Former Prime Minister Tony Blair should face prosecution for his role in the UK's intervention in the 2003 Iraq invasion, the high court has heard.

The most senior judge in England and Wales, Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, has heard a case seeking to overturn an earlier order blocking Blair's prosecution.

Referencing the Chilcot inquiry's findings that the Iraq War was unnecessary, Michael Mansfield QC argued the private prosecution of Blair, along with then-Attorney General Lord Goldsmith and former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, is now required.

Special units of Russian military police, equipped with light arms, will be deployed to de-escalation zones in Syria to provide safety and security there, Russia's special representative on Syria has announced.

The units will be tasked with "controlling" fulfilment of peace agreements and will not be on any "combat mission," the special representative of the Russian president on Syria, and the head of Moscow's delegation at the Astana talks, Aleksandr Lavrentiev, told the media on Wednesday.

The military police "will be based along security lines in de-escalation zones," the Russian official said, adding that further decisions on the presence of the Russian units in Syria are now being discussed in Astana.

"I would like to emphasize that those are non-fighting units,"Lavrentiev said. They will only have light arms for self-defense, he explained.

Moscow also suggested other CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) should consider sending peacekeeping missions to Syria.

"At the moment the question is... which countries' military observers should be involved in the peacekeeping mission in Syria," Lavrentiev said. "No one is questioning Russia's participation, so we've addressed all the CIA countries with the suggestion to consider sending, within reasonable limits, contingents to jointly monitor the situation."

Russia is "not forcing anyone" to do it, Lavrentiev stressed, but would welcome others' decisions to join in.

The most sensible path, at this point, is for the US to end the Korean War, sign a peace treaty with North Korea, and withdraw its troops from the Korean peninsula, Hyun Lee, a member of the National Campaign to End the Korean War, told RT.

South Korean and US forces fired missiles into the Sea of Japan in a display of resolve toward North Korea as a part of a joint ballistic missile exercise between Washington and Seoul. According to officials, the exercise used missiles that can be "easily deployed". It all came in response to North Korea's latest missile test on Tuesday, which the Pentagon said was an intercontinental ballistic missile.

RT: North Korea is clearly aware the US and South Korea possess a wide range of missiles. Was this show of force really necessary?

Hyun Lee: North Korea has been saying from the beginning of this year, from the beginning of the Trump administration, that it will test launch an intercontinental ballistic missile and it has always said it is a form of deterrence against US threats against North Korea. The US and South Korea conduct annual military exercises, including the collapse of the North Korean regime and the simulation of the decapitation of the North Korean leadership. North Korea has always said these are threats to its sovereignty and that is why it is developing an ICBM as a form of deterrence.

RT: China and Russia have been calling on the international community to try and talk to North Korea to avoid provocation. Why did the US and South Korea decide to stage these exercises anyway?

HL: I think what the US and South Korea are doing is basically flexing their muscles to show 'We are not afraid of North Korea. We also have big bad weapons.' But what they are doing is answering fire with fire in a region that is a powder keg. We know that the world's greatest military powers face off in this region: that is the US, China, Japan, South Korea. Former US army generals have warned that even the slightest miscalculation on the Korean peninsula can trigger a conflict that basically mires the entire region in a protracted war that could have catastrophic consequences not only for the region but also for the global economy. And that is not in anyone's interest.

The missile launched by North Korea on July 4 was a new type that "we have not seen before," and launched from a location different from previous missile tests, the Pentagon said.

The missile was fired from a mobile launcher and had a reentry vehicle, Reuters reported, quoting US Department of Defense spokesman, Captain Jeff Davis. The launch was a danger to shipping in the Sea of Japan, as well as aircraft and satellites in space, Davis said.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has a harsh warning for Islamist militants as the conflict rages in the southern island of Mindanao. His warning comes after the bodies of two Vietnamese sailors were found decapitated.

