Tensions

Palestinian Fatah has said it was "encouraged" by the meeting between Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and his US counterpart in the White House, while Hamas said the encounter would lead to nothing. "Palestinians are encouraged by the commitment President Obama and his administration have shown to Middle East peace," Saeb Erakat, a Fatah...
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Pakistani forces battled militants in South Waziristan on the Afghan border on Sunday as a government official said an offensive in the Swat valley could be over in two or three days. Pakistani forces have undertaken their most concerted offensive against an expanding Taliban insurgency that has raised fears for the nuclear-armed U.S. ally’s...
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South Korea and the United States raised the military alert level for the peninsula on Thursday after the communist North warned the truce ending the Korean War was dead and it was ready to attack. North Korea ramped up tensions this week with a series of provocations rarely seen since the 1950-53 Korean War,...
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The Sri Lankan Government has blocked access to aid workers trying to help the nearly 300,000 civilians displaced by the army’s victory over the Tamil Tigers, raising the prospect of a humanitarian catastrophe. In the capital, Colombo, President Rajapakse announced the “complete defeat” of the rebels yesterday as state television showed pictures of what...
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Chad has declared victory after several days of fighting in the eastern desert against anti-government forces. The claim on Saturday came after battles which left scores of people dead and provoked the government to threaten to break off ties with neighbouring Sudan. Idriss Deby Itno, the Chadian president, renewed his accusations that the Union...
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U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Sri Lanka to stop using heavy weapons that risk civilian lives and to suspend its offensive against ethnic Tamil rebels so that desperately needed aid can be sent to the war zone. Ban spoke to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the telephone Tuesday night amid heavy international pressure for...
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The Israeli military on Wednesday presented the conclusions of several internal investigations into its conduct during the war in Gaza and stated that it had operated in accordance with international law, countering widespread international criticism over its actions and continuing accusations of possible war crimes. The military said in a statement that it had...
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