The funeral has taken place in Cyprus of one of five Greek Cypriot prisoners of war killed during the Turkish invasion of the island in 1974.

Ioannis Papayiannis was one of five soldiers photographed surrendering to Turkish forces during the invasion.

The soldiers' bodies were identified this week, 35 years after they were killed and thrown down a well.

The remains were recovered from a well in Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus in 2006 along with 14 other bodies.

The remains of more than 2,000 people discovered in Poland's largest mass grave from World War II have been reburied in a military cemetery.

Polish and German officials presided over the ceremony at a cemetery for German soldiers in north-west Poland, near the border between the countries.

The victims are believed to be German civilians who died in the last months of the conflict, in early 1945.

The mass grave was discovered in the Polish city of Malbork last October.

Two Japanese ex-PMs have visited a controversial shrine honouring Japan's war dead, including war criminals.

The visit by Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe coincides with the anniversary of the end of World War II.

Mr Koizumi's visits to the shrine when in office caused tensions with China and South Korea, which see it as a symbol of past militarism.

Current PM Taro Aso vowed not to go but expressed remorse for Japan's wartime actions at a Tokyo memorial service.

Five private security guards have climbed to the top of the Colosseum in Rome to protest planned layoffs at their company.

Ambulances and a fire brigade crane arrived at the scene Friday evening. Police cordoned off the area. Below the ancient arena, some 50 other security guards backed the protest with cheers.

The protesters unfurled a banner that read "no to job insecurity" and received a megaphone and supplies attached to a rope by their colleagues.

As the convoy rumbled up the road in Iraq, Specialist Veronica Alfaro was struck by the beauty of fireflies dancing in the night. Then she heard the unmistakable pinging of tracer rounds and, in a Baghdad moment, realized the insects were illuminated bullets.

She jumped from behind the wheel of her gun truck, grabbed her medical bag and sprinted 50 yards to a stalled civilian truck. On the way, bullets kicked up dust near her feet. She pulled the badly wounded driver to the ground and got to work.

Despite her best efforts, the driver died, but her heroism that January night last year earned Specialist Alfaro a Bronze Star for valor. She had already received a combat action badge for fending off insurgents as a machine gunner.

“I did everything there,” Ms. Alfaro, 25, said of her time in Iraq. “I gunned. I drove. I ran as a truck commander. And underneath it all, I was a medic.”

Before 2001, America’s military women had rarely seen ground combat. Their jobs kept them mostly away from enemy lines, as military policy dictates.

But the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, often fought in marketplaces and alleyways, have changed that. In both countries, women have repeatedly proved their mettle in combat. The number of high-ranking women and women who command all-male units has climbed considerably along with their status in the military...

...Nonetheless, as soldiers in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, women have done nearly as much in battle as their male counterparts: patrolled streets with machine guns, served as gunners on vehicles, disposed of explosives, and driven trucks down bomb-ridden roads. They have proved indispensable in their ability to interact with and search Iraqi and Afghan women for weapons, a job men cannot do for cultural reasons. The Marine Corps has created revolving units — “lionesses” — dedicated to just this task.

A small number of women have even conducted raids, engaging the enemy directly in total disregard of existing policies.

Many experts, including David W. Barno, a retired lieutenant general who commanded forces in Afghanistan; Dr. Mansoor, who now teaches military history at Ohio State University; and John A. Nagl, a retired lieutenant colonel who helped write the Army’s new counterinsurgency field manual, say it is only a matter of time before regulations that have restricted women’s participation in war will be adjusted to meet the reality forged over the last eight years...

British prisoners of war condemned the Japanese government after it offered US veterans a full apology and invited them to visit the country while ignoring the plight of those from the UK.

Ichiro Fujisaki, Japan's ambassador to Washington, apologised for the "tragic experiences" of the American survivors of the Bataan Death March, in which 20,000 US servicemen died after Imperial forces overran their defensive positions in the Philippines in April 1942.

Speaking at a gathering of survivors in Texas, he invited them to attend memorial events and stay in the homes of Japanese people during an official visit next year. "We extend a heartfelt apology for our country having caused tremendous damage and suffering to many people, including prisoners of war, those who have undergone tragic experiences in the Bataan Peninsula, in Corregidor Island in the Philippines and other places," he said.

But British prisoners of the Japanese described the apology and invitation as an "underhanded and empty gesture".

The ambassador's comments have been seen as a breakthrough in the way that Japan considers its history in the early decades of the last century.