First, we have the manner in which the Americans have been preparing the G20 summit. As we all know, in diplomacy actions count as much, or even more, than words. Here are just a few of the actions recently taken by the Americans in preparation for the G20 summit and Trump's first meeting with Putin (in no particular order):

• The US rejected the joint Russian-Chinese plan to defuse the crisis over the Korean Peninsula even though that plan was simple, straightforward common sense and, frankly, the only game in town to avoid war.
• The US accused the Syrian government of preparing a chemical attack and warned of a "heavy price to pay".
• The US sent its bomber of overfly the Chinese islands in the South China Sea.
• The US accused Russia of destabilizing Eastern Europe.
• The US threatened "severe consequences" against North Korea.
• The US declared that it would deploy Patriot missiles in Poland to protect the Poles from the Russian Iskander missiles (-: LOL! Good luck with that, my Polish friends :-)
• The US also promised the Poles US LNG to "secure Poland's energy independence from Russia" (-: and good luck with that too, my Polish friends :-)
• The US sent a Polish F-16 to intercept Russian Defense Minister's civilian (and long announced) aircraft in international airspace over the Baltic Sea.
• The US sent a guided-missile destroyer near Triton Island in the South China Sea
• The US withdrew from the Paris climate agreement.
• The US criticized German trade practices.
• The US criticized China for its trade with the DPRK.
• The US accused China of "trade rape".

Going down this list, you got to admire the American sense of timing and diplomacy...

Supporters of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have rejected reports that a hard-left wing of the party is orchestrating a "purge" of moderate MPs, as claimed by the Rupert Murdoch-owned Times newspaper.

Backers of Labour leader Corbyn say that the Times story has been exaggerated and distorted.

The newspaper's front page on Friday claimed Momentum activists in South Tyneside, near Newcastle, had put together a list of 49 sitting MPs that could "join the Liberals."

The "hitlist" was found on a Facebook page with over 130 members. Targeted MPs included rebel Chuka Umunna, longtime anti-Corbyn campaigner Jess Philips, and Liverpool Wavertree MP Luciana Berger.

"A [Facebook] page with 136 likes posting a list of MPs saying 'join the liberals' does not constitute a 'plot' nor a 'deselection hitlist,'" Corbyn backer and political commentator Aaron Bastani wrote on Twitter.

Israel's ambassador to UNESCO walked out of a session by the UN agency after learning that the Old City of Hebron had been referred to as Palestinian, not Israeli. Israeli officials slammed the move saying it overlooks the deep Jewish ties to the biblical town.

The Friday session, which took place in Krakow, Poland led to Hebron's Old City being put on the agency's World Heritage list as a site in danger, UNESCO spokeswoman Lucia Iglesias confirmed, according to AP.

The decision came after a secret vote of 12-3, with six abstentions.

Although the move itself wasn't deemed controversial by Tel Aviv, the decision to describe Hebron as a "Palestinian heritage site" infuriated Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen, who walked out of the session in protest.

On June 19, just around the time it emerged that Israel had been secretly funding Syrian rebel groups and was explicitly aligned with Saudi Arabia in the Syrian conflict, Saudi media reported that the kingdom had captured three members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps from a boat as it approached the kingdom's offshore Marjan oilfield. The Saudi Center for International Communications added that the boat carried explosives, and the Iranians aboard "intended to carry out terrorist act in Saudi territorial waters" with the Marjan Saudi offshore oilfield allegedly targeted. In other words, Saudi paraded that it had caught what appeared to be three Iranian terrorists belonging to IRGC, suggesting this was an operation ordered from the very top.

Of course, Iran's take on things was different: Iran's Tasnim news agency said that Saudi border guards had opened fire on an Iranian fishing boat in the Gulf on Friday, killing a fisherman. It said the boat was one of two Iranian boats fishing in the Gulf that had been pushed off course by waves. So on one side terrorists, on the other fishermen: about par.

Three weeks later, there has been no resolution to this alleged hostage crisis, however in a new development, on Friday Iran's Fars news agency reported that Iran has returned the favor.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has commented on the topics that he and his American counterpart Donald Trump covered in their long-awaited meeting in Hamburg on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he discussed at the first meeting with US President Donald Trump on Friday the situation in Ukraine and Syria, the fight against terrorism and cybersecurity.

"I had a very lengthy conversation with the President of the United States, there were a lot of issues such as Ukraine, Syria, other problems, some bilateral issues," Putin said at the beginning of his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We again returned to the issues of fighting terrorism and cybersecurity," Putin added.

On Friday, the G20 summit kicked off in the German city of Hamburg, bringing together the leaders of major world countries and developing economies.

US President Donald Trump opened his much-anticipated meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin by raising concerns about Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

"They had a very robust and lengthy exchange on the subject," Tillerson said after the two leaders met for two hours on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

"The president pressed President Putin on more than one occasion regarding Russian involvement. President Putin denied such involvement, as I think he has in the past," he said.

A special channel between the Russian and American presidents will be established to further push for a settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov has announced following the Putin-Trump meeting.

Additional efforts will be made "to support" the Minsk peace agreements and the work of the existing contact group on Ukraine, Russia's chief diplomat said.

"While discussing Ukraine, the American side informed us that they had appointed a special representative to assist the efforts on settling the Ukrainian crisis.

"Arrangements have been made to create a channel between presidents of Russia and US to use this opportunity that Washington has, to further advance the settlement based on the Minsk agreements and considering the potential established in the contact group and the Normandy format," Lavrov told reporters during the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

A later correction was both feeble and misleading.

The internet is full of fake news websites whose "too good to be true" stories are usually easy to spot. They each have their intended audience.

For the libertarians you have fake news sites that say:

"Julian Assange reveals new CIA plan to install 24/7 real time camera drones in all new Florida homes in trial program".

For the alt-left:

"Donald Trump, one Russian businessman and a prostitute from Brazil - you'll never believe what they got up to".

For the alt-right:

"Hillary Clinton's ties to Mexican drug cartel EXPOSED".

Russia opposes illegitimate trade and financial restrictions, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, ahead of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

"We oppose the growing protectionism in the world. Illegitimate trade and financial restrictions with obvious political implication are aimed at eliminating competitors. It curtails business ties, results in a loss of trust between economic participants. It is tearing apart the very fabric of the world economy," Putin said, speaking at a meeting of leaders of BRICS countries on the sidelines of the G20 meeting.

According to Putin, the G20 nations should more vigorously uphold the principles of open and mutually beneficial trade, as specified by the rules of the World Trade Organization.

"We are convinced that the G20 should make a more significant contribution to the creation of a fair model of global development; a model that will be able to ensure sustainable growth which will help to eliminate the accumulated imbalances between the countries," Putin said.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, are visiting the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay - the first such visit under the new administration. They are reportedly accompanied by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats.

The high-ranking delegation is visiting the camp to get an "up-to-date understanding of current operations," Ian Prior, a spokesman for the US Department of Justice, said in a statement.

"Recent attacks in Europe and elsewhere confirm that the threat to our nation is immediate and real, and it remains essential that we use every lawful tool available to prevent as many attacks as possible," Prior said.