World Bulletin/News Desk

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, fighting an internal uprising for the last three years, approved a bill on Tuesday to create a "Syrian Space Agency".

The state news agency SANA did not specify what the agency would do, but said it was "of a scientific research nature".

Some 140,000 people have been killed in Syria in an armed revolt that began after security forces used violence to crush peaceful protests against 40 years of Assad family rule.