Israel is lobbying the United States to keep Syria weak and decentralised, including by letting Russia keep its military bases there to counter Turkey's growing influence in the country, four sources familiar with the efforts said.

Turkey's often fraught ties with Israel have come under severe strain during the Gaza war and Israeli officials have told Washington that Syria's new Islamist rulers, who are backed by Ankara, pose a threat to Israel's borders, the sources said.

The lobbying points to a concerted Israeli campaign to influence U.S. policy at a critical juncture for Syria, as the Islamists who ousted Bashar al-Assad try to stabilise the fractured state and get Washington to lift punishing sanctions. Israel communicated its views to top U.S. officials during meetings in Washington in February and subsequent meetings in Israel with U.S. Congressional representatives, three U.S. sources and another person familiar with the contacts said.

Fifty-seven people were killed when a passenger train filled with students collided with a freight train on February 28, 2023 in central Greece. The accident has become a painful emblem of the perceived neglect of the country's infrastructure in the decades before the crash and the two years since.

The Taiwan Strait does not belong to China and any attempts to create tension threaten global security, the island's defence ministry said on Monday, after Beijing criticised Canada for sailing a warship through the sensitive waterway.

Peace Now says the development of 974 new housing units would allow the population of the Efrat settlement to expand by 40% and further block the development of the nearby Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Hagit Ofran, who leads the group’s settlement monitoring, said construction can begin after the contracting process and issuing of permits, which could take another year at least.

BERLIN — German political leaders have reacted with alarm to U.S. President Donald Trump’s bombshell announcement that his administration will conduct peace negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the head of European leaders.

Nicaragua’s Congress approved a constitutional reform on Thursday that would make President Daniel Ortega and his wife, current Vice President Rosario Murillo, “copresidents” of the Central American nation.

China has executed a man found guilty of killing at least 35 people in a car attack in November, in what is thought to be the deadliest attack in the country for a decade.

Fan Weiqiu, 62, injured dozens more when he drove his car into people exercising outside a stadium in the southern city of Zhuhai.

State media said a second man was executed for a separate attack that came days later. Xu Jiajin, 21, killed eight people in a stabbing spree at his university in the eastern city of Wuxi.

Authorities said Fan was driven by "dissatisfaction" over how his property had been divided following his divorce, while Xu carried out his attack after "failing to obtain his diploma due to poor exam results".

The commission, in a report submitted to the chief of Bangladesh’s interim government Muhammad Yunus, recommended that three principles “secularism”, “socialism” and “nationalism” be replaced with “equality”, “human dignity”, “social justice” and “pluralism”.

Climate protest group Just Stop Oil (JSO) said two activists used chalk paint on the grave of the famous naturalist, who is best known for his theories on evolution.

Poland’s foreign minister has warned that foreign interference in Polish elections is illegal, following Elon Musk’s recent interventions in German and British politics. Presidential elections will take place in Poland this year.

There is concern growing in Syria that the new Islamist-led authorities have already decided on changes to the school curriculum, without the input of the rest of society. The Facebook page of the transitional government's education ministry has posted the new curriculum for all age groups, which will take on a more Islamic slant, as well as dropping any reference to the Assad era across all subjects. The phrase "Defending the nation" has been replaced by "Defending Allah", among other changes.

The legal team of suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol claimed Friday that Yoon's impeachment trial does not warrant a ruling as he should have immunity from prosecution, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on Donald Trump

A law that extends marriage rights to same-sex couples in Liechtenstein took effect on Wednesday.

Lawmakers in the small European country that borders Switzerland and Austria approved a marriage equality bill in May 2024. Liechtenstein is the last country in which German is the primary language to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.

Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Switzerland and Austria since 2022 and 2019 respectively. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Germany since 2017.

For its part, Jordan noted that more than 22,000 people have entered Syria through its territory, 3,100 of whom were registered refugees. Tweet URL

UNHCR teams noticed a shift in demographics of returnees from Jordan this week, with more women and children returning rather than men travelling alone.

“When interviewed, some families reported that the head of household would stay in Jordan for several more months in order to earn money that will support the family’s re-integration inside Syria before joining them,” the agency said.

South Korean police have raided the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol over his role in declaring martial law last week – a move that plunged Asia’s fourth-biggest economy into crisis and caused alarm among its allies.

Stolen Ukrainian children are being put up for adoption in Russia on websites that have received funding from Vladimir Putin, according to a landmark report.

The study by Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab details the Russian president’s direct involvement in the deportation, re-education and forced adoption of hundreds of Ukrainian children