By Tim Ramadan ( The Guardian )- Around three months have passed since the Syrian Democratic Forces launched a military operation to wrest back control of Raqqa from Islamic State. These forces are backed directly by the US-led international coalition, and they have so far succeeded in...

A van plowed into crowds in the Spanish city of Barcelona on Thursday and a regional official said 13 people were killed, in what police said they were treating as a terrorist attack. Police said they had arrested a man linked to the attack in the heart of the city, but did not identify him...

In a humid room in the besieged Syrian town of Douma, Abu Nabil inspects the pearly white mushrooms sprouting from white sacks hanging from a ceiling. The oyster mushrooms poking out from holes in the bags are now a substitute for meat in the rebel stronghold, where a government blockade has...

Hong Kong has closed more than a dozen beaches after a palm oil spill washed foul-smelling, Styrofoam-like clumps ashore, the latest major environmental disaster to blight the territory's waters. The Chinese-controlled city closed two more beaches in the south of Hong Kong island on Tuesday,...