Lebanon
Rafka Nassim, 71, left, meets with her daughter Claudette Rizk through a plastic barrier to avoid contracting the coronavirus, at the Social Services Medical Association, a rehabilitation hospital and nursing home in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Thursday, June 10, 2021. With virtually no national welfare system, Lebanon’s elderly are left to fend for themselves amid their country’s economic turmoil. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
In times of crises, Lebanon's old must fend for themselves

By Sarah El Deeb Jun. 22, 2021 02:11 AM EDT

Tony Stewart waves to fans before the debut race of Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) at Stafford Motor Speedway, Saturday, June 12, 2021, in Stafford, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Column: Stewart realistic about SHR's current struggles

By Jenna Fryer Jun. 21, 2021 06:21 PM EDT

Nada Waked, a Lebanese woman who helped provide a small amount of medications for free, gestures as she speaks at her house, in Sabtiyeh neighborhood, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, June 7, 2021. In late May, Lebanon's central bank said that it cannot continue with its subsidies of medical items without dipping into the mandatory reserves, and asked authorities to find a solution. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
In Lebanon, a search for medicine and a stranger's help

By Mariam Fam Jun. 09, 2021 03:11 AM EDT

Cemetery and funeral workers place the coffin of a man who died of COVID-19 into a niche at the Nuestra Señora de Belen cemetery in Fusagasuga, Colombia, Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)
The Latest: Pot-for-shots plan stumbles in Washington state

By The Associated Press Jun. 09, 2021 01:58 AM EDT

FILE— In this Dec. 11, 2006, file photo, top cleric Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, center, speaks during a conference on the Holocaust with Rabbi Moishe Arye Friedman, left, from Austria, and Rabbi Ahron Cohen, right, from England, in Tehran, Iran. Mohtashamipour, a Shiite cleric who as Iran's ambassador to Syria helped found the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and lost his right hand to a book bombing reportedly carried out by Israel, died Monday, June 7, 2021, of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
Iran cleric who founded Hezbollah, survived book bomb, dies

By Jon Gambrell Jun. 07, 2021 05:21 AM EDT

Bahrain offers Pfizer booster for some who got Chinese shots

By Jon Gambrell Jun. 03, 2021 08:00 AM EDT
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Bahrain has begun offering a booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine for some people, six months after they...

FILE - In this Friday Dec. 11, 2020, file photo, exterior view of the United Nations-backed Lebanon Tribunal where the court handed down it's sentencing on Salim Jamil Ayyash, a member of the Hezbollah militant group who was convicted of involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others 16 years ago, in Leidschendam, Netherlands. Ayyash is not in custody and is unlikely to serve any sentence. A U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri said Wednesday, June 2, 2021 it is facing a severe funding crisis and will not be able to operate beyond July without immediate assistance. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
UN tribunal for Lebanon may fold due to funding crisis

By Bassem Mroue Jun. 02, 2021 07:51 AM EDT

FILE - In this Jan. 14, 2020 file photo, anti-government protesters smash a bank widow during protests against the Lebanese central bank's governor and against the deepening financial crisis, at Hamra trade street, in Beirut, Lebanon. The World Bank said in a report released on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, that Lebanon's severe economic and financial crisis is likely to rank as one of the worst the world has seen in more than 150 years. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, File)
World Bank: Lebanon's crisis among world's worst since 1850s

By Bassem Mroue Jun. 01, 2021 05:46 AM EDT

A nun takes pictures as Pope Francis recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, May 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope invites Lebanese Christians to Vatican for peace prayer

By Nicole Winfield May. 30, 2021 07:45 AM EDT

Residents wait in line for the coronavirus test in a district in Guangzhou in southern China's Guangdong province on Sunday, May 30, 2021. The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou shut down a neighborhood and ordered residents to stay home Saturday to be tested for the coronavirus following an upsurge in infections that has rattled authorities. (AP Photo)
The Latest: Germany hunts down possible fraud in virus tests

By The Associated Press May. 30, 2021 07:12 AM EDT

Lebanon ramps up COVID-19 fight with vaccination marathon

May. 29, 2021 08:25 AM EDT
BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s health authorities Saturday launched a COVID-19 vaccination “marathon" to speed up inoculations around the country, including areas...

