French ground troops deployed around the central Malian town of Niono today in a bid to halt any further advance by Islamist rebels who have seized the nearby village of Diabaly, Malian military sources said.
Islamist rebels in Mali abandoned the central town of Diabaly today after fleeing a French air strike, military sources said, while West African troops arrived in Bamako to take on the insurgents in Mali's north.
French troops have taken control of the airport in the northern Malian town of Kidal, the last rebel stronghold in the north, the French army and a local official told reporters today.
At least 11 people were killed in fierce fighting that broke out in a Damascus suburb today when Syrian forces mounted an armoured attack to try and regain the area from rebels, opposition activists said.
The Obama administration does not rule out a complete withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after 2014, the White House said today, just days before President Barack Obama is due to meet Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
French aircraft pounded Islamist rebels in Mali for a second day today and neighbouring West African states sped up their plans to deploy troops in an international campaign to prevent groups linked to al Qaeda expanding their power base.
Syrian troops backed by helicopters and tanks have struck back in Damascus against rebel fighters emboldened by a bomb attack against President Bashar al-Assad's inner circle.
The government will deploy the 1,200 troops who were put on stand-by last week to help secure the London Olympics, a British minister said as security arrangements were tweaked to make up for a private firm's failure to recruit enough guards.
Damascus and Syria's second biggest city, Aleppo, came under shell fire today as troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad stepped up efforts to crush rebels threatening the government's two main power centres.
President Barack Obama wants an investigation into photographs that have surfaced of US soldiers posing with the bodies of dead Afghan insurgents and that those responsible be held accountable, the White House said today.
In a bare concrete room in a far-flung corner of Central African Republic, US special forces and Ugandan soldiers map out the hunt for one of Africa's most wanted rebel leaders hiding in an area the size of California.
Rebel forces attacked Syria's main court in central Damascus, state television said, while Turkey deployed troops and anti-aircraft rocket launchers to the Syrian border, building pressure on President Bashar al-Assad.
Foreign troops must carefully phase their withdrawal from Afghanistan ahead of an end-2014 deadline, British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Saturday, after France suggested giving Afghan forces full responsibility for security in 2013.
Afghanistan wants the United States to clearly spell out what sort of military presence it will leave behind once most of its combat troops leave by the end of 2014, a senior Afghan official said.
Syria accused "terrorists" of planting a roadside bomb that blew up in Aleppo, killing one officer and wounding at least 24 cadets and officers in an attempt to sabotage a UN-backed ceasefire, state media said today.
A roadside bomb killed five foreign soldiers in eastern Afghanistan, NATO-led forces said in a statement, one of the deadliest such attacks in months.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki declared a new dawn today as Iraq celebrated the departure of American troops at a ceremony held amid tight security and without Maliki's key political rivals.
A rogue Afghan army soldier killed four foreign troops in eastern Afghanistan today, a NATO coalition spokesman said, adding to a string of similar shootings which have eroded trust between Afghan security forces and their Western allies.
The top US military officer denied allegations by a senior army official in Islamabad that a NATO attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers was a deliberate act of aggression.
President Barack Obama welcomed home some of the last US troops from Iraq, marking a symbolic end to the nearly nine-year war that strained America's armed forces and damaged its standing worldwide.
A suicide car bomber killed 13 American troops in the Afghan capital Kabul, the deadliest single ground attack against the NATO-led force in 10 years of war in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama said today that the US military would expand its role in the Asia-Pacific region despite budget cuts, declaring America was "here to stay" as a Pacific power which would help shape the region's future.
NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan, killing as many as 28 troops and plunging US-Pakistan relations deeper into crisis.
The first US troops have left Afghanistan as part of US President Barack Obama's planned drawdown of about a third of the 100,000 US forces there during the next year.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that Afghanistan will only sign a long-term "strategic partnership" deal with Washington if the United States meets Afghan conditions including an end to controversial night raids on homes.
A NATO helicopter crashed in central Afghanistan overnight killing 31 US soldiers and 7 Afghan troops, the Afghan president said on Saturday, a devastating death toll and easily the worst single incident for foreign troops in 10 years of war.
The US military warned that President Barack Obama's faster-than-expected drawdown in Afghanistan created new risks, even as commanders said they backed the strategy to start winding down the unpopular, nearly decade-old war.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would follow the United States in starting a gradual troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, a move that could shore up his popularity before a 2012 election.
Britain will withdraw an extra 500 soldiers from Afghanistan next year, bringing the UK troop level down to 9,000 as Western governments begin to transfer security responsibilities to Afghan forces.
Troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi battled to retake the oil port of Ras Lanuf intensifying their counter-offensive against the out-gunned insurgents.
France and Britain called for supporters of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to drop him before it was "too late" and asked Libyans opposing him to join a political process to pave the way for his departure.
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi kept up an offensive on the rebels' eastern frontline outpost of Ajdabiyah, while the West again ruled out sending ground troops to help the rebel cause.
Colombian troops have freed 19 of more than 20 local oil contractors working for Canadian operator Talisman Energy, who were snatched a day earlier by suspected rebels, the government said yesterday.
Three thousand troops backed by helicopters and armored vehicles occupied Rio de Janeiro's largest slum without firing a shot, the biggest step in the Brazilian city's bid to improve security and end the reign of drug gangs.
Mexico has sent soldiers to patrol a suburb of Mexico City for the first time to combat a rise in drug-related violence that is beginning to encroach on the capital.