Turkey’s parliament discussed a prisoner release law on Tuesday which aims to ease overcrowding in jails and protect detainees from the coronavirus, but which critics slam for excluding people jailed on terrorism charges in a post-coup crackdown. The bill, proposed by President Tayyip...

The UN Security Council made its now video-conference-only meetings public Tuesday for the first time in nearly a month, after criticism of what was called a lack of transparency during the coronavirus pandemic. The part of the meeting made public online was short -- just 10 minutes -- and...

Saudi Arabia will host a virtual meeting Friday of energy ministers from the Group of 20 major economies in a bid to ensure "market stability" amid a coronavirus-led slump in crude prices. The video call will follow an emergency meeting on Thursday of OPEC and other oil producers to address...

 Israel called Tuesday for the immediate resumption of talks on the return of four Israelis held for years in the Gaza Strip after the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers said they might be willing to move forward on the issue. Last week, Israel linked any future coronavirus aid to...

New York City’s death toll from the coronavirus officially eclipsed the number of those killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11, health officials said Tuesday while in Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson remains in intensive care with the virus. At least 3,202 people have died in New...

 Hundreds of women in Saudi Arabia are taking to social media to share their experiences of sexual harassment in a rare exploration of a taboo topic in the ultra-conservative kingdom. Using the hashtag "Why_I_didn't_report_it", women and some men are recounting abuse endured at home or...

China was the biggest source of applications for international patents in the world last year, pushing the United States out of the top spot it has held since the global system was set up more than 40 years ago, the U.N. patent agency said Tuesday. The World Intellectual Property...

The U.S. dollar Tuesday traded between 2,800 and 2,850 Lebanese pounds in the exchange market. “The price of the dollar did not change drastically today despite the circular of BDL to set up an electronic platform to determine the price of the dollar,” one exchange dealer told The Daily...

Most Middle Eastern countries are seeing worrying daily increases in cases of the new coronavirus but the region still has a chance to contain its spread, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said Tuesday. The WHO has confirmed more than 77,000 cases and nearly 4,000 deaths in...

France is to begin clinical trials involving transfusions of blood plasma from coronavirus survivors into patients who have severe symptoms in a bid to treat the illness, the institutions involved said Saturday.  Drugmakers are racing to develop a vaccine and treatment for the...

The Olympic flame will be removed from display in Japan, officials said Tuesday, as the country braces for a state of emergency due to the coronavirus that also forced the historic postponement of Tokyo 2020. It had been on public display in the northeastern Fukushima region since last...

President Trump made a rare appearance in the Situation Room on Sunday as his pandemic task force was meeting, determined to talk about the anti-malaria medicine that he has aggressively promoted lately as a treatment for the coronavirus. Once again, according to a person briefed on the...

The World Health Organization has no blanket recommendation for countries and regions for easing measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, but urged them not to lift them too early, a spokesman said on Tuesday. “One of the most important parts is not to let go of the measures...

Iran on Tuesday reported 133 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number of officially confirmed fatalities to 3,872. In the past 24 hours, 2,089 new cases of COVID-19 infection were recorded across the country, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said....

Officials in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro have divided public opinion by preparing more than 600 graves for coronavirus victims ahead of anticipated deaths. The Dnipro mayor's spokeswoman Yulia Vitvitska told AFP the city had dug 615 graves and readied 2,000 body bags in preparation...

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday sent a message of “enduring appreciation and good wishes” to health workers around the world for World Health Day. “I want to thank all those working in the healthcare profession for your selfless commitment and diligence as you undertake vitally...

The pace of coronavirus deaths in Spain ticked up slightly for the first time in five days on Tuesday, with 743 people succumbing overnight to reach a total of 13,798. That compared to 637 people who died during the previous 24 hours in the nation with the second highest toll of fatalities...

A U.N. board of inquiry investigating attacks on civilian establishments in Syria, including hospitals, has refrained from directly holding Russia responsible, according to a summary of its report published Monday. The coordinates of the sites had been communicated to the belligerents by...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in intensive care on Tuesday after receiving oxygen support when his coronavirus symptoms worsened, leaving his foreign minister to lead the government's response to the accelerating outbreak. Johnson's personal battle with the virus has shaken the...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- The Syrian regime army sent new reinforcements from the First Division south of Damascus to northern Idlib province on Monday, activists said. More than 100 Syrian military trucks carrying 400 troops, ammunition, tanks and canons headed Jabal Shahshubo area....