The government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spent the last decade building up a friendly relationship with Damascus by cultivating economic and political ties. Erdogan should to use some of that goodwill to convince Assad to halt the attacks.

Liquid Comics and Open Hands Initiative, a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to public diplomacy efforts, announced Saturday the launch of a new comic book that will introduce children around the world to The Silver Scorpion...[whose] powers include the ability to “help build bridges between the youth of America and the Arab world, starting with Syria.”

Liquid Comics and a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to public diplomacy efforts, will launch a new comic book featuring the Silver Scorpion, an Arab teenager who loses his legs in an accident, but whose powers include the ability to help build bridges between the youth of America and the Arab world.

At Erdogan's initiative, Syria and Turkey in 2009 abolished visas for their citizens traveling between the countries, held joint cabinet meetings and conducted small-scale military exercises. Turkish exports to Syria are booming. This type of integration has been the cornerstone of Turkey's much-heralded "zero problems with neighbors" policy.

The Syrian ambassador's invitation to Friday's royal wedding has been withdrawn after officials said it was "inappropriate" for him to attend. The decision to invite Dr Sami Khiyami had been criticised, amid condemnation of a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in the country.

But as the turbulence in Syria and international outrage over the hundreds killed gain momentum, many Iranian diplomats, pundits and academics can evade the question no longer. In an interview on Iran's Arabic-language Alam TV on Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast... vaguely and tactfully stated that Iran respected the sovereignty of other countries.

From the monolithic American view, Egypt and Syria would not appear to be especially different countries, although the outcomes of efforts to embrace democracy have been very much so. Meanwhile, pro-democracy movements have encountered varying degrees of success in Tunisia and Yemen and abject failure in Bahrain, where Saudi security forces were part of the crackdown, as well as in Algeria.

An exhibition of collection of photos which highlighting the common history between Syria and Dacia in the old ages was organized at the Romanian National Museum in the capital Bucharest.