The Islamic State (IS) militant group has committed genocide against minority Christians and Yazidis as well as Shi’ite Muslims, US secretary of state John Kerry said, a finding that is unlikely to greatly change US policy toward the group.

President Barack Obama’s Middle East summit today is being treated as a crucial bout of international diplomacy, even though noone is predicting any kind of breakthrough.

US President George Bush is meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair today as the American leader faces urgent pressure to find a fresh strategy in Iraq following a scathing bi-partisan commission report that says his war policies have failed and “time is running out”.

The US, Britain and France are looking ahead to sanctions if Iran continues to defy demands that it halt uranium enrichment, but not the sweeping economic and military embargoes the UN Security Council imposed on Iraq after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

IRAQ'S prime minister may offer amnesty to insurgents and could extend it to those who killed American troops in an apparent bid to lure Saddam Hussein loyalists from their campaign of violence.