A man killed his mother at home and then opened fire Friday inside the elementary school, massacring 26 people, including 20 young children, as youngsters cowered in their classrooms and trembled helplessly to the sound of gunfire reverberating through the building.

Egyptian expatriates began voting Wednesday, December 12, in a referendum on the country’s new constitution.Voting on the referendum at home will be held over two days, December 15 and December 22.

Saudi Arabia pledged on Wednesday to donate $100 million in humanitarian aid to the Syrian people during a Friends of Syria meeting.

At least sixteen people have been killed and more than 25 wounded, including women and children, after a car bomb exploded in Qatana, a town 25km southwest of Damascus, Syrian state media reports.

The Egyptian army deployed tanks Thursday, December 6, outside the presidential palace after deadly clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi.

An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale has hit eastern Iran, killing at least eight people and injuring 12 others, Iranian media reports.

Turkey and Russia aired their differences on Syria but decided to set them aside to protect their robust business and energy ties.

Syria has resumed an aerial attack on the rebel-held town of Ras al-Ain, near the border with Turkey, dropping two bombs on a Syrian security building that had been captured by the rebels, according to an official from the mayor’s office in the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar.

Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki on Saturday warned of the danger of “ethnic conflict” in Iraq, after negotiations aimed at easing Arab-Kurd tensions in the country’s north stalled this week.

A new study has found that US mainstream media outlets are dominated by anti-Islam groups to shape the distorted public discourse about the Islamic faith since the 9/11 attacks.