Six months on from the novel coronavirus outbreak, the WHO said Monday it was sending a team to China to work towards finding the source — as it warned the pandemic was far from over. And the World Health Organization warned that in an atmosphere of global division and politicisation of the...

More than a dozen pro-Iran fighters arrested in an unprecedented raid by elite Iraqi forces were released Monday and the case against them dropped, their group's spokesman said. Counter-terrorism forces detained the Kataeb Hezbollah members late Thursday for allegedly planning a rocket...

 A senior member of Lebanon’s negotiating team with the IMF resigned as finance ministry director general on Monday, saying vested interests were undermining the government’s economic recovery plan. Alain Bifani, who held the ministry post for 20 years, is the second member of...

Syria's government has announced the termination of duty free contracts with companies affiliated with President Bashar al-Assad's billionaire cousin Rami Makhlouf as part of an ongoing spat between the two men. The economy ministry, in a post Sunday on Facebook, said contracts had been...

The COVID-19 pandemic is not even close to being over, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing Monday. Tedros noted that, six months after China first alerted the WHO to a novel respiratory infection, the grim milestones of 10 million confirmed infections...

US and Saudi officials Monday called for extending a UN arms embargo on Iran, warning of major implications for regional security amid accusations that Tehran was arming Yemeni rebels. The embargo, put in place as part of a nuclear accord signed with Tehran in 2015, is set to expire in...

The Israeli government is set to hold a Cabinet vote on July 1 on the annexation of all settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank. As the annexation is facing outcry from the Palestinians and the international community, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is...

Iran said Monday it has called for Interpol to arrest President Donald Trump and 35 other US officials for the January killing of its top general in an American drone strike. Tehran prosecutor Ali Qasi Mehr, quoted by state news agency IRNA, said 36 US political and military officials...

Russia's presidential envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov on Monday slammed reports claiming Russian intelligence officers paid Taliban-linked militants to kill Western forces in Afghanistan. "Too much hype is being created around an outright fake news, which even Trump and his...

Two children suffered injuries on Monday due to the explosion of a landmine planted by the Daesh/ISIS terror group in northern Syria. The explosion took place in the Al-Sukkariyah district in the Syrian city of Al-Bab. In February 2017, Turkish troops and the Syrian National Army (SNA)...

 Nine bodies have been found in another mass grave in the Libyan town of Tarhuna after fighters loyal to eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar withdrew, pro-government forces said Monday. Tarhuna, southeast of Tripoli, served as the main staging point for Haftar's abortive offensive aimed...

 Turkish power-ship operator Karadeniz Holding is preparing a bid to supply up to 1,000 megawatts of electricity to conflict-hit Libya and will submit it soon, the company said Monday. Libya, where Turkey supports the internationally recognised government based in Tripoli, has been hit...

Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) is hopeful that oil production will resume after international talks to end a blockade by forces based in the east of the North African country, a spokesman said Monday. The internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) based in...

Aid organizations made a plea Monday for world leaders to boost financial support to conflict-torn Syria where around 11 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, on the eve of a major donor conference hosted by the European Union. The conflict has killed more than 400,000...

French President Emmanuel Macron promised 15 billion euros of new funding on Monday to speed up the move to a greener economy, a day after the Greens trounced his party and took control of major cities in local elections. Macron said he would move faster on environment-friendly policymaking...

Heavy flooding triggered by monsoon rains has forced more than a million people to flee their homes in the northeast Indian state of Assam, authorities said Monday, warning that the crisis was becoming more critical by the hour. The Brahmaputra River, one of the largest rivers in the world...

The United Nations top human rights official Michelle Bachelet called on Israel Monday to halt its "illegal" plans to annex part of occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank and warned it could lead to deadly clashes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to extend Israeli...

The Syrian regime artillery on Monday has pounded a Turkish military outpost in northern Idlib province, according to Zaman al-Wasl reporter.  No casualties were reported in the attack on the observation point in Jabal al-Zawiya region. Over the past weeks, the Turkish...

The death toll from Covid-19 reached half a million people on Sunday, according to a Reuters tally, a grim milestone for the global pandemic that seems to be resurgent in some countries even as other regions are still grappling with the first wave. The respiratory illness caused by the new...

Gunmen attacked the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi Monday, with four of the assailants killed, police said. Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said the attackers pulled up in a car outside the trading floor and hurled a grenade at the building before opening fire. "Four...