The Daily Star Lebanon Breaking News, Lebanon News, Middle East News & World News

BEIRUT: Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria clashed with members of the Free Syrian Army, driving them from the city of Raqqa Wednesday in a sign of a worsening feud among rebels. Fighting between ISIS and the Ahfad al-Rasoul brigade for control of Raqqa – which fell out of the control of president Bashar Assad in March – has intensified over the last week. …

BEIRUT/ALEPPO: Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has quit his post as international peace envoy to Syria, shooting down hopes for a diplomatic resolution to the increasingly bloody conflict. Annan denied this resignation meant the Syrian people would be left to fend for themselves as battles raged in Aleppo, killing at least 60 people. Annan, who’s mission, centered on an April …

PATNA, India: Police on Wednesday arrested the head of a school in eastern India where 23 students died after eating food contaminated with pesticide, an officer told AFP. “The principal surrendered… and we have arrested her for questioning,” said Sujeet Kumar, police chief of Saran district in Bihar state where the children died. “We need to talk to her first before framing charges,” the official said …

SINGAPORE: The Ultimate Fighting Championship announced Thursday it had signed a multiyear deal with venues in Macao and Singapore to stage mixed martial arts events in the region from next year. The UFC said it would hold events at The Venetian resort hotel in Macau and Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands from 2014, and produce a Chinese version of its reality show The Ultimate Fighter. The organization made its …

LAUSANNE, Switzerland: One by one, the six candidates took their turn at the podium, trying to drum up support in their bid for the most powerful job in international sports. With just over two months before the election, the race to become the next International Olympic Committee president came into sharp focus Thursday with the contenders taking their case directly to the …

BEIT SHABAB, Lebanon: Fawzi Fakhoury’s hands are calloused and brown. Hours of shaping tough clay and standing in front of a burning wood oven have stained them shades darker than the rest of his body and toughened them so they are like leather. He is a short man with salt and pepper hair and bushy eyebrows, dressed in simple, mud-stained …

SIDON, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army deployed Tuesday in the suburb of Abra, south Lebanon, after clashes between supporters of Sheikh Ahmad Assir and the Resistance Brigades, a pro-Hezbollah group, claimed the life of one resident, security sources told The Daily Star. Backed by 20 armored personnel carriers, some 400 soldiers made their way into Abra, an eastern suburb of the southern coastal city …

BIRMINGHAM, England: Australia batsman David Warner was dropped for his team’s Champions Trophy washout against New Zealand on Wednesday for attacking England player Joe Root in a bar, inflaming tensions between the fierce rivals ahead of the Ashes series and leaving his test spot in jeopardy. While Cricket Australia maintained it was an alleged “physical altercation,” its English counterparts used stronger language by saying Warner “initiated an unprovoked …