Authorities in war-torn Syria have released dozens of current and former employees of President Bashar al-Assad's embattled billionaire cousin Rami Makhlouf, a war monitor said Friday. The 51-year-old businessman has been embroiled in a power struggle with the state since last year,...

France’s foreign ministry this week summoned Iran’s envoy over the country’s human rights record, three sources aware of the matter said, signalling concern about what Paris calls “serious and constant violations”. France rarely comments publicly on human rights in Iran, but on...

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Friday ordered the elderly to stay at home and recommended employers allow home working after the Russian capital saw a sharp rise in virus cases. Sobyanin's message came after virus figures that had remained steady for several months climbed steeply in...

Chinese authorities have demolished thousands of mosques in Xinjiang, an Australian think tank said Friday, in the latest report of widespread human rights abuses in the restive region. Rights groups say more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking people have been...