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.
A new video released by Islamist militant group Boko Haram claimed to show around 130 girls kidnapped from a school in Nigeria last month, BBC reported Monday.
The European Union (EU) Monday added 13 people to the list of those subject to targeted sanctions for alleged actions "undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence".
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine stand-off may jeopardise natural gas supplies to the European countries despite Moscow's efforts to abide by contracts, a senior official said Monday.
India-born Hinduja brothers, Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, have emerged as the richest men in Britain with a net wealth of 11.9 billion pounds (about $20 billion), according to a report.
Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has been diagnosed with breast tumours at a hospital in New York. Doctors found the tumours "quite big" and advised her biopsy to check on possible malignancy, bdnews24.com reported.
