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The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday slapped counterterrorism sanctions on key players in Iran’s oil sector for supporting the Quds Force, the elite paramilitary arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The move, just before the Nov. 3 U.S. election, followed sanctions on 18 banks in Iran th…

“I will not run away from problems. I will not leave my duty by resigning at a time when the country has problems,” the former army ruler told the assembly, whose entire upper house was picked by his old junta. Protests that have brought tens of thousands of people to the streets since mid-July are…

“We see from bad deals, violations of sovereignty and lawlessness on land and sea that the Chinese Communist Party is a predator, and the United States comes in a different way, we come as a friend, and as a partner,” Pompeo told a news conference in the capital Colombo. Pompeo is in Sri Lanka as p…

Biden, who has repeatedly criticized Trump for failing to contain the coronavirus pandemic, will receive a briefing from public health experts and deliver a speech near his home in Delaware on his plans to combat Covid-19 and protect Americans with pre-existing health conditions, his campaign said.…

The U.S. State Department said last month that China had showed “willful disregard” for air, land and water quality, and was putting global health at risk, with its climate-warming greenhouse gases the highest in the world and still rising. But Washington cannot make other countries take responsibi…

Local authorities reported at least two dead from Typhoon Molave, including a villager who drowned, but the government’s main disaster-response agency said it would wait to include the deaths in its casualty count until after they are validated. At least 13 people were initially reported missing, m…

The made-for-TV prime-time event on the White House lawn mirrored one a month ago, when Barrett’s nomination was announced, which preceded a coronavirus outbreak among top Republicans including Trump himself. It came little more than an hour after the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed Barrett …

Its ambassador to Fiji, Albon Ishoda, said despite having no cases of the coronavirus, the country has been heavily impacted. Ishoda said with its border closed, the country’s main source of revenue, fisheries, has been hit hard. He said the government wants to discuss access to healthcare, s…

In 2016, Duterte won the presidency campaigning on a promise to fight corruption, crime and illegal drugs. But his administration has been dogged by scandals and allegations of graft and cover-ups in state agencies ranging from prisons, the state insurer, immigration, airports and customs, to polic…

Japan has the most aged society in the world, with more than 35% of its population expected to be 65 and over by 2050, a trend that poses risks for economic growth and straining government finances. “I reckon the spread of the coronavirus is having many people worried about getting pregnant, giving…