Business associations have been subjected to an endless game of masquerade where garlands, pictures and faces changed with the direction of the political wind.

If we compare the state to a four-legged chair, the government represents only one leg.

Qatar's international airport is to charge passengers an exit tax as the energy-reliant emirate adjusts to falling oil prices.

Russia insist it expects to avoid a blanket ban from the IOC on its competitors at the Rio Olympics despite its track and field squad losing an appeal over a suspension for state-sponsored doping.

Russia's Olympic Committee presses with its preparations for the Rio Olympic Games despite the threat of a ban for state-run doping hanging over the country.

The EU on Monday orders seven Spanish football clubs including Barcelona and Real Madrid to pay back millions of euros (dollars) in illegal state aid.

US student Otto Warmbier has been given 15 years hard labour in North Korea for crimes against the state.

Chinese state media have welcomed the news China is reforming its decades-old one-child policy, with one editorial saying it "echoes the people's will".

Russia plans to finally bury the remains of Tsar Nicholas II's son and heir Alexei and daughter Maria alongside their family in Saint Petersburg.

High Court rejects a writ petition that challenged legality of the constitutional provision that recognises Islam as the state religion.

Cyanide levels more than 350 times standard limits have been detected in water close to the site of deadly explosions in the Chinese port city of Tianjin.