Washington is considering a Russian proposal of direct military talks regarding the situation in Syria, US Secretary of State John Kerry said as his spokesman struggled to explain the setbacks to US efforts against Islamic State militants in the region. Reporters grilled deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner over revelations that only a handful of US-trained “moderate Syrian rebels” [...]

Sustainable development, global security and efforts to diffuse ongoing conflicts, many of which have resulted in explosive global refugee crises, top the agenda of the 70th anniversary UN General Assembly session that has begun its work in New York. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) speech marathon will see more than 160 leaders in attendance at the 70th anniversary. [...]

In the mind of State Department spokesman John Kirby, Russia should not back Syria against the terrorists, president Assad is to blame for ISIS, Iraq is much better off because of the US invasion, and it’s ‘absolutely astounding’ anyone would dare to disagree. That is what the press briefing at the State Department on Tuesday amounted to in a nutshell. [...]

Syrian Girl on the monumental media deception behind the crisis Syrian Girl explains how the crisis is being exploited by both governments and economic migrants who aren’t even refugees. [...]

Transparent effort to demonize sound money and gold standard. A video purportedly released by Al Hayat, said to be the Islamic State’s media center, extols the gold standard and Austrian economics. Video has been removed! The video, featuring a perfect English voice over, denounces the Federal Reserve: …as history repeated itself, one of the great forms of corruption that the earth cam [...]

In the latest atrocity in Yemen, Saudi warplanes bombed a residential area, killing at least 65 people. Most of the victims are reported to be civilians from the Salah district of Taiz, Yemen's third largest city. The apparent war crime committed has tragically become an almost daily occurrence during five months of relentless aerial bombardment of Yemen by a Western-backed coalition of foreign [...]

Parliament should not vote on military action against Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Syria until the Chilcot Inquiry’s report into the 2003 invasion of Iraq has been published, a senior Tory MP has warned David Cameron. David Davis MP, a vocal opponent of intervention, said the report should be published urgently in light of calls for extending airstrikes from Iraq into Syria. [...]

Amnesty International has slammed Saudi Arabia in a report for its flagrant use of the death penalty, which has seen 175 people executed in the space of 12 months, while adding that a number of crimes did not warrant the use of capital punishment. The report entitled ‘Killing in the Name of Justice: The Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia’ stated that between August 2014 and June 2015, at least [...]

A petition calling on the UK government to arrest Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes in Gaza when he arrives in London has garnered more than 80,000 signatures. But David Cameron's government says no way: Netanyahu has diplomatic immunity. The petition, posted on the UK government’s website, has already been signed by some 81,000 Brits. [...]

A provisional agreement in talks on Iran'€™s controversial nuclear program is expected to be reached on Sunday or Monday, diplomats say, adding that some unresolved issues still remain between the sides. Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi has said that Tehran and P5+1 group (the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany) have agreed on most technical issues and annexes to a possible [...]

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia in partnership with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has agreed to invest $10 billion into Russian projects. It is the largest foreign investment in Russia. "We have reached final agreements and are announcing the creation of a partnership with the sovereign fund of Saudi Arabia, under which PIF will invest $10 billion into projects on R [...]

The Catholic Church has signed its first treaty with Palestine, making official its de facto recognition of the state. Israel reiterated that it regretted the decision. The treaty first announced in May concerns the activities of the Church in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. [...]

In May China imported a record 3.92 million metric tons of crude oil from Russia, which is equivalent to 927,000 barrels per day. Russia has become Beijing's top crude supplier for the first time since October 2005. “Russia is using its good relationship with China to increase supplies and has now taken the top spot,” Gao Jian, an analyst at Shandong-based energy consultant SCI Internationa [...]

Afghanistan has been at the center of the geopolitical grand game for centuries. With complex local, regional and international interests overlapping, the prospects for security in the country remain uncertain. Can the Afghan government reach reconciliation with the Taliban and maintain independence from foreign influence? And how will it contend with the growing Islamic State footprint on its [...]

Saudi Arabia has beheaded a Syrian drug trafficker, rocketing the number of this year's executions in the Kingdom to 100. This figure is already more than the 87 sentenced and put to death in the country during the whole of last year. The execution took place on Monday in the northern region of Jawf. Syrian Ismael al-Tawm smuggled "a large amount of banned amphetamine pills into the kingdom,” [...]

Rome has warned of retaliatory measures unless the EU changes its asylum policies to make them more in "solidarity" with Italy, which continues to struggle with an enormous inflow of mostly North African migrants. “If the European Council chooses solidarity, then good. If it doesn’t, we have a Plan B ready but that would be a wound inflicted on Europe,” Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said, w [...]

Iran hopes to start implementing an "oil-for-goods" barter deal with Russia after June 7, said Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. It will supply Iranian crude oil to Russia in exchange for grain, equipment and construction materials. “We hope that next week” Russia will take its first imports, said Zanganeh, quoted by Bloomberg on Friday after attending an OPEC meeting. [...]

As Yemen sinks further into the pyre of war, Saudi Arabia has used its billions to whitewash intolerable war crimes and human rights abuses against civilian populations. From cluster bombs to chemical attacks, is there an end to Al Saud's spiral? As Saudi Arabia continues to make the headlines, might it be the kingdom's alleged ambition to preside over the UN Human Rights Council coming in Janu [...]

The Russian embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus was shelled on Tuesday, with Moscow stating that it considers the attack on its diplomatic mission an act of terror. Two mortar rounds landed on the premises of the Russian Embassy in the afternoon, “one of them fell near the main entrance, the other hit an administrative building," Asiya Turuchiyeva embassy's spokeswoman, told RIA Novosti [...]