Syria's state-run SANA news agency said three people were wounded in a mortar attack on the northern Damascus district of Abbasid Thursday.

NPR: Syrian Troops Advance In Central City Of Homs

AD, the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur consulted a Persian astrologer called Nawbakht to find a conjunction of the planets favourable to laying the foundation stone for a new capital.

ECONOMIST: The Star of Bethlehem

Around the time of the Abbasid dynasty, cross-border trade became extremely active in the Islamic world with merchants acting as mediators for the movement of goods among western and African countries, India, and (later) China.

ECONOMIST: The once and future boom