Lebanon’s leading Sunni Muslim politician, former premier Saad al-Hariri, said on Thursday he feared civil strife as the country sinks into its worst financial crisis since a 1975-1990 civil war. “I fear a civil war and what is happening in terms of carrying arms and what we are seeing in...

Britain on Thursday recorded a further 17,540 cases of the novel coronavirus across the country over the past 24 hours – an increase of 3,000, or around 25% – compared to yesterday. It was a new daily record for confirmed cases since the previous peak in the spring. According to...

Chanting their national anthem in the departure hall of Beirut airport, a group of migrant workers prepared to return home and close a chapter on their time in Lebanon which drove some to despair, The International Organization for Migration (IOM), which supports many domestic workers in...

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece met on Thursday for the first time since their dispute over energy exploration and territorial rights in the eastern Mediterranean, and agreed to hold bilateral talks on the issue, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. Turkey and Greece,...

Israel has signed an aviation agreement with Jordan that will allow flights from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to fly through Israeli airspace, it said on Thursday. The deal had been discussed for years, but the neighbors were only able to finalize it after Israel and the two Gulf...

 Jordan will enter a nationwide 48-hour lockdown on Friday for the first time in months as health officials worry a major spike in coronavirus infections could threaten its stretched healthcare system, officials said. The country has seen what officials say is an “exponential” rise,...

 President Donald Trump rejected plans Thursday for a virtual debate on Oct. 15 with Democratic rival Joe Biden, a format switch intended to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 in light of Trump's infection, and said he feels well enough to resume campaign rallies. The first debate...

Business shutdowns amid the coronavirus pandemic imposed an economic cost, but removing restrictions is no guarantee of a quick recovery unless the virus is defeated, the IMF said Thursday. Voluntary social distancing played nearly as large a role in the economic impact of Covid-19 as the...

Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah said Thursday that US-backed talks next week aimed at delineating Lebanon's disputed maritime border with Israel did not signify "reconciliation" or "normalisation" with the Jewish state. Lebanon and Israel, which are still technically at war, last week said...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Once again, the threat of deportation looms over Syrian refugees in Denmark, who for more than a year have been anticipating the review of their residence permits and fearing that their fate has been sealed, on the false claim that Damascus is now “safe”. Indeed, a few days...

 Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has arrested three jihadists from rival Hurras al-Din group in the northwestern province of Idlib, media officer in the powerful group told Zaman al-Wasl Thursday. According to Taqi al-Din Omar, one of the detained jihadists is a Saudi citizen, known as Abu...

Attacks by the Bashar Assad regime in northwestern Idlib province killed one civilian and injured another four people. According to the White Helmets civil defense group, Assad regime forces launched rocket and mortar attacks on the village of Kansafra in region of al-Zawiya Mountain,...

 A United Arab Emirates company is nearing the end of Phase III clinical trials of a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine and hopes to manufacture it next year, a representative said. The trial, which began in mid-July, is a partnership between Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG) and...

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has acknowledged that he would personally like to receive Russia’s vaccine against coronavirus. Speaking to the Russian news outlet Sputnik, Al-Assad addressed having a vaccine available in Syria, saying that in the context of the ongoing pandemic “Everybody...

The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry yesterday accused Armenia of using mercenaries from Syria and Lebanon to fight alongside its forces in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency quoted the head of the International Military Cooperation Department in the...

The United Nations on Thursday called for an immediate end to clashes near Yemen’s main port of Hodeidah after a surge in fighting that sources said have killed dozens of people despite a U.N.-sponsored ceasefire in place in the area. Hodiedah governorate has seen sporadic, limited fighting...

The Nobel Literature Prize went Thursday to American poet Louise Gluck, the jury at the Swedish Academy said, honouring a writer known for themes of childhood and family life. Gluck, 77, was honoured "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence...

Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians fought new clashes Thursday before talks at which the United States, France and Russia will discuss how to secure a ceasefire and avert a wider war in the South Caucasus. Azeri Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov will meet US, Russian and French envoys in Geneva...

Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic challenger Kamala Harris clashed over the Trump administration's handling of the coronavirus pandemic during their debate Wednesday, as the White House struggled to contain an outbreak that has infected President Donald Trump and dozens of others....

French officials denounced Thursday an "unacceptable" attack on two police officers who were shot and had their guns stolen while they were carrying out a surveillance operation in a Paris suburb. One of the officers was in critical condition after being shot four times, while the other was...