Facebook and other tech companies need to be regulated like the tobacco industry, warned Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower who exposed the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The data scientist revealed how he helped the disgraced company, founded by Donald Trump's former right-hand man Steve...

French prosecutors on Tuesday demanded that ex-prime minister Francois Fillon serve two years in jail, with another three suspended, for embezzlement over his wife’s suspected fake job as his parliamentary assistant.  The allegations that Fillon, a fiscal conservative, paid his wife...

A Palestinian teenager was shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry announced. Mohammed Hamayel, 15, "died as a result of being shot in the face with live ammunition by the (Israeli) occupation" during clashes in...

An Iraqi security source said on Wednesday that unidentified gunmen assassinated two Iraqi anti-government activists in Maysan province, southern Iraq. The security source identified the names of activists as Abdel-Aaddous Qasim and Karrar Adil, who were killed in Amarah city. The...

Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry has directed oil producer Saudi Aramco  to raise its output capacity to 13 million from 12 million barrels per day , CEO Amin Nasser said in a statement on Wednesday. “The company is exerting its maximum efforts to implement this directive as soon as...

A Turkish citizen with high fever and cough symptoms was diagnosed with the coronavirus following tests, making him the country’s first confirmed diagnosis, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said early on Wednesday. The male patient is in good health condition and his family and people...

The death toll in China from the novel coronavirus outbreak has risen to 3,161, the country's National Health Commission said Wednesday. The commission said 22 people have died in the past 24 hours while 24 new cases were registered. There are currently 80,778 registered cases in China...

Red Bull's Max Verstappen is aiming for a podium finish at every race this season and Honda's Formula One chief is backing his lofty ambition. The young Dutchman made the podium nine times last year, winning three grands prix, to end the 2019 season behind only world champion Lewis Hamilton...

Some companies in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the new coronavirus outbreak emerged late last year, are to be allowed to return to work, provincial officials said Wednesday. Businesses involved in providing daily necessities can resume work and production immediately, as can those that are...

A Pakistani F-16 fighter jet crashed in Islamabad on Wednesday in an apparent accident during a rehearsal for an upcoming military parade in the capital, officials said. There was no immediate word on the fate of the pilot or co-pilot, or details on the area the plane crashed. Footage...

Loujain al-Hathloul, a prominent Saudi women's rights campaigner who has been detained for almost two years, is due to appear in court on Wednesday this week, Amnesty International said. Hathloul, alongside another 12 women activists, faces what Amnesty has called "bogus" charges over...

Lebanon’s public prosecutor has agreed with commercial banks a set of rules aimed at protecting the rights of depositors, state news agency NNA reported on Tuesday, potentially easing restrictions on deposits amid a dollar shortage. Lebanese banks, fearing capital flight and grappling with...

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu discussed northwest Syria’s Idlib region in a phone call, the Turkish defense ministry said on Tuesday. In a statement, the defense ministry said that Akar emphasized determination to continue efforts and fulfill...

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned on Tuesday that a U.S.-led push to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan needed to include the country’s government and women if it is to succeed after Washington signed a deal with Taliban insurgents. The United States signed the agreement...

U.S. Health Secretary Alex Azar on Tuesday worked to beat back fears that the country’s capability for testing people for coronavirus is limited, making it hard to know how far the deadly infection has spread. “We have always been able to meet the full demand for test orders from public...

Algeria’s prime minister said on Tuesday the country faced an unprecedented “multi-dimensional crisis” and urged people to make fewer demands of the government and reduce their street presence. The comments by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad were an apparent reference to a year of weekly...

Egyptian authorities said Tuesday that 25 people who had intially tested positive for the novel coronavirus during a Nile River cruise had since tested negative. Health Minister Hala Zayed told journalists in Cairo that tests for a total of 26 people had "changed from positive to negative"...

Former Brazil player Ronaldinho Gaucho, who was arrested for possessing a fake Paraguayan passport, must remain in jail in the South American country after a judge Tuesday refused a request for him to be released into house arrest. The former Barcelona forward and his brother and business...

The United States has offered to sell Turkey its Patriot missile defence system if Ankara promises not to operate a rival Russian system, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said, in what he called a significant softening in Washington's position. Two Turkish officials told Reuters that Turkey...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Many of pro-Bashar al-Assad’s thugs, known as Shabiha, have fled the war-torn country to Europe, either escaping the consequences of their inhuman practices, or going undercover by taking advantage of the refugee crisis and profiting from it.  Ibrahim Haider is one...