Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, called for national unity Sunday, describing the outbreak of violence between government forces and supporters of ousted former President Bashar al-Assad as “expected challenges.”

Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed, with eyewitnesses accusing government supporters of carrying out execution-style killings.

“What is happening in the country are expected challenges. We must preserve national unity and civil peace in the country,” Sharaa said at a mosque in Damascus he said he used to pray at two decades ago.

“We are capable of living together in this country, as much as we can,” he added.

The clashes have killed at least 311 people in Syria since Thursday, according the UK-based independent monitoring group the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), which warned the actual death toll could be much higher.

Militants loyal to Assad have killed a further 147 people – 26 civilians and 121 security forces, SNHR’s director Fadel Abdul Ghani said.

The ongoing clashes are the worst outbreak of violence since Assad – a member of the minority Alawite sect – was toppled in December by Sunni Islamist militants who sought to reshape the country’s political and sectarian order.

Latakia and Tartous on the Mediterranean coast are areas where support among Syrian Alawites for Assad was strong. Alawites – some 10% of the population – were prominent in the Assad regime, and while many Alawites have surrendered their weapons since December, many others have not.

The latest surge in violence highlights the challenges Syria’s new regime faces in appeasing disenfranchised groups, especially those that remain heavily armed.

Romania’s central election authority on Sunday barred far-right pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu from running in May’s presidential election re-run.

The rejection of his candidacy, which was condemned by far-right party leaders as undemocratic, can be challenged at the constitutional court.

Dozens of supporters of the populist Georgescu gathered outside the election bureau shouting “Freedom” and briefly tried to force their way through the security cordon.

Georgescu submitted his candidacy for the May ballot re-run on Friday amid doubts that he would be allowed to run.

Romania’s highest court annulled the ballot two days before the second round of voting in December, citing allegations of Russian interference in Georgescu’s favor, which Moscow has denied.

Members of US President Donald Trump’s administration called Romania’s canceled election an example of European governments suppressing freedom of speech and political opponents.

Tech billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk called the election authority’s decision “crazy” on his social media platform X.

Georgescu is under criminal investigation on six counts, including membership in a fascist organization and communicating false information about campaign financing. He has denied all wrongdoing.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Armed men loyal to the Syrian government carried out field executions and spoke of purifying the country, according to eyewitnesses and video, providing a gruesome picture of a crackdown against remnants of the former Assad regime that spiraled into communal killings.

Syria has seen the worst outbreak of violence since the ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad late last year, after armed men descended on Alawite heartlands on Thursday in what Syrian authorities said was an attempt to put down an insurgency by rebels still loyal to the former government.

A UK-based independent monitoring group, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), said that at least 642 people have died in the violence, including scores of civilians who were killed after government forces committed “widespread field executions” of young men and adults.

‘They declared jihad on us’

“Armed men were moving from house to house attacking people as a form of entertainment… They declared jihad on us from all over Syria,” said one resident of the city of Latakia, who chose to remain anonymous through concern for the safety of their family still in the city.

“I fear for my life and the lives of my two children,” Bashir said.

Armed men started heading en masse to Latakia and Tartous on Thursday night after reports of attacks by Assad loyalists against Syria’s new government forces stationed in the Alawite cities.

“I was constantly in touch with my family; they told me there are gunfire sounds,” she said, adding that her family had said they also heard religious chants. Her family were civilians and not pro-Assad, she said.

The Assad family, members of the minority Alawite sect, ruled Syria for over half a century until Bashar was ousted in December by Sunni Islamist militants who sought to reshape the country’s political and sectarian order. The group, led by former al Qaeda militant Ahmad al-Sharaa, promised political equality and representation to the various sects of Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious populations.

Security remains a major challenge for the new administration. Syria’s Alawites – some 10% of the population – were prominent in the Assad regime, and while many Alawites have surrendered their weapons since December, many others have not.

The attacks started this week after reports emerged that Assad loyalists had ambushed and killed members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – the rebel group that spearheaded the rebellion that ousted the former Syrian leader.

A Syrian government source told state media that “individual violations” had been perpetrated after “large, unorganized crowds” traveled to the area.

‘A battle for purification’

Several videos appeared on social media showing convoys of armed men in vehicles heading to the cities of Latakia and Tartous in the run-up to the violence.

“It was the battle for liberation. Now it’s a battle for purification (of Syria),” a narrator accompanying the armed convoys says. It’s unclear when exactly the video was filmed.

