Syria conflict: 76,000 die in deadliest year – activists
The year 2014 was the deadliest year yet in Syria’s four-year conflict, with over 76,000 killed, activists say. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 17,790 of the dead were civilians, including 3,501 children. Meanwhile more than 15,000 died in conflicts in Iraq in 2014,... read more »
Father of pilot captured by ISIS pleads for release
AMMAN (Jordan): The father of a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State militants in Syria has pleaded for his son’s release. Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh, speaking to reporters in the Jordanian capital Amman on Thursday, also urged the militants to show “hospitality” toward his... read more »
IS stones to death two alleged gay men in Syria
DAMASCUS: Islamic State (IS) militants stoned to death two young men in Syria’s eastern province of Deir al-Zour on charges of having “unlawful” sexual intercourse with other males, a monitoring group has reported. The first man, 20-year-old, was stoned to death at the al-Bakara... read more »
Egyptian president to meet Pope Francis on Monday
VATICAN CITY: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will meet Pope Francis on Monday, Holy See spokesman Federico Lombardi said, in the first visit to the Vatican by an Egyptian leader in eight years. The afternoon meeting comes six months after Sisi’s rise to power. According to religious... read more »
