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The Taliban have rejected an Afghan government call for a ceasefire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and to let authorities focus on tackling the coronavirus, raising new concern about prospects for a fragile peace process. Hopes for an end to Afghanistan’s decades of war were raised in late …

Armed police were scrambled after a gunman opened fire at a funeral in Manchester, England, attended by hundreds of mourners despite COVID-19 social distancing orders. The attacker was reportedly stabbed by some of the crowd. The shocking incident took place at Gorton Cemetery on Thursday, where family and friends were …

The last patient in Wuhan with severe COVID-19 has been cured, a health official has declared. The now-global disease was first detected in the Chinese city. The patient, who was the last person in Wuhan and the whole of Hubei Province to experience difficulty overcoming the virus, was released from …

A major human rights group has urged authorities in the English Premier League to dismiss a bid by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and allies to take over the ownership of a club, saying the controversial figure fails the very basic tests of ownership rules in the competition. The …

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says neither the United States nor its European allies, with their ‘flimsy’ misreading of the landmark nuclear deal of 2015, is allowed to ‘lecture’ the Islamic Republic on its missile program. “US has been bullying all against UNSC Resolution 2231 since 2017. Europe obeyed …

Doctors and health experts urged people not to drink or inject disinfectant on Friday after US President Donald Trump suggested scientists should investigate inserting the cleaning agent into the body as a way to cure COVID-19. “(This is an) absolutely dangerous crazy suggestion,” said Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine …

Earlier in April, Italian judges ordered the release of at least two mobsters over the age of 70 and placed them under house arrest amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Scores of mafia bosses currently behind bars could be freed all across Italy due to coronavirus pandemic-related risks, The Guardian reports. …

US Senator Elizabeth Warren said in a statement on Thursday that her older brother Don Reed has died from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) at the age of 86. ​Warren said her older brother had a career in the US Air Force and spent about five and a half years serving …

African nations that lack ventilators to treat COVID-19 patients will receive some from the Jack Ma Foundation, an African Union official said on Thursday, as Nigeria stressed Africa’s dependence on a properly-funded World Health Organization (WHO)to help it fight the pandemic. Africa’s 54 countries have so far reported fewer than …

Donald Trump was left red-faced after he claimed that the director of the CDC, Robert Redfield was misquoted by the Washington Post only for Redfield to say that he wasn’t. At Wednesday’s coronavirus taskforce press conference, the president bemoaned an interview that Redfield had done with the Post where he …

Two asylum seekers have been hospitalized with light injuries after gunshots were fired into Greece’s largest migrant camp on the eastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos, police said on Wednesday. The unknown assailant or assailants evaded arrest, while the two injured migrants were taken to the island’s hospital as a …

Another 4.4 million US workers filed for unemployment benefits last week as the coronavirus pandemic continued to cause one of the nation’s worst economic downturns, with 26 million people reporting layoffs since the outbreak began. The longest stretch of employment expansion in US history, which started under former President Barack …

Face masks will now be compulsory in Germany as the country continues its battle against coronavirus. The decision comes after Bremen became the last of the 16 federal regions to support the proposed measures with confirmation expected to arrive on Friday. The move, which could be rolled out on Monday, …

Children have been among those killed by landmines and other “explosive remnants of war (ERW)” that litter the Palestinian territories, the United Nations reported today. As many as 1.9 million people are at risk of exposure to ERW in the Gaza Strip, the whole of which is a danger zone, …

Life is unlikely to return to normal even when the tightest coronavirus restrictions are lifted, and social distancing measures could be in place for the rest of this year and beyond, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Thursday. Britain’s Westminster government has been under pressure to outline its plans …

Hunger protests are increasing across Colombia as millions of people find themselves unable to obtain food due to the anti-coronavirus lockdown. In the capital, Bogota, scores of people demonstrated outside the office of Mayor Claudia Lopez on Wednesday, demanding that the authorities urgently deliver aid that has been promised to …

Wafiq al-Samarrai, former chief of Iraqi general military intelligence, in a Facebook post seriously criticized US’ cruel sanctions against Iran, saying despite unilateral sanctions, Iran in its new progress could launch its military satellite into the earth’s orbit. He added that the US should change the game rules in the …

At least six people have been killed after nearly two dozen tornadoes ripped through the south-central region of the United States, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Three people were killed and some 20 injured by a fearsome tornado in Onalaska, Texas located roughly 90 miles north of …

Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans on Thursday to show endurance and discipline to get through the coronavirus pandemic that is “still at the beginning”, and called for a bigger European Union budget to support economic recovery in the bloc. Merkel is worried that Germans are relaxing their social distancing efforts …

A further 4.4 million Americans sought unemployment benefits last week as the economic toll from the coronavirus pandemic continued to mount. The new applications brought the total number of jobless claims since mid-March to 26.4 million. That amounts to more than 15% of the US workforce. However, the most recent …