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Sudan has appointed its first ambassador to the United States in over 25 years, amid warming ties between the two countries following the fall of president Omar al-Bashir in April last year. Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that US authorities had approved the country’s pick of Noureldin Sati, a …

Lebanon has summoned the German ambassador to protest Berlin’s recent decision to blacklist the Hezbollah resistance movement, a highly popular political and defense force in the Arab country. Berlin on Thursday designated Hezbollah as a “terrorist organization,” banned all its activities in the European country and ordered raids on sites …

The Iranian parliament has approved plans for launching five new free trade zones (FTZ) in north and east of the country. The parliament on Monday allowed the government to prepare the required conditions for developing two major FTZs in Sarakhs and Dogharoun, areas on the border with Afghanistan. Dogharoun, the …

Turkey will start easing coronavirus containment measures from Monday, President Tayyip Erdogan said, lifting inter-city travel restrictions in seven provinces and easing a curfew imposed on senior and youth citizens. Turkey has about 130,000 confirmed coronavirus cases – the highest total outside Western Europe, the United States and Russia – …

Nigeria began easing restrictions on Monday in its capital Abuja and in largest city Lagos, heralding the reopening of Africa’s biggest economy after more than four weeks of lockdowns imposed to contain the new coronavirus. The government has said a 24-hour, stay-at-home order in place since March 30 in Abuja …

Firefighters brought under control a fire that broke out at a residential tower in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday night, Sharjah’s government media office said. Seven people were treated for minor injuries from the fire in the tower in Sharjah’s al-Nahda area and taken to hospital for …

Three Indian soldiers were killed in a gunbattle with militants in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir on Monday, a day after a similar incident in which five were killed. Juniad Khan, a senior paramilitary force officer, told Reuters that militants attacked the men from the Central Reserve Police Force …

Hezbollah’s leader hailed the Lebanese government’s crisis plan as an “important step” on Monday and warned the country should not blindly surrender in talks with the IMF to terms it can not bear. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on the Lebanese to give the cabinet a chance as it tries to …

Manufacturing activity in the euro zone collapsed last month as government-imposed lockdowns to stop the spread of the new coronavirus forced factories to close and consumers to stay indoors, a survey showed on Monday. The coronavirus has infected more than 3.5 million people globally and killed around 247,000 so with …

A plane carrying aid supplies for use in the fight against the coronavirus crashed in Somalia’s southern Bay region on Monday, killing seven people on board, a security official and the state-run news agency said. State-run Somalia News Agency said the plane belonged to African Express Airways and was ferrying …

At least nine Syrian policemen have been killed after a group of unidentified armed men launched an attack on a government building in the southwestern province of Dara’a. The Syrian Interior Ministry, in a statement carried by the official SANA news agency, said the Dara’a Police Command personnel were killed …

World leaders promised $8 billion on Monday for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said at the end of a pledging event that she chaired. “In the space of just few hours we have collectively pledged 7.4 billion euros ($8.07 billion) for vaccine, …

Turkey has become a primary destination for plastic waste from richer European countries after the garbage was rejected by China and India. An environmental and health crisis is now in the making in Turkey, locals say. In 2018, China banned the import of plastic waste, citing the environmental damage the …

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday urged the world to unite to defeat the new coronavirus. “This virus will be with us for a long time and we must come together to develop and share the tools to defeat it,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told …

The leader of Lebanon’s Hezbollah said on Monday that Germany was “succumbing to American will” by banning Hezbollah and designating it a terrorist organization. In a televised speech, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said last week’s German move, which Israel and the United States have long urged, would not deter Hezbollah from …

Millions of people were allowed to return to work in Italy on Monday as Europe’s longest coronavirus lockdown started to ease, while the U.S. took halting steps to lift some of its own restrictions even as tens of thousands of new cases were reported every day. In Washington, the Senate …

Two defector-turned-lawmakers in South Korea have apologized for publicly raising suspicions over the health of Kim Jong-un after a recent appearance by the North Korean leader ended global speculation about his well-being. Thae Yong-ho, who won a parliamentary seat during last month’s general elections, in a statement on Monday apologized …

Pushing to reopen the economy, US President Donald Trump insists that states can gradually lift lockdowns and still protect people from the coronavirus pandemic, even as he’s also suggesting US deaths could reach 100,000. The president, fielding questions from Americans Sunday night in a virtual town hall from the Lincoln …

The Iranian Parliament on Monday voted for the details of a government monetary reform bill which will change the country’s currency name and drop four zeros from banknotes. Under the new law, which will come into effect after the final approval of the Guardian Council, the national currency unit will …

The vice president for science and technology says Iran is to export diagnostic kits that it has indigenously produced for identification of the new coronavirus patients to Germany and Turkey. Speaking to IRNA on Monday, Sourena Sattari identified the devices as serologic test kits developed by Iranian science-based companies that …