(BBC)- Islamic State (IS) militants have raided government buildings in and around the Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Iraqi media reported that suicide bombers had attacked police stations and a power station, but that security forces had repelled the assaults. A news agency affiliated to IS...

(middle east eye)- The United Nations hopes to carry out the first medical evacuations from Aleppo on Friday, if the "humanitarian pause" in the Syrian army's Russian-backed assault on the city holds. Russia announced the ceasefire earlier this week as a "goodwill gesture," amid growing...

British American Tobacco said on Friday it had launched a $47-billion bid for control of rival Reynolds American, eying rapid expansion into US and emerging markets and e-cigarettes. The deal, worth the equivalent of 43 billion euros, would create the world's largest listed tobacco company...

Churches across the world are joining a Helsinki parish in ringing their bells daily to commemorate civilians killed in the battle for the Syrian city of Aleppo. The bell tolls started on Oct. 12 at the Lutheran parish of Kallio in Helsinki, following the intensified Russian and Syrian...