World

The United States declined to follow France in fully recognizing a fledgling Syrian opposition coalition on Wednesday, saying the body must prove its worth, after its predecessor was dogged by feuding and accusations of Islamist domination.

A Hamas rocket killed three Israelis north of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, drawing the first blood from Israel as the Palestinian death toll rose to 13 and a military showdown lurched closer to all-out war with an invasion of the enclave.

A Syrian warplane struck homes in the town of Ras al-Ain on Tuesday within sight of the Turkish border, pursuing an aerial bombardment to force out rebels, a Reuters witness and refugees said.

Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Tuesday urged Japanese parliamentarians to visit Tibet, and for China to investigate the dozens of self-immolations by Tibetans.

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, is under investigation for alleged inappropriate communication with a woman at the center of the scandal involving former CIA Director David Petraeus, a senior U.S. defense official said on Tuesday.

Syria's fractious opposition finally put aside fierce arguments to rally behind a new leader within a new coalition that its Western and Arab backers hope can topple Bashar al-Assad and take over the country.

A Palestinian rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck a house in southern Israel on Monday, causing damage but no injuries, and Israeli officials quickly warned of a tough response to the latest surge in violence.

Tens of thousands of Britons called on the government on Friday to nominate Malala Yousufzai, a Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls' education, for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Iranian warplanes fired at an unarmed U.S. drone in international airspace last week but did not hit the aircraft, the Pentagon said on Thursday, disclosing details of an unprecedented incident that triggered a formal warning to Tehran through diplomatic channels.

President Bashar al-Assad said he would "live and die" in Syria and warned that any Western invasion to topple him would have catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and beyond.

In 1981, five years after his death, China's ruling Communist Party began to save history from Mao Zedong.

Multiple bomb explosions on Wednesday hit a hilltop area in Damascus populated by members of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, marking escalation of sectarian attacks in a conflict that has deepened religious Middle East divides.

Having defeated Republican Mitt Romney at home, Barack Obama has no shortage of adversaries to grapple with abroad, including the governments of Iran, Syria and possibly China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov on Tuesday and replaced him with a loyal ally after the ministry was drawn into a corruption scandal.

An Islamist suicide car bomber killed at least 50 Syrian security men in Hama province on Monday, an opposition group said, in what would be one of the bloodiest single attacks on President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the 20-month-old uprising.

China's ruling Communist Party will this month unveil its new top leadership team, expected to again be an all-male cast of politicians whose instincts are to move cautiously on reform.

A bomb exploded near army and security compounds in Damascus, Syrian television reported, and fractured opposition groups seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad began unity talks abroad to win international respect and arms supplies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's center-right coalition reached agreement early on Monday on contentious social welfare issues that it hopes will bolster its support in the countdown to federal elections next September.

US presidential rivals Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are approaching the final day of their election battle in a frantic fight for swing state votes.

China's second stealth fighter jet that was unveiled this week is part of a program to transform China into the top regional military power, an expert on Asian security said on Friday.