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...

With weeks to go before US elections, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is racing to make a breakthrough with Sudan that he hopes could also benefit Israel. Sudan's new civilian-led government is urgently seeking to be removed from the US blacklist of state sponsors of terrorism, and is seen...

As the coronavirus pandemic began bearing down on the United States in March, President Donald Trump set out his expectations. If the US could keep the death toll between 100,000 to 200,000 people, Trump said, it would indicate that his administration had "done a very good job." In the...