Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of the Belarusian capital Minsk on Sunday to demand the resignation of veteran president Alexander Lukashenko, despite a threat by officials to use firearms against protesters. Belarus, a former Soviet republic closely allied with...

Syria needs to import between 180,000 tonnes and 200,000 tonnes of wheat a month, the economy minister was cited as saying on Sunday, blaming a shortfall on “militias” preventing farmers from selling their wheat to the state. Mohamed Samer al-Khalil was quoted in al-Watan newspaper as...

Long-time chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, diagnosed with coronavirus, was being hospitalised in Israel on Sunday after his condition worsened, the Palestine Liberation Organization and his brother said. The PLO said in a statement that "following his contraction of Covid-19, and...

A Saudi artist has created the world's "largest coffee painting", becoming the first woman from the country to achieve a record title single-handedly, the Guinness World Records announced Sunday. Ohud Abdullah Almalki used expired coffee to illustrate renowned leaders from the kingdom and...

Thousands of people rallied in central Paris Sunday in a defiant show of solidarity with a teacher beheaded for showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Demonstrators on the Place de la Republique held aloft posters declaring: "No to totalitarianism of thought" and "I am a teacher"...

An arms embargo imposed since 2007 by the UN Security Council (UNSC) ended Sunday, according to Iran’s foreign ministry. All restrictions on the transfer of arms, related activities and financial services to and from Iran, and all prohibitions regarding the entry into or transit through...

Under a controversial normalization deal, an Israeli trade delegation will travel to the Gulf state of Bahrain on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced.  In a written statement, Netanyahu said Israel’s first-ever trade delegation to Bahrain will be led by National...

Despite a second attempt at a cease-fire, Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations Sunday of violating the new truce in their destructive conflict over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The latest truce, which was announced Saturday and took force at midnight, was the second...

The cases of thieving and plundering are terribly increased in southern Daraa province, amid the Assad regime's neglect of these incidents, which increased the suffering of civilians who mainly live under assassinations, arrests, and dire economic conditions. Daraa24 Network, local...

Saudi Arabia allowed its citizens and residents inside the kingdom to perform prayers in one of the most holy religious sites in Islam, Al-Haram mosque in Mecca, for the first time in seven months, state television reported early on Sunday. Earlier this month Saudi Arabia allowed...

Syrian regime has committed more than 3,174 ceasefire violations in northwestern Syria since March 5, as its forces have been deliberately targeting residential areas in Idlib countryside to prevent the return of the displaced to their homes, Syria's Response Coordinators Group (SRCG) said...

An Egyptian activist and satirist detained for more than two years has been released, his family has announced. Shady Abu Zeid was arrested in May 2018 and held in pre-trial detention over charges of "membership of a banned group" and "disseminating false news", according to rights...

The latest première at the Jewish State Theater in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, explores the horrors of the Holocaust via a survivor's memories of the Auschwitz and Plaszow concentration camps. Friday's debut of “The Beautiful Days of My Youth” by Romanian Jewish Holocaust survivor...

At a Kabul museum honoring Afghanistan’s war victims, talking to visitors reveals just how many layers and generations of pain and grief have piled up during four decades of unrelenting conflict. Fakhria Hayat recalled an attack that changed her family forever. It was 1995, and the...

Spanish champions Real Madrid suffered a shock 1-0 loss at home to promoted Cadiz Saturday, their first La Liga defeat in over seven months. Honduran forward Anthony Lozano put Cadiz ahead in the 16th minute, darting between Madrid defenders Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane to meet a...

Barcelona fell to their first defeat in La Liga under new coach Ronald Koeman as they lost 1-0 at Getafe Saturday, hours after champions Real Madrid slipped to a shock 1-0 defeat at home to promoted Cadiz. Getafe forward Jaime Mata sent Barca goalkeeper Neto the wrong way from the...

Two Kurdish YPG militants were wounded when an explosives-rigged motorcycle blew up in northeastern Qamishli city, activists told Zaman al-Wasl Saturday. The rigged motorcycle exploded in a military site for the Kurdish Protection Units in the village of Himo. With the YPG...

Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller both scored twice as Bayern Munich banished their early-season blues with a thumping 4-1 win over Bundesliga minnows Arminia Bielefeld Saturday. Treble winners Bayern started the day in mid-table following a shock defeat to Hoffenheim last month, but...

Jacinda Ardern turned speaking from the heart and smiling through adversity into a winning formula for a blowout re-election as New Zealand’s leader on Saturday. Now Ardern, who made a name for herself by crushing COVID-19 in the country and healing the nation after a massacre of Muslims by...

Global coronavirus cases rose by more than 400,000 for the first time late on Friday, a record one-day increase as much of Europe enacts new restrictions to curb the outbreak. Europe, which successfully tamped down the first surge of infections, has emerged as the new coronavirus epicentre...