FRANKFURT, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 7, 2023--

Iraq’s prime minister held talks Sunday with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus during the first trip of its kind to the war-torn country since the 12-year conflict began. Iraq and Syria have had close relations for years even after many Arab countries withdrew their ambassadors for Damascus and Syria’s membership in the 22-member Arab League was suspended because of the crackdown on protesters in 2011. Assad received Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who was heading a high-ranking delegation, at the presidential palace in Damascus. They discussed mutual relations and cooperation between the two neighboring countries among other issues, according to the office of Syria’s president. Al-Sudani’s office said in a statement that talks revolved around ways of expanding cooperation in the fields of trade, economy, transportation, tourism, how to combat climate change and collaboration to fight terrorism. Security cooperation against extremist groups was likely to be on top of the two-day visit's agenda. The two countries, where Iran enjoys wide influence, have a joint 600 kilometers-long (373 miles) border. In June 2014, the Islamic State group declared the establishment of a self-styled “caliphate,” a traditional model of Islamic rule, in wide areas under its control in Iraq and Syria. After a yearslong campaign that left tens of thousands dead in both countries, IS was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in March 2019 in Syria. Over the past years, Syrian government forces regained control of much of Syria with the help of Russia and Iran. Earlier this year, Syria’s membership in the Arab League was reinstated and Assad attended the Arab summit that was held in Saudi Arabia in May. Al-Sudani was invited to visit Damascus during a trip by Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad to Baghdad last month. The U.S. has a presence in both Syria and Iraq and Syrian officials have been calling for the withdrawal of American troops from the country who first arrived in 2015. On any given day there are at least 900 U.S. forces in Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors attempting to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State group. U.S. special operations forces also move in and out of the country but are usually in small teams and are not included in the official count. U.S.-led coalition forces have officially ended their combat mission in Iraq, but continue to play an advisory role to Iraqi forces in the fight against the Islamic State extremist group. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

The fired founder of conservative nonprofit Project Veritas is under investigation by a suburban New York prosecutor’s office for allegedly mistreating workers and misspending organization funds

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with Vladimir Putin in a bid to persuade the Russian leader to rejoin the Black Sea grain deal that Moscow broke off from in July

Sharon Horgan has opened up about having post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after her eldest daughter was diagnosed with meningitis as a baby. The Irish actor, who will star in the forthcoming BBC One drama Best Interests with Michael Sheen, said she drew on the experience in order to play her character in the new series. Horgan’s daughter survived the life-threatening illness, but it left an “aftershock” on her mother. “We were so unbelievably lucky and we know that,” the Bad Sisters star told The Times in a new interview, published today (Sunday 11 June). “But the aftershock – there’s definitely PTSD and I dealt with any of my second daughter’s illnesses with blind panic because you always think, ‘If it can happen, why couldn’t it happen again?’” Both of Horgan’s daughters, Sadhbh and Amer, are now teenagers. She shares them with her ex-husband, Jeremy Rainbird. Best Interests tells the story of Nicci (Horgan), a mother who sues the NHS after doctors decide her Marnie (Niamh Moriarty) should be taken off life support after her condition, muscular dystrophy, deteriorates. Horgan stars opposite Sheen, who plays Nicci’s husband Andrew. In the show, Andrew is torn between his love for Marnie and his unwillingness to support his wife’s case. The friction between Nicci and Andrew shows that they “had a real relationship that has difficulties”, Horgan said. “When things get really, really bad, the accusations are there, a certain amount of finger-pointing, which happens anyway, just even in normal parenting,” she explained. After her divorce from Rainbird in 2019, Horgan said the adjustment to co-parenting made her doubt if she was a good mother. During an appearance on Desert Island Discs in 2020, she told host Lauren Laverne: “I was fun mum for years. I entirely thought that was my role but that changes when you co-parent. “Everything changes and you take on a lot more roles and I am much more practical than I was, and I think that is a positive thing.” She continued: “It had some dips in the middle where I thought, ‘Oh, that thing I thought I was, which was a good mother, I am not entirely sure about’. “When you bring anything like that into your kid’s life it’s tricky, when you turn the roles upside down, but it balances out and everything eased back.” Read More Shapewear is booming, and body image experts are worried: ‘It’s really dangerous’ Chris Hemsworth thanks wife Elsa Pataky for her ‘forgiveness’ Kelis addresses Bill Murray dating rumours for the first time Sharon Horgan opens up about ‘aftershock’ after daughter’s meningitis Jamie Foxx’s rep addresses conspiracy Covid vaccine left actor ‘paralyzed and blind’ Debate sparker over parent who wouldn’t give her daughter any birthday cake

The sheriff’s office exhumed Jerry Mikkelson's remains in June which led to new DNA samples as well as discovery of a titanium rod in his right femur

A failed political candidate has been indicted on federal charges including election interference in connection with a series of drive-by shootings at the homes of state and local lawmakers in Albuquerque

Japan’s Supreme Court has ruled that a law requiring transgender people to have their reproductive organs removed in order to officially change their gender is unconstitutional

A man who was part of a group of teenagers wrongly accused and imprisoned for the rape of a woman in Central Park has taken a commanding lead in a Democratic primary for a New York City Council seat

The casting call featured a picture of Mallory Beach with the word 'FLOAT' written across her face in red ink

HELSINKI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 28, 2023--

UNICEF is as big a part of Halloween as a carved pumpkin. Here's how that relationship began.