(Toronto Life)- When Jim Estill decided to sponsor 50 Syrian refugee families, he didn’t tell anyone about it at first—not his accountant, not his friends, not even his wife. It was the summer of 2015, and the death toll in Syria had reached a quarter of a million people, while another four...

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump called the attacks this week in Berlin and Ankara "terrible" on Wednesday and said he has been proven to be correct about his plans to impose curbs on Muslims immigrating to the United States. "What’s going on is terrible, terrible," Trump told reporters,...

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday it could not confirm reports that all rebel fighters had left the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, adding that the absence of U.N. observers to monitor the situation made it difficult to assess the situation. "I don't think we can say definitively one...

Hotels in Las Vegas and Washington owned by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday they have entered into collective bargaining agreements with more than 500 workers, who will drop claims that the hotels violated federal labor law. The four-year contracts effective Jan. 1 will...

Five people were killed in a plane crash in Puerto Carreno, western Colombia early Wednesday. Colombia’s Civil Aviation Institution said a Boeing 727-200 cargo plane crashed three minutes after it took off from Puerto Carreno, close to the Venezuelan border, en route to the Colombian capital...

A massive explosion decimated a fireworks market outside the Mexican capital,  leaving it a charred wasteland and killing at least 31 people with dozens more injured. Television images showed a flurry of pyrotechnics exploding on Tuesday into the early afternoon sky as a giant plume of...

Police in Bahrain are clashing with residents of a besieged town that is home to a Shiite cleric. The cause for the confrontation on Wednesday in Diraz wasn't immediately clear. Residents of the town and activists say that riot police first massed outside, then entered the town. They...

China's smoggiest city closed schools Wednesday, as the country suffered through its sixth day under an oppressive haze, provoking public anger about the slow response to the threat to children's health. Since Friday, a choking miasma has covered a large swathe of northeastern China, leaving...

(The Guardian)- At least 60 people have been injured after an explosion ripped through Mexico’s best-known fireworks market on the northern outskirts of the capital. Luís Felipe Puente, head of national emergency services, said the number of injuries could rise. Images broadcast by...

Russia, Iran and Turkey said they were ready to help broker a Syrian peace deal after the three countries held talks in Moscow on Tuesday and adopted a declaration which set out the principles any agreement should adhere to. The countries made the announcement after Russian Foreign Minister...

Oil prices rose on Tuesday, touching a one-week high on expectations of a steep draw in U.S. crude stocks, but edged off gains after Libya announced the reopening of pipelines after a two-year blockade ended recently. Benchmark Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 40 cents, or 0.7 percent, at...

The Syrian government and other parties on the ground have agreed to allow 20 observers to be sent to east Aleppo to monitor evacuations, the U.N. spokesman said Tuesday. The United Nations is however waiting for all sides to grant access for deliveries of humanitarian aid to Aleppo, where...

A Russian plane carrying the body of the ambassador assassinated in Turkey landed Tuesday in Moscow, where he was to be honoured in a ceremony, news agencies said. Andrei Karlov's coffin and his widow travelled back to Russia after the veteran diplomat was shot dead by a 22-year-old Turkish...

The remains of Russian envoy Andrey Karlov were sent back to Moscow from Turkey Tuesday, a day after he was shot dead by an off-duty police officer in the Turkish capital. The white, red and blue Russian flag was draped on the casket as a Russian Orthodox priest recited prayers in a ceremony...

 Russian investigators worked Tuesday to determine whether the assassination of their ambassador to Turkey was the work of a lone gunman or part of a wider conspiracy as the two countries, which have backed opposing sides in the Syrian war, said they would not let the killing disrupt...

China has returned a US underwater probe it seized in the South China Sea, the Pentagon confirmed after Beijing's capture of the craft prompted a dispute between the two powers. The Chinese navy handed over the drone near the location it had been seized, the Pentagon said, repeating US...

The United States on Tuesday closed its missions to Turkey for the day after a shooting incident overnight outside the American embassy in Ankara that followed the assassination of the Russian ambassador in the Turkish capital. "An individual approached the US Embassy Ankara main gate and...

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a statement that a meeting in Moscow later on Tuesday between the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Russia would adopt tangible measures on Syria. Lavrov also condemned the murder of Russia's ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov on...

An Italian woman who traveled to Syria two years ago proclaiming her support for ISIS was sentenced in absentia Monday to nine years in jail on terrorism-related charges, a court ruled. Maria Giulia Sergio, 29, converted to Islam in 2007 and moved to Syria with her Albanian-born husband in...

The United Nations condemned an attack on the Russian ambassador to Ankara, who was shot and killed in an attack at an art gallery in the Turkish capital Monday. "We condemn the gun attack on the Russian ambassador to Turkey. There can be no justification for an attack on a diplomat or an...