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When France enacted its ban on "ostentatious symbols" in public schools in 2004, the so-called "veil ban" was justified under the guise of a warped form of European cultural relativism. It's just the French way, you see.

It's beginning to look a lot like Star Wars in our universe. Ours just happens to have even more Tatooine-like planets attached to multiple stars.

CIA Director John Brennan is questioning whether Syria and Iraq "can be put back together again" given the violence and sectarian tensions in both countries, raising doubts about a central tenet of US policy toward the region.

Construction will begin soon on a "big new wall" in the French port city of Calais to prevent refugees and migrants from entering Britain, the UK has announced.

One month ago, Rio's Maracana Stadium welcomed the world as the ribbon was cut on South America's first ever Olympic Games. Come 5.30pm local time Wednesday, it'll be the turn of the Paralympics to set the famous old venue alight.

French macarons, Portuguese tarts and Spanish cream buns are being carefully served to white-haired pensioners gossiping over afternoon tea at a local patisserie.

Volkswagen is teaming up with a Chinese automaker to produce electric and hybrid vehicles in the country.

Many beauty queens boast creative resumes. But it's rare to come across one that holds a license in elephant training.

Three police officers and a helicopter pilot were killed Tuesday when criminals downed the aircraft in the state of Michoacan in southwestern Mexico, the state governor said in a tweet.

Sitting on a nine-hour flight from Thailand to Australia can be uncomfortable at the best of times.

More than 80 people were suffering severe breathing difficulties in Syria's embattled city of Aleppo after another chemical attack Tuesday on a rebel-held neighborhood, said the Syrian Civil Defense, a volunteer rescue group.

US President Barack Obama has aborted his planned bilateral meeting at the East Asia Summit with Philippine President Roderigo Duterte this week in Vientiane, Laos.

President Obama had better think twice about raising the issue of Philippine extra-judicial killings, warned the country's confrontational leader on Monday.

India's richest man is rolling out a $20 billion mobile network that could bring lightening-fast Internet to hundreds of millions of people.

The United Nation's human rights chief has launched a blistering attack on the West's populist politicians, comparing their use of "half-truths and oversimplification" to spark fear in voters to the strategies used by ISIS.

Paris will soon set up its first urban camps for refugees -- one in mid-October and another later in the year -- the city's mayor announced Tuesday, just hours after an uninhabited migrant camp was reportedly set on fire south of the city.

Let's be honest: When people say "Black Lives Matter," what they really mean is that Black American Lives Matter.

President Barack Obama bade farewell to G20 leaders in Hangzhou, China, on Monday by reminding them they're living in "turbulent" times -- and he wasn't kidding.