“To the Alawites, we’re coming to slaughter you and your fathers,” a man in military fatigues said in what sounded like an Egyptian accent in one of the videos filmed at night.

“These are the Alawite pigs,” a voice is heard saying before shooting an apparently lifeless body on open ground in another video. It was unclear where or when the shooting took place.

Another video circulating on Syrian social media showed a man dressed in military fatigues pull up to a house on a motorcycle, and tell its resident to look at the camera before shooting him.

“I caught you, cheeky,” the attacker says laughing. “Are you still not dead? You’re still not dead,” he says before shooting him again.

In another, a man wearing military fatigues asks a captive to step outside a building, then tells him to bark like a dog before fatally shooting him.

The attacks raise major questions over the new Syrian administration which has made efforts to distance itself from its jihadist past.

“What happened from three months ago until today, equals what the Assads did to us in five decades. The Assads were criminals, and these (new rulers) are also criminals,” Bashir said.

Israel will cut the flow of electricity in the Gaza Strip immediately, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said in a statement Sunday.

“I just signed an order for the immediate halt of electricity to the Gaza Strip,” Cohen said.

“We will operate all of the tools that are at our disposal, to ensure the return of all the hostages,” he said, adding that Israel will ensure that Hamas is not in Gaza for “the day after.”

This comes as mediated talks over the ceasefire and hostage deal are underway, and as Hamas urges the “immediate” start of talks for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, which Israel opposes.

Israel wants to extend the first phase of the deal to continue the exchange of hostages –  but without any commitment to permanently ending the war. Last week, it announced a blockade of all aid into the enclave to pressure Hamas into accepting new terms for an extension of the current ceasefire agreement.

A Hamas delegation had arrived in Cairo on Friday to discuss the ceasefire deal and to push for a potential second phase of the agreement.

Israel had said it has “accepted an invitation” from US-backed mediators to send an Israeli delegation to Doha on Monday, “in an effort to advance the negotiations.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Thousands of supporters greeted Nepal’s former king in capital Kathmandu on Sunday and demanded his abolished monarchy be reinstated and Hinduism brought back as a state religion.

An estimated 10,000 supporters of Gyanendra Shah blocked the main entrance to Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport as he arrived from a tour of western Nepal.

“Vacate the royal palace for the king. Come back king, save the country. Long live our beloved king. We want monarchy,” the crowds chanted. Passengers were forced to walk to and from the airport.

Hundreds of riot police blocked the protesters from entering the airport and there was no violence.

Massive street protests in 2006 forced Gyanendra to give up his authoritarian rule, and two years later the parliament voted to abolish the monarchy as Gyanendra left the Royal Palace to live the life of a commoner.

But many Nepalis have grown frustrated with the republic, saying it has failed to bring about political stability and blaming it for a struggling economy and widespread corruption. Nepal has had 13 governments since the monarchy was abolished in 2008.

Rally participants said they were hoping for a change in the political system to stop the country from further deteriorating.

“We are here to give the king our full support and to rally behind him all the way to reinstating him in the royal throne,” said Thir Bahadur Bhandari, 72.

Among the thousands was 50-year-old carpenter Kulraj Shrestha, who had taken part in the 2006 protests against the king but has changed his mind and now supports the monarchy.

“The worst thing that is happening to the country is massive corruption and all politicians in power are not doing anything for the country,” Shrestha said. “I was in the protests that took away monarchy hoping it would help the country, but I was mistaken and the nation has further plunged so I have changed my mind.”

Gyanendra has not commented on the calls for the return of monarchy. Despite growing support for the former king, Gyanendra has slim chances of immediately returning to power.

He became the king in 2002, after his brother and family were massacred in the palace. He ruled as the constitutional head of state without executive or political powers until 2005, when he seized absolute power. He disbanded the government and parliament, jailed politicians and journalists and cut off communications, declaring a state of emergency and using the army to rule the country.

Prince Frederik of Luxembourg has died after a lifelong battle with a rare genetic disorder known as POLG mitochondrial disease.

He passed away on March 1 in Paris, his family announced on the website of the POLG Foundation, which Frederik started in 2022.

“It is with a very heavy heart that my wife and I would like to inform you of the passing of our son, The POLG Foundation Founder and Creative Director, Frederik,” his father Prince Robert of Luxembourg wrote.

The foundation describes POLG as a “genetic mitochondrial disorder that robs the body’s cells of energy, in turn causing progressive multiple organ dysfunction and failure.”

