France

They were so fixated on how a Muslim should not celebrate Christmas.

Any outside observer would think that full-bearded old Muslim men were wandering around laughing "ho ho ho" on New Year's and were coming out of mosques in Santa Claus costumes, trying to cheer everybody up...

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack that killed at least 32 people on Jan. 2 in Baghdad.

The jihadist organization took responsibility for the blast in Sadr City via its propaganda agency Amaq, claiming the "martyrdom operation" had killed around 40 people.

Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria has secured a resounding victory over Steve Johnson (US) in the first round of the Brisbane International tennis tournament.

Dimitrov has made it past Johnson at 6:2, 6:3 in his first win for the year.

The game was interrupted briefly at 4:2 during the first set due to strong winds which led the heavy rainfall into the partly covered tennis court.

Turkey's top business organizations have strongly condemned and expressed their sorrow over the deadly terror attack at a nightclub in central Istanbul on Jan. 1, which claimed at least 39 lives and injured 69 others.    

BELGRADE - The Serbian ministries of defence and interior have signed a contract with Airbus Helicopters to buy nine Airbus H145M helicopters, the Defence Ministry said in a statement Thursday.

The identities of 35 victims killed in an armed attack at a nightclub in central Istanbul on Jan. 1 have been confirmed as 24 have been identified as foreign citizens, while eleven of them were reported to be Turkish citizens.

The Global Energy Management (GEM) division of France's Engie plans to grow by setting up a gas and power trading platform in Istanbul, the company said in a written statement on Dec. 29. 

The United Kingdom scolded U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for describing the Israeli government as the "most right-wing in Israeli history," a move that aligns British Prime Minister Theresa May more closely with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is very, very cross about last Friday's United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the creation of illegal Jewish settlements all over the occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem.

He doesn't have much time left before he leaves office in a few weeks, but U.S. President Barack Obama got in one final, parting shot against Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in revenge for the latter's speech in Congress in March 2015.

On Dec. 23, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution demanding an end to illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.