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By Maya Gebeily and Michelle Nichols for Reuters Syrians sit on an abandoned government tank in front of a slogan that reads "We are your men, Bashar" and "Long Live Syria", in the Damascus suburb of Daraya. Photo: AFP / Rami Al Sayed Syrian banks, oil sector set to resume work on Tuesday US seeking ways to engage with Syrian rebel leaders now in charge Israel criticized by Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia for seizing Syria buffer zone The lightning overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad has left Syrians, countries in the region and world powers nervous about what comes next, as the rebel alliance takes its first steps in a government transition. The United Nations Security Council met behind closed doors late on Monday, and diplomats said they were still in shock at how quickly Assad...

A booking photo, taken on 9 December 2024, obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections shows Luigi Mangione. Photo: AFP / Pennsylvania Department of Corrections A man arrested in connection with the shooting of an insurance executive in New York was carrying a handwritten document suggesting he had "ill will towards corporate America", US police say. Luigi Mangione, 26, has been charged with weapons and other offences after he was arrested at a Pennsylvania McDonald's. A customer recognised his face from media coverage and notified an employee, who called police, officers said. They said Mangione initially produced a fake ID when approached by officers at the McDonald's. What we know about Luigi Mangione When they asked him to remove his face mask, they recognised him as a ...

By Kanishka Singh for Reuters The negative and one-star reviews showed up after Luigi Mangione, 26, was captured at a McDonald's in Altoona. File pic Photo: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via AFP Google on Monday removed derogatory reviews about McDonald's after the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealth executive Brian Thompson was arrested at its restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where police say a customer alerted a local employee about him. The negative comments aimed at McDonald's were the latest in what is known as "review bombing," where an establishment is hit with a litany of bad reviews based on a political view or an occurrence unrelated to its actual business. In this case, the negative and one-star reviews showed up after Luigi Mangione, 26, was captured at a McDonald's in...

By Maayan Lubell and Emily Rose for Reuters Israeli military armoured vehicles cross the fence to Syria near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights on December 8, 2024. Photo: AFP / JALAA MAREY Israel will step up airstrikes on Syrian stores of advanced weaponry, Israeli officials said on Monday, and keep a "limited" troop presence on the ground, hoping to head off any threat that could emerge in the fallout of president Bashar al-Assad's overthrow. Israel has watched the upheaval in Syria with a mixture of hope and concern as it weighs the consequences of one of the most significant strategic shifts in the Middle East in years. "We are taking all the actions necessary to try to ensure our security with regard to the new situation in Syria," Israeli Pri...

People gather at the Sednaya prison as Syrian rescuers search for potential hidden basements at the facility in Damascus on 9 December, 2024. Photo: AFP / Mohammed Al-Rifai Families hunt through labyrinthine prison complex Thousands wait outside hoping for news of loved ones Efforts to find prisoners in hidden cells fruitless As families desperately scoured the filthy cells of Syria's forbidding Sednaya prison on Monday for any sign of long-detained relatives after its gates were flung open by rebels, hope for finding missing loved ones began to fade. Thousands of prisoners spilled out of president Bashar al-Assad's pitiless detention system after he was toppled on Sunday, sometimes to tearful reunions with relatives who believed they had been executed years earlier. But countless ...