People with COVID-19 symptoms wait to be assisted outside a hospital that is at full capacity in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, Friday, May 28, 2021. The city imposed strict shutdown measures this week to stop the spread of the virus, halting public transportation for the first time and closing supermarkets. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
The Latest: Two-thirds of NY adults have at least one shot

By The Associated Press May. 29, 2021 01:03 AM EDT

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on during a briefing to ambassadors to Israel at the Hakirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, May 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, Pool)
Israel's Netanyahu 'determined' to continue Gaza operation

By Fares Akram And Joseph Krauss May. 19, 2021 02:55 AM EDT

Bangladeshi Muslims protesting against Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza, gather after Eid al-Fitr prayers in front of Baitul Mukarram Mosque and wave Palestinian and Bangladeshi flags in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Mahmud Hossain Opu)
The Latest: Israeli airstrike on Gaza house kills at least 7

The Associated Press May. 14, 2021 07:55 AM EDT

Syrian refugee Raed Mattar, 24, works on his tent, at an informal refugee camp, in the town of Rihaniyye in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Thursday, April 8, 2021. For many Syrian refugee families in Lebanon, Ramadan comes as a hard life of displacement has gotten even harder after a pandemic year that deepened economic woes in their host country. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Delights of Ramadan disappear for Syrian refugees in Lebanon

By Sarah El Deeb And Mariam Fam Apr. 18, 2021 02:09 AM EDT

FILE - In this Thursday, April 8, 2021, file photo, a man tries on a traditional cap in preparation for the upcoming Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, in Peshawar, Pakistan. Muslims are facing their second Ramadan in the shadow of the pandemic. Many Muslim majority countries have been hit by an intense new coronavirus wave. While some countries imposed new Ramadan restrictions, concern is high that the month’s rituals could stoke a further surge. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad, File)
Muslims navigate restrictions in the second pandemic Ramadan

By Mariam Fam, Kathy Gannon And Bassem Mroue Apr. 12, 2021 01:42 AM EDT

FILE - In this April 15, 2020 file photo, a billboard urges people to stay home during the coronavirus pandemic in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Middle East economies are recovering from the coronavirus pandemic faster than anticipated, largely due to the acceleration of mass inoculation campaigns and an increase in oil prices. But the International Monetary Fund warned Sunday, April 11, 2021, that an uneven vaccine distribution would derail the region's rebound, as the prospects of rich and poor countries diverge. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell, File)
IMF: Vaccine inequity threatens Mideast's economic recovery

By Isabel Debre Apr. 11, 2021 07:00 AM EDT

In this photo released by the Lebanese Army official website, a Lebanese Army soldier, receives a Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, at one of the military vaccination centers, in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 8, 2021. The Lebanese army said thousands of soldiers will be vaccinated in the coming weeks. Lebanon received a gift of 90,000 Sinopharm shots from China last week of which some of them will be used to inoculate members of the military. (Lebanese Army Website via AP)
UAE sends Syria aid to help it fight spread of coronavirus

By Bassem Mroue Apr. 08, 2021 11:28 AM EDT

A woman receives a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. Human Rights Watch, a leading rights group, said that Lebanon's vaccination campaign has been slow and risks leaving behind some of the country's most vulnerable people, including Palestinian and Syrian refugees, as well as migrant workers. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Watchdog: Lebanon's vaccination of refugees, migrants lags

By Sarah El Deeb Apr. 06, 2021 09:16 AM EDT

Syria to close schools and universities over virus surge

By Bassem Mroue Apr. 03, 2021 10:54 AM EDT
BEIRUT (AP) — Primary schools around Syria will close down indefinitely next week amid a severe increase of coronavirus cases in the war-torn country, while...