Hong Kong police placed a dragnet around the financial hub's legislature Wednesday and fired pepper-ball rounds in the commercial district as they tried to stamp out protests against a bill banning insults to China's national anthem. The latest unrest comes days after China announced...

 A huge fire has swept more than 150 hectares of palm and olive trees in the historic city of Palmyra in Syrian desert, state-run news agency said Tuesday. SANA said a third of Palmyra Oasis orchards had been destroyed, which has a total area of ​​about 400 hectares....

Algeria has sentenced three opposition activists to jail over Facebook posts, in what rights groups said Wednesday was the latest sign of increased repression after the coronavirus lockdown stifled a popular protest movement. Soheib Debaghi was sentenced in Algiers to one year in prison on...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Crop fires have destroyed more than 1500 hectares in northeastern Syria, local activists said Wednesday. The massive fires flared in 12 areas in Hasakah and Deir Ezzor provinces as efforts failed by local farmers to extinguish the fire that hit the unharvested barley...