Russian daily newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported that Turkey has prevented four Russian military aircrafts, including two bombers, from crossing its airspace to Syria. Field sources knowledgeable about the Russian Hmeimim Air Base, revealed on Thursday that the Russian forces...

Afghans on Saturday welcomed the pledge by the Taliban and U.S to reduce violence, despite uncertainty looming over the war-torn country. Saturday was the first morning of a seven-day “reduced violence” period that is meant to lead to an agreement between the United States and the Taliban...

 Israeli forces shot and killed a suspect in Jerusalem's occupied Old City Saturday after he approached officers posted near one of the gates armed with a knife, police said. Police did not immediately release further details on the identity of the suspect. "At approximately 11 am...

Iran Saturday reported one more death among 10 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths in the Islamic republic to five -- the highest of any country outside the Far East. Since it emerged in December, the virus has killed 2,345 people in China, the epicentre of the...

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has discussed the situation in Syria's Idlib with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar, Russian news agencies reported on Saturday. "During the telephone conversation they discussed issues of stabilization of the situation in Idlib de-escalation zone,"...

An Egyptian court on Saturday acquitted two sons of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and six others in a case known in the Egyptian media as stock exchange manipulation. A judicial official told AFP that the Cairo criminal court decided to acquit Alaa and Gamal Mubarak and the other...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian  opposition forces  stormed three security checkpoints in central Homs province overnight, leaving dozen killed and wounded, local sources told Zaman al-Wasl. The Military Intelligence outposts in the town of Talbiseh came under fire of rebel groups...

French state-owned energy giant EDF on Saturday began shutting down the country's oldest nuclear power plant after 43 years in operation. EDF said it had disconnected one of two reactors at Fessenheim, along the Rhine near France's eastern border with Germany and Switzerland, at 2:00 am...

Conservatives appeared to be in the lead as the first results of Iran's parliamentary election came in Saturday, amid expectations of a low turnout after the disqualification of many candidates. Friday's election came after months of steeply escalating tensions between Iran and its...

Fears mounted Saturday over the rise of new cases and fatalities outside China from the new coronavirus outbreak, as the World Health Organization warned of a shrinking window to stem the spread of the deadly disease.  The warning came as the first European died from the new COVID-19...

A list of candidates affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guards is leading in a parliamentary election in Tehran, the Fars news agency reported on Saturday. According to state TV, Iran has started counting votes in its election. Hardline allies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...

Pakistani security forces said Saturday that five suspected militants were killed in an overnight raid in the country's northwest, and that two other militants were arrested in a separate operation. Senior counter-terrorism officer Tahir Khan said a shootout took place at a compound in...

Over 875,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have been forced to flee northwest Syria since December. The scale and speed of this most recent displacement — in the middle of winter — has massively increased humanitarian needs in the country. Escalating violence and harsh winter...

South Korea on Saturday reported an eight-fold jump in viral infections in four days to 433, most of them linked to a church and a hospital in and around the country's fourth-largest city, where health workers scrambled to screen more than 9,000 worshipers.  There’s concern that the death...

Gokhan Gultekin’s juggling act was in many ways typical of Hanau’s Turkish community: taking care of frail parents, hustling to work at a late-night cafe, making some cash on the side at a second job and attending Friday prayers at the mosque across town. On Friday, Gultekin’s friends mourned...

Cases of a new virus swelled Friday in South Korea, making the country the newest front in a widening global outbreak centered in China and now reverberating elsewhere.  South Korea said two people have died and 204 have been infected with the virus, quadruple the number of cases it...

Turkey's president urged Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call Friday to “restrain" the Syrian regime and halt the humanitarian crisis unfolding in northwestern Syria as Damascus wages a military offensive against the last rebel stronghold in the country. Recep Tayyip...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A Syrian refugee toddler has died after five hospitals in the Lebanese Hermel distrcit refused to admit her, father told Zaman al-Wasl Friday. The 14-month-old Fatima Al-Bakkar sufferd of high blood sugar and low blood pressure as well as other medical...

U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell is the new acting national intelligence director, but he's expected to be a short-timer overseeing the nation's 17 spy agencies. President Donald Trump named Grenell the acting director, but says he'll nominate a permanent director soon. The...

The United Nations warned Friday that fighting in northwest Syria could "end in a bloodbath" and called again for a ceasefire, while Moscow denied reports of a mass flight of civilians from a Russian-led Syrian government offensive. Syrian troops backed by Russian air power have been...