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.

America and key Asian allies will seek United Nations Security Council action if North Korea launches a long-range rocket this month, the US State Department said.

Hundreds of helmeted Russian riot police have dispersed a crowd of up to 300 anti-Putin protesters who took over a Moscow square for most of the day.

Counting is under way in Syria after a parliamentary election which the US has said “borders on ludicrous”.

The US has warned Iran it will not tolerate any disruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran threatened to choke off the vital Persian Gulf oil transport route if Washington imposes sanctions targeting its crude exports.

SYRIAN president Bashar al-Assad has denied ordering the killing of thousands of protesters and said “only a crazy person” would target his own people, as global pressure mounted on his regime.

Syria has entered a state of civil war with more than 4,000 people dead and an increasing number of soldiers defecting from the army to fight President Bashar Assad’s regime, the UN’s top human rights official has said.

Syrian troops stormed a central town and a north-western region in search of opponents of the government as pressure on Damascus intensified to end an eight-month crisis that has left thousands of people dead, activists said.

Supporters of President Bashar Assad stoned the convoy of the US ambassador to Syria as he arrived for a meeting with a leading opposition figure today.

Two American men arrested more than two years ago while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border have been sentenced to eight years in prison for espionage and illegally entering Iran, state TV reported today.

THE Syrian army launched raids on rebel areas yesterday, defying growing international reproach over the regime’s crackdown on the five-month-old uprising.

The Syrian regime faced a chorus of global reproach today as envoys from Turkey, India, Brazil and South Africa headed to Damascus to press President Bashar Assad to end his violent crackdown on a five-month-old uprising.

The Libyan rebels’ military commander was killed by his comrades while in custody after he was arrested by the opposition’s leadership on suspicion of treason, a witness said today.

An Irish ship has dropped out of the pro-Palestinian flotilla planning to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, citing sabotage, and a US ship declared it may set sail from a Greek port for Gaza without permission, activists said.

Two days of street battles between security forces and protesters in Cairo show just how volatile Egypt remains nearly five months after the popular uprising that ousted authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

President Hamid Karzai acknowledged today that the US and Afghan governments have held talks with Taliban emissaries in a bid to end the nation’s nearly 10-year war, even as suicide attackers launched a bold assault in the heart of the county’s capital, killing nine people.

Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh was burned on more than 40% of his body and suffered bleeding in the brain from last weekend’s attack on his palace, US officials said, indicating his wounds were worse than initially reported.

Libyan rebels have broken the government siege of two western mountain towns, a rebel commander said, while Nato pounded 10 targets across the country.

At least 10 Nato strikes have hit in and around the Libyan capital, targeting military barracks close to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s compound in central Tripoli, a police station and a military base, a government official said.

Syrian president Bashar Assad issued a general amnesty for prisoners that includes those deemed to have committed political “crimes” as pressure built from a 10-week-old uprising that his regime has failed to quell with overwhelming military force.

Syrian tanks rolled into a Mediterranean coastal town today in an escalating crackdown by President Bashar Assad, just a day after clashes with anti-government protesters left at least 30 dead nationwide.

Yemen’s embattled president agreed to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution, a major about-face for the autocratic leader who has ruled for 32 years.

International pressure is mounting on Syria’s president, with key European governments and the United Nations denouncing a deadly crackdown that has failed to dampen a popular uprising.

Yemen’s political opposition presented the most detailed outline of how it hopes to see power change hands after nearly two months of protests that have weakened the long-time president but failed to drive him from office.

Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in Yemen hurled stones at riot police backed by tanks in the southern province of Aden as rival rallies were held in the capital today.

South Korea said today that it has accepted a North Korean proposal to hold high-level defence talks.

THE United States has welcomed the holding of the first elections in Kosovo since its 2008 declaration of independence, but urged authorities to address fraud accusations.

The US and Israel failed to heal their deepest dispute in decades as a two-day visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ended without resolving a rift over new Israeli housing planned in east Jerusalem.

Thailand moved today to close a refugee camp and send 4,000 ethnic Hmong back to Laos, despite concerns about their safety.