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

Foreign Minister Murray McCully says the Opposition will be offered a formal briefing on Syria before any parliamentary motion is put by the Government.

'Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" - so the British Parliament decided that it didn't want to be shamed over Syrian intervention, writes Gwynne Dwyer.

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.

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

Germany put a 92-year-old former member of the Nazi Waffen SS on trial Monday on charges that he killed a Dutch resistance fighter in 1944.

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.

Editorial: Barack Obama said Syria's use of chemical weapons would be a "red line", yet flicking the issue of a US response back to Congress looks a lot like passing the buck.

New Zealand has been asked to pledge moral support for a potential US military strike against Syria but the Government says it is yet to make any commitment.

US President Barack Obama has lifted the threat of immediate punitive air strikes on Syria, announcing he will seek congressional approval for any military action.

Edging toward a punitive strike against Syria, President Barack Obama said he was weighing "limited and narrow" action as the Administration bluntly accused Bashar Assad's Government of launching a chemical weapons attack that killed at least 1429 people.

President Barack Obama is poised to become the first U.S. leader in three decades to attack a foreign nation without broad international support or in direct defense of Americans.

The New Zealand Defence Force is issuing new recruits with waterproof Bibles, endorsed by TV adventurer Bear Grylls, in a worldwide military first.

The US administration has bluntly accused Bashar Assad's government of launching a chemical weapons attack that killed at least 1,429 people - far more than previous estimates- including more than 400 children.

Al Jazeera correspondent Wayne Hay, formerly a TVNZ reporter, was arrested while covering events in Cairo on Tuesday along with three others, Al Jazeera reported.

A British and American attack to punish Syria for using chemical weapons will see the two allies launch a barrage of more than 100 missiles in a blitz lasting up to 48 hours.

United States President Barack Obama has the authority to launch air strikes against Syria.

Israel commentators have warned of a devastating Israeli blow should Syria implement threats being voiced in Damascus to retaliate against Israel.

Over the past few days, American officials have spent a lot of time studying the 1999 Kosovo conflict, with it's parallels to the Syrian conflict readily apparent.

If chemical weapons are being used in Syria with the intention of killing civilians then we have just reached a new level of barbarism for humanity, writes Alexander Gillespie.

Saudi Arabia secretly offered Russia a sweeping deal to control the global oil market and safeguard Russia's gas contracts.

Prime Minister John Key says he is horrified by footage of an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria, and intervention by the US may be inevitable.

The US says chemical weapons had been used in an 'obscene' attack in Syria, and it has additional information about the attack it will make public.

A recent report by World Vision found there are increasing security concerns and resentment between refugees and local communities, writes Alison Maccoll.

A human "river" of tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds has begun flowing into neighbouring Iraq to escape jihadist violence, United Nations officials warned yesterday.

Egypt's army promised there would be no let-up in its confrontation with the Muslim Brotherhood despite a death toll that was heading towards the 1000 mark.

Amid the chaos and bloodletting, some Egyptians despair the death of democracy, others want to fight on.