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Pakistani officials say the government plans to build a recreation complex in the town where al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. commandos in 2011. Syed Aqil Shah, sports and tourism minister in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Monday the project in Abbottabad will have a zoo, paragliding club and water sports facilities. It will also have cultural heritage park.

A Pakistani schoolgirl who underwent reconstructive surgery in Britain after being shot in the head by the Taliban said on Monday she felt much better and was focused on her mission to help others.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is issuing a parting warning about Iranian involvement in Syria's civil war and the rising threat of a larger regional conflict growing from it.

Shouting condemnation and promises of retaliation, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah condemned Israel's decision to send warplanes into Syria, calling its airstrike a day before "inhuman" and "barbaric."

Taliban leaders in Pakistan are pressing their soldiers in Afghanistan to step up attacks but minimize civilian casualties, a message that is dividing fighters from the leadership and may encourage some to quit the insurgency, a top Pentagon official said.

At least 65 people were found shot dead with their hands bound in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday in a "new massacre" in the near two-year revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said.

Russia said the chances of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad staying in power were growing "smaller and smaller", as fighting on Sunday in southwestern Damascus shut a main highway from the capital.

I have read the long 35,000-word script of the hearing on the nomination of Senator John Kerry to be the next U.S. Secretary of State. The hearing was held by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and in order for us to understand the personality of the new secretary of state, whose appointment will be unanimously approved, we should know that he had already testified before such a committee more than 40 years ago as a soldier returning from the Vietnam War.

China, long a bystander to the conflict in Afghanistan, is stepping up its involvement as U.S.-led forces prepare to withdraw, attracted by the country's vast mineral resources but concerned that any post-2014 chaos could embolden Islamist insurgents in its own territory....

France said on Thursday there were no signs that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is about to be overthrown, something Paris has been saying for months was just over the horizon.