The Syrian lira crashed to a new low on Monday, after a new video was released by business tycoon Rami Makhlouf over the weekend, in which he appeared to again challenge Bashar Al-Assad's regime. Makhlouf posted a third video on his Facebook account on Sunday, in which he continued his...

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday that he would initiate an independent evaluation of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic at the "earliest appropriate moment" and vowed transparency and accountability. "We all have lessons to learn from the pandemic. Every...

Michel Piccoli, one of the most original and versatile French actors of the last half century, has died aged 94, his family said Monday. They told AFP he died “in the arms of his wife Ludivine and his children Inord and Missia after a stroke.” Piccoli starred in a string of classics which...

Tourism-dependent Spain aims to reopen borders to visitors around the end of June as its coronavirus lockdown fully unwinds, a minister said Monday, in a much-needed boost for the ravaged travel sector. Madrid last week surprised its European Union partners by imposing a two-week quarantine...

Just one week after a third of French schoolchildren went back to school in an easing of the coronavirus lockdown, there's been a worrying flareup of about 70 COVID-19 cases linked to schools. Some schools were opened last week and a further 150,000 junior high students went back to the...

Iran on Monday said it was entering a new phase of trying to eliminate the novel coronavirus after bringing the Middle East's deadliest outbreak under control in many regions. "Reports show we have passed the management and control phase and are now in the phase of curbing" the spread of...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Three people, two brothers and a woman, were killed in an ambush by ISIS (Daesh) group in eastern Deir Ezzor province, activists said Sunday. The first brother was operating in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the second was a fighter in Usoud...

Yemen’s Saudi-backed government accused its Houthi foes of covering up a big outbreak of coronavirus in areas they hold and the United Nations warned that the country could suffer a “catastrophic” food security situation due to the pandemic. The Aden-based government also called for urgent...

Libya’s army on Monday retook Al-Watiya airbase occupied by warlord Khalifa Haftar's militias, a key airbase now back under government control after some six years under putschist forces. The victory was announced by the media office of the government-led Burkan Al-Ghadab (Volcano of Rage)...

An Israeli district court Monday convicted a Jewish extremist of murder in a 2015 arson attack that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents, a case that had sent shock waves through Israel and helped fuel months of Israeli-Palestinian violence. The court ruled that the Jewish settler...

The Taliban claimed a deadly attack on an Afghan intelligence agency post Monday, even as they urged the new power-sharing government to accelerate a prisoner swap to pave the way for talks. At least seven intelligence personnel were killed by a car bomb in the eastern province of Ghazni,...

Hong Kong's political crisis returned to centre stage on Monday as clashes erupted in the legislature and a group of prominent pro-democracy activists were charged for taking part in last year's huge protests. Four months of calm imposed by mass arrests and the coronavirus pandemic has...

Japan's economy slipped into recession for the first time in 4-1/2 years, GDP data showed on Monday, putting the nation on course for its deepest postwar slump as the coronavirus crisis takes a heavy toll on businesses and consumers. The world's third-largest economy shrank for the second...

Deaths in Aden have surged to at least five times higher than normal, an NGO and medics say, igniting fears that the coronavirus is spreading unhindered in the Yemeni port city. Six years of war against the Huthis -- and a widening fault-line among forces opposed to that rebel outfit --...

The World Health Organization will on Monday kick off its first ever virtual assembly, but fears abound that US-China tensions could derail the strong action needed to address the COVID-19 crisis. The World Health Assembly, which has been trimmed from the usual three weeks to just two days,...

The US death toll from coronavirus reached 90,142 after 1,592 more fatalities were reported on Sunday. The country's total cases surpassed 1.5 million and it continued to lead the world in cases and deaths related to the virus, according to data provided by Worldometer, an online source for...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- About 350 displaced people have turned without a shelter as a blaze destroyed 60 makeshift tents in Sadaqa camp in northern Idlib province, head of the camp told Zaman al-Wasl Sunday. Anwar Nasouh said at least 60 families need help after the fire took hold at the...

Americans will be expelled from Iraq and Syria, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday, renewing Iran's demand for U.S. troops to be withdrawn from the Middle East. Iran almost got into a full-blown conflict with the United States when a U.S. drone strike killed top...

 U.S. President Donald Trump's firing of the State Department's top internal watchdog "could be unlawful" if it was intended to retaliate against one of his investigations, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday. Trump late Friday ousted Inspector General Steve Linick, the fourth...

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- U.S.-led coalition backed by Kurdish fighters made an airdrop in eastern province of Deir Ezzor, tracking Daesh sleeper cells, local activists said Sunday. At least ten suspected Daesh fighters were arrested in the raid of Basirah town, residents say. The...