For decades, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (or TCM) have disputed accusations that their craft is a pseudo-science, a placebo, exploitative of endangered species, poisonous and ineffective. Now China’s government is fighting on their behalf. On Christmas Day, it passed the country’s first law regulating TCM, with the aim of placing it on an equal footing with science-based Western …

  BAGHDAD / AP A suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden vehicle on Monday in a bustling market area in Baghdad, killing at least 36 people, Iraqi officials said, hours after the arrival of French President Francois Hollande to the country and amid a fierce fight against the IS group. The bomber driving a pickup truck attacked an outdoor fruit and …

  JERUSALEM / AP Israeli media is reporting that police are expected to question Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a pair of corruption allegations. A black screen was placed on Monday in front of Netanyahu’s official residence in apparent anticipation of the police investigators’ arrival and to obstruct the view of journalists seeking to film them. Netanyahu has denied what …