The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped a quarter of a million on Tuesday, with the US government predicting a further surge in fatalities as an international vaccine drive garnered $8 billion in pledges. The dire forecast from the United States came as much of the...

Syrian air defences thwarted an Israeli missile attack on a research centre and a military base in the northern province of Aleppo in the second such raid in less than a week, state media said on Monday. The Syrian regime army said in a statement that Israel hit military barracks in al...

The number of people who have died from COVID-19 in Turkey has risen by 65 in the last 24 hours to 3,461, Health Ministry data showed on Monday, as a slowdown in deaths and confirmed cases continued. The overall number of cases rose by 1,614 to 127,659, the data showed, the highest total...

Formula One can be expected to ‘hit a glitch’ as the sport tries to complete a 2020 season stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic but 14-15 races looks feasible, McLaren boss Zak Brown said on Monday. The American told motorsport.com that number could be achieved at 10 circuits. Organisers have...

Residents of the southern Libyan town of Awbari on Monday requested a government security force to wrest control of the surrounding area from the forces of renegade general Khalifa Haftar.  Locals called on the presidential council of the government to "form a security force to...

Sudan has appointed its first ambassador to the United States for almost a quarter of a century, its foreign ministry said Monday, in a move to normalise relations after decades of antagonism. Both countries pledged to improve ties after the fall of veteran Islamist ruler Omar al-Bashir to...

US President Donald Trump now says his worst-case coronavirus scenario would be 100,000 deaths, but the country will probably reach that grim milestone by next month, according to several scientific models -- none of which predict a summertime halt to the virus's spread. "We're going to...

President Bashar al-Assad warned Monday of a "catastrophe" in war-battered Syria if the easing of lockdown measures against coronavirus is mishandled. The government in Damascus has officially recorded 44 cases of COVID-19, including three deaths, while Kurdish authorities in the country's...

The Libyan military on Monday conducted strikes on seven oil tankers belonging to militias loyal to renegade general Khalifa Haftar.  The tankers were hit in an airstrike in the Al Qaryat region, 400 kilometers (248 miles) south of the capital Tripoli, according to a statement by the...

Yemen has reported two new coronavirus infections in Hadhramout, the national emergency coronavirus committee said Monday, raising the number of diagnosed infections in the war-town country to 12 with two deaths. The province of Hadhramout was where Yemen recorded its first case of COVID-19...

China's state broadcaster CCTV on Monday attacked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's "insane and evasive remarks" over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, further fuelling Sino-US tensions. Pompeo on Sunday said "enormous evidence" showed the virus originated in a lab in China,...

France's labour ministry on Monday refused a request by Amazon for emergency funds to pay its employees during the coronavirus crisis, after the retail giant shut its warehouses over a French court ruling ordering the company to deliver only essential goods until its health protocols were...

The head of Lebanon's Hezbollah movement on Monday condemned Germany's ban on his group as bowing to US pressure and insisted it was not active in the country. Germany designated Hezbollah a "Shiite terrorist organisation" on Thursday as its security forces raided mosques and associations...

Turkey will no longer tolerate terrorist harassment in the Idlib safe zone in northwestern Syria or ramped-up attacks which flout agreements, Turkey’s president said Monday. Terrorist groups are trying to exploit Turkey's preoccupation with the coronavirus pandemic to step up attacks...

Israel's Supreme Court on Monday tackled the vexed question of whether a political deal to form a coalition government after three inconclusive elections in less than a year is actually legal. A ruling against the pact could leave the country facing a fourth poll. Under the proposed...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will set out his plan to ease a nationwide coronavirus lockdown next Sunday, media reports said, as new guidance emerged on how to maintain social distancing in workplaces. Stay-at-home orders imposed in late March are up for review on Thursday in...

Protest-hit Lebanon has approved an economic rescue plan and requested aid from the International Monetary Fund as it battles its worst financial crisis in decades. But how did Lebanon become one of the most indebted countries in the world? What's the plan out of this quagmire, and how...

The coronavirus death toll in Iran, one of the hardest hit countries in the Middle East, rose by 74 in the past 24 hours to 6,277, the Health Ministry said Monday, as mosques were due to reopen in many cities. The total number of diagnosed cases rose to 98,647, ministry spokesman Kianush...

 Millions of people were allowed to return to work in Italy Monday as Europe's longest lockdown started to ease, while countries from Iceland to India took a patchwork of steps to loosen coronavirus restrictions. Businesses including hairdressers in Greece and restaurants in Lebanon were...

Unknown gunmen abducted and killed nine policemen Monday in southern Daraa province in a rare such attack on a government building in the defeated cradle of the nine-year uprising, a monitor said. The killings, for which there were no immediate claim of responsibility, occurred in the...