The coronavirus, which originated in China and was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization on January 30, has since infected over 90,000 people worldwide, spreading across every continent except Antarctica, and claimed the lives of more than 3,000 so far. Click here for our dedicated coronavirus site. The Gulf region has recently seen …

Al-Arabia – The coronavirus outbreak in Iran is “not that big of a deal,” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday, urging citizens to pray against the virus. “This calamity is not that big of a deal, and that there have been bigger ones in the past,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency on …

HRANA – Qarchak Women’s Prison also known as Shahre Rey Penitentiary is located in Varamin and has 11 wards. Each ward in this prison holds several female prisoners, disregarding the rules of segregation of prisoners by age and crime. Political prisoners are transferred to this prison to put them under more pressure. The lack of medical care, dental care, and regular …

VOA – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led on Tuesday in a cliffhanger election in Israel, but was still short of a governing majority in a third national ballot in less than a year, exit polls showed. On the basis of initial projections by Israel’s three main television channels, Netanyahu, head of the right-wing Likud party, claimed victory in Monday’s vote …

Al-Monitor – The current crisis surrounding the spread of coronavirus in Iran is a complex and multilayered issue with political, social, health, environmental and economic consequences ranging from questions of how to sustain the economy to the notion of public trust in the government’s handling of the process. Yet with Iran already facing massive economic problems due to sanctions, mismanagement and …

The strongest ever Paralympian, Siamand Rahman, passed away at the age of 32 on Sunday. Rahman died after suffering a heart attack at the Nabi-akram Hospital in Oshnavieh, West Azarbaijan province. Siamand RahmanBorn 21 March 1988 in Oshnavieh, Iran| Died 1 March 2020 (aged 31) in Oshnavieh, Iran Powerlifting superstar Rahman, a two-time gold medalist in London 2012 and Rio 2016, was preparing to win …

Radiofarda – Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Alireza Raeesi says 1501 Iranians have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) and at least 66 have died until Monday morning March 2. Raeesi told reporters in Tehran that the new figure includes 523 new cases and that the death toll has risen by 12 during the past day. He also told Mehr news agency …

Radiofarda – Lloyds Intelligence says, “Deceptive shipping practices from offshore loadings from the Iraqi port of Khor al-Zubair reveal hidden cargoes of sanctioned Iranian fuel oil are being shipped to Malaysia and Fujairah.” About 2.1m tons of oil derivatives were loaded from the offshore port limit of the Iraqi port Khor al-Zubair in January, Lloyd’s List Intelligence data shows. Subsequently, …

Radiofarda – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has assigned the Minister of Intelligence Mahmoud Alavi, to investigate possible hoarding of medical coveralls and protective masks used against Covid-19, publicly known as novel coronavirus. Rouhani’s Chief of Staff, Mahmoud Vaezi said on Sunday, March 1, “The President’s decision is a response to the Health Minister’s recent letter, complaining about the scarcity of …

Radiofarda – A man who challenged coronavirus health warnings and to make a religious statement licked the grids at a shrine in Iran has been arrested. Videos showing Iranians licking and kissing the grids of Shi’ite holy shrines across the country have gone viral in recent days. The videos are widely circulated on social media at a time of an …