World News

The Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon has been accused of helping to bring coronavirus to the nation. Opponents of the powerful group point out that Lebanon took three weeks to block flights from Iran, after a woman who had just returned from there tested coronavirus positive on February 20. Hezbollah is accused of causing the delay to ensure its supporters could return home. Denying the claims, Hezbollah is trying to show the Lebanon Shiite community that it is working to protect them from the outbreak.

The world’s largest investment bank and financial services company warns of a “deep global recession” due to the new coronavirus pandemic. New York-based Morgan Stanley says worldwide economic growth could slow by as much as 0.9 percent this year. “[The virus] COVID-19 is at once a human tragedy and unparalleled synchronous shock, affecting both the demand and supply sides of the global economy,” writes Morgan Stanley chief economist Chetan Ahya in a note.

President Trump warned that Iran and its allies are planning to attack American troops “and/or assets” in Iraq.

A simple blood test can check for more than 50 types of cancer, often before any signs or symptoms, scientists say.

German scientists say they have identified a strain of bacteria that is feeding on polyurethanes, a plastic resistant to biodegradation.

With roughly half the world in lockdown and many politicians weak or ill, the largest Dutch daily concludes in a headline: “World searching for LEADER.” De Telegraaf (The Telegraph) also expresses that “Nobody takes the lead in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.” Its commentator, Frank van Vliet, complained: “While the world is on fire, international politicians are running in one direction to put out their fire. No leader has taken the lead, and solidarity is lacking. They did not read author Alexander Dumas’ Three Musketeers because “one for all and all for one” has been replaced by “own people first.”

The Trump administration on Monday renewed several waivers on U.S. sanctions against Iran, allowing Russian, European and Chinese companies to continue to work on Iran’s civilian nuclear facilities without drawing American penalties.

Chinese government researchers isolated more than 2,000 animal viruses, including deadly bat coronaviruses, and carried out scientific work on them just three miles from a wild animal market identified as the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Argentinian appellate court has upheld the 2019 criminal conviction of a doctor who refused to give a rape victim a late-term abortion. In a divided ruling on March 23, two judges found Dr. Rodríguez Lastra had ‘failed to comply with the duties of a public official’ when he refused to perform the abortion in 2017. Lastra told the court his refusal was in order to protect the lives of both mother and child.

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the ocean off its east coast on Sunday, the latest in an unprecedented flurry of launches that South Korea decried as ‘inappropriate’ amid the global coronavirus pandemic.

The U.S.-led coalition withdrew on Sunday from a military base in northern Iraq that nearly launched Washington into an open war with neighboring Iran.

Ex-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is calling for a “temporary” one-world government as a supposed relief effort for economies hit by fear of spreading disease.

Iran’s theocratic regime could crumble under the pressure of the coronavirus outbreak that has spread through elite ranks and the broader population alike, according to the European Union’s top diplomat.

G20 nations pledged a ‘united front’ Thursday in the fight against coronavirus, saying they were injecting $5 trillion into the global economy to counter the pandemic amid forecasts of a deep recession.

The global tally of coronavirus infections reached more than half a million people on Thursday after a spike in cases reported in Italy.

The United States says it has imposed sanctions against 20 companies based in Iran and Iraq, along with officials and other individuals there who are accused of supporting terrorist groups.

National governments across the world are joining with telecom companies to collect private mobile phone user data and erode privacy standards, using the fear of a global pandemic as a justification for tracking citizens.

Chinese-style surveillance is coming to a neighborhood near you.

Prince Charles is the latest major figure to test positive for the coronavirus.

Global giant India joined the countries ordering their citizens to stay at home Tuesday, putting a third of the world on lockdown as the coronavirus epidemic forced Japan to postpone the Olympics.