WASHINGTON / Reuters The White House warned Syrian President Bashar Al Assad that he and his military would ‘pay a heavy price’ if it conducted a chemical weapons attack and said the United States had reason to believe such preparations were underway. The White House said in a statement the preparations by Syria were similar to those undertaken before an ...

Bloomberg Bahrain accused Qatar of a ‘military escalation’ of the crisis that has embroiled the Gulf region for the past three weeks, and warned there would be consequences. While he didn’t identify Turkey by name, Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa was apparently referring to the Turkish government’s decision earlier this month to accelerate legislation on the planned deployment ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shouldn’t rush to change Japan’s 70-year-old constitution, a former defense minister and rival for the ruling party’s leadership said in an interview. Shigeru Ishiba, 60, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party who has emerged as a critic of Abe, said he was concerned that the premier was being hasty in asking his party to ...