Hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi has swiftly emerged as one of Iran’s most powerful figures and a contender to succeed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Last week, he was named chief of the judiciary and on Tuesday he was elected deputy chief of the 88-member Assembly of Experts, the...

Islamic State was close to defeat in its final enclave on Tuesday after ferocious bombardments overnight and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said the offensive to capture the area was nearly over. The besieged enclave of Baghouz is the last shred of territory held by the...

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Tuesday sided with Berlin in criticising French President Emmanuel Macron's European reform ideas, dismissing some of his proposals as "utopian" and others as "dangerous". Macron outlined his ideas for Europe's future last week, ranging from stronger...

 Islamic State’s final enclave in eastern Syria was pounded with air strikes and artillery on Monday in a U.S.-backed assault aimed at wiping out the last shred of its territorial rule that once spanned a third of Syria and Iraq. Fires raged after dark in the enclave at Baghouz near...