Syrian President Bashar al-Assad seemed calm and was surrounded by only light security when he talked to a French journalist this week.

The prospect of air strikes in Syria has grown with political developments driving towards military action.

The graves had run into each other, mounds of red earth washed by the rain, blown by the wind.

Syria's civil war has driven almost a third of the country's population from their homes, causing the humanitarian calamity of the century, says the United Nations.

Why did US President Barack Obama delay planned air strikes on Syria after the chemical attack last month?

Amid signs in Washington of deep anxiety about unintended consequences and unforeseeable outcomes.

Shame' over colonial history is seeing valuable threads of the nation's story left to crumble into ruin.

The lucky ones move in with relatives; the poorest sleep under bridges. Others find themselves crammed into the old Palestinian refugee camps of south Beirut.

President Barack Obama, working to persuade sceptical lawmakers to endorse a US military intervention in civil war-wracked Syria, hosted two leading Capitol Hill foreign policy hawks for talks.

The Syrian crisis and Opposition leader Tony Abbott's competence to deal with international affairs have become a central issue in the fight for power in Australia.

British defence figures admit evidence of Syrian gas attack growing stronger as US repositions military assets in Middle East.

Nelson Mandela has spent his first night back home after being discharged from hospital, with his home turned into a private intensive care ward.