Angela Merkel is "doing well" in self-imposed quarantine and awaiting further coronavirus testing after a first result came back negative, her spokesman said Monday. The veteran leader decided to self-isolate as a precaution after learning on Sunday that a doctor who vaccinated her last...

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed Monday for an "immediate global ceasefire" to protect vulnerable civilians in conflict zones from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. "The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war," he said in a brief speech at UN headquarters in New...

Canadian researchers launched a study Monday into the use of a powerful anti-inflammatory drug to reduce the risks of pulmonary complications and death related to the new coronavirus. Several COVID-19 patients have had severe complications from a surge of activated immune cells in the lungs...

East Libya will impose a full curfew for 10 days from Wednesday in an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus, though medicine can be delivered by telephone if necessary, the military said on Monday.

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad discussed ensuring a lasting ceasefire in the Idlib region during talks in Syria, the Russian defense ministry said on Monday. The two talked about Russia providing humanitarian aid to Syria and enabling the...

A second senior military officer in Egypt has died of the new coronavirus, state television reported Monday, as the officially declared death toll stood at 14 from 327 cases recorded nationwide. Major General Shafee Dawood, head of major infrastructure projects at the military engineering...

Lebanon's finance ministry on Monday said it will "discontinue" payments on all dollar-denominated Eurobonds due in the next 15 years to safeguard dwindling foreign currency reserves. "The government has decided to discontinue payments on all of its outstanding US$-denominated Eurobonds,"...

The coronavirus death toll in Spain reached 2,182, adding 462 fatalities overnight, the health ministry said on Monday, while the total number of confirmed cases rose to 33,089 – up from 28,572 cases on Sunday. Amid mounting alarm over the rising number of cases of and deaths due to the...

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday accused Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of lying about the coronavirus pandemic as the Supreme Leader rejected US assistance for his hard-hit country. In a televised address Sunday, Khamenei described the United States as "charlatans" and charged...

Jordan is to launch a food delivery service for residents, the government said Monday, as a total lockdown to stem the spread of coronavirus entered its third day. A round-the-clock curfew was imposed on Saturday across Jordan and authorities have decided to keep it in force until further...

Israel's building industry has found temporary housing for many of its nearly 70,000 Palestinian laborers, staving off a construction shutdown after the coronavirus crisis prompted the closure of the border with the occupied West Bank. The successful scramble over the course of three days...

The coronavirus pandemic has done what the Algerian regime had failed to achieve for more than a year -- clear the streets of massive anti-government protests. Now the "Hirak" citizens movement -- which brought down geriatric autocrat Abdelaziz Bouteflika last April -- has vowed to adapt...

Even according to official figures, the coronavirus epidemic has killed over 1,800 people in Iran, prompting unprecedented measures that have included closing holy Shiite shrines. But could the authorities in the Islamic republic be underplaying the severity of the COVID-19 epidemic and the...

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Monday gave the authorities five days to develop a system to track people who have come into contact with anyone with coronavirus by using mobile phone geolocation data. Under the new system, people would be sent information if they came into...

The United Nations will create a fund to prevent the spread of coronavirus and support the treatment of patients worldwide, Norway said on Monday. The purpose of the fund is to assist developing countries with weak health systems in addressing the crisis as well as to tackle the long-term...

Britain sent in the army to deliver protective equipment to hospitals on Monday and told people to stay at home and heed warnings over social distancing or the government would bring in more extreme measures to stop the coronavirus spread. With some doctors saying they felt like “cannon...

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, a pool report said, amid an ongoing political crisis, a raging Taliban insurgency and rising coronavirus cases. Pompeo was set to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani along with his archrival Abdullah...

Turkish authorities will seize factories of mask-producing firms unless they agree to sell products to the government by Monday night, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu was quoted as saying, as Ankara seeks to contain the local coronavirus outbreak. Turkey's death toll from the virus...

The Olympics rings are up and the cute wide-eyed mascots are plastered across billboards and commuter trains, but people in Tokyo are increasingly convinced the Games won't happen this summer. After weeks of pressure from athletes and sports associations, the International Olympic Committee...

Russia and Turkey were forced to cut short their second joint patrol in Syria's Idlib region Monday due to security concerns, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement. The patrol is meant to cover the M4 highway which links the cities of Aleppo and Latakia. Their first joint...