SARAH SILBIGER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP
US President Donald Trump has backed off from imposing a lockdown in the hard-hit New York area to limit the spread of coronavirus.
"A quarantine will not be necessary," he said on Twitter, adding that restricting non-essential domestic travel for 14 days will be adequate.
His earlier decision to implement a travel ban was faced with resistance, with several governing bodies claiming it would cause chaos.
"If you started walling off areas all across the country it would be totally bizarre, counter-productive, anti-American," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told CNN.
Meanwhile,Trump also appeared to soften his previous plans to reopen US economy by mid-April. "We'll see what happens," he said.
So far, the country has recorded more than 2,200 deaths and more than 122,000 positive cases.
U.S. President Donald Trump fired General Timothy Haugh as director of the National Security Agency on Thursday, according to two officials familiar with the decision, and congressional Democrats denounced the removal of the nonpartisan official from a top security post.
Israel stepped up airstrikes on Syria, declaring the attacks a warning to the new rulers in Damascus as it accused their ally Turkey of trying to turn the country into a Turkish protectorate.
The Trump administration moved forward with the sale of more than 20,000 US-made assault rifles to Israel last month, according to a document seen by Reuters, pushing ahead with a sale that the administration of former president Joe Biden had delayed.
The Ministry of Justice said seven companies reportedly based in the UAE and sanctioned by the United States for ties to Sudan do not operate in the country.
Dubai Police announced on Friday it arrested 222 beggars during Ramadan and Eid, after a campaign was launched under the slogan “An Aware Society, Free of Begging,” in partnership with other government entities.