Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam failed Monday to allay public anger over violent attacks in the city overnight, condemning what she called “riotous” protesters who vandalized a Chinese government building before expressing “regret” that a gang of men armed with rods and cudgels attacked demonstrators and others in the early hours of the morning.

A day of mostly peaceful protests descended into violence late Sunday as police clashed with demonstrators in a central neighborhood while, across the harbor, an organized mob attacked protesters, journalists and passersby in the most barbaric episode of protest-related violence since the unrest began in early June. The latter incident caused public outrage as authorities were accused of doing little to stop the violence.

Outside the Central Police Station, columns of police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds of protesters following a tense standoff during which demonstrators hurled projectiles at officers. Some of the demonstra..

(BEIRUT) — An airstrike struck a busy market in a rebel-held town in northwestern Syria on Monday, killing at least 16 people, according to opposition activists and a war monitoring group.

The airstrike took place in the town of Maaret al-Numan and also wounded more than 30 people, according to the reports from the region which has witnessed intensive airstrikes and bombardment on daily basis as Syrian troops, backed by Russian air cover, try to push their way into the enclave near the Turkish border.

Idlib province, in the northwestern corner of Syria, is the last major rebel stronghold in the country outside the control of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Syrian government forces launched their offensive in Idlib province in late April and fighting has killed more than 2,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

But the troops have made little progress since the push started.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the fighting on the ground in ..

Iran, locked in a worsening political standoff with Western powers, has handed down death sentences to several nationals accused of being part of a CIA-trained spy network uncovered earlier this year, an official said on Monday.

Seventeen people were arrested in all, a senior intelligence official told foreign media in Tehran. None of the suspects are dual nationals, according to the official, who declined to be identified and didn’t say how many were sentenced to death.

The announcement marks a show of force by Iran at a time of turbulent ties with the U.S. after the Trump administration withdrew from an 2015 nuclear accord with the Islamic Republic and reimposed crippling sanctions on its economy.

The friction was made worse by a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the U.K., which seized an Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar earlier this month, saying it carried oil bound for Syria in violation of United Nations sanctions. Iran responded by holding a British tanker on Friday near the ..

(DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan) — A female suicide bomber struck outside a hospital in Pakistan on Sunday as the wounded were being brought in from an earlier shooting against police, in a complex assault claimed by the Pakistani Taliban that killed a total of nine people and wounded another 30.

Salim Riaz Khan, a senior police officer in Dera Ismail Khan, said gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on police in a residential area, killing two. He says the bomber then struck at the entrance to the hospital, killing another four police and three civilians who were visiting their relatives. He said eight police were among the wounded, and that many of the wounded were in critical condition.

Inayat Ullah, a local forensics expert, said the female attacker set off 7 kilograms (15 pounds) of explosives packed with nails and ball-bearings.

The blast damaged the emergency room and forced it to shut down, according to a hospital official, who said the wounded were taken to a military hospital. The ..