The Islamic State (IS) militants on Sunday released 19 Christian Assyrians they had kidnapped last month, a monitoring group reported.
The 19 people are the first batch of 29 Assyrians the sharia court of the IS exonerated on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, Xinhua reported.
On February 23, the IS abducted 220 Christian Assyrians during an assault it had waged on predominantly Assyrian areas, mainly in the area of Tal Tamr and its countryside in Syria's northeastern province of al-Hasakah.
The fate of the other abductees is still unknown amid reports that the rest of the Assyrians are awaiting trials in the IS courts.
There is no clear reason why would the IS even put the Assyrians on trial.
Also on Sunday, the pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said the Syrian troops captured as many as 33 towns in the eastern countryside of Hasaka after clashes with the IS.
India is keen to deepen its strategic partnership with Russia in defence, nuclear energy, trade and investment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin in Brazil and invited him to visit the Kudankulam nuclear plant during his visit to India later this year.
Four more Palestinians were killed Wednesday in a new Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip, taking the death toll in nine days of bombing to 213 even as the Islamic Hamas movement rejected a Egyptian ceasefire proposal with Israel.
Indian-origin British MP Priti Patel has been appointed exchequer secretary to the Treasury department dealing with tax policy in a major cabinet reshuffle announced by British Prime Minister David Cameron Tuesday.
An Indian-origin woman in labour was turned away from a hospital's maternity unit in Britain - only to give birth 40 minutes later in her mother's living room, a media report said.
Returning employees understand the key components of an organisation's work culture and may also be more committed to the focal organisation upon their return, making them less risky hires, says a study.
