The Central Bank of Tunisia announced on Thursday that the new 10 Tunisian dinar note would feature female doctor Tewhida ben Sheikh, a first for the country. Ben Sheikh (1909-2010) was the first Muslim woman to become a physician in North Africa in the 20th century, and is particularly renowned for her work in women’s health and specialization in gynaecology. The new note went into circul... More ...

Israeli medics started setting up mobile coronavirus testing centers for the Arab population on Monday, a medical organization said, after opposition politicians accused the Israeli government of neglecting its largest minority. Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross, said it had opened two “Drive Thru” complexes in Wadi Ara, an area in the north populated ... More ...

The recent revelation that intelligence officers at Iran's consulate in Turkey instigated the killing of Iranian dissident Masoud Molavi Vardanjani last November is just the latest example of a long-standing foreign policy practice of the Islamic Republic regime, experts say. Turkish officials told Reuters that two intelligence officers at Iran's consulate in Istanbul were behind the assassinatio... More ...

The hottest party in town Saturday night was on DJ D-Nice’s Instagram, where over 100,000 accounts tuned in during his epic 10-hour set including the likes of Michelle Obama, Oprah, Rihanna and Will Smith. Oprah tweeted that it was the “best party of 1 and 100K I’ve ever been to.” Smith expressed a similar sentiment. As the world practices social distancing to slow the sp... More ...

President Donald Trump’s allies are trying to contain a politically risky election year fight with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as he struggles to balance presidential politics with a global pandemic in one of the nation’s most important swing states. Both sides have tried to de-escalate the feud this week, although Trump’s supporters in particular sought to downplay tensions ... More ...

The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and tumbling oil prices threaten the earnings of insurers in the Gulf, S&P Global Ratings said on Wednesday, possibly leading to negative rating actions. “Most insurers we rate in the GCC region benefit from robust capital buffers and should be able to absorb COVID-19-related claims and capital market volatility,” S&P said in a report.... More ...

On Monday, under the pretext of addressing the COVID-19 public health emergency, Hungary's parliament gave green light to the Orban-led government to rule with unlimited power for an indefinite time. Prime Minister Viktor Orban can now suspend any existing law and implement others by decree, without parliamentary or judicial scrutiny. Elections have been suspended. The law allows for new criminal... More ...

There's plenty to love about working from home. You can cook something during your lunch break, instead of shelling out for a salad. You can ditch the repeat trips to the water fountain. The din of the open plan gives way to blessed silence. (Or, uh, construction.) But what WFH life giveth, it also taketh away, mostly in the form of that ergonomic, posture-fixing office chair. Spending eight hour... More ...

A Kashmiri villager faked his death and travelled more than a hundred miles in an ambulance with four others in a desperate bid to circumvent India’s virus lockdown and return home, police said Wednesday.Hakim Din was being treated for a minor head injury at a hospital in Jammu when an ambulance driver suggested the 70-year-old fake his death to get past checkpoints, police said. Din and th... More ...

Malaysia’s government has apologised after its advice for women to wear makeup and not nag their husbands during the coronavirus lockdown sparked anger and mockery online. The country has ordered citizens to stay at home to stem the spread of Covid-19. In a series of Facebook posts, the women’s ministry offered tips on how wives should behave while the restrictions were in place. One... More ...

An anti-coronavirus song from Senegal, applause for health workers ringing out in Paris and the return of the dawn chorus in Warsaw are just a few of the sounds that have been captured as part of an art project that aims to record how the sound of cities is dramatically changing during the Covid-19 outbreak. The Cities and Memories website has collected field recordings from around the world for ... More ...

A loss of smell or taste may be a sign that you have coronavirus, according to UK researchers. A team at King's College London looked at responses from more than 400,000 people reporting suspected Covid-19 symptoms to an app. But loss of smell and taste are also signs of other respiratory infections, such as the common cold. And experts say fever and cough remain the most important symptoms of ... More ...

David Hockney is in lockdown at his house in Normandy with his dog Ruby and two of his long-standing assistants, JP and Jonathan. He is in the garden most days, drawing the spring awakening on his iPad. In a BBC exclusive, he is sharing 10 of his most recent images (including one animation), nine of which have never been published before, for us all to enjoy at this difficult time, along with his... More ...

Spain’s La Liga could recommence in July without spectators, the head of a major broadcaster has said, adding that the season was likely to be canceled if a player tested positive for the coronavirus once the campaign had restarted. All organized football in Spain has been on hold since March 10 due to the spread of the deadly virus although Jaume Roures, CEO of Spanish multimedia group Med... More ...

It’s not every day that you’re mentioned by the most powerful man in the world, but MLK, better known as @FdA found himself the star of the show when he was tagged on twitter by the leader of the free world President Donald Trump. A mix-up in Twitter handles found him mentioned on the platform by @realDONALDTRUMP, when President Trump retweeted an article about a research institute th... More ...