DPA An enterprising music-lover is producing what look like simple wooden boxes, but are in fact cajons, a fast-rising musical instrument which all the hippest bands now want to play. “The first time I saw a cuboid like this was at a concert. I was thrilled,” Markus Meyer recalls. The German, who had been fascinated by musical instruments since childhood, ...

Beirut / AP Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with key players in the Syria conflict, including President Bashar Assad, ahead of a US-Russia-engineered cease-fire, as the opposition voiced concerns that the truce due to begin later this week will only benefit the Syrian government. Government troops backed by Russian warplanes waged fierce battles to regain control of a strategic road ...

Beirut / AFP The Syrian army retook a strategic town from the IS group on Thursday, paving the way for the reopening of its sole supply route to main northern city Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops still needed to clear the extremists from hills overlooking the key highway before it could be fully secured. The road ...