Hundreds of thousands of people in Australia's Queensland state were without power on Sunday after Alfred, a downgraded tropical cyclone, brought damaging winds and heavy rains, sparking flood warnings.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio set off on Sunday to fly to Saudi Arabia for talks with Ukraine, as President Donald Trump decides whether to relent on a freeze

U.S. officials will meet a Ukrainian delegation in Saudi Arabia to gauge Kyivs willingness to make concessions for peace with Russia. The meeting, led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Ukrainian official

Syrian leader Ahmed Sharaa called for peace on Sunday after hundreds were killed in coastal areas in the worst communal violence since the fall of Bashar al Assad. "We have to preserve national unity and domestic peace,

More than 700 civilians of the Alawite religious minority have been killed, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

The fighting presents a major test for Syria's new government as it tries to unite a diverse and deeply divided country after more than 13 years of civil war.