North Korea confirmed Saturday that an American veteran of the Korean War has been detained for "hostile acts" against the communist country and said he had released a written apology confessing to his alleged crimes.
Desperate Syrian refugee families in Lebanon are slipping further into debt and poverty, affecting their children's education and their dignity, an international aid agency said Thursday.
North Korea on Saturday issued a fresh warning of an "all-out war", urging the United States to stop military drills and what it described as "nuclear blackmail".
South Korea on Monday urged North Korea to review its decision to postpone a reunion for families separated by the Korean War, saying it had "deeply wounded" those chosen to participate.
Bashar al-Assad insisted Wednesday that Syria is not gripped by civil war but has been attacked by tens of thousands of foreign jihadist fighters allied to Al-Qaeda.
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad warned Monday that Western military strikes risked igniting a "regional war" in the "powder keg" of the Middle East, in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro.
In Wadi al-Nassara, a valley in western Syria dotted with Christian hamlets, residents have hung white silk ribbons to mourn war victims and pray the army will defeat its jihadist foes.
US armed intervention in Syria would not resolve the civil war and rebel forces cannot be relied on to back American interests, the top military chief said in a letter to Congress.
The 2008 war between Georgia and Russia over the separatist region of South Ossetia may have only lasted five days but five years on, Amiran Gugutishvili is still counting the cost.
The United States on Wednesday denounced as "repulsive" an Instagram site by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying it did not reflect the reality of the civil war.
The finger of blame which the Turkish government pointed at foreigners for orchestrating anti-government protests now appears to target foreign aid missions helping internally displaced Syrians.
Pakistan could end the Afghan war "in weeks" if it were serious about peace, and is complicit in US drone strikes despite its denunciations of the anti-militant campaign.
Dia's restaurant in the Lebanese resort village of Aley is deserted. Most years, he caters to thousands of rich Gulf Arab tourists and to visiting expats, but this year no one has come.
Syria's civil war has caused a split within Hamas over whether to cling to Shiite backers Damascus, Tehran and Hezbollah or side with Sunni allies such as Qatar, Egypt and Turkey.
