Russia on Friday announced new restrictions on travel to Russia from Iran and South Korea, two countries hit hardest by the outbreak of the new coronavirus. In a statement, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced a temporary suspension of visas for Iranians travelling to Russia for education, employment, tourism and transit. A separate decree imposed restrictions […]

Greece on Friday boosted border patrols after Turkey said it would no longer prevent refugees from going to Europe, officials said. “Greece has tightened the guarding of its borders to the maximum level possible,” a government source said. A police source told AFP border patrols had been doubled and a general call for heightened readiness […]

Pope Francis postponed his official appointments Friday and was working from home, the Vatican said, a day after cancelling a scheduled appearance at mass because of “a mild ailment”. Francis, 83, had appeared earlier in the week to be suffering from a cold. He was seen blowing his nose and coughing during the Ash Wednesday […]

United States prosecutors are seeking an 18-month sentence for an alleged neo-Nazi from northern Virginia who pleaded guilty last year to weapons violations. Andrew Jon Thomasberg, 21, of McLean acknowledged as part of a plea bargain last year in federal court in Alexandria that he bought a semiautomatic rifle for another person and that he possessed weapons […]

Malawi has legalized the cultivation of cannabis as the country seeks an alternative to tobacco, its main earner of foreign exchange which is under pressure from anti-smoking campaigns. Parliament on Thursday passed the bill to allow cultivation for medicinal and industrial uses. “Legalization of this crop will contribute to economic growth as it will contribute […]

Schools across the United States are cancelling trips abroad, preparing online lessons and even rethinking “perfect attendance” awards as they brace for the possibility that the new coronavirus could begin spreading in their communities. Districts have been rushing to update emergency plans this week after federal officials warned that the virus, which started in China, […]

Turkey on Friday raised the death toll from a Syrian government airstrike on its forces in northwestern Syria the previous night to 33 Turkish troops, the highest number of Turkish soldiers killed in a single day since Ankara first intervened in the Syrian conflict in 2016. The deaths, which came in an attack late Thursday, […]

The World Bank moved Thursday to reestablish relations with Somalia after a 30-year break, paving the way for the country to have access to low-cost development aid. Contact was severed in 1991 as the country descended into conflict, but recently it has made efforts to rebuild, even as it faces violence from the Al-Shabaab jihadist […]

The UN Security Council on Thursday declared that it would adopt humanitarian exemptions to the heavy economic sanctions imposed on North Korea to help the impoverished country fight the novel coronavirus, Germany’s ambassador to the UN said. “The coronavirus issue was discussed and the committee immediately had given permission to export the equipment” used to […]

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday urged schools nationwide to close for several weeks to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, as authorities reported the country’s fourth death linked to the outbreak. The move comes as crew members from the Diamond Princess, a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship quarantined off Japan, began leaving the vessel […]