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Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry accused President Obama Saturday of endangering U.S. troops by announcing plans to end the nation's military role in Iraq by Christmas. "The last thing you want to do is put those men and women's lives in peril, and I think that's what the president's done by making a political statement to his base that he's going to be out of Iraq by a date certain," Perry said.

Libya's new rulers plan to declare their embattled nation "liberated" Sunday, a move that will trigger a timetable for elections and the writing of a constitution for the North African nation, according to reports from Tripoli.

It seems as if violence is everywhere, but it's really on the run. Yes, thousands of people have died in bloody unrest from Africa to Pakistan, while terrorists plot bombings and kidnappings. Wars drag on in Iraq and Afghanistan. In peaceful Norway, a man massacred 69 youths in July. In Mexico, headless bodies turn up, victims of drug cartels. This month eight people died in a shooting in a California hair salon.

By declaring the Iraq war over, President Barack Obama scored what his allies see as a fourth big foreign policy success in six months, starting with Osama bin Laden's killing. But in his re-election bid, these events might play a discouragingly small role even if they burnish his eventual place in history. Voters tend to focus heavily on domestic issues, especially in times of high unemployment. That will limit Obama's campaign options.

All US troops will be pulled out of Iraq by the end of the year, President Barack Obama has announced. He ordered a complete withdrawal from the country, nearly nine years after the invasion under President George W Bush. About 39,000 US troops remain in Iraq, down from a peak of 165,000 in 2008. The US and Iraq were in "full agreement" on how to move forward, Mr Obama said, adding: "The US leaves Iraq with our heads held high."

The U.S. is abandoning plans to keep U.S. troops in Iraq past a year-end withdrawal deadline, The Associated Press has learned.

The United Nations' top human-rights official assailed the Syrian government Friday for a campaign of "ruthless repression and killings" and called for the international community to take steps to prevent the nation from plunging into "full-blown civil war."

Libya's National Transitional Council offered no official confirmation Thursday of the arrest of Moatassim Gadhafi, one of the deposed leader's sons believed to have been captured after a four-hour firefight in Sirte.

Libyan forces from Misrata said they wrested control of key buildings in Moammar Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte from his supporters after several days of intense street fighting that left scores dead and wounded.

Most Americans applauded the Sept. 30 strike that killed U.S.-born al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, but some analysts continue to question the legal reasoning behind an attack on someone who, after all, was an American citizen. There are also questions about the special, secret panel that authorizes kill operations against any terrorist.