Syria

Barrel bombings and other Syrian government air raids on rebel districts of Aleppo and surrounding areas have killed 1,963 civilians since January, including 567 children, a monitoring group said Friday.
      

The traditional Commencement Speeches by U.S. presidents at the West Point Military Academy usually chart the course of their foreign policy agenda for their remaining term. President Barack Obama, in his speech on Wednesday, outlined the U.S.’s priorities for the remainder of his presidency and possibly further.

The Constitutional Court ruled on May 29 that the ruling to block YouTube violated the rights of users and freedom of speech.

President Barack Obama said Wednesday the U.S. will increase assistance to the Syrian opposition, opening the way for the likely training and possibly equipping of moderate rebels fighting to oust leader Bashar Assad.
     

The European Union said Thursday it was renewing economic sanctions against Syria, including an oil embargo and asset freezes against allies of President Bashar al-Assad, for another year.
      

In an unprecedented, three-year cyber espionage campaign, Iranian hackers created false social networking accounts and a fake news website to spy on military and political leaders in the United States, Israel and other countries, a cyber intelligence firm said on Thursday.
   

The destruction of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal will not be completed before a June 30 deadline agreed after Washington threatened air strikes last year, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has said.

An April 27 deadline for Syria to hand over its chemical weapons to international monitors also expired with Damascus holding around eight percent of its declared material.

The death toll from Syrian air raids on rebel-held areas in the northern city of Aleppo has topped 40 over a 24-hour period, a monitoring group said Wednesday.
      
Barrel bombs killed 22 people Tuesday in the eastern districts of Hay Qataneh, Tariq al-Bab, Bustan al-Qasr, Bani Zeid, Mghayer and Lairamoun, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
      

Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende has announced that his country will donate $2.5 million to the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) in order to contribute to the assistance for Syrian refuges who have taken shelter in Turkey.

The world's chemical watchdog on Tuesday denied a report by the Syrian government that investigators and their drivers on a fact-finding mission were kidnapped, saying the group was "safe" and returning to base after an attack.