Russia has denied responsibility for an attack on a neighbourhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo which wounded a young boy whose rescue was filmed and shared widely on social media.

The little boy who became the face of Syria’s suffering after a video of his bloodied face went viral has been reunited with his parents.

Prime Minister John Howard vowed today to crack down on potential terrorists in Australia but said his administration would not take “extreme” steps to check the threat.

One of Australia’s leading Islamic clerics says he does not believe Osama bin Laden directed the September 11 2001 terrorist strikes against America or that Muslims were involved in either that attack or last week’s London bombings.