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Calm down! WHO tells global markets not to panic after coronavirus wipes trillion off stocks After a sea of red swept through the global markets, resulting in the worst week since the 2008 global financial crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on investors to stop panicking and focus on facts. "Global markets… should calm down and try to see the reality," the World Health Organization's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told CNBC on Sunday. "We need to go into the numbers, we need to go into the facts, and do the right thing instead of panicking. Panic and fear is the worst." According to the official, the world still has a chance to contain the rapid spread of the deadly coronavirus which has already claimed the lives of...

Sputnik Turkey editor-in-chief detained by police, becomes 4th Russian news agency staffer in custody after nationalists' attacks Russian news agency Sputnik has reported that police have entered its Istanbul office. Meanwhile, it is confirmed that Sputnik Turkey's editor-in-chief has been detained. The arrest of Mahir Boztepe, the head of Sputnik’s Turkish branch, was confirmed by RT and Sputnik editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan. The agency said its chief was taken to the Istanbul Police Department’s main office. This new development brings the number of detained Sputnik employees in Turkey to four. Earlier three agency staff members, who had been targeted by Turkish nationalists on Saturday and turned to police for help, ended up in custody. ...

Coronavirus fears: Spring Grand Sumo Tournament to be held behind closed doors for the 1st time in history The Spring Grand Sumo Tournament which is set to take place in Japan next week will be held without spectators for the first time in history, as the country battles the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The Japan Sumo Association’s (JSA) board of directors announced the decision during Sunday’s extraordinary session in Osaka, turning down proposals to cancel or postpone the event. READ MORE: Coronavirus grounds Russian gymnasts as team bosses rule out Milwaukee and Tokyo World Cup events The move comes after the Japanese government’s request to consider cancelling mass gatherings in an attempt to prevent the virus from spreading further, with 9...

Almost 10,000 migrants ‘stopped at Greek border’, but some have managed to slip through (VIDEO) The Greek government said almost 10,000 people were prevented from crossing into the country from Turkey on Saturday. Though stopped at the gate, the migrants are attempting to cut through the border fence or cross the river. Thousands of people in Turkey rushed to the border with Greece after the government in Ankara announced this week that it will no longer stop them. Athens responded by closing the border crossing and deploying riot police and soldiers to halt the wave. Around 9,600 attempts were made to cross the border on Saturday alone, Greek Deputy Defense minister Alkiviadis Stefanis told the media. The UN’s International Organization for Migrati...

Iran says US has no legal right to sign peace deal with Taliban and determine future of Afghanistan Iran has said that, despite cutting a deal with the Taliban, the US has absolutely no right to decide Afghanistan's future, and that intra-Afghan peace talks should be supervised by the UN, not Washington. Tehran views Washington's actions as "an attempt to legitimize the presence of troops in Afghanistan," the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday. The United States lacks the legal standing to sign a peace deal or determine the future of Afghanistan. We believe that the United Nations has the appropriate authority to facilitate intra-Afghan negotiations, as well as to monitor them, and ensure that the agreement is implemented. The ministry said tha...

Guaido says Venezuelan government tried to ASSASSINATE him after gunman spotted at opposition rally Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has accused the government of trying to murder him, after a masked gunman was photographed at his rally and motorcycle-riding attackers reportedly shot up his motorcade. The incident took place at an opposition rally in the city of Barquisimeto in Venezuela’s northwestern Lara state on Saturday. Though no videos of the confrontation are available, a few photos from the scene were provided to the media by Guaido’s team. They show an unidentified dark-clad man in a helmet pointing a gun toward a group of opposition activists and politicians, including Guaido. The gunman’s face was covered with a cloth. ...

'We want to strike back strongly': Liverpool vow to bounce back to form after first loss in 45 games (VIDEO) While some sections of the football world – especially in North London – are taking joy from Liverpool's 3-0 defeat at Watford, the Merseyside club has vowed to complete the job and secure the Premier League title. Liverpool crashed to a 3-0 defeat to Watford as an insipid Reds performance saw their hopes of matching Arsenal's 2003/2004 "Invincibles" season was left crushed at Vicarage Road. Speaking after the match, Reds boss Klopp said: "I know people will suggest we cannot be the best-ever Prem team - but we can win more games next week and beyond. The boys have so many records, why would they want any more? We don’t want to be greedy!" ...

Putin says Russia should be ready for any scenario as oil market suffers steep decline The current crude prices are acceptable for the Russian economy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after the price of oil dramatically fell to the lowest point in more than a year. “Today it is difficult to predict how long-term this trend [the drop in oil prices] will become, but in any case, we need to be prepared for different scenarios,” the Russian leader said during a meeting with finance and energy officials as well as the heads of Russian oil and gas majors on Sunday. Putin said that although last week was the worst for global markets since the 2008 financial crisis, Russia has enough reserves to stay afloat even if the situation continues to deteriorate...

Contact lost with Russian Sputnik news agency journalists who sought police help after Turkish nationalists attacked their homes Three employees of the Turkish branch of Sputnik News, whose apartments were attacked by Turkish nationalists on Saturday night, have been missing since going to file complaints about the incident to Turkish police. “We have not been able to contact our employees in Ankara for nine hours now,” Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT and Sputnik, said in a tweet on Sunday morning. The three employees of the Russian news outlet were apparently targeted in coordinated attacks on Saturday evening. Their homes were raided by groups of angry people who shouted nationalist slogans and accused them of betraying their country. ...

There is no commitment on the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners – Afghan president after US deal Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that releasing up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners cannot be considered a pre-condition of peace talks. His statement comes a day after the Taliban signed a peace deal with the US. The release of the militants cannot be considered a pre-condition, rather it “can be part of the negotiations,” Ghani said on Sunday, as cited by TOLO News. The Afghan leader confirmed that the US is facilitating the prisoners’ release but it is ultimately up to Kabul to “decide on it.” The US-Taliban deal says that Washington will work with all sides on a prisoner swap as a confidence-building step. According to the plan, the US with the Afghan g...