Music fell silent, weddings were canceled and people wept in the streets Saturday as Cubans faced their first day without the leader who steered their island to both greater social equality and years of economic ruin. Across a hushed capital, dozens of Cubans said they felt genuine pain at...

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the latest situation in Syria over the phone late Saturday, according to a presidential source. The leaders talked about the recent developments in war-torn Syria and efforts to find a solution to the...

Wildfires near Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank have forced hundreds to flee their homes, after mass evacuations in Israel and more than a dozen arrests, police said Saturday. Israeli and Palestinian firefighters, helped by foreign aircraft, have been battling dozens of bush...

  (Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian regime warplanes bombed three schools in northern Idlib province, official body said Saturday as air strikes kill 9 people in the southern countryside. The Directorate of Education in rebel-held Idlib said 3 schools in the villages of Kafr Eyn, Maerzeita and...

 The bodies of two pilots killed when their tourist plane crashed in the French Alps were recovered Saturday after intense searches in the mountains east of Chambery, the city's prosecutor said. The two men, who have not yet been identified, had taken off from Dortmund in Germany on...

Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice as Real Madrid were thankful to a late missed penalty from Duje Cop to open up a seven-point lead over Barcelona at the top of La Liga with a 2-1 win over Sporting Gijon. Madrid looked set for an easy afternoon as Ronaldo opened the scoring from the penalty...

Hillary Clinton's election campaign said Saturday it would join in a recount of votes in the state of Wisconsin although it has not seen any irregularities so far in the White House contest won by Donald Trump. Marc Erik Elias, an election lawyer for the Democratic candidate, said in a post...

  Syrian regime forces have retaken "full control" of the rebel-held district of Masaken Hanano in northern battlefield city Aleppo, state media said on Saturday. State television said "the armed forces retook full control" of the largest rebel district in the east of the city, and...

(The Daily Star)- U.S. President Barack Obama offered a "hand of friendship" to Cubans on Saturday after the death of Fidel Castro, while his successor, Republican President-elect Donald Trump gave his first reaction on Twitter, declaring "Fidel Castro is dead!" Trump, who takes office on...

The Turkish Armed Forces hit 12 Daesh targets in northern Syria on Friday, according to an army statement released Saturday. Free Syrian Army (FSA) special task force soldiers, backed by Turkey, continued land-based attacks to control areas east and west of the city of Al-Bab. The moves...

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called Saturday for greater cooperation between regional rivals Iran and Turkey to help establish stability in Syria and Iraq. "Today when the region is in a critical condition, cooperation and consultation by Tehran and Ankara in resolving issues can make a...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- A well-informed source told Zaman al-Wasl that the Russian forces recently began building a large infantry base close to the T4 military airport in Homs province, source said. The Russian engineering machines are sweeping the site where Russia will build its military base....

Two deals to evacuate rebels and their weapons from parts of the Damascus suburbs have been reached, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday, as government attacks on the remaining opposition-held areas around the capital intensify. The evacuation deals are part of the...

Iraqi military and hospital officials say mortar rounds fired by ISIS militants have killed 16 civilians in neighborhoods already retaken by troops. They said the bodies of the 16, killed overnight and early Saturday, have been brought to military hospitals in eastern Mosul. The...

Turkish warplanes destroyed 12 ISIS targets while one Turkish soldier was killed in a clash with militants during an offensive in northern Syria, Turkey's military said Saturday. Turkey and Syrian rebels are carrying out an operation to push the extremists from the border after an airstrike...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Syrian rebel factions thwarted Saturday regime attack on Hanano district in the besieged Eastern Aleppo, killing 15 soldiers, local reporter said. On Friday, regime forces pressed slow advances inside the district after more than 200 raids where toxic gas was used against...

(The Guardian)- Britain’s home secretary is being urged by MPs to allow refugees from the Yazidi community, a minority Iraqi group persecuted by Islamic State, to enter the UK under the same rules that allow entrance to vulnerable Syrian refugees. In a letter to Amber Rudd (pdf), a...

(The Daily Star )- Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev Saturday hailed Fidel Castro, the Cuban socialist icon who has aged 90, for "strengthening" his island nation. "Fidel stood up and strengthened his country during the harshest American blockade, when there was colossal pressure on him...

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu visited Iran on Saturday and met President Hassan Rouhani, Iranian state media reported, in rare previously announced talks between the regional rivals. Cavusoglu was also due to meet his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif during the visit, the...

President-elect Donald Trump's transition team is ignoring questions about efforts to recount votes in key battleground states, focusing instead on the latest additions to his administration. Trump chose Fox News analyst Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland to serve as deputy national security...