EUROPE - David Cameron has hit out at European leaders who have failed to support him publicly in his efforts to block Jean-Claude Juncker becoming president of the European Commission. In an apparent rebuke to Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, Mr Cameron suggested that European leaders have expressed scepticism in private about Mr Juncker’s appointment but have failed to nail their colours to the mast in public.

USA - Rarely has a US president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many. Too many times to count, Mr Obama has told us he is "ending" the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — as though wishing made it so. His rhetoric has now come crashing into reality. Watching the black-clad ISIS jihadists take territory once secured by American blood is final