Getty Images President Obama reveals plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by 2016 -- The Independent "In an attempt to turn the page on the occupation which started within a month of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Obama said 9,800 American troops of the 32,000-strong current force would be kept in Afghanistan after the US combat mission formally ends later this year. ... "But the move is likely to garner criticism at home. Before the address, Tony Blinken, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said that the US had allocated about $20 billion (£11.8 billion) on the continued military presence. Asked if such a cost was worth it, Blinken replied: 'We want to complete the job that we started." At the same time, he said "we can't be in an endless war posture.'" Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images Obama delays DHS deportation review -- Associated Press "President Barack Obama has asked his Homeland Security chief to hold off on complet...

Group says Syria used chemical weapons in April -- Associated Press "An international human rights group said Tuesday it has strong evidence that Syrian army helicopters dropped bombs carrying chlorine gas on three rebel-held towns last month. The report by the New-York based Human Rights Watch adds to concerns that chemical weapons are still being used in Syria, eight months after a chemical attack killed hundreds of civilians in the suburbs of the capital, Damascus. The Syrian government did not immediately comment on the HRW claims. It has accused rebels of using chlorine gas in the past." Exclusive: Found after 500 years, the wreck of Christopher Columbus's flagship the Santa Maria -- The Independent "More than five centuries after Christopher Columbus’s flagship, the Santa Maria, was wrecked in the Caribbean, archaeological investigators think they may have discovered the vessel’s long-lost remains – lying at the bottom of the sea off the north coast ...