'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
France's military spokesman says a soldier has been stabbed in the throat in the French commercial district of La Defense outside Paris.
French forces met no resistance Wednesday in Kidal, the Islamists' last major town, as the 2-week-old mission scored another success in its effort to dislodge the al-Qaeda-linked militants from northern Mali.
Malian soldiers entered the city of Timbuktu on Monday after al-Qaeda-linked militants, having set ablaze a library that held thousands of ancient manuscripts, fled into the desert.
Burned-out vehicles and scattered bullets dotted the streets of a central Malian town after radical Islamists retreated following days of French airstrikes, according to video obtained Sunday.
As rebels advance in the Central African Republic, France has deployed an additional 180 troops to protect its interests.
France on Tuesday ended its combat operations in Afghanistan, pulling hundreds of troops from a base in a volatile region northeast of Kabul and fulfilling promises to end its combat role on a faster track than other NATO allies.
Britain could send extra military assets to the Strait of Hormuz to deter any attempt by Iran to block Persian Gulf oil tanker traffic, the country's defense secretary said Tuesday, as Tehran accused the European Union of trying to create tension with a ban on the purchase of its oil.
France suspended its training operations in Afghanistan and threatened to withdraw its entire force from the country early after an Afghan soldier shot and killed four French troops Friday and wounded 15 others.
China urged ally North Korea to improve its strained ties with longtime foes the United States and South Korea, state media reported Monday, as U.S. and North Korean diplomats began talks about restarting negotiations on the North's nuclear programs.
Libya's opposition leader said Thursday that rebels need more weapons and funding, as Britain offered new body armor and uniforms for civilian police officers in the country's eastern cities.
Britain has decided against supplying arms to Libyan rebels, Cabinet officials announced Wednesday, marking a divide between London and Paris in the three-month civil war to topple Libyan strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
France sent weapons this month to Libyan civilians under siege by Col. Moammar Gadhafi's forces, a military spokesman said Wednesday, making it the first NATO country to announce it has armed rebel fighters.
British Apache and French attack helicopters struck targets for the first time in NATO's campaign in Libya, hitting Moammar Gadhafi's troops early Saturday near a key coastal oil city, the alliance said.
A roadside bomb killed 10 workers in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, and NATO again promised that the coalition would not abandon the country even if some members plan to withdraw their forces.
French fighter jets struck an air base deep inside Libya and shot down one of Col. Moammar Gadhafi's planes, officials said Thursday, and NATO ships patrolled the coast to block the flow of arms and mercenaries. Other coalition bombers struck artillery, arms depots and parked helicopters, officials said.
The France military spokesman, Col. Thierry Burkhard, said the French soldier was wounded but that his life was not in danger.
French army Col. Thierry Burkhard confirmed that the airport was taken overnight and described the operation in Kidal itself as "ongoing."
