Saudi Arabia suspends foreigners' entry for the Umrah pilgrimage and tourism from countries where the new coronavirus has spread, as a growing number of cases outside China deepened fears of a pandemic.

Western European powers stepped up efforts yesterday to try to save a 2015 deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions -- on life support since a 2018 decision by the US to withdraw and reimpose sanctions.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday vowed Turkey would not take the “smallest step back” in an escalating stand-off with Damascus and Russia over the northern Syrian region of Idlib.

Egypt held a military funeral yesterday for its former president Hosni Mubarak, bestowing the state’s final rehabilitation on the man who ruled for 30 years until he was ousted in disgrace in a 2011 popular uprising.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday pledged to build 3,500 new settler homes in a super-sensitive area of the occupied West Bank, just a week before a tight general election.

Calm returned yesterday after a two-day flare-up in and around Gaza as a truce between Israel and Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad appeared to take hold after initial jitters.

Saudi officials have ordered the arrest of a female rapper who appeared in a music video for her song Bint Makkah, or Girl from Makkah, stating that it is offensive to the customs and traditions of the holy city.

Saudi officials have ordered the arrest of a female rapper who appeared in a music video for her song Bint Makkah, or Girl from Makkah, stating that it is offensive to the customs and traditions of the holy city.

Iran's deputy health minister confirms that he has tested positive for the new coronavirus, amid a major outbreak in the Islamic republic.

Iran’s conservatives claimed victory Sunday in a general election marked by the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid public anger against the government, an economic downturn and the disqualification of half the candidates.

Israeli air strikes targeting the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Gaza Strip and Syria killed at least six fighters, a war monitor said yesterday, after the jihadists fired a barrage of rockets at Israel.

Iran orders the closure of schools, universities and cultural centres after a coronavirus outbreak that has killed five people in the Islamic republic -- the most outside the Far East.

The coronavirus has spread to several Iranian cities, a health ministry official says, as an outbreak that the authorities say began in the holy city of Qom caused two more deaths.

Turkey said Thursday it wanted no “face off” with Russia over its Syrian ally’s months-long offensive against Turkish-backed rebels in northwest Syria.

Iran went to the polls yesterday for a general election that conservatives are expected to dominate amid voter apathy after an economic slump, multiple crises and the disqualification of thousands of candidates.

Iranians vote in a parliamentary election likely to help hardline loyalists of the supreme leader cement their grip on power amid intensifying US pressure over Iran’s nuclear programme and simmering discontent over economic privations.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement accuses the Saudi-led coalition of carrying out retaliatory air strikes that killed at least 30 people including civilians, in the latest flare-up of a five-year war.

Israeli strikes on Damascus airport killed seven fighters, a war monitor said yesterday, the latest in a string of attacks targeting Iran’s military presence in Syria.

The Philippines yesterday lifted a coronavirus travel ban on Taiwan after Taipei threatened retaliation.

A Turkish court yesterday acquitted renowned novelist Asli Erdogan on charges of membership of an armed terror organisation.