War | featured news

Syrian opposition groups have signed an initial agreement to form a new coalition of forces fighting to end the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, a Syrian delegate at talks in Doha said on Sunday.

Syrian rebels capture a key oilfield in eastern Deir Ezzor province, activists say, the first time such a facility has been taken.

Syrian soldiers backed by tanks entered the Damascus suburb of Mouadamiya on Tuesday, killing at least 20 young men and burning shops and houses before gradually withdrawing from the town, residents and opposition activists said.

At a dusty intersection just north of Bentiu, three young South Sudanese soldiers were waiting for a lift to the frontlines. "We are in a process leading to war," said 24-year-old Moses Akon, thoughtfully. Trucks and pick-ups crammed with troop reinforcements, weapons, and a surprising amount of beer - crates of Red Horse beer to be precise - raced past.

President Obama sharply criticized his Republican presidential rivals Tuesday for talking “casually” about going to war with Iran, saying that when such decisions are made for political reasons, “we make mistakes.”

DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed a Gulf initiative on Wednesday to hand over power to his deputy as part of a proposal to end months of protests that have pushed the Arab country to the brink of civil war.

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi is sending fresh signals through emissaries that he is ready to discuss stepping down, Western diplomats said Tuesday, as new intelligence assessments pointed to worsening conditions among his troops. The overtures by aides close to Gaddafi appeared to reflect a deepening pessimism inside a government that is under assault on two fronts and faces shortages of critical supplies, according to U.S. and European analysts and government officials.

North Korea said on Friday the peninsula was heading toward war and it was ready to tear up all agreements with the South after it accused the reclusive state of torpedoing a navy ship near their disputed border.

The father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by the Westboro Baptist Church says an order to pay the protesters' legal costs in a civil claim is nothing less than a "slap in the face."

This holiday season's biggest entertainment blockbuster likely will be a sequel to a popular franchise, with jarring depictions of war and an intricate story of good versus evil. It could easily rake in more than last year's record $155 million opening weekend for "The Dark Knight."...