The citizens of Damascus largely celebrated the fall of Bashar al-Assad's hated regime with joy, after 13 long years of brutal civil war.
Hours before rebel forces seized Damascus and toppled his government on Sunday, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was already out of the country, telling hardly anyone, five former officials told AFP.
The night before, Assad had even asked his close adviser Buthaina Shaaban to prepare a speech -- which the ousted leader never gave -- before flying from Damascus airport to Russia's Hmeimim air base in Syria, and from there out of the country.
Georgia's ruling party is set to appoint a far-right loyalist as president on Saturday in a controversial election process, amid a deepening constitutional crisis and weeks of mass pro-EU protests.
South Korean lawmakers vote Saturday on whether to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid, a second parliamentary showdown that appeared on a knife edge.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered the military to "prepare to remain" throughout the winter in the UN-patrolled buffer zone that is supposed to separate Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights.
Francois Bayrou, one of few political heavyweights to have stood by French President Emmanuel Macron since he came to power in 2017, now faces his biggest challenge after finally being promoted to prime minister.
Fifty years ago, a 28-year-old Colombian with a bushy beard, flares and vintage Raleigh bicycle led a revolution on the streets of Bogota.
Most of what we know about humans living to very old age is based on faulty data, including the science behind the "blue zones" famous for having a high proportion of people over 100, according to one researcher.
Georgia's pro-EU protests entered their third week Thursday, amid fears the post-electoral crisis could further escalate with the ruling party set to appoint a loyalist as the country's next president.
US President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday appointed election denier Kari Lake to be the new director of Voice of America, the state-funded international media organization.
In the small town of Dedovsk, just outside Moscow, pensioner Zinaida Kudriavtseva is struggling to pay the bills.
French President Emmanuel Macron was expected Thursday to name a new prime minister a week after MPs toppled the government, with politicians across the spectrum holding their breath while he conducts a day visit to Poland.
Salome Zurabishvili was a French diplomat before entering the turbulent politics of her ancestral homeland, where she was elected Georgia's first woman leader in 2018 and became the beacon of Tbilisi's EU aspirations.
The United States was pushing Thursday for an "inclusive" transition in Syria from president Bashar al-Assad's brutal rule, after the country's new leaders pledged to protect minority rights.
Her husband orchestrating her sexual abuse by strangers could have broken her.
Mohammed Naeem knew the Kabul street where he and his brothers built matching apartment buildings was too narrow, but he was still in disbelief as their homes were reduced to rubble to widen the road.
Russia on Wednesday vowed retribution against Ukraine, accusing Kyiv of firing Western-supplied missiles on a military airfield in its southern Rostov region.
Taiwan said Wednesday it had detected 53 Chinese military aircraft and 19 ships near the island in the past 24 hours, as Beijing holds its biggest maritime mobilisation in years.
Rescuers were working Wednesday to find people under the rubble of a building destroyed in a Russian attack the day before that killed eight people, Ukrainian officials said.
French President Emmanuel Macron raced Wednesday to meet a self-imposed 48-hour deadline to name a new prime minister after he hosted party bosses in a bid to hammer out a consensus and avoid a protracted political crisis.
Two suspects daubed anti-Israel graffiti and torched a car in a Sydney suburb on Wednesday, police said, sparking "outrage" from Australia's government days after a Melbourne synagogue was set ablaze.
South Korean police said Wednesday that security guards were blocking a raid on President Yoon Suk Yeol's offices to investigate his brief imposition of martial law, with the opposition party accusing the presidential staff of illegally protecting an insurrectionist.
China has expanded military drills around Taiwan aimed at drawing "a red line" for the next US president, Taipei authorities said on Wednesday, branding Beijing a "troublemaker".
For three years, Kala and her family were stranded on a remote British-US military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean, trapped in horrific conditions after fleeing persecution at home.
Pro-Europe protests showed no sign of abating Tuesday, with thousands taking to the streets as the European Union warned it could punish Tbilisi for its crackdown on demonstrators.
Syrians lived in terror for decades of what went on behind the concrete walls of Damascus's security compound.
China's "coercive behaviour" threatens regional stability, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday, after Taiwan said Beijing was carrying out its biggest maritime mobilisation around the self-ruled island in years.
South Korean authorities banned more top officials from leaving the country Tuesday, in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol's bungled attempt to impose martial law.
A war monitor said on Tuesday that Israel had conducted 300 strikes on Syria since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad, adding that the raids had "destroyed the most important military sites" in the country.
China is deploying dozens of ships in its biggest maritime mobilisation around Taiwan in years, Taipei said Tuesday, after Beijing voiced fury at President Lai Ching-te's recent visit to the United States.
