The magnitude of how damaged the energy industry is came into full view on April 20 when the benchmark price of U.S. oil futures, which had never dropped below $10 a barrel in its nearly 40-year history, plunged to a previously unthinkable minus $38 a barrel. In just a few months, the...

Coronavirus is continuing its spread across the world, with about 2.9 million confirmed cases in 185 countries as of Sunday afternoon, according to a running tally by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. The university's data showed that the number of virus-linked deaths reached 203,332,...

Russia registered on Sunday another spike of coronavirus cases as a new record number of people tested positive over the last 24 hours. The tally rose to 80,949 with the new 6,361 cases reported since Saturday, the country's emergency team said in a statement. The number of fatalities...

 Israel's Labor party is voting Sunday on proposal to join a government headed by arch-rival Benjamin Netanyahu despite repeated campaign promises to never sit with a prime minister facing criminal indictments. The once-mighty left-wing party dominated Israeli politics for the...

Six weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency over the spreading new coronavirus, the United States is deeply divided over the correct economic and health response. What was meant as a grand experiment in fast action, nearly $3 trillion in federal support to keep...

The Syrian dancer and choreographer has drawn crowds across France for her performances in public squares and parks. As she performed a series of spectacular ballet gestures before deserted grand monuments of Paris recently, there wasn’t a soul in sight -- except AFP cameraman Sameer al-Doumy...

Australia has launched a smartphone app to trace people who come in contact with coronavirus patients despite privacy concerns that authorities insisted Sunday were unwarranted. The COVIDSafe app uses a phone's Bluetooth wireless signal to store information about people's interactions, and...

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte vowed Sunday to reopen schools by September and allow many businesses to resume in a week's time as the country emerges from a near-total shutdown. Conte told La Repubblica newspaper that he will spell out the full details of how Italy will ease its way...

After six weeks stuck at home, Spain's children were allowed out Sunday to run, play or go for a walk as the government eased one of the world's toughest coronavirus lockdowns. Spain is among the hardest hit countries, with a death toll running at more than 23,000, putting it behind only...

China has confiscated over 89 million poor quality face masks, a government official said Sunday, as Beijing faces a slew of complaints about faulty protective gear exported worldwide. Demand for protective equipment has soared as nations across the globe battle the deadly coronavirus,...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Turkish artillery has pounded regime positions near the border region of Ras al-Ayn in northeastern Syria, a pro-regime news sites said Sunday. The barrage of Turkish artillery hit the town of Tal Tamr on Saturday. No casualties among regime forces have been...

(Zaman Al-Wasl)- Two Syrian people were killed on Sunday when Turkish forces opened fire on demonstrators blocking the M4 highway in northern Idlib province. According to Zaman al-Wasl reporter, the Turkish army has fired live bullets and tear gas to resolve a sit-in in the town of...

Saudi Arabia's King Salman issued an order to partially lift the curfew in all regions of the kingdom, to become from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., starting Sunday through Wednesday May 13, while keeping a 24-hour curfew in Mecca and in previously isolated neighbourhoods, state news agency (SPA) said early...

 Britain's prime minister Boris Johnson will return to work at the start of this week, according to reports Sunday just hours after it was announced that the UK's coronavirus death toll had passed the "tragic" milestone of 20,000. The Press Association said Johnson would be back in his...

When Palestinian Amir Naji was released from an Israeli prison he was told not to hug his family, but emotion overwhelmed him and he clutched his mother tight. After a moment his father pushed away the 18-year-old, who was wearing a face mask, plastic suit and gloves. Naji briefly waved...

"More morphine!" Malak's mother cried, her 20-year-old daughter hospitalised after a marital dispute left her severely burned -- the latest victim of domestic violence exacerbated by confinement in Iraq. The nationwide lockdown since mid-March is meant to keep coronavirus cases down in the...

Banks are considering letting some employees keep working from home indefinitely, and staggering the shifts of those who do come into the office. Hotels are trying to figure out a way to let arriving guests go straight to their rooms without signing in at the reception desk. New York --...

Yemeni separatists early Sunday declared self-rule of the country's south as a peace deal with the government crumbled, complicating a long and separate conflict with Huthi rebels who control much of the north. The Southern Transitional Council (STC) accused the government of failing to...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that Canada's approach to reopening its economy from the coronavirus shutdown would be "cautious" and not depend on the development of widespread immunity in the population. "I don't think there are any of the plans that hinge on certain...

The World Health Organization warned on Saturday that recovery from coronavirus might not protect a person from reinfection as the global death toll from the pandemic surpassed 200,000. Hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world spent the second day of the Ramadan holy month out...