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Assad regime that brutalised, tortured and killed thousands of innocent Syrians over the past half a century is a historic opportunity for the people of the country, outgoing US President Joe Biden said on Sunday. Biden spoke at the White House hours after rebel groups took over the country following more than a dozen years of violent civil war and decades of leadership by Bashar Assad and his family. «After 13 years of civil war in Syria and more than half a century of brutal authoritarian rule by Bashar Assad and his father before him, rebel forces have forced Assad to resign his office and flee the country. We're not sure where he is, but there's word that he's in Moscow. At long last, the Assad regime has fallen,» Biden said. «This regime brutalised, tortured and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians. The fall of the regime is a fundamental act of justice. It's a moment of historic opportunity for the long-suffering people of Syria to build a better future for their proud country,» he said.

Nifty 50, to rank among the worst performing global markets (after France and South Korea), between 27 September 2024 and 5 December 2024, according to data sourced from Reuters-Refinitiv for 22 global indices. The global indices cover the US, Europe, Asia, Russia and Latin America. Moreover, despite recovery in the first week of December, the last 10 weeks performance has also dragged the year-to-date performance of the Indian equity benchmark. The index was ranked second among the 22 global indices (after the Nasdaq Composite) based on returns between 29 December 2023 and 26 September 2024 (the day the Nifty 50 closed at its all-time high). However, after including the performance since the last week of September, the Nifty 50 has dragged to rank 11 in year-to-date performance. The Nifty 50 has delivered -5.6% returns in the last 10 weeks (since 27 September 2024) and 13.7% returns year-to-date. The returns and rankings are based on 5 December 2024 closing values.

Russia’s foreign ministry confirmed Sunday that Assad resigned from his position and left Syria, instructing the government to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, as mentioned in a report by Forbes. According to Moscow, Assad engaged in discussions with various factions involved in the conflict before making the decision to step down.

Gina Morello, originally from the USA and now based in Portugal, has achieved the remarkable feat of visiting all 193 United Nations member countries. In about two decades, she embarked on solo journeys, with 90 per cent of her travels undertaken alone. Once an aviation consultant, she transitioned to freelance work after the COVID-19 pandemic. Among her unique adventures, Morello has explored the isolated Wakhan Valley in Tajikistan, accessible only after a five-day horseback ride from Kabul, Afghanistan. She ventured to the Matsés people in the Amazon Rainforest via a two-day boat trip and visited the Bijago tribe in Guinea-Bissau, where women lead families. She’s also been to Sealand, the world’s smallest country, an offshore platform in the North Sea, and braved the extreme cold of Russia's Yamal Peninsula, where temperatures can drop to -50°C. Each destination offered her rare and extraordinary experiences, showcasing the diversity of the world’s most unconventional places.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the militant leader whose stunning insurgency toppled Syria's President Bashar Assad, has spent years working to remake his public image, renouncing longtime ties to al-Qaida and depicting himself as a champion of pluralism and tolerance. In recent days, the insurgency even dropped his nom de guerre and began referring to him by his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa. The extent of that transformation from jihadi extremist to would-be state builder is now put to the test. Insurgents control capital Damascus, Assad has fled into hiding, and for the first time after 50 years of his family's iron hand, it is an open question how Syria will be governed. Syria is home to multiple ethnic and religious communities, often pitted against each other by Assad's state and years of war. Many of them fear the possibility Sunni Islamist extremists will take over. The country is also fragmented among disparate armed factions, and foreign powers from Russia and Iran to the United States, Turkey and Israel all have their hands in the mix.

Bashar al-Assad’s long-standing reign. The capture of the Syrian capital comes after rebels seized northern Aleppo last week and rapidly advanced southwards, overrunning key cities like Homs. The takeover severed Damascus from the Alawite-dominated coastal regions, long considered Assad’s stronghold. Two senior Syrian military officials confirmed that Assad fled the capital aboard a plane on Sunday. Flightradar24 data showed a Syrian Air aircraft departing Damascus but abruptly vanishing from radar. Speculation abounds about whether the plane’s transponder was deactivated or if it was downed. “It disappeared off the radar, possibly the transponder was switched off, but I believe the bigger probability is that the aircraft was taken down,” a source stated, speaking anonymously.

immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, shortly after a meeting in Paris with French and Ukrainian leaders, claiming Kyiv «would like to make a deal» to end the more than 1,000-day war. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that Moscow and Kyiv have both lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers in a war that «should never have started.» «There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed,» he said, as he called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to act to bring the fighting to an end.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The worst argument of the West that I have encountered is that fake news changed public opinion and gave the world Donald Trump, and that this sort of propaganda creates the myth of other strongmen across the world. Like some bad Western theories, the view has developed the aura of a common truth even as evidence grows that it is highly unlikely and this view itself could be a piece of fake news.

Europe's economy has enough difficulties, from tepid growth to trade tensions with the U.S. Dealing with those woes is only getting harder due to the political chaos in the two biggest European countries, France and Germany

In a reversal, President Bashar al-Assad has fled the country as his forces abandon territory with little resistance, marking a pivotal shift in the 13-year civil war. For the first time since 2018, opposition groups have breached the defenses of Damascus, signaling the growing strength of rebel factions determined to overthrow the Assad regime. The question now looms: Who are these fighters, and what comes next if they succeed in toppling Assad’s government?

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on Sunday that Assad may have fled Syria, citing sources that claim he departed via Damascus International Airport after a series of rapid and surprising territorial losses to advancing rebel forces. This information, however, has not been independently verified by international agencies, deepening the mystery surrounding Assad’s current location and the stability of his regime.

Bashar al-Assad oversaw a merciless crackdown on a pro-democracy revolt that morphed into one of the bloodiest wars of the century. On Sunday, as rebels entered the capital, a Syrian war monitor said he had left the country, in what could spell the end not just of his 24-year rule but the downfall of his clan's five-decade reign. After facing down nationwide protests demanding his ouster and an armed rebellion that he all but crushed, Assad had — until a lightning rebel offensive — taken back control of much of Syria in the civil war that began in 2011.

Catch LIVE updates of Syrian Crisis with MintSyria War Live: X account ‘War Monitor’ hailed ‘first day in the next era of the Levant’ after rpeorts of Assad fleeing and his decade long regime falling into the hands of rebels emerged. Syria War Live: Syrian rebels say it is prohibited to go near public institutions that will remain under the supervision of the ‘former PM’, reports War MonitorSyria War Live: People celebrate in joy as military informs that the Assad regime has felled.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SYRIANS HAVE seen these scenes before: their countrymen tearing down posters of Bashar al-Assad, overrunning his army bases, storming the jails where he keeps political prisoners. But that was ten years ago and more, and they had not expected to see them again, certainly not now, and not with this air of finality.

Donald Trump takes office. Trump's November election victory has cast doubt on the future of American aid for Ukraine, providing a limited window for billions of dollars in already authorized assistance to be disbursed before he is sworn in next month. The package features drones, ammunition for precision HIMARS rocket launchers, and equipment and spare parts for artillery systems, tanks and armored vehicles, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Fitch credit rating agency on Friday affirmed Ukraine's long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating at 'RD' (restricted default) as its war with Russia drags past the 33-month mark. The agency also affirmed the sovereign's 'CCC+' long-term local currency amid the ongoing debt restructuring, aimed at easing its wartime financial pressures. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in late November, signed into law Ukraine's widely contested wartime tax increases, raising the war tax for residents to 5% from 1.5%.

Macron welcomed Donald Trump to Paris on Saturday with a full a dose of presidential pomp as the two men resumed the relationship they established during Trump's first term after a four-year hiatus. Trump, the once and future American president, said the two would be discussing a world that's gone «a little crazy» as they met one on one before a celebration of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral five years after a devastating fire. Trump's visit to France comes as Macron and other European leaders are trying to win Trump's favour and persuade him to maintain support for Ukraine in its defence against Russia's invasion. Macron's office said that would be discussed as well as the wars in the Middle East.

Bashar Assad was in serious trouble was 10 years ago, at the height of the country's civil war, when his forces lost control over parts of the largest city, Aleppo, and his opponents were closing in on the capital, Damascus. Back then, he was rescued by his chief international backer, Russia, and longtime regional ally Iran, which along with Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah militia helped Assad's forces retake Aleppo, tipping the war firmly in his favor. Now, as insurgents pursue a shock offensive that quickly captured not just Aleppo, but other key cities across the country's northwest and in the south, reaching the suburbs of the capital Damascus, the Syrian leader appears to be largely on his own.

participative diplomacy, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that the general sort of the needle is moving more towards the reality of a negotiation than the continuation of the Russia-Ukraine war. Jaishankar also highlighted the impact of the conflict situations in the Gulf and the Mediterranean region on countries all over, including India, in terms of cost escalation for oil, fertilisers and shipping etc. Visiting Doha to participate in the Doha Forum at the invitation of Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of State of Qatar Mohammed bin Abdulrahman and was addressing a panel along with him and Norway's Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide. Answering a question about the situation in the Gulf region and the latest in Syria, the External Affairs Minister highlighted how there is a widening of conflict and gave examples of Israel-Iran firing at each other; said how the situation in Red Sea is impacting shipping for Asia, and then, referred to a previous session of journalists who said even when the job is tough, journalists need to do it.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A fast-advancing rebel offensive in Syria threatens to dislodge Russia from a strategic linchpin that Moscow has used for a decade to project power in the Middle East, in the Mediterranean and into the African continent. It also challenges Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to portray Moscow as a flag bearer for an alternative global order to rival Western liberalism, and his defense of the Syrian regime as evidence of successful pushback against American dominance in the region.

The European Union has sent TikTok an urgent request for more information about Romanian intelligence files suggesting that Moscow coordinated influencers on its platform to promote an election candidate who became the surprise front-runner in the nati...