The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits dropped below one million last week for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, likely as the expiration of a $600 weekly jobless supplement discouraged some from filing claims. Initial claims for...

UEFA is hopeful that the postponed European Championship will go ahead next year with fans able to attend, president Aleksander Ceferin said on Thursday. However, the head of European football's governing body did not rule out the possibility of having to change the controversial format for...

US President Donald Trump, in a surprise announcement, said Thursday that Israel and the United Arab Emirates had reached a peace agreement. The normalization of relations between the UAE and Israel is a "HUGE breakthrough" Trump tweeted, calling it a "Historic Peace Agreement between our...

Eight children under five years of age have died within days in a northeastern Syria camp hosting thousands of relatives of jihadists, the Save the Children charity said on Thursday. Health and nutrition services have deteriorated rapidly in the Kurdish-run Al-Hol camp, where the children...

A senior leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood died Thursday in an Egyptian prison where he was serving multiple sentences including on terror-related charges, his lawyer said. Essam al-Erian, 66, was arrested in 2013 following the army's ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on...

In May, Syrian tycoon Rami Makhlouf, a cousin and long-time ally of President Bashar al-Assad, took a once unimaginable step. In a video he published on social media, he lashed out against Assad's "inhumane" state security forces. "Mr President, the security forces have started attacking...

Protests against the results of Belarus’ presidential election continued for a fourth day Thursday, the Interior Ministry said.  The unrest is dying down, with fewer people taking to the streets. However, aggression against law enforcement personnel remains high, ministry spokeswoman...

Turkey's president on Thursday blamed Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration for increasing tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean by excluding Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). "It's not Turkey that is increasing tensions in the Mediterranean, but rather the...

Britain's assessment is that a Brexit agreement can be reached with the European Union in September, the UK chief negotiator David Frost said Thursday ahead of a round of negotiations with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier next week. "As we keep saying, we are not looking for a special or...

Lebanon's northern port city of Tripoli is readying its harbor to temporarily replace that of Beirut, which was leveled in last week's massive explosion, officials said Thursday. Tripoli port's capacity is smaller than the capital's, through which the vast majority of Lebanon's food and...

Elements of the Islamic State group are working to rebuild in western Syria, where the US has little visibility or presence, the top US commander for the Middle East warned Wednesday. In the region west of the Euphrates River where the Syrian regime is in control "conditions are as bad or...

Syria’s Bashar al-Assad has appointed General Mueen Qassem as head of the army’s communication department, replacing General Ma’an Hussein who was arrested over links to an espionage network.   In late June, the Syrian security backed by Russian Intelligence reports dismantled an...

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris pushed past their one-time political rivalry to deliver an aggressive attack on the character and performance of President Donald Trump in their historic first appearance as running mates. The physical debut of the Democratic ticket Wednesday was without parallel...

Israel Thursday said it will stop shipments of fuel into Gaza in response to Palestinians in the enclave launching incendiary balloons that have torched tracts of farmland on the Israeli frontier. Palestinians in Islamist Hamas-ruled Gaza in recent days have launched dozens of helium...

Saudi Arabia's King Salman arrived at a planned Red Sea megacity to "rest and recuperate", state media said Thursday, after the 84-year-old ruler underwent surgery to remove his gall bladder. The kingdom has sought to quell speculation over the health of the ageing monarch, who has ruled...

A fast-moving brush fire north of Los Angeles prompted mandatory evacuation orders for some 500 homes on Wednesday as firefighters battled the flames that had burned 10,000 acres by early evening, authorities said. The Lake Fire erupted at around 3:30 pm (2230 GMT) near Lake Hughes, about a...

Iranian forces boarded a tanker in international waters, using a helicopter and two ships to take over the vessel, the US Central Command said in a tweet on Wednesday. "Today in international waters, Iranian forces, including two ships and an Iranian "Sea King" helicopter, overtook and...

The Raqqa Political Board warned of the expansion of the regime’s control in the eastern province, which is divided between three regional and international parties, saying that it does not recognize any agreements before a political solution is achieved. Mohamed Sobhi from the...

Turkey on Wednesday confirmed 1,212 new cases of the coronavirus bringing the tally to 244,392, according to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca. The country also confirmed 934 more recoveries, pushing the total to 227,089, said Koca. Meanwhile, 18 more people lost their lives to the virus...

Lebanon may be in line for $298 million in emergency aid after the Beirut port blast, but the more than $30 billion that some estimate it may need to rebuild its shattered economy will not be forthcoming without reform. Such change could be stalled by the resignation of Lebanon's...