Regional and political rifts are emerging in many countries over how fast to lift the lid on the coronavirus lockdowns, as worries about economic devastation collide with fears of a second wave of deaths. French mayors are resisting the government’s call to reopen schools, while Italian...

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday laid out the broad outlines of the next massive coronavirus-response bill Democrats will seek, with possible votes as soon as next week. Pelosi said the bill's major components will include additional aid to state and local...

Latin America saw its coronavirus cases pass 300,000 Thursday as the region's death toll topped 16,000, according to an AFP count. Brazil, the region's largest country, is also by far the worst affected with more than 8,500 deaths -- over half the total -- and 125,000 cases. Neighboring...

Formula One could stage a series of races at new venues in an attempt to salvage the coronavirus-hit season, the sport's chief Chase Carey said Thursday. On the day that Liberty Media, the company which runs the sport, reported a collapse in revenues of more than $200 million (184.7 million...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Militant Daesh group on Thursday has killed two US-backed fighters in eastern Deir Ezzor province amid hike in snap attacks against Kurdish forces and Syrian regime proxies. According to Zaman al-Wasl source, Daesh militants has attacked a checkpoint for the Syrian...

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that international rivalry on global markets was rising because of a fall in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “Against the backdrop of falling global demand, the struggle for international markets for deliveries of fuel and raw...

German officials warned on Thursday that the coronavirus crisis is far from over despite the country slowly reopening its economy and trying to get life back to normal. Germany has reported more than 166,000 infections and more than 7,000 deaths but the European Union’s most populous...

The Israeli parliament formally nominated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to form a new coalition government despite his upcoming trial on corruption charges, bringing him closer to a fifth term after more than a year of political stalemate. Seventy-two of the Knesset’s 120...

Millions more Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, suggesting layoffs broadened from consumer-facing industries to other segments of the economy and could remain elevated even as many parts of the country start to reopen. The Labor Department's weekly jobless claims report...

Iran is scrambling to buy millions of tons of wheat, corn and soybeans to shore up its reserves, Iranian officials and traders said, despite President Hassan Rouhani's assertions that the coronavirus would not endanger food supplies to the Middle Eastern country worst hit by the pandemic....

Artillery shelling by Libya's eastern-based forces killed five civilians and wounded dozens in the capital, Tripoli, an official with the country's U.N.-supported government said Thursday. It was the latest attack on Tripoli by the eastern forces’ commander Khalifa Hifter, who launched a...

An attack by the Daesh group in the Syrian desert killed 20 regime and allied fighters, a monitoring group and activists said Thursday. The fighters died in an attack on their vehicle between Al Sukhna and Al Shula in the area straddling Homs and Deir Ezzor provinces, the Syrian...

Syria postponed a parliamentary election for a second time Thursday as part of measures to protect the war-battered country from the coronavirus pandemic. The Syrian government has recorded 44 cases, including three deaths in areas under its control, while the Kurdish administration in...

The United Nations on Thursday issued a new appeal for $4.7 billion in funding to "protect millions of lives and stem the spread of coronavirus in fragile countries." The money is on top of the $2 billion the UN already called for when it launched its global humanitarian response plan on...

The Bank of England warned Thursday that the British economy could suffer its deepest annual contraction in more than three centuries as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, before bouncing back next year. In what it describes as a "plausible" scenario, the bank said the British economy...

With its financial outlook darkening by the day, Iraq is considering slashing its massive public payroll -- an unpopular move likely to renew protests as a new government takes the helm. The new premier Mustafa Kadhemi, Iraq's 53-year-old former spy chief, took office early Thursday in...

Turkey's lira hit a record low against the US dollar Thursday as traders worried over the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the Turkish economy and Ankara's policies. The lira was trading at 7.23 to the dollar, down 0.6 percent just before 1000 GMT, after reaching a record low of 7.24...

Turkish and Russian troops have carried out the ninth joint patrol along a key highway in northwestern Idlib province, Turkey’s National Defense Ministry said Thursday. “Within the framework of TUR-RF Agreement/Protocol, the 9th TUR-RF Combined Land Patrol on M-4 Highway in Idlib was...

China accused the United States Thursday of trying to shift blame over the coronavirus, after President Donald Trump said the pandemic was a worse "attack" than Pearl Harbor or 9/11. Tension between the world's two biggest economies has reached fever pitch in recent days as they have...

A chemical gas leak at an LG Polymers plant in southern India on Thursday killed at least 9 people, and emergency services rushed more than 300 to hospital and evacuated hundreds more from nearby areas, a police official in Andhra Pradesh state said. South Korean battery maker LG Chemical...