The United States will continue targeting al-Nusra Front terrorist organization which does not have any role in Syria's political future, US State Department spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the United States appears to have a wish to maintain al-Nusra Front terrorist group in some form in Syria, and use it to achieve its own goals.

"Al-Nusra is a designated terrorist organization, is not a party to the cessation of hostilities and certainly not a part of the political future of Syria. [US] airstrikes against this group will continue," Kirby stated.

One of the bigger news items to hit yesterday was that the Democratic National Committee accused Russian government hackers of penetrating the DNC's computer network and gaining access to the entire database of opposition research on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. The DNC further said that no financial, donor or personal information appears to have been accessed or taken, suggesting that the breach was traditional espionage, not the work of criminal hackers.

It appears that was not entirely true, because barely 24 hours later, the alleged "Russian" hackers has emerged under the Guccifer2 handle, and instead of a group of government operatives and/or spies appears to be a "lone" hacker who incidentally adds, "DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said no financial documents were compromised. Nonsense! Just look through the Democratic Party lists of donors!"

He also denounces the claim that no secret docs were stolen: "They say there were no secret docs! Lies again! Here is a secret document from Hillary's PC she worked with as the Secretary of State."

The Labour MP Jo Cox has died after being shot and stabbed multiple times following a constituency meeting. Armed officers responded to the attack near a library in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on Thursday afternoon. A 52-year-old man was arrested in the area, police confirmed. The suspect was named locally as Tommy Mair.

Police added that Cox, 41, the MP for Batley and Spen, had suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead at 1.48pm on Thursday by a doctor with paramedics at the scene.

Police confirmed that a man in his late 40s to early 50s nearby suffered slight injuries in the incident. They are also investigating reports that the suspect shouted "Britain first", a possible reference to the far-right political party of that name, as he launched the attack. Police are understood to be talking to at least one witness who claimed to have heard the attacker shout the words, and the motivation for the incident will form part of their inquiry.

Cox's husband, Brendan, said after her death was announced: "Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo's friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.

The head of Russia's Security Council has said that the number of electronic attacks on Russian state bodies has nearly doubled and reiterated his demand for civil servants to stop using foreign-made messenger services at work.

Nikolay Patrushev told the session of Russia's top consultative body in charge of security that in 2015 over 188 million non-sanctioned attempts to break into internet resources of state and municipal bodies were registered in the Volga Federal District alone. This is a two-fold increase compared to the previous year, he noted.

Patrushev also noted the general increase of foreign special services' activities in the informational sphere, be it pure intelligence work or other activities.

At the same session, Patrushev also returned to the topic that he had been promoting for a long time - the dangers of using foreign-made software and foreign commercial internet services, such as instant messengers, by Russian civil servants. He noted that this allowed criminals and foreign intelligence specialists to access both Russian state secrets in economic and defense sphere and the personal data of Russian citizens.

Vladimir Putin is probably the most popular Russian leader there has ever been, polling up around a phenomenal 80% as recently as November 2015 in a study carried out by a team of American researchers. This makes him inarguably the most popular world leader today, though you would think the opposite given the way he's routinely depicted and demonized in the West.

Paradoxically, the main reason for Putin's popularity in Russia is the same reason he's so reviled in the US and Western Europe. It comes down to the simple but salient fact that when it comes to leadership and political nous Vladimir Putin is playing chess while his counterparts in London, Washington, and Paris are playing chequers.

Russia's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Turkey's military advisers in Syria are commanding Daesh terrorists operating around Syria's northwestern city of Aleppo.

According to mass media reports, up to 2,000 militants are taking part in the fighting, Zakharova told reporters on Friday as cited by the Tass news agency.

"Journalists say Turkey's military advisers are commanding them," she said.

Zakharova also said an intensive traffic of trucks with armed guards have been spotted in the Aleppo.

"They are carrying weapons and ammunition in the north of provinces of Aleppo and Idlib from the side of the border (with Turkey)," she said.

"This looks like another stab in the back of the Syrian army."

The 'regime' has already changed in Syria - without any help from Western 'democracies'. But the propaganda war on Syria will continue...

While the Western powers pursue their illicit project to replace Syria's government with some cabal of tired terrorists and aging exiles, the Syrian people have quietly continued with their own plan for a new and representative government, which this week held its inaugural session.

