German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives have extended their lead over the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) to 12 percentage points, a poll showed Wednesday, almost four months before a federal election. The Forsa poll for the weekly magazine Stern and broadcaster RTL put Merkel's...

China has installed rocket launchers on a disputed reef in the South China Sea to ward off Vietnamese military combat divers, according to a state-run newspaper, offering new details on China's ongoing military build-up. China has said military construction on the islands it controls in the...

 French President Emmanuel Macron will meet EU Council President Donald Tusk in Paris Wednesday, the new leader's office said. The two will have lunch at the Elysee Palace before Macron is expected to announce his cabinet appointments. Tusk was one of the first prominent European...

( The Guardian )- The Assad regime in Syria is not only responsible for the worst state-orchestrated mass killings so far this century, it now appears to be trying to cover up at least some of its tracks in the belief that this will one day help it evade accountability when the war is over. It...