BEIRUT- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview Monday that "factors are not yet in place" for peace talks despite efforts by world powers to convene a meeting next month. In the...

PARIS- Regular exercise boosts teenagers' school grades -- and particularly helps girls in science, a British study said Tuesday. The more physically active they were, the better children performed...

ROME, Laure Brumont- A political genius, a great reformer, a patron of the arts -- but ancient Rome's first emperor Augustus was also a family man, as highlighted in a new exhibition that opened in...

ALGIERS- An Algerian court on Sunday refused to release on bail a blogger held for nearly a month for posting cartoons on Facebook lampooning the president, his lawyer told AFP. The judge in Algiers...

CAIRO- UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said "intense efforts" were under way to convene Syrian peace talks, as he met with Egyptian officials Saturday at the start of a regional tour. The...

DAMASCUS- A suicide car bombing and assault on a checkpoint in a key Damascus neighbourhood killed 16 Syrian soldiers Saturday, as the UN-Arab League envoy began a regional push for peace talks. A UN...

UNITED NATIONS, Tim Witcher- Saudi Arabia angrily rejected a UN Security Council seat Friday, accusing the UN body of "double standards" over the Syria war and other trouble spots in an unprecedented...

TBILISI, Max Delany- Georgian scientists on Friday presented a 1.8 million-year-old skull discovered in the Caucasus nation that researchers say could force a re-evaluation of current theories of...

WASHINGTON- The United States Wednesday said Iran had shown a new level of "seriousness and substance," at talks with world powers on its nuclear program in Geneva. President Barack Obama has called...