Following the national elections held in April, and the democratic selection of 258 representatives for the Parliament, this new government promises much, not just in terms of a undivided front to fight the foreign-backed insurgency, but as a model for peaceful 'regime change'.

Although the new parliament still has a majority of representatives affiliated with the former ruling party, we may expect to see substantial debate around areas formerly beyond discussion, under the eye of the newly elected and female speaker, Hadiyah Abbas.

In his opening speech to the parliament, President Bashar al Assad, who himself was re-elected by a majority of Syrians two years ago, spoke forcefully of the need to unite against the foreign enemy and rid the whole country of these terrorist armies - whatever it might take.

And it may take a lot. Not only are insurgents well-embedded in parts of some cities, where all the choices to expel them are difficult, but they are still being resupplied and reinforced from over Syria's borders.

Not a day goes by without some sort of turmoil in the South China Sea. Let's cut to the chase: war is not about to break out.

In a nutshell, the non-stop drama, as ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) diplomats told me, is all about "escalation-management protocols." Translation: how to prevent any unilateral outburst that could be interpreted as warlike.

Compounding the problem is that ASEAN can't seem to manage its own internal protocols. This past Tuesday offered a graphic illustration, after a special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' meeting in Yuxi.

First ASEAN issued a communiqué. Then it retracted it. As much as that reflects internal dissent among the 10 nation group, it also happens to puncture the Pentagon myth of China's "isolation".

Meanwhile, a D-Day is approaching; the ruling, by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, on a territorial dispute brought by the Philippines in 2013. The ruling should come by late July or early August. Even if - as expected - it goes against Beijing that still should not be reason to install an insurmountable ASEAN-China divide.

Connie Rahakundini, president of the Indonesian Institute for Maritime Studies (IIMS), framed the question for Xinhua. There is an 'ASEAN plus' mechanism already in place - which is a sort of debate forum including China. And ASEAN is also establishing a code of conduct to prevent unilateral moves.

The problem with the case in The Hague is that the Philippines did not try to solve it bilaterally; off the record, ASEAN diplomats admit that would be the only solution.

So no wonder Beijing decided not to be a part of the arbitration procedure, and preemptively rejects whatever ruling (which is non-binding anyway), insisting the court has no jurisdiction. The Philippines case is about territorial sovereignty and maritime delimitation; these are subject to general international law, not the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Israel is planning to build a massive concrete wall which will extend below ground along the Gaza Strip border, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper has revealed. The barrier is aimed at combating the threat posed by Hamas tunnels crossing into the country from Gaza.

The wall, which will stretch along the 96km (60 mile) border around the Gaza Strip, will extend several dozen meters below the ground, and will also be present above the ground. It is estimated to cost US$568 million.

The costly plan - aimed at tackling Hamas terror tunnels - was cleared for publication by Israel's military censor, according to Ynet, a website affiliated with Yedioth Ahronoth.

The wall will be the third defense system of its kind to be erected along the border.

Palestinian NGO says supplies shut by Israeli national water company, which in turn cites shortages and a burst pipe. Israel's national water company has cut crucial water supplies to large areas of the occupied West Bank, leaving tens of thousands of Palestinians without access to safe drinking water during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Palestinian officials said.

Mekorot, the main supplier of water to Palestinian towns and cities, siphoned off water supplies from the municipality of Jenin, several Nablus villages and the city of Salfit and its surrounding villages. Ayman Rabi, the executive director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that in some areas people had not received water for more than 40 days.

"People are relying on purchasing water from water trucks or finding it from alternative sources such as springs and other filling points in their vicinity," he said. "Families are having to live on two, three or 10 litres per capita per day," he said, adding that in some areas they had started rationing water. The city of Jenin, which has a population of more than 40,000 people, said its water supplies had been cut by half, and warned that it would hold Mekorot solely responsible for any tragedies resulting from water shortages during the hot summer months.

According to the UN, 7.5 litres per person per day is the minimum requirement for most people under most conditions but in some areas of Palestine - where temperatures exceed 35C [95F] - the minimum requirement is much higher. Israelis, including settlers, consume five times more water than Palestinians in the West Bank, 350 litres per person per day in Israel compared with 60 litres per Palestinian per day in the West Bank. [complete water usage]