The 62-year-old is one of 20 Christians remaining in the central town of Al-Qaryatain out of the community that boasted 900 members before conflict broke out a decade ago. Tracing a cross against his body between piles of broken stone, the lone par...

Here are some of the more puzzling rules as Europeans settle for another winter holiday season overshadowed by the pandemic threat: Czech 'pig slaughter parties' Vaccine passes have become compulsory for a variety of public events across Europe. In ...

Cabinet ministers approved a draft national budget of a whopping 107.6 trillion yen ($940 billion) for the 2022-23 fiscal year, including 5.4 trillion yen for defence. Both figures have been increasing steadily for a decade as the cost of caring fo...

The country of three million has taken some of the world's toughest and most enduring measures against the coronavirus pandemic, shutting schools for much of the last two years and closing borders. Its vaccination programme has seen huge take-up wi...

But today she is first violinist in an inventive orchestra bringing together two dozen other disadvantaged youths, using instruments made from recycled materials. Her violin is made from colourful soda cans, while a string bass has a skateboard for...

China, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019, is on high alert for new infections as it prepares to hold the Winter Olympics in February in the capital Beijing. The world's most populous nation has reduced cases to a minimum thanks ...

The removals come a day after Hong Kong's oldest university took down a statue commemorating the bloody crackdown, sparking outcry by activists and dissident artists in the city and abroad. Hong Kong was for a long time the only place in China wher...

Festive jokes about reindeer having "herd immunity" and millions isolating "Home Alone" may be wearing thin, but the emergence of the ultra-infectious Omicron variant means the pandemic isn't going anywhere. For a second straight year, surging infe...

Randy Bullock booted the game-winning 44-yard field goal with four seconds left to cap the Titans' second-half comeback and keep them on track for a post-season berth. Tennessee receiver A.J. Brown, in his first game back from injury, caught 11 pas...

AFP Sport looks at what measures athletes and others can expect to face in the "bubble" and how that compares to last summer's virus-delayed Tokyo Games. What is the 'closed loop'? China, where the virus emerged towards the end of 2019, has pursued ...

In July Canada's Weston family put up the British department store chain for sale with a £4.0 billion ($5.5 billion, 4.7 billion euros) asking price, according to media reports. Central Group and Signa, a real estate and hospitality group, "have e...

The incident happened early in the morning near the southern rural town of Jhalokathi, 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of the capital Dhaka. The vessel was carrying around 500 people. "The three-storey Obhijan 10 caught fire mid-river. We have rec...

Top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno did not call the decision a boycott but said there were "no plans" to send political representatives to the Games. "Japan believes it is important that common values shared by the international community su...

Trump asked the nation's highest court to stay a ruling this month by a federal appeals court which rejected his attempt to keep the documents and records secret. Trump, who has been accused of fomenting the assault on Congress, is seeking to exerc...

Studies indicating Omicron infections are less likely to result in hospitalisation and US approval of drugs from Merck and Pfizer to add to a growing arsenal of weapons against Covid have increased confidence that the pandemic will have less impact ...