Syria - Page 8

The Russian and US-brokered nationwide ceasefire in Syria has come into effect, beginning at 7pm Damascus time (16:00 GMT). The Russian Defense Ministry says Moscow will continue airstrikes targeting terrorists.

The US says fighting between Turkey, pro-Turkish rebels and Kurdish-aligned forces in northern Syria is "unacceptable" and must stop.

Nearly 18,000 people have died in government prisons in Syria since the beginning of the uprising in 2011, according to Amnesty International.

A Russian Mi-8 helicopter has been shot down by ground fire in Syria following delivery of humanitarian supplies to Aleppo, the Defense Ministry said. Three crew and two officers from Russia's Reconciliation Center died, according to a Kremlin statement.

Prosecutors in Paris charged Rifaat al-Assad, the uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with corruption earlier this month, an anti-corruption group said Tuesday.

If successful it could cut the militants' main access route to the outside world, paving the way for an assault on their Syrian capital Raqqa.

At least eight people have been killed in suicide bomb attacks on a suburb of Damascus which is home to Syria's holiest Shia shrine, state media say.

Government troops backed by Russian air strikes approach group's de facto capital for the first time since August 2014.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the monitoring group, said Tabqa would be a difficult military target because Islamic State has large stocks of weapons there.

A series of car and suicide bombings has hit two government strongholds on Syria's Mediterranean coast

The hospital has reportedly been badly damaged.

Airstrikes pummeled the al Quds Hospital in a rebel-held part of Aleppo last week. There are just six doctors left there.

Sixteen US service members were disciplined for their roles in the deadly strike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan last October. The Pentagon is set to release an investigation into the bombing on Friday.

Air strikes destroyed a hospital and killed dozens of people in rebel-held areas of Syria's Aleppo including children and doctors, while the United Nations called on Moscow and Washington to salvage a "barely alive" ceasefire.

Barack Obama wants to leave a legacy that shows some sign of a successful presidency. However he continues to experiment in Syria, which may hamper the Geneva peace talks, says Hans-Christof Von Sponeck, former UN Assistant Secretary-General.