Syrian security forces have opened fire on thousands of anti-government protesters in eastern and southern towns, killing at least eight people in an attempt to quell an uprising raging for the past five months. The protests came on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, a time when many protesters hoped would serve as a breaking point for President Bashar al-Assad's government. Instead, the government's crackdown has ..

More than 70 people have been killed in a fire at the 7-storey AMRI Hospital at Dhakuria

Hurricane Irene has spread inland over southeastern North Carolina in the US Atlantic coast, triggering emergency preparations that included unprecedented mandatory evacuations in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston as the massive storm approached. Washington and states from the Carolinas through Maine declared emergencies due to Irene, a nearly 960 km-wide hurricane that forced 55 million Americans on th..

The African Union has refused to explicitly recognise Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC), in a setback for Libyan rebels who have already been recognised as the legitimate government by more than 40 countries. Instead, the AU on Friday called for an inclusive transitional government in the North African state that would also involve officials from Muammar Gaddafi's side. "(The) council ... calls for the formation of..

In his first Friday sermon since the rebels entered the capital, the newest imam at Triploli’s centuries-old Naja Mosque praised God and the revolution, and called on followers to practise forgiveness, not revenge. The imam was well tuned to the human consequences of Libya’s civil war; his predecessor was shot and killed along with hundreds of other protesters in Tripoli on February 20, just days after demonstrations bega..