Syrian forces seized a suburb of Damascus on Thursday from rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad in a push that has shored up government control of the capital’s outskirts, state television reported.

French, UN and Malian forces were engaged in a major operation aimed at preventing a resurgence of Islamist rebels in Mali, the French military said Thursday. “We have engaged, with the Malian army and (UN mission) MINUSMA, in a large-scale operation” in the north of the country, French general staff …

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić stated on Thursday that the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo “cannot be recognized.” This is true “because Serbia has the support of the UN Security Council,” according to Nikolić.