"I will eat your liver if you want. I will just add salt and vinegar, I will eat it in front of you," Duterte said Wednesday, as cited by Rappler, addressing Abu Sayyaf, the group responsible for the barbaric killings.

"You want to be enslaved by these? Son of a b*tch. Let's just circumcise ourselves again," Duterte said, according to GMA. "What are you really trying to prove with these actions? You take the name of Allah in vain? You use the name of God to kill people that way."

The bodies of the two men were discovered by locals early on Wednesday morning on the island province of Basilan, reported ABS-CBN. They were identified as being those of Hoang Thong and Hoang Va Hai, two of six crew members abducted from a Vietnamese cargo ship last November.

Germany is a major target of spying and cyberattacks by foreign states, according to a new government report. The document says it is "assumed" that Russia is seeking to influence the upcoming parliamentary election.

The report by the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) domestic intelligence agency, released Tuesday, says Germany is a common target of cyberattacks and spying by Turkey, Russia, China and Iran.

It warns of "ticking time bombs" that could manipulate data and sabotage critical infrastructure, and says that industrial espionage costs German industry billions of euros each year.

The most affected sectors are the car, weapons, and space and aerospace industries, along with research institutes, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Tuesday. He added that the German government is working alongside industry to better protect German firms.

NATO officials have warned that last week's global cyberattack could result in international retaliation.

The so-called NotPetya attack hit Ukrainian government systems, as well as networks in 64 other countries, causing an unprecedented scale of disruption.

NATO now argues the cyber ambush violated Ukraine's sovereignty and countermeasures could be expected, including sabotage.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said cyber operations against a NATO member state could trigger Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, demanding a collective military response. Ukraine is not a member of the bloc.

The four Arab nations who initiated the diplomatic and economic blockade of Qatar will meet in Egypt to discuss further action after Doha rejected a list of 13 demands and the extended deadline passed.

Accusing Qatar of sponsoring terrorism, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt issued a list of ultimatums to Qatar on June 22, after cutting ties with the country on June 5 for its alleged support of terrorism.

Following Qatar's rejection of the demands, which include shutting down its news channel, Al Jazeera, ending support for the Muslim Brotherhood, downgrading ties with Iran, and closing a military base housing Turkish troops, the four Arab nations extended the previous 10-day deadline by another 48 hours.

Before the extended deadline expired, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani once again rejected the ultimatum, calling some of the demands "unrealistic and... not actionable."

"It's not about terrorism, it's talking about shutting down the freedom of speech," he said.

The Pentagon has vowed to defend the US and its allies against any possible North Korean threat after Washington confirmed Pyongyang's claim that it has developed the technology to potentially deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.

The Pentagon has concluded that North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that can potentially strike the United States. Initially, the US military had assessed the missile fired Tuesday morning to be of an intermediate-range category.

"We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies and to use the full range of capabilities at our disposal against the growing threat from North Korea," Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said in a statement. White also condemned Pyongyang's "escalatory launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile."

The US response comes after North Korea boasted about conducting a successful launch of its Hwasong-14 missile, which allegedly flew for a distance of 933 km (580 miles), reaching an altitude of 2,802 km (1,741 miles) at the peak of the 39-minute flight.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has called on Europe to stop demonstrating generosity towards asylum seekers to avoid an overwhelming migrant influx. He also advises European states to make Africans' way to the continent much more difficult.

During an interview Germany's Welt am Sonntag, Gates, one of the richest people on the planet, warned of the grave consequences of exceeding generosity towards refugees coming to Europe, whose numbers would only rise unless something is done.

"On the one hand you want to demonstrate generosity and take in refugees, but the more generous you are, the more word gets around about this - which in turn motivates more people to leave Africa," Gates said.

While Germany has been one of the pioneers of the open door policy, it cannot "take in the huge, massive number of people who are wanting to make their way to Europe." Thus Gates advised European nations to take action in order to make it "more difficult for Africans to reach the continent via the current transit routes."