It said the disease has no treatment or cure.

“Frederik and the POLG Foundation … are committed to finding therapies and a cure to save other patients from suffering what Frederik and our family have endured,” his father wrote.

Prince Frederik died a day after Rare Disease Day. He was in his early 20s.

Mark Carney has been elected leader of Canada’s Liberal Party in a months-long, high stakes race to replace Justin Trudeau.

He will now be expected to lead the party into the next federal elections – which must be held before October, but could be called much earlier – where he is likely to face stiff competition from the Conservative party, which is currently leading in the polls.

While Carney will take over immediately as Liberal Party leader, Trudeau will remain as Canada’s prime minister for an as-yet undisclosed transitional period while his successor settles in.

One of the biggest issues in Carney’s immediate inbox will be the country’s souring relations with the United States.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed Canada for illegal immigration into the US, threatened to turn Canada into a 51st state, and impose steep tariffs on Canadian imports, which the White House says is necessary to stem the flow of fentanyl over its borders.

In his first remarks following the result of the vote, Carney referenced the tensions with the US, saying his government would “create new trading relationships with reliable trading partners.” He also vowed to keep retaliatory tariffs on the US “until the Americans show us respect.”

“New threats demand new ideas and a new plan,” he told the Liberal Party convention on Sunday.

Slamming the Trump administration’s tariff plans, Carney said of the US president, “He’s attacking Canadian families, workers, and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”

“In trade as in hockey, Canada will win,” he added.

The ripple effects of the tense relations with the US have spread through Canadian society, with fans at NHL and NBA games in Canada even booing the US national anthem.

Carney will now face off with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who has previously been compared to Trump but now seeks to distance himself from the US leader, reiterating at a press conference earlier this week that he is “not MAGA.”

At a rally on Sunday ahead of the Liberal vote, Poilievre delivered scathing remarks about Carney, a former governor of both the Bank of England and Bank of Canada, portraying him as a leader ill-equipped to deal with Trump.

“Working for Trudeau, Carney made Canada weaker and poorer; working for himself Carney made the United States richer and stronger,” Poilievre said.

In his remarks following the results of the vote, Carney shot back at his conservative opponent.

“Donald Trump thinks he can weaken us with his plan to divide and conquer. Pierre Poilievre’s plan will leave us divided and ready to be conquered,” Carney said.

In recent weeks, the lead enjoyed by the Conservatives has narrowed as Trudeau, Carney and other Liberal Party figures have taken strong positions on the trade dispute with the US.

Trudeau has led the party for over a decade. He took the Liberals to power in 2015, promising “sunny ways” for Canada and was elected two more times, most recently in 2021, when he remained in power but lost his governing majority.

Trudeau’s impending departure follows a series of political crises, rising economic discontent and the surprise resignation of his deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland – who was also in the race to succeed him.

In some of his last remarks as Liberal Party leader, Trudeau warned Sunday that Canadians face an “existential challenge” from the US.

“This is a nation-defining moment,” he told the Liberal leadership convention in Ottawa, ahead of Carney being announced as his successor.

“And now, as Canadians face from our neighbor an existential challenge, an economic crisis, Canadians are showing exactly what we are made of,” Trudeau said.

Plans for tackling Trump

Carney started his career in finance and in 2019 he was appointed UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. Drawing on his background, Carney has made clean energy, climate policies and economic prosperity for Canada some of the central facets of his campaign

Raised in Edmonton, Alberta, when launching his campaign, Carney highlighted his role in helping the government address its debt during the 2008 financial crisis – and his role in navigating Britain’s economy through Brexit.

Carney has zeroed in on bringing economic prosperity to Canada with the help of its natural resources like critical minerals and making Canada a leader in clean energy, stressing that being low-carbon will help Canada be more competitive. He has proposed shifting the financial burden of the carbon tax from consumers to big corporations and has said that under his leadership, the tax Canadian consumers and small businesses pay on fuel would be replaced with incentives to reduce carbon emissions.

Carney has not shied away from questions on how to tackle the Trump administration.

Since the US tariffs were announced last month, Carney has been an outspoken proponent of dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs that would hit the US hard but have minimal impact on Canada.

“We are a proud, independent nation. We view ourselves as the greatest country on Earth. We have been insulted on multiple occasions by senior members of the administration. We are not going to reciprocate in those insults.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Warships from Iran, China and Russia kicked off their annual joint exercises in the Gulf of Oman on Monday, showing off their military ties as US President Donald Trump upends longstanding Western alliances.

