Aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Tyr, The crew was about to dig into dinner when word of the "ghost ship" came through: a freighter hurtling out of control toward Italy with no crew — and hundreds of Syrians as cargo.

UN report reveals rising numbers

BEIRUT— A growing number of Syrian refugee children in Lebanon and Jordan are fast becoming primary providers for families who lack resources for basic survival, the United Nations refugee agency said in a report Friday.

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels on Saturday freed 21 U.N. peacekeepers after holding them hostage for four days, ending a sudden entanglement with the world body that earned those trying to oust President Bashar Assad a flood of negative publicity.