Bashar al-Assad's rise to power after three decades of his father's iron-fisted rule raised hope of democratic opening. But 20 years later, Syria is isolated and war-ravaged.

Rattled by a string of military defeats for ally Khalifa Haftar in neighboring Libya, Egypt has pressed for a ceasefire -- and, despite doubts, is sticking with the strongman for now, analysts say. 

Violent protests over the death of a black man in police custody led several US cities to impose curfews, but do they help maintain order or merely further antagonize demonstrators?

Lurching from tough talk to empathy and back again, with one eye firmly on his voter base, Donald Trump seems unsure what tone to strike as America is convulsed from Minneapolis to Los Angeles by furious anti-racism protests. 

Jalal was barely three years old when Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon two decades ago, but he speaks fondly of the Hizbullah "victory" that shaped his allegiance to the group.

Syria's top tycoon publicly airing his grievances has revealed a power struggle within the ruling family as it tries to cement its power after nine years of war, analysts say.

A host of state intelligence services warned early of a new coronavirus with the potential to wreak havoc worldwide, yet many governments failed to heed the warnings -- a mistake that experts say they are unlikely to make again.

Major social advances have often emerged from the depths of disaster: the Black Death brought an end to serfdom, and Britain's welfare state emerged from the ruins of World War II.

Britain now has the world's second-highest cumulative coronavirus death toll, behind only the United States, after updated official figures released on Tuesday showed it had surpassed Italy.

Protest-hit Lebanon has approved an economic rescue plan and requested aid from the International Monetary Fund as it battles its worst financial crisis in decades.