German government has stressed on the need to get more involved in international affairs "Germany must be prepared to become engaged in an earlier and more substantial way," Xinhua quoted Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier as saying Saturday during the Munich Security Conference....

President Barack Obama plans to travel to Saudi Arabia in March on a mission to smooth tensions with Washington's main Arab ally over U.S. policy on Iran's nuclear program and the civil war in Syria, a newspaper reported. Obama is preparing to meet with King Abdullah for a summit, the...

At least nine people were killed when Syrian regime helicopters dropped explosive-filled barrels on two neighbourhoods of the northern city of Aleppo on Saturday, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported at least seven people killed in a double car...

Some 2,500 Syrians trapped in the besieged Old City of Homs have become pawns in complex negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition, with aid agencies caught up in an ethical dilemma amid reports of starvation. U.N. mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, who ran week-long talks that...