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.