conflicts politics News

conflicts politics News From AOL News

Opinion: Time to Draw a Map For Mideast Peace

A difficult political year for President Barack Obama ended with a flourish, not a whimper, as he piled up bipartisan victories with the ratification of a new Strategic Arms ReductionTreaty with Russia, the tax cut agreement, the repeal of the discriminatory "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays in the military. Now...

Opinion: The Lost Year in the Afghan War

One year ago, President Barack Obama pledged to turn a new page in the war in Afghanistan. At the U.S. military academy at West Point, he unveiled a new strategy for the war based on three core elements: "a military effort to create the conditions for a transition (to Afghan control); a civilian surge that reinforces...

Pilgrims, Clergy Come to Bethlehem for Christmas

BETHLEHEM, West Bank - The traditional birthplace of Jesus is celebrating its merriest Christmas in years, as tens of thousands of tourists thronged Bethlehem on Friday for the annual holiday festivities in this biblical West Bank town. Officials said the turnout was shaping up to be the largest since 2000. Unseasonably...

Violence Escalates Along Israel-Gaza Border

JERUSALEM - The Israeli air force hit seven suspected militant sites in the Gaza Strip in an unusually large operation early Tuesday, and Palestinian militants retaliated by sending a rocket crashing down near a kindergarten in southern Israel. Gaza health official Adham Abu Salmia said three Palestinians were wounded in...

Illiteracy Breeds Corruption, Slows Training Among Afghan Recruits

(Dec. 16) -- Rampant illiteracy among Afghanistan's army and police recruits is fueling corruption and slowing training, according to a U.S. Army official working with the nascent security forces. "Estimates range, but we think right now when we're recruiting that only 15 percent of the soldiers and policemen that we...