Bahrain said Monday that state-owned Gulf Air has begun flying to Iran to repatriate Bahrainis stranded there due to the coronavirus crisis, the first direct flights between the two countries in four years. More than a thousand Bahrainis, most of them pilgrims visiting Shi'ite Muslim...

Gaza's Hamas-run government on Monday temporarily re-opened the border crossing with Egypt, shut due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, to allow hundreds of Palestinians to return. One-way traffic into the coastal enclave through the Rafah crossing would be allowed for the coming four days,...

Sudan inked a deal on Monday with the United Nations World Food Programme to import wheat, state media reported, more than a year after the country was rocked by protests sparked by bread price hikes. "The finance ministry signed today (Monday) a deal with the World Food Programme (WFP) to...

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that his country welcomes an apparent agreement among Iraq’s Shia, Sunni and Kurdish groups to form a new government, adding it would need to be capable of confronting the coronavirus pandemic, helping the economy and bringing arms under...

China’s northeastern border with Russia has become a frontline in the fight against a resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic as new daily cases rose to the highest in nearly six weeks - with more than 90% involving people coming from abroad. Having largely stamped out domestic transmission...

The coronavirus outbreak could reach its peak in the United States this week, a top U.S. health official said Monday as more signs of stabilization emerged, but political leaders said a reopening of the economy may hinge on more widespread testing. The United States, with the world's...

Key industries are warning of social unrest unless India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes concessions when he announces any extension Tuesday to a three-week pandemic-lockdown for the country's 1.3 billion people. The lockdown ends at midnight Tuesday, but several state chief ministers...

A number of Arab countries have extended their lockdowns of major cities in a bid to curb the spread of the coronavirus, despite the curfews having a devastating impact on local businesses. Jordan announced on Sunday that it was extending its lockdown - one of the strictest in the world -...

Libya's government forces have seized control of Sorman, a town in the south of capital Tripoli, from militias loyal to warlord Khalifa Haftar, a spokesman said on Monday. Mustafa Al-Mujie, spokesman of Government of National Accord (GNA)'s military forces, said they had entered the town...

 Defence firm Elbit Systems said Monday it will manufacture thousands of automatic ventilation machines at the request of the Israeli government as the coronavirus outbreak has led to a global shortage. Based on technology developed by LifeCan Medical, these machines will enable...

President Donald Trump's record-setting fundraising pace slowed slightly amid the coronavirus outbreak but remained strong as he maintains a massive cash advantage over Democrats. The Trump reelection campaign and the Republican National Committee raised more than $212 million in the first...

Iran's death toll from the coronavirus outbreak has risen to 4,585, with 111 more overnight, a health ministry official said Monday, adding the total number of infected cases had reached 73,303 in the most-affected Middle Eastern country On Sunday, the government lifted a ban on travel...

 Coronavirus testing has resumed in the Gaza Strip after Israel allowed five testing kits purchased by the World Health Organization (WHO) into the enclave, a Gaza health ministry spokesman said Monday. But the spokesman, Ashraf al-Qidra, said the kits would be of "limited immediate...

More than 4,300 people were arrested over the weekend in Morocco for breaching emergency rules in place to combat the novel coronavirus, according to official figures. More than half of those detained were taken into police custody. Since mid-March, authorities have arrested 28,701...

President Emmanuel Macron is on Monday expected to warn France its lockdown to combat the coronavirus must go on for several more weeks at least, while also outlining how the country will recover from the crisis. At just after 8:00 pm (1800 GMT), Macron will give his third prime-time...

New cases of the coronavirus are certain to arise when restrictions imposed to limit the spread of the virus are eased, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert for the U.S. But Fauci said Sunday that the economy in parts of the country could have a “rolling reentry” as...

With blunt warnings, flip-charts and daily online briefings, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has been delivering a tough message to the Japanese capital’s residents and shops: stay home and shut down to avert an explosive outbreak of the coronavirus. Koike, 67, was once floated as a future...

Britain’s finance minister has told colleagues the economy could shrink by up to 30% this quarter because of the coronavirus lockdown, a newspaper reported, as the soaring death toll gave little hope restrictions would soon be lifted. The number of COVID-19 deaths in hospitals across the...

Spring is not turning out the way Russian President Vladimir Putin might have planned it. A nationwide vote on April 22 was supposed to finalize sweeping constitutional reforms that would allow him to stay in power until 2036, if he wished. But after the coronavirus spread in Russia, that...

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu resigned late Sunday, taking responsibility for a poorly timed announcement of a weekend coronavirus curfew that prompted thousands of people to rush into the streets. Soylu is one of the most senior figures in Turkish President Recep Tayyip...