The Syrian army and rebels, including jihadist groups, fought in the capital Damascus and north of Hama on Thursday after the insurgents' biggest offensive for months, underscoring the bleak prospects for peace talks which resume later in the day. The offensive seems unlikely to reverse 18...

Australia rejected 500 Syrian refugees on security grounds during more than a year of vetting while accepting 12,000 eligible for resettlement from Middle Eastern camps, an official said Thursday. Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton said the deadly rampage near Britain's...

Syrian rivals were to resume U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva Thursday, with escalating violence and deadlock on key issues dimming hopes of a breakthrough. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura tried to strike an optimistic note when the previous round ended last month. He insisted...

Militants are increasingly turning to vehicle-ramming attacks, like the one staged near Britain's parliament on Wednesday, because they are cheap, easy to organise and hard to prevent. Experts say the tactic of mowing people down avoids the need to obtain any explosives or weapons and can be...