As Syrian troops move to another confrontation around the Syrian capital, what will the US president – and the British and French – do if more images of gassed civilians dying in agony appear? Syrian army troop reinforcements are moving up to more front lines in the suburbs of Damascus ...

A new early warning satellite system reveals countries where shrinking reservoirs could lead to the taps completely drying up Shrinking reservoirs in Morocco, India, Iraq and Spain could spark the next “day zero” water crisis, according to the developers of a satellite early warning system for the world’s 500,000 dams. ...

At least 257 people were killed on Wednesday when a military plane crashed near the Algerian capital, Algiers, state media reported. The plane crashed shortly after taking off from the Boufarik air base, between Algiers and the city of Blida. Ten of those killed were the plane crew, according to ...

The Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was given a rougher ride on his second day of congressional testimony on Wednesday as he faced sharp questions about the tech giant’s ability to track its users’ movements, shopping habits and browsing histories and was at one stage compared to J Edgar Hoover. During ...

Pan-European air traffic control agency Eurocontrol on Tuesday warned airlines to exercise caution in the eastern Mediterranean due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria in next 72 hours. Eurocontrol said that air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles could be used within that period and there was a possibility of ...

Assault ship HMS Albion will join HMS Sutherland and HMS Argyll, which is due in the region later in the year to take part in exercises with Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. The ships will enforce the UN ban on ship-to-ship transfers of goods destined for North Korea. Several ...

US Ambassador Nikki Haley says the UN has ‘showed our complete failure to protect the Syrian people’ The United Nations was deadlocked as the US and Russia voted against each other over an investigation into the recent suspected chemical attack in Syria. Each country placed a resolution before the Security ...

Women in combat Women in combat are female military personnel assigned to combat positions. This article covers the situation in major countries, provides a historical perspective, and reviews the main arguments made for and against women in combat. Some nations allow female soldiers to serve in certain combat arms positions. ...

Russia’s main share index crashed 11 per cent on Monday after the US imposed new sanctions on oligarchs and companies linked to Vladimir Putin. Aluminium giant Rusal, which is controlled by Oleg Deripaska, halved in value on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday, while EN+, a holding company also ...

The US president has become increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress on his signature campaign promise. In recent days he raged at Mexico for allowing a “caravan” of 1,500 migrants from Central America to walk toward the US border. Mr Trump said: “We’re going to do some things militarily. ...