Movie: ‘Birth of the Dragon’

Along with good intentions and moral core, this film is filled with choreographed kicks and punches, and pleasing epigrammatic dialogue about near-monastic discipline and self-control, mixed in with a dusting of Asian spice.

War without end, amen: U.S. to increase troop presence in Afghanistan

The United States, which has been fighting a war in Afghanistan for 16 years, will make a new push to bring peace to the Central Asian country by increasing its military presence by about 4,000 soldiers to go with the 8,400 troops, 5,000 allied personnel and 26,000 contractors now there.