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Britain and the European Union both demanded that the other side give ground in talks on a new post-Brexit trade deal or risk severe damage in tetchy exchanges after the latest bout of bargaining ended with scant progress on Friday. The United Kingdom left the EU on January 31, but the main terms …

US President Donald Trump will partially restore funding to the World Health Organization, a month after he ordered a freeze as he accused the Geneva-based body of “mismanaging” the coronavirus pandemic, Fox News reported Friday. The outlet said a draft letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the US …

Italy’s government has signed a decree that will allow travel to and from the country from 3 June, as it moves to ease its coronavirus lockdown measures, the BBC reports. It will also allow travel between the regions – which has so far been tightly restricted – from the same …

The US state department’s inspector general, Steve Linick, has become the latest senior official to be fired by US President Donald Trump. Mr. Trump said Mr. Linick no longer had his full confidence and that he would be removed in 30 days. Mr. Linick had begun investigating Secretary of State …

U.S. crude prices jumped 7% on Friday to their highest since March, on strengthening fuel demand as countries around the world eased travel restrictions, they had imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. U.S. crude gained 19.7% in the week and Brent crude rose 5.2% after a week of …

Iraq reported 50 new cases of Coronavirus during the past 24 hours, the Iraqi Ministry of Health announced on Friday. The new casualties were distributed as: Baghdad / Rusafa: 7 cases, Baghdad / Al-Karkh: 10 cases, Medical City: 14 cases, Basra: 13 cases, Maysan: 1 case, Sulaimaniyah: 5 cases. The …

Slovenia has become the first European nation to declare an end to its coronavirus epidemic and announced that all indicators point to a slowdown in the spread of COVID-19 throughout the country’s population. Despite the announcement, many measures implemented to slow the virus from spreading will remain. Some of those …

The Iraqi parliament has called for the closure of the office of Saudi-funded TV channel MBC after it insulted late Hashd al-Sha’abi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. In a statement on Friday, the Iraqi Parliament’s Communications and Information Committee said the MBC office in Iraq must be shut down unless it …

A vaccine against coronavirus appears to have provided protection against the disease Covid-19 in six rhesus macaque monkeys. It gives early to hope for the vaccine, which is now undergoing human clinical trials. There is no guarantee this result will translate to people, though. The animals who had been given …

China and Russia have rejected US plans to extend a UN arms embargo on Iran along with a probable push to trigger a return of all sanctions on Tehran at the UN Security Council. “It has no right to extend an arms embargo on Iran, let alone to trigger snapback,” …

A 6.5 magnitude earthquake has hit Nevada, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The quake struck 35-miles west-northwest of Tonopah, Nevada, just after 4 am (PDT) on Friday. There have been at least four aftershocks reported. Early morning earthquake felt in DTLA. #earthquake #DTLA pic.twitter.com/2NNPnzd6nu — Sean Ward (@seanpward) May …

Nakba Day is observed on 15 May every year and commemorates the displacement of Palestinians when the Israeli state was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War. “Nakba” is the Arabic word for “catastrophe” or “disaster” and the occasion remembers the 700,000 Palestinians forced to flee as a …

Enormous doses of stimulus spending are offering relief from coronavirus damage but their lifelong legacy of debt could seed future crises by hobbling economic growth and worsening poverty, especially in developing countries. Central banks and governments worldwide have unleashed at least $15 trillion of stimulus via bond-buying and budget spending …

Qatar has made wearing a face mask compulsory for everyone who steps outside their home, with violators facing jail time and fines of up to $55,000. The move comes as the number of reported novel coronavirus cases in the Gulf country jumped by another 1,733 on Thursday. Cabinet mandated the …

Iraq reported 111 new cases of Coronavirus during the past 24 hours, the Iraqi Ministry of Health announced on Thursday. The new casualties were distributed as: Baghdad / Rusafa: 57 cases, Baghdad / Al-Karkh: 7 cases, Medical City: 6 cases, Basra: 33 cases, Wasit: 1 case, Maysan: 5 cases, Nineveh: …

The Governor of Baghdad, Muhammad Jaber Al-Ata called on Thursday the federal government to impose a complete lockdown in the capital until after Eid Al-Fitr days, as a result of the escalating number of people affected by Corona pandemic. This came after an emergency meeting of the Crisis Cell in …

The novel coronavirus has been detected in one of the camps in southern Bangladesh that are home to more than one million Rohingya refugees, officials said on Thursday. An ethnic Rohingya refugee and another person had tested positive for COVID-19, a senior Bangladeshi official and a U.N. spokeswoman said. It …

Many people are distressed by the immediate health impacts and the consequences of physical isolation, while many others are afraid of infection, dying, and losing family members. A mental illness crisis is looming as millions of people worldwide are surrounded by death and disease and forced into isolation, poverty and …

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top team of ministers agreed on Thursday that Britain will not give up its rights as an independent state by bending to the demands of the European Union in its talks on a future relationship. At a cabinet meeting, Johnson’s team was updated on the …

The EU insisted Thursday that any vaccine against coronavirus must be available fairly to all countries after French drug giant Sanofi said it was reserving first shipments for the US. “The vaccine against COVID-19 should be a global public good and its access needs to be equitable and universal,” European …