VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis called for an end to the war in Ukraine and other conflicts in his Christmas message on Sunday, saying the world was suffering from a “famine of peace”. Delivering the 10th Christmas “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing and message of his...

Humanitarian needs in Syria increase in the midst of winter in light of poor infrastructure, absence of basic necessities (especially in the camps),  outbreak of cholera, resurgence of the spread of Covid19, and the continuation of attacks from the Assad regime and Russia.  ...

SAO PAULO (AP) — Family members of Brazilian soccer great Pelé are gathering at the Albert Einstein hospital in Sao Paulo where the 82-year-old global icon has been since the end of November. Doctors said earlier this week that Pelé’s cancer had advanced, adding the three-time World Cup...

PARIS (AP) — Kurdish activists, left-wing politicians and anti-racism groups demonstrated Saturday in Paris after three people were killed at a Kurdish cultural center in an attack that prosecutors say was racially motivated. The shooting in a bustling neighborhood of central Paris also...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian shells pummeled the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and injuring 55 in the city that Moscow’s troops were forced to abandon last month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, just back from his quick trip to...

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) — The biblical town of Bethlehem marked a merry Christmas on Saturday, with thousands of visitors descending upon the traditional birthplace of Jesus as it rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic. Tourism is the economic lifeblood of this town in the occupied West...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban government on Saturday ordered all foreign and domestic non-governmental groups in Afghanistan to suspend employing women, allegedly because some female employees didn't wear the Islamic headscarf correctly. They also separately banned women from attending...

When Rocket was reunited with Army Spc. Alexis Cross earlier this week, just in time for Christmas, the 9-month-old puppy from Syria was giddy with excitement. "I think he remembered me," said Cross, who adopted Rocket while deployed this summer. Cross, a Colorado Springs resident,...

The United States Alternate Representative for Special Political Affairs to the United Nations Robert Wood has called on the Syrian regime of Bashar Al-Assad to "constructively" participate in the Syrian Constitutional Committee meetings. Speaking at the UN Security Council Briefing on the...

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Supporters of the Tunisian Islamist movement Ennahda demonstrated on Friday in front of the Justice Ministry in the capital to denounce the arrest of one of its senior leaders, suspected of being involved in sending Tunisians to fight with extremists in Syria....

PARIS (AP) — A shooting targeting a Kurdish cultural center in a bustling Paris neighborhood Friday left three people dead and three others wounded, authorities said. A 69-year-old suspect was wounded and arrested. The Paris prosecutor said the suspect had recently been released from prison...

Humanitarian needs in Syria have reached their worst levels since conflict began nearly 12 years ago, the Security Council heard on Wednesday.  Ambassadors were briefed by the UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen and UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, who stressed the need...

By Ibrahim Al-Assil This is based on the author’s Twitter thread. It is reprinted here with permission. In my previous life, I was a civil society activist and strategist. I invested a long time studying the literature of protest movements. For most of the last decade, I was part of the...

A Christmas speech by a local politician from Germany’s conservative CDU party has led to outrage and disbelief. Udo Witschas, the district administrator from Bautzen in the German state of Saxony, said in the speech that he did not want to "bleed school or recreational sports for this...

 Daraa- Protesters in As-Suwayda governorate, southern Syria, blocked a pivotal street in the provincial capital at the Al-Mashnaqa roundabout, and set tires ablaze as they carried out a demonstration against worsening living conditions. They raised slogans calling for the trial of...

The wages Youssef once earned as a taxi driver in Aleppo used to be enough: though the days were often long, his family had never been in need. But in recent weeks, acute fuel shortages have paralysed regime-held parts of Syria and Youssef is increasingly unable to find, let alone...

The top US military general for the Middle East warned Thursday that Turkey’s potential land operation into Syria could further destabilize the entire region. “I’m very, very concerned about that because that can destabilize the region and call our SDF partners off of the [ISIS] prisons;...

Throughout Mariupol, Russian workers are tearing down bombed-out buildings at a rate of at least one a day, hauling away shattered bodies with the debris. Russian military convoys are rumbling down the broad avenues of what is swiftly becoming a garrison city, and Russian soldiers, builders,...

The Syrian regime President Bashar Al-Assad issued on Wednesday a legislative decree granting a general amnesty for military service deserters on the condition that they surrender within three months for those living in Syria, and four months for those living outside the country. The amnesty...

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Police in North Macedonia said Wednesday they had arrested nine people, including a police officer, on suspicion of smuggling dozens of migrants through the country. The nine, who are all Macedonian nationals and include two minors, were arrested during raids...