Saudi Arabia imposes a nationwide curfew starting after reporting a jump of almost a quarter in coronavirus cases, while the United Arab Emirates will suspend all passenger and transit flights to and from the country.

Iran’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rises by more than 100 to 1,556 and the total number of people infected now exceeds 20,000, a health ministry official says.

At least two dozen Afghan security forces were killed yesterday in an insider attack on their base in southern Afghanistan, officials told AFP, as fighting raged in the war-weary country while efforts to start talks with the Taliban stalled.

Qatar has temporarily suspended entry for people from Bangladesh and 13 other countries as a preventive measure due to the spread of coronavirus worldwide.

Saudi Arabia imposed a temporary lockdown on its eastern oil-producing province of Qatif, home to most of its 15 coronavirus infections, and suspended schools and universities nationwide.

UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths calls for an immediate end to military action by Yemen’s warring parties as renewed violence between the Houthi movement and a Saudi-led coalition threatens peace efforts.

Saudi authorities have detained three princes including King Salman's brother and nephew on charges of plotting a coup, the US media report, signalling a further consolidation of power by the kingdom's de facto ruler.

At least 27 people are killed in an attack on a political rally in Kabul, officials say, in the deadliest assault in Afghanistan since the US signed a withdrawal deal with the Taliban.

In a field dotted with olive trees in embattled northwestern Syria, Shamseddeen Darra steps down into the gloomy underground shelter he and his family now call home.

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.