Another 60 boys and men who were being held by Syria’s authorities after their evacuation from besieged Homs have been released, governor Talal Barazi told AFP Monday. The detainees, aged from 15 to 55 years, were among some 1,400 people evacuated from rebel-held districts in the...

  It appeared to be a huge step forward for the scattered rebel groups fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad of Syria: the creation of a central body of top insurgent commanders who would coordinate military campaigns, direct foreign support and serve as a unifying force...

The complaining by Saudi officials over the past months seems to have paid off. The Obama administration is moving to patch up differences between the two countries. A little over a month before the one-day summit between the U.S. President and Saudi King Abdullah, there is optimism....

Syrian intelligence agents abducted Akram al-Bunni, a prominent leftist writer and former political prisoner, as he left a wedding reception at a central Damascus hotel on Saturday, opposition activists said. They said Bunni, who had previously spent two decades as a political...

Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie toured on Sunday areas hosting Syrian refugees in Lebanon’s Bekaa province as part of her role as a special envoy for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). But away from paparazzi, Jolie’s visit barely received any media coverage due to pressure...

A top Ukrainian opposition figure assumed presidential powers Sunday, plunging Ukraine into new uncertainty after a deadly political standoff — and boosting long-jailed Yulia Tymoshenko's chances of a return to power. The whereabouts and legitimacy of President Viktor Yanukovych are...

A sprawling forested estate of graceful waterways and summer houses - half the size of Monaco but just one hour's drive from Kiev - stands as a symbol of the folly of Ukraine's fugitive president. Even the most cynical Ukrainians, who on Saturday streamed to see Viktor Yanukovich's...

 Turkish riot police fired tear gas on Saturday to disperse thousands of demonstrators in central Istanbul protesting against what they see as authoritarian new laws from Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government. Battling a corruption scandal, Erdogan's AK Party has pushed...

 WhatsApp, the rapidly expanding mobile messaging app, suffered an outage for more than three hours on Saturday, frustrating users just days after its acquisition by Facebook for $19 billion. "WhatsApp service has been restored. We are so sorry for the downtime...," WhatsApp...

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak has said a Cossack who horsewhipped members of Pussy Riot at a protest in Sochi has been held accountable for the attack. The Cossacks have been used since last year as an auxiliary police force to patrol the streets in the Krasnodar...

A Syrian rebel commander, who fought alongside al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and was close to its current chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, was killed by a suicide attack in Aleppo, intensifying in-fighting between rival armed groups. The killing of Abu Khaled al-Suri on Sunday in a suicide...

Lebanon's army says it is "paying the price in blood" in the fight against "terrorism", after a suicide car bombing killed two soldiers and a civilian. Shiite movement Hezbollah also condemned Saturday's attack, calling the perpetrators "the enemy of all the Lebanese". Both...

  At least 14 people were killed Sunday when a car bomb went off near a hospital in the rebel-held Syrian town of Atmeh, near the border with Turkey, opposition activists said. The bomb exploded near Orient Hospital, run by an opposition activist group that also...

  Syria's opposition National Coalition has nominated veteran dissident Haitham al-Maleh to head Syria’s seat in the Arab League, Zaman Alwasl source said.  The political body Friday agreed on a proposal by Ahmad Jarba, NC leader, and Badr Jamous, secretary...

Assad's air force staged more air raids on the key rebel-held bastion of Yabrud north of Damascus, as clashes also raged on the capital's outskirts, a monitoring group told AFP news agency. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said that in the northeast, Kurdish fighters seized...

The UN Security Council has adopted a unanimous but non-binding resolution, calling for humanitarian aid convoys to be allowed access across war-torn Syria, but diplomats immediately voiced doubt about its effectiveness. Syria's staunch ally Russia, with support from China, has...

Syria's opposition Interim Prime Minister may keep military chief of the rebel Free Syrian Army in his position in step to avoid more fractions, according to Zaman Alwasl’s well-informed source. Mr. Ahmed Tomeh is reconsidering the dismissal decision of General Salim...

These are bandits' - More from Yanukovych: "Everything happening today can primarily be described as vandalism, banditry and a coup d'etat. That is my assessment." "This is not an opposition," Yanukovych added. "These are bandits." 14:43 GMT - Army says will play no role - More from...

14 rebel group in Daraa province have announced forming a new brigade which will operate under Syria Revolutionaries Front, pro-western opposition unit. Meanwhile, the Syrian army intensified its aerial bombardment of Daraa as opposition fighters were preparing to launch...

The Syrian army on Friday intensified its aerial bombardment of southern Syria as opposition fighters were preparing to launch a wide offensive in a province bordering Jordan, activists said. The Local Coordination Committees opposition network and an anti-government activist in the area...