US Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Monday promised to provide South Korea with every military resource under the US nuclear umbrella at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea.

Syrian warplanes bombed the border area with Lebanon for the first time on Monday, a high-ranking Lebanese army official told AFP, reportedly targeting Syrian rebel positions inside Lebanon.

Two men were arrested over alleged racially aggravated public order offences at Chelsea's Premier League match with West Ham United on Sunday, police have announced.

Syrian warplanes bombed the border area with Lebanon for the first time on Monday, a high-ranking Lebanese army official told AFP, raising new fears that the Syrian conflict could spill over into its neighbour.

Two men were arrested over alleged racially aggravated public order offences at Chelsea's Premier League match with West Ham United on Sunday, police have announced.

Japan has seized aluminium alloy rods which can be used to make nuclear centrifuges from a Singapore-flagged ship which was carrying cargo from North Korea, a government spokesman said Monday.

Russia said Monday it saw "no concession" in the US decision to abandon the final phase of its missile shield for Europe in favour of deploying new interceptors against a possible attack from North Korea.

Russia said on Monday it saw "no concession" in the US decision to abandon the final phase of its missile shield for Europe while deploying new interceptors against a possible attack from North Korea.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has a ballistic missile that could hit the United States, the leading lawmaker on the US House of Representatives intelligence committee warned Sunday.

Ten years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein and smashed Iraq's military, the country has become a major buyer of military equipment, spending billions to rebuild its armed forces.

Syria's regime are expanding its use of cluster munitions in its conflict with rebel forces, causing "mounting civilian causalities," Human Rights Watch warned on Saturday.

The United States is ready to abandon the final phase of its European missile defense system, a US official said Saturday, in a move that could revive arms control talks with Russia.

Taiwan has developed its first medium-range guided missile that could be used against former rival China, according to a former defence minister in a new book cited by a media report Saturday.

The United States said it would bolster defenses against a possible North Korean missile strike a week after Pyongyang threatened a "pre-emptive" nuclear attack against its arch-foe.

The United States will bolster its defenses against a possible North Korean missile strike by deploying 14 more interceptors in Alaska, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday.

Syria's air force launched new air strikes on Friday on rebel bastions near Damascus, as clashes raged in flashpoints across the country two years after the anti-regime uprising began, a watchdog said.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel plans to unveil plans Friday to bolster US missile defenses to counter a growing threat from nuclear-armed North Korea, an administration official said Friday.

A New York judge on Friday sentenced a young Algerian to 10 years in prison for conspiring to attack synagogues in the city, the Manhattan district attorney said.

North Korea's military fired short-range missiles into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) on Friday, Yonhap reported, at a time of heightened tensions following Pyongyang's recent nuclear test.

An Iranian fighter jet tried to intercept a US Predator drone over the Gulf but backed off after encountering two American military aircraft, the Pentagon said Thursday.