Air strikes return to Syria's Ghouta killing 40 as talks sputter

Air strikes killed 40 civilians in the last opposition-held town in Syria's Eastern Ghouta on Friday and the army launched a ground offensive on its outskirts after talks sputtered over a rebel withdrawal. Backed by Russia, Syrian troops have captured nearly all of the one-time opposition stronghold of Ghouta with a combination of ferocious bombing raids and negotiated withdrawals. All that remained was its largest town of Douma, held by the Jaish al-Islam Islamist faction and home to tens of thousands of people.