An ISIS "massacre" and possible kidnapping in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor may have left hundreds of civilians and fighters dead, according to monitoring groups and Syrian state media.

Up to 400 civilians were kidnapped in an Islamic State attack on government-held neighborhoods in the city and taken to the countryside, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a United Kingdom-based monitoring group. ...

New peace negotiations are set to begin on January 25 in Geneva, Switzerland, and January 20 meetings between Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will include discussions to allow humanitarian aid to reach "beseiged and hard-to-reach places," according to a State department spokesperson. 

Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio on Sunday praised people for buying handguns to protect themselves from ISIS.

"I have a right to protect my family," said Rubio, a Florida senator. "I think many Americans around the country feel the same way ... If ISIS were to visit us, or our communities, at any moment, the last line of defense between ISIS and my family is the ability that I have to protect my family from them, or from a criminal, or anyone else who seeks to do us harm. Millions of Americans feel that way."

Rubio's praise for citizens arming themselves against ISIS echoes a common argument from gun enthusiasts. Easy access to guns, they argue, makes it easier for citizens to shoot mass shooters and other violent people when they begin killing people. Armed civilians almost never break up mass shootings.

New York City police are investigating an assault in which a man wearing traditional Muslim clothing was beaten by teenagers, who allegedly shouted “ISIS, ISIS” during the attack.

At the time of the attack, the victim, who is of Bangledeshi heritage, was wearing a shalwar kameez, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations. The shalwar kameez, a pant-and-tunic set, is worn by people across South Asia.

The attack occurs at a time when those who monitor hate groups say they are seeing an increase in the number of reported attacks on Muslims and Sikhs.

It's a holiday that thankfully has been gaining in recognition since Congress passed a bill and President Ronald Reagan signed it in 1983, designating the third Monday in January, starting in 1986, to honor the civil rights leader. For years, some states declined to participate in the holiday, and Arizona lost the opportunity to host a Super Bowl over it. In 2000, South Carolina became the last state to recognize the holiday.

year that fewer than 40% of American workers are given the day off -- about the same as Presidents Day and far behind the nearly universal observance of such holidays as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day.

We remain in a struggle to fight racism, a struggle all the tougher because racism has gone underground or hides its true intentions. Some studies refer to it as unconscious bias.

Three Americans freed in a prisoner swap with Iran arrived in Germany on Sunday evening after a brief stop in Switzerland, two White House officials said.

The fourth prisoner released in the swap, identified by U.S. officials as Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, decided not to leave Iran, senior White House officials said. "It's his free determination" whether he wants to stay in Iran, one official said. "We don't make that judgment."

Conflicting reports emerged Saturday after ISIS reportedly attacked a village in eastern Syrian and killed many people.

At least 42 ISIS fighters died, the London-based activist group said.

SANA said ISIS militants killed about 300 residents of the village. Most of the victims were women, children and seniors

The end of economic sanctions against Iran could shake up oil markets.

U.S. and European Union sanctions on Tehran were finally lifted on Saturday, restoring Iran's access to world's markets. Iran has been gearing up for this moment for months and could soon return to the top ranks of global oil producers.

Tehran is in a tricky position. The more oil it exports, the more likely prices will drop even more. Iran has relatively low production costs compared to other countries, but another slump in prices would put its plans at risk. The country desperately needs heavy investments in its out-of-date oil infrastructure

aiwan has elected its first female president in a landmark election that could unsettle relations with Beijing.

<img alt="Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen casts her ballot." class="media__image" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/160116153820-taiwan-election-6-large-169.jpg">Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen casts her ballot.The election also marked the first time the KMT has lost control of the island's legislature. The DPP took 68 of the 113 seats in Taiwan's parliament compared to the KMT's 35.

A masked man who killed a teacher and a pupil at a school in Sweden had "racist motives", police believe.

Police chief Niclas Hallgren said they had based their conclusion on what was found at the killer's apartment and "his behaviour during the act".

He had allegedly joined a campaign to push for a referendum on whether Sweden should continue accepting migrants.

Ivory Coast is holding a bitterly contested presidential election, the first since the civil war ended in 2011.

President Alassane Ouattara is running for a second term in the world's largest cocoa producer.

After refusing to admit defeat in November 2010, Mr Gbagbo was eventually arrested by a combination of French, UN and pro-Ouattara forces in April 2011.

Maldives president Abdulla Yameen has described his deputy as a threat to national security, after his arrest over an alleged assassination attempt last month.

Mr Yameen claimed bomb-making materials had been found during raids on Ahmed Adeeb's associates.

He said the investigation pointed to links between Mr Adeeb and two soldiers who were arrested for tampering with evidence on the boat soon after the blast.

Turnout has been high in Tanzania's most competitive general elections, officials say, as a new opposition coalition tries to end the governing party's 54-year grip on power.

Opinion polls have put the governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party ahead, but the result is expected to be close.

President Jakaya Kikwete, who is standing down after two terms, has called for peace ahead of the election, adding that "anyone who tries to cause trouble will be dealt with".

General elections in Haiti have gone ahead without major incidents, less than three months after parliamentary polls that were marred by violence.

Haitians were choosing from more than 50 candidates to succeed President Michel Martelly.

Whoever wins will face a daunting task when taking over from Mr Martelly in February.

A former TV comedian with no experience in government has won the run-off vote in Guatemala's presidential election.

Many voters see the comedian as a fresh start following nationwide protests that ousted Mr Perez Molina.

"As president I received a mandate, and the mandate of the people of Guatemala is to fight against the corruption that is consuming us. God bless and thank you," said Mr Morales after the count.

Another 100,000 spaces in refugee welcome centres will be created under a deal agreed by European leaders at an emergency summit in Brussels.

The heads of 11 EU states and three non-EU countries met to discuss how to handle growing number of migrants.

More than 9,000 migrants arrived in Greece every day last week, the highest rate so far this year.

Direct flights between Ukraine and Russia were grounded on Sunday, as mistrust between the two countries boiled over into a new trade war that could affect hundreds of thousands of people.

I never thought it would come to this,” said 30-year-old Alexander Mikhaylin, from Moscow, after walking off the last Russian flight into Kiev’s Boryspil airport late on Saturday night.

Moscow also says that at least 70% are Ukrainians trying to visit Russian relatives and that it was Kiev’s main airline that was likely to be financially hurt the most by the air blockade. Travellers must now look into other less convenient, more expensive options including slow overnight train rides and flights via other countries on relatively good terms with both sides.

t's no secret that education was the key to South Korea's remarkable transformation into one of the world's largest economies from a poor Asian country.

Providing a quality education is one of the 17 goals unveiled in a new sustainable development agenda adopted Friday by U.N. member states. The U.N. set 2030 as the target year for achieving the goals that call for, among other things, ending poverty and protecting the planet.

South Korea's education fervor helped transform the country into Asia's fourth-largest economy from the ashes of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The main strategic result of the ongoing Russian military operation in Syria is loss of the US monopoly on the recourse to force. Now, the US is lossing the leadership in the Middle East region. The success of the alternative anti-ISIS coalition will mean that the US could lose the leadership in a great part of the world, in Eurasia.

The US is pushed to answer on this challenge through political, military and media means. This is why Washington is preparing a military operation of Peshmerga and People’s Protection Units (YPG) to take control of Raqqa. The US military will coordinate this offensive and provide air support.

Indeed, this situation looks as a background of the future war. Nonetheless, the near-war situation can’t be stable. At the moment, the US and Russia stay on different sides of the trench. But, the rapidly changing situation could lead to occurrence of the shotgun marriage between Russia and the US.

If oil stays around $50 a barrel, most countries in the region will run out of cash in five years or less, warned a dire report from the International Monetary Fund this week. That includes OPEC leader Saudi Arabia as well as Oman and Bahrain.

Low oil prices will wipe out an estimated $360 billion from the region this year alone, the IMF said.

audi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, needs to sell oil at around $106 to balance its budget, according to IMF estimates. The kingdom barely has enough fiscal buffers to survive five years of $50 oil, the IMF said.

To bomb or not to bomb? This should not be the question but sadly it is. The Government will push for parliamentary approval to bomb Isis in Syria.

How can Britain help end the conflict in Syria, effecting a meaningful political and economic transition? Only this will accelerate the defeat of Isis, unseat the Assad regime and solve the refugee crisis.

Military solutions are non-existent. No side can realistically knock all the others out. International backers put their proxies’ survival above that of Syria’s. Vladimir Putin has terminated any realistic talk of imposing No Fly Zones, No Bomb Zones or Safe Zones.