Following his resignation as Middle East peace envoy, former Prime Minister Tony Blair is planning to take up the mantle of unofficial liaison point between Israel and the Arab world, aides have said.

His resignation was revealed on Tuesday, before he officially sent his formal letter of notice to the UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon.

The former prime minister served as a peace envoy for the Quartet Group, made up of the UN, the US, the EU and Russia, for eight years.

Further cuts to the UK defense budget will begin to impact on Britain's operational capacity, critics argue, as Chancellor George Osborne presses ahead with military austerity measures worth £1 billion.

British military spending in 2012: $62.7bn
British military spending in 2014: $57bn

BBC.com, February 5, 2014
It says that while it is true that the UK has been cutting its defense spending levels, this fall to fifth place is partly due to exchange rate effects: if sterling-dollar exchange rates from last week were applied to UK defense spending levels instead, these would rise from $57bn to $61.1bn in US dollar terms, above Saudi Arabia and into fourth place.

Even without the exchange-rate effect, IISS analyst Giri Rajendran notes, the fall in the UK's ranking [military spending] is not nearly as significant as it might first appear.

When the UK was third, in 2012, it was only spending about 1.5% more than Russia in US dollar terms, meaning that a relatively minor currency depreciation or decline in spending levels would produce a fall in its ranking.

In January 2014 British Prime Minister David Cameron was championing Britain's defense budget as still the fourth largest in the world, so maybe he was right after all.

The move could also end Britain's ability to meet the symbolic contribution of two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to NATO - a topic of fierce debate in the run-up to the recent general election. The Treasury has requested the Ministry of Defense (MoD) make cuts of £1 billion. One ministry insider warned the Times newspaper that defense austerity, applied to this extent, would "not be a thing you could just swallow and carry on."

In a statement, an MoD spokesperson said: "We are confident that we will spend two percent of GDP on defense in this financial year. "The prime minister has also made clear that there will be an annual 1 percent real-terms increase in spending on defense equipment throughout this parliament." Some experts suggest savings could be made by delaying the bringing into service of certain equipment, like the controversial and long delayed F-35 Typhoon combat aircraft.

Federal officials have indicted former House Speaker Dennis Hastert for lying to the FBI about $3.5 million he agreed to pay to an undisclosed subject to "cover up past misconduct."

The indictment was unsealed in the District Court of Northern Illinois on Thursday. The Justice Department alleges that Hastert made large withdrawals after agreeing to pay the money.

The indictment does not explain precisely what the "past misconduct" is, but instead details at length various withdrawals and financial transactions he made with the unidentified subject. The payments totaling about $1.7 million occurred over a period of years beginning in 2010 and ending in 2014.

The good ol' US of A is at it again. Fighting injustice, dispensing truth, kickin' corrupt corporate butt and taking names. No evil-doers are safe, not even outfits that most people in the US Justice Dept. have probably never heard of, like FIFA, the International Federation of Association Football.

If, like most of the rest of the world, you think that this 'scandal' has anything to do with the US government's desire to see justice served, then I have a chemical weapon storage facility in Syria to sell you. This 'scandal' is nothing more than a bare-faced and embarrassingly pathetic attempt by the US empire-builders to prevent Russia from hosting the 2018 soccer world cup. Like a petulant, spoiled child that has been told 'no', this is the US government's version of throwing a tantrum and screaming "I HATE YOU!"

The official story is that, over the course of several years from the 1990s, the 14 indicted officials had accepted bribes for voting to award FIFA events to particular countries, primarily Qatar, South Africa, and various Latin American nations. But these days, no US government-inspired 'scandal' is worth promoting if it doesn't target Russia, the American empire's favorite whipping boy.

Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup in 2010, at a time when the US government still thought it could 'contain' Russia. With last year's events in Ukraine however, all bets were off and Putin's Russia leaped to an all time high in the league table of states in need of 'regime change'. So while there is no doubt that FIFA is as perfidious as any other global corporation, there is obviously more to this situation than mere bribery.

So given that corruption within FIFA has been an open secret for years, the question becomes, why now? FIFA is scheduled to elect its next president today, with the incumbent Sepp Blatter, who is up for reelection, viewed as a pro-Russian because he presided over the awarding of the 2018 games to Russia. Blatter's opponent is vice president Prince Ali of Jordan, Jordan being a US client state that has been used as a staging ground for Western-backed 'Syrian rebels' (aka ISIS) to attack Syria. Coincidentally (or NOT!) just one day before the US DOJ indictments, US Senators John McCain and Robert Menendez sent a letter to the FIFA congress urging it to remove Russia as the host country for 2018. Their schizoidal rationale was that: "allowing Russia to host the World Cup would bolster the Putin regime at a time when it should be condemned".

Now, isn't it 'funny' that the world's pre-eminent financiers and supporters of terrorism and brutal dictators have the cojones to call the Russian government a "regime"? Isn't it a hoot that the same global mafia bosses who orchestrated the overthrow of the Ukrainian government last year and ushered in a civil war that has cost the lives of at least 5,000 civilians have the effrontery to accuse Russia of "violations of Ukraine's territorial integrity"? But the hypocrisy doesn't end there. The two signatories to the above letter are far from squeaky clean. McCain is an ardent supporter of Muslim terrorists who has spent the last 4 years loudly advocating for US tax payers' money to be sent to 'Syrian rebels' aka 'ISIS'. In April this year, Menedez was indicted by the same US DOJ on corruption charges for using his Senate office to push the business interests of a friend in exchange for cash and gifts.

Another detail in the background here is the fact that FIFA was considering suspending Israel due to their treatment of Palestinian footballers. The 'scandal' has proven so glaringly 'fortuitous' for Israel that even the Times of Israel had to call it out and admit that the distraction of the 'scandal' will leave the Palestinian authority's attempt to have Israel banned dead in the water.

But take a moment to fully grasp the extent of the desperation of the Anglo-American empire builders in their attempt to vilify Russia. The very idea that Russia might enjoy the positive propaganda of hosting the 2018 World Cup caused such fulminous frothing of the mouth at the US State Dept. that the organisation that had awarded the games to Russia had to be taken down, including its president.

Russia expects to launch the $100-billion BRICS New Development Bank along with a currency reserve pool worth another $100 billion at the July summit in Ufa, said Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We expect to reach agreement in Ufa on the launch of practical operations of the BRICS Bank and a pool of currency reserves," Putin said on Thursday at a ceremony to receive the credentials of ambassadors of foreign states, TASS reports.

Putin recalled that the BRICS was created in 2006 under Russia's initiative, and that the group "has already become an influential factor in world policy and economy."

"Russia is interested in further intensifying cooperation between the BRICS countries and developing new interaction mechanisms, including in the financial and economic sphere," he said.

The FIFA-linked arrests on the eve of the re-election of the organization's chief are an obvious attempt to thwart Sepp Blatter's re-appointment, Vladimir Putin said, answering journalists' questions. He added it's another example of US meddling abroad.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the US could be selfishly motivated for its own gain, as was the case with Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.

"Unfortunately our American partners are using these methods in order to achieve their own selfish gains and it is illegal to persecute people. I would not rule out that in regards to FIFA, the same thing could be happening, though I do not know how it will end," he said.

"However, the fact that this is happening right on the eve of the FIFA presidential elections, gives one this exact impression."

Putin added this is an obvious attempt to expand Washington's jurisdiction in other countries.

"This is yet one more attempt to try and impose their law against other states. I am absolutely sure that this is an attempt to try and stop Blatter from being re-elected as FIFA president, which is a grave breach of the principles of a functioning international organization."

Russia's President Vladimir Putin speaks with uncommon bluntness against the foreign policy of the United States. He wants an alliance with China and the BRICS states, to close the security gaps that arise from US foreign policy: The illegal interventions of the West are what first gave strength to the Islamic State. The BRICS countries should safeguard against such developments.

At a meeting Monday with the security chiefs of the BRICS countries, Putin declared, according to TASS:

We all know what is happening now, say, in the Middle East or in North Africa, and we are aware of the problems connected with the terrorist organisation that calls itself the Islamic State. However, prior to unacceptable external interference carried out without any sanctions from the United Nations Security Council, the countries where this organisation now flourishes had no terrorism at all. The consequences are clearly grave and everything that happened in the past years on the international arena needs to be adjusted.

Putin sees danger for other nations of the world in the West's aggressive policies: "It is also obvious that our countries have to face serious threats due to violations of international law and the national sovereignty of states in various spheres of activity."

On May 13, the Vatican officially recognized the state of Palestine. Indeed, the Vatican had already welcomed the United Nations General Assembly vote in 2012 to recognize a Palestinian state. It has treated Palestine as a state since then despite the conflict over this issue. Meanwhile, Venezuela is strengthening diplomatic ties with Palestine. Particularly, it means that Venezuela's diplomatic representation in Palestine will be elevated to full embassy status. The news was revealed in the wake of a visit to Venezuela by PA Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki, which resulted in the signing of 18 cooperation agreements related to trade, energy, agriculture, health, education, defence and security. Although, these facts don't resolve system problem in the region.

The State of Palestine is a de jure sovereign state in the Middle East. Its independence was declared on 15 November 1988 by the Palestine Liberation Organization in Algiers as a government-in-exile. The State of Palestine claims the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and has designated Jerusalem as its capital, with partial control of those areas assumed in 1994 as the Palestinian Authority. Most of the areas claimed by the State of Palestine have been occupied by Israel since 1967 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. In 2007, the Hamas takeover of Gaza Strip politically and territorially divided the Palestinians, with Abbas's Fatah left largely ruling the West Bank and recognized internationally as the official Palestinian Authority, while Hamas has secured its control over the Gaza Strip. In April 2011, the Palestinian parties signed an agreement of reconciliation, but its implementation had stalled until a unity government was formed on 2 June 2014.

The IRS believes that a major cyber breach that allowed criminals to steal the tax returns of more than 100,000 people originated in Russia, two sources briefed on the data theft tell CNN.

On Tuesday, the Internal Revenue Service announced that organized crime syndicates used personal data obtained elsewhere to access tax information, which they then used to file $50 million in fraudulent tax refunds.

The IRS said the agency's Criminal Investigation Unit and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration are investigating the origins of the breach. The agency also alerted the Homeland Security Department of the breach, a DHS official confirmed. On Thursday, the FBI announced it had also opened an investigation into the incident.

An IRS spokeswoman said the agency does not discuss ongoing investigations.

NATO is destabilizing the Ukrainian crisis by turning blind eye to Kiev's aim for a military solution, Moscow's envoy to NATO said, warning that alliance's rhetoric of shifting all responsibility onto Russia is not consistent with real state of affairs.

"NATO continues to position Russia as a participant in the conflict, which is far from reality and has a serious confrontational potential because, in essence, it gives Kiev carte blanche to seek a military solution to the conflict," Russian envoy to NATO Aleksandr Grushko told Rossiya 24 TV channel.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced earlier on Wednesday that the alliance will create up to eight new command and control units on its eastern borders.

"We are establishing six command and control units in the three Baltic countries [Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia] and in Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania. And probably also [there will] be two more of those in two more countries," Stoltenberg said.