An explosion on Thursday in a chemical plant in eastern China killed at least 44 people and injured 640 others, said Chinese state media. The blast took place at a plant run by Tianjiayi Chemical in Yancheng, said state news agency Xinhua. Another 90 people were seriously injured, the...

The fate of Syrians and their country changed forever over the course of a few fateful days in March 2011. The revolutionaries' initial demands of freedom, justice and dignity still feel distant for Syria's millions displaced at home and abroad. Eight years on, Syrians have...

Eight years since Syria began its descent into war, many of President Bashar al-Assad’s enemies have been defeated and the bulk of the country is back under his control. But he isn’t celebrating. “We must not wrongly think, as happened in the last year, that the war is over. I say...

An oil slick was heading towards the French coastline on Thursday after an Italian cargo ship sank in the Atlantic carrying 45 containers of "dangerous materials", authorities said. The sheet of oil, 10 kilometres (six miles) long and one km wide, could hit parts of the country's southwest...