Syrian rebels appear to have entered the capital Damascus after facing scant resistance from regime forces, as President Bashar al-Assad’s decades-long grip on power seemed to wane by the minute. Hours before, Syria’s main armed opposition group said it had “fully liberated” the major city of Homs, north of the…
In every crisis lies opportunity, and in every opportunity lurks crisis. The startling advance of Syria’s opposition in a week is the unintended consequence of two other conflicts, one near and one far. It leaves several key US allies with a new and largely unknown Islamist-led force, governing swathes of…
Syria’s iron-fisted leader Bashar al-Assad is the second generation of an autocratic family dynasty that held power for more than five decades and his disappearance amid a lightning rebel advance signals an astonishing reordering of power in a strategically vital Middle Eastern nation. Assad is known for a brutal rule…
South Korean prosecutors on Sunday detained a former defense minister who allegedly recommended last week’s brief but stunning martial law imposition to President Yoon Suk Yeol, making him the first figure detained over the case. The development came a day after Yoon avoided an opposition-led bid to impeach him in…
Israeli President Isaac Herzog called Elon Musk “in the last few days” to discuss a revival of talks to secure the release of hostages currently held in Gaza, according to a source close to President Herzog. The communication comes after President-elect Donald Trump, to whom Musk has closely allied himself,…
A man is recovering from serious injuries after leaping onto a polar bear to protect his wife from being mauled by the animal, according to police in Canada’s Ontario province. A man and a woman in the town of Fort Severn had left their home before 5 a.m. local time…
Ahmed Al Sharaa, an Islamist militant in his late 20s, moved back to Syria from Iraq in 2011 with six men and a monthly stipend of $50,000 from Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who would go on to become the world’s most wanted terrorist. His mission was to establish Al Qaeda’s Syrian…
Israeli troops also forced health care workers and patients to leave the facility, and destroyed critical medical supplies, according to a statement by Dr Hussam Abu Saifya, the hospital director. In the early hours of Friday, the Israeli military sent two plain clothed messengers into the hospital, who told people…
Mexican authorities are investigating the deaths of 13 children suspected to be linked to contaminated bags of intravenous nutrition in four hospitals in central Mexico. The children were 14 or younger, say Mexico health officials, who suspect they died from an infection of a multidrug-resistant bacteria Klebsiella oxytoca. The deaths…
The European Union reached a blockbuster free trade agreement Friday with Brazil, Argentina and the three other South American nations in the Mercosur trade alliance, capping a quarter-century of on-off negotiations even as France vowed to derail the contentious accord. Provided it is ratified, the accord would create one of…