The “Security Belt-2025” drills, taking place near the Iranian port of Chabahar, is the fifth joint naval exercise Iran, China and Russia have held since 2019, according to Chinese state media.

Analysts have long seen the drills as a demonstration of the growing partnership among the three authoritarian powers as they seek to counterbalance US influence and challenge the Western-led global order.

But this year, the optics are even more pronounced as Trump disrupts the transatlantic alliance – a cornerstone of Western security for decades – by embracing Russia at the expense of Ukraine, and pushes Asian allies to pay more for US protection.

Asked about the drills on Sunday, Trump said he is “not at all” concerned about the show of force by the three US adversaries.

“We’re stronger than all of them. We have more power than all of them,” he told Fox News aboard Air Force One.

Concerns have been mounting in Washington about the emerging strategic partnership among China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, which US lawmakers have described as an “axis of authoritarianism,” “axis of autocrats” and “axis of dictators.”

The fear is that a shared animosity toward the US is increasingly driving these countries to work together – amplifying the threat that any one of them alone poses to Washington or its allies, not just in one region but perhaps in multiple parts of the world at the same time.

At the same time, Trump has openly embraced Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a bid to end the war in Ukraine by talking directly to Moscow while leaving Kyiv and European allies on the sidelines.

Russia and North Korea’s military relationship has strengthened considerably over the last year, with the two signing a mutual defense agreement and Pyongyang sending its troops to fight for Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine.

The drills also come amid heightened tension between US and Iran.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has restored what he calls his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in an attempt to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon – a move denounced by Tehran as “bullying” tactics.

The Gulf of Oman is a crucial gateway connecting the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Hormuz, through which more than one-quarter of the world’s seaborne traded oil passes.

The US maintains its own significant presence in the region via the Fifth Fleet which is based out of nearby Bahrain.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the joint naval exercises will involve 15 combat ships, support vessels and gunboats, as well as helicopters, according to state news agency TASS.

“The Russian side is represented by the Rezky and Russian Hero Aldar Tsydenzhapov corvettes, and the Pechenega tanker of the Pacific Fleet,” the ministry is quoted as saying.

China, meanwhile, deployed the Type 052D guided-missile destroyer Baotou and supply ship Gaoyouhu from a nearby naval escort task force to take part in the exercise, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The drills, with an aim to “enhance military trust and strengthen practical cooperation,” will include simulated strikes on maritime targets, visit-board-search-seizure operations and search and rescue drills, the ministry added.

Iran has sent a stealth missile corvette and a patrol ship, according to Iranian state media.

Police in southern India said Saturday that they arrested two men in connection with allegations of gang rape of an Israeli and a local woman.

The Israeli and her homestay operator were stargazing along with three male travelers, an American and two Indians, in Koppal town in southern Karnataka state on Thursday night, police official Ram L. Arasiddi said.

According to an initial investigation, three men on a motorbike approached them while asking for money. Following arguments, the three men pushed the male travelers into a nearby water canal and sexually assaulted the women, Arasiddi said. One of the Indian tourists drowned and his body was recovered on Saturday. The American and another Indian swam to safety.

Koppal is about 350 kilometers (217 miles) from Bengaluru, India’s startup and technology powerhouse.

Arasiddi said police set up a special investigation team that arrested two out of the three suspects on Saturday. They were being investigated on suspicion of attempted murder, gang rape and robbery, he said.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify victims of sexual assault.

Sexual assaults on women have become familiar in India, where police recorded 31,516 rape cases in 2022, a 20% increase from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. The real figure is believed to be far higher due to the stigma surrounding sexual violence and victims’ lack of faith in police.

Rape and sexual violence have been under the spotlight since the brutal 2012 gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus. The attack galvanized massive protests and inspired lawmakers to order the creation of fast-track courts dedicated to rape cases and stiffen penalties.

The rape law was amended in 2013, criminalizing stalking and voyeurism and lowering the age at which a person can be tried as an adult from 18 to 16. The government in 2018 approved the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under age 12.

Despite stringent laws, it’s rare for more than a few weeks to pass without another brutal sexual assault being reported.

High-profile cases involving foreign visitors have drawn international attention to the issue. Last year, in a video that was later deleted, a Spanish tourist said his wife was raped in northern India while an Indian-American woman said she was raped at a hotel in New Delhi. In 2022, a British tourist was raped in front of her partner in Goa.