Behind a Saudi-Russian truce to stabilize oil markets with a record output cut, market players are seeing the two production heavyweights still trading blows in the physical market. It is here, rather than in the world of futures prices, that a long-standing battle for market share carries...

Iran has increased the range of its naval missiles to 700 kilometers, the head of the Revolutionary Guards navy said Monday, according to the Fars news agency. "There was a time when the longest range of our naval missiles was 45 kilometres and needed to be operated with the help of...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his centrist election rival Benny Gantz have reached an agreement to form a coalition government that would end a year of political deadlock, Israel's Channel 12 News reported Monday. Officials from Netanyahu's Likud party and Gantz's Blue and...

The UN children's agency on Monday appealed for $92.4 million in new funds for the Middle East and North Africa to help combat the effects of coronavirus on already poverty-stricken areas. "The region has the biggest number of children in need in the world due to ongoing conflicts and...

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Monday to discuss regional developments in light of the novel coronavirus. On his first official meeting with Zarif in a year, Assad expressed condolences to Iran, the regional epicentre of the...

Researchers Monday unveiled a coronavirus "heat map" powered by Facebook data which is aimed at helping track the spread of the disease and plan for reopening society. The Carnegie Mellon University project offers "real-time indications of COVID-19 activity not previously available from any...

Syria's Kurds have set up a specialised hospital for coronavirus cases, the Kurdish Red Crescent said Monday, after the first COVID-19 death was reported in the northeastern region. The United Nations on Friday said a man aged in his fifties had on April 2 become the first fatality from...

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said Monday he wants quarantines imposed by several state governors lifted this week, despite health ministry warnings that the coronavirus pandemic has yet to peak there. "I hope that this is the last week of the quarantine, that way of fighting the virus...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Four opposition fighters were wounded Monday when regime forces launched a missile attack on their stronghold in northern Idlib province. According to Zaman Al Wasl reporter, the elite 25th Division had fired 22 Grad missiles on an array of Jabal al-Zawiya villages....

Iran began opening intercity highways and major shopping centers Monday to stimulate its sanctions-choked economy, gambling that it has brought under control its coronavirus outbreak - one of the worst in the world - even as some fear it could lead to a second wave of infections Stores from...

Novak Djokovic has said he would be against a compulsory coronavirus vaccination if it became a requirement for tennis players to travel to tournaments. "Personally I'm against vaccination. I wouldn't like that someone forces me to get a vaccine in order to be able to travel," the world...

The Taliban have killed at least 23 Afghan troops and nine civilians, officials said Monday, as a fresh wave of violence grips Afghanistan despite a deal with the US and a worsening coronavirus crisis. Under the terms of the US-Taliban deal, the Afghan government and the insurgents were by...

Manga, music and even video games: calls from Tokyo's governor for residents to practise social distancing to stem the spread of coronavirus have inspired a slew of viral online tributes. On Twitter, a clip from a game in which players roam around town finding and breaking up gatherings was...

After nine years of war, Syria is broken into three rival parts unable to work together and ill-prepared to cope with the coronavirus, an enemy that knows no conflict lines. Medical personnel in Kurdish-run northeastern Syria have resorted to making protective gear out of garbage bags. The...

Lookout researchers have uncovered a long-running surveillance campaign tied to Syrian nation-state actors, which recently started using the novel coronavirus as its newest lure to entice its targets to download malware. This campaign appears to have been active since the start of January 2018,...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Fierce clashes erupted on Tuesday between the two main Islamist groups in Idlib, less than 48 hours of fragile truce amid fears of widespread violence in the northern province. A woman was killed and dozen were wounded on Tuesday when Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, former...

Germany takes its first steps back towards normality on Monday, with smaller shops in some regions opening up for the first time in a month after politicians declared the coronavirus "under control". From florists to fashion stores, the majority of shops smaller than 800 square metres...

New Zealand will ease a nationwide COVID-19 lockdown next week after claiming success in stopping "an uncontrolled explosion" of the virus, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday. "We have done what very few countries have been able to do," Ardern said. "We have stopped a wave of...

Displaced women and girls are facing a heightened risk of gender-based violence during the coronavirus crisis, the UN Refugee Agency said Monday. The UNHCR said they may be forced into "survival sex" or child marriages. Lockdowns imposed to control the spread of COVID-19 have restricted...

France’s Prime Minister Édouard Philippe on Sunday said that although the country looks to be on track to lift its near two-month coronavirus lockdown as planned on May 11, the country's return to normality would be gradual and slow. France went into a nationwide lockdown on March 17 in a...