(The Telegraph)- JK Rowling has connected with a young fan in Aleppo, speaking to her and her mother over Twitter and even sent the Harry Potter books for the child to read. Bana Alabed is a 7-year-old girl living in eastern Aleppo. She reads with her parents, who are trying to distract...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- At least 8 people have been killed in regime air strikes pounding the southern province of Daraa, local activists said Wednesday.  The aerial bombing targeted a crowded street in the town of Jasem, leaving 8 people dead. The strikes have also hit towns of Dael, Nawa,...

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Furat University Administration in Hasaka city said Wednesday it will resume work in its faculties in the city after reaching an agreement with Kurdish Asayish and YPG militias. The aim of the agreement is to neutralize faculties from any fights between them and regime...

After eight years in the White House, President Barack Obama’s economic legacy shows some successes but these are largely overshadowed by failures. Increased employment, stricter financial regulation following the Wall Street scandals that fueled the 2008 financial crisis and cleaner energy...

Iran on Wednesday rejected as baseless and unsubstantiated accusations by Israel that Tehran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were using commercial airline flights to ship weapons to the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah. Israeli U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon made the...

(BBC)- An Iraqi paramilitary force says it has seized a key road west of Mosul, effectively encircling the city controlled by so-called Islamic State. The Popular Mobilisation (Hashd al-Shaabi) declared it had taken control of the road between Tal Afar and Sinjar after linking up with...

After campaigning for a 40-team World Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino is now leaning toward an even bigger expansion to 48. "I like 48 because it gives a particular flavor, but I'm still really torn," Infantino said Wednesday after meetings outside Paris. Infantino said he is also...

ISIS militants returning from Syria could carry out mustard gas attacks after learning how to use the toxic substance in battle zones, a senior official from the global chemical weapons watchdog warned on Wednesday. An inquiry by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of...

An airport security official says Egyptian authorities have banned a prominent human rights activist, who heads a center investigating police abuses, from leaving the country. Aida Seif el-Dawla, a psychiatrist and co-founder of the Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence,...

Syrian pro-government forces have pushed deeper into rebel-held eastern Aleppo, forcing civilians to flee to southern neighbourhoods to escape the onslaught as the regime pressed an assault to recapture the entire city. Recapturing east Aleppo would be the government's biggest victory yet in...

Save the Children has hit out at the "moral outrage" of the mounting deaths and suffering of children in the battleground Syrian city of Aleppo, in a statement released Wednesday. The charity said medics across northwest Syria were looking to fortify hospitals after a wave of attacks in...

Extending U.S. sanctions on Iran for 10 years would breach the Iranian nuclear agreement, Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said Wednesday, warning that Tehran would retaliate if the sanctions are approved. "The current U.S. government has breached the nuclear deal in many occasions,"...

Reporting by Mohamed Yasser EASTERN GHOUTA (Eqtsad)- In not very far days, Abu Khalid remembers the harshest days of blockade, but this time with his twins Judi and Taj. Their main food was not available after regime forces centralized in the besieged Eastern Ghouta suburbs have been...

The Islamic State group's media arm says an airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition has "disabled" the fourth bridge on the Tigris River in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The Aamaq news agency says the strike happened Wednesday but gave no details. It's the second airstrike to target...

Egypt's president has expressed support for Syrian President Bashar Assad's military in remarks likely to irk Saudi Arabia and Gulf Arab allies who back Syrian rebels in the civil war. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said in an interview with the Portuguese TV network RTP that Syrian government forces...

Twelve Yemeni civilians were killed by a Saudi-led airstrike while riding in a pickup truck in the country's northwest early Wednesday, residents said. Locals said the passengers were shoppers heading to a local market in the Hiran area of northwest Hajja province, which is controlled by the...

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday that a vote by the European Parliament on whether to halt EU membership talks with Ankara "has no value in our eyes" and again accused Europe of siding with terrorist organizations. "We have made clear time and time again that we take care of...

Russia hopes it can establish more constructive relations with Bulgaria and ex-Soviet Moldova after voters in both countries elected presidents who want better ties with Moscow, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying on Wednesday. "We expect that there will be some opportunities...

Pakistan says shelling from India has targeted a passenger bus in the disputed region of Kashmir, killing four civilians and wounding seven. A local official, Waheed Khan, says the civilians were killed when an Indian artillery shell hit the bus in the Neelum Valley Wednesday. The...

  (Zaman Al Wasl)- Bashar al-Assad's powerful stronghold of Tartus received 40 bodies for soldiers claimed to be killed in Aleppo and Palmyra battlefields, activists said. The daily coffins shipment has sparked state of anger despite regime striving to calm things down by rewards and...