With Islamic State expelled, Iraqi Christians are trickling back to the ransacked town of Qaraqosh, beset by anxiety for their security and yet hopeful they can live in friendship with Muslims of all persuasions. The town, about 20 km (12 miles) from the battlefront with Islamic State in the...

Smoking-related diseases will claim 200 million lives in China this century and plunge tens of millions into poverty, a report said Friday. China is the world's largest consumer and producer of tobacco, and the industry provides the government with colossal sums. In 2015, it recorded 1.1...

 Iran said Friday that new U.S. sanctions imposed against the brother of the high-profile commander of the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm, Qassem Soleimani, were "illegal". The U.S. Treasury added Sohrab Soleimani, along with the Tehran Prisons Organisation which he...

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault Friday dismissed as "lies and propaganda" comments by Syrian President Bashar Assad that a poison gas attack blamed on his government last week in Idlib province was "100 percent fabrication". Syria has already denied the attack and Assad had said...