenges to the election results. With the number of coronavirus cases...

 Health authorities in northern Syria have recorded 424 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday. The total number of cases in the opposition-held north-west of Syria has jumped to around 11,852 since the start of the pandemic as at least 4455 cases have been recovered, according...

Dr Khaled was queueing for petrol when he got an urgent call — a patient was bleeding from an artery. Normally, he would drive straight to his hospital in Damascus to help, but leaving now would mean giving up the position he had held for 18 hours in the queue. “If I don’t refill my car...

Mohamed Wahoud, a Syrian bodybuilder and Jordan’s champion, was born in Khalidiya, one of the neighborhoods that revolted against the regime in Homs city. Like many of his peers, the then 12-year old sought refuge in Jordan with his family, carrying a bag of clothes, painful memories of war and...

An unusual collection of 2,000-year-old glassware is providing Syrian refugees in the Renfrewshire town of Paisley with a connection to their homeland, five years after they settled in Scotland. The 30-piece collection, dating back to Roman times, was bequeathed to Paisley Museum in 1948 by...

At sunrise in Gaza, the strip's coastal path begins to fill up with pedestrians, as growing numbers of Palestinians have taken up walking to relieve stress trapped inside the Israel-blockaded enclave. Life in Gaza, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas since 2007, was mentally taxing even...

Saudi Aramco said on Monday it has hired a group of banks ahead of a multi-tranche U.S. dollar-denominated bond issuance, as the world's largest oil company seeks to raise cash amid lower oil prices. Goldman Sachs, Citi, HSBC, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and NCB Capital were hired to arrange...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered a tightening of state emergency anti-coronavirus systems in the face of the worldwide pandemic, as he presided over a meeting of the politburo of the ruling Workers Party, state news agency KCNA said on Monday. The meeting came amid economic and...

Syria’s‬ top diplomat and long-time foreign minister Walid al-Moalem, a staunch defender of Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s bloody crackdown on peaceful protesters that sparked a decade old conflict, died on Monday, the government said. There were no details on the cause of death, but...