Refugees forced back by Macedonian police

IDOMENI (Greece) • Macedonian police firing tear gas and stun grenades drove back crowds of refugees trying to enter from Greece yesterday, sealing the frontier to thousands of Syrians, Afghans and others seeking to reach western Europe.

The Balkan country has declared a state of emergency on its borders after weeks of chaos at a railway station inundated daily by up to 2,000 refugees crossing from Greece en route to Hungary and Europe's borderless Schengen zone.

REUTERS

ISIS militants 'destroy ancient monastery'

BEIRUT • Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants have destroyed an ancient monastery in the central Syrian province of Homs, according to a monitor and pictures published by the militants. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said the militants had demolished the Syriac Catholic monastery, which was named after a martyr who refused to renounce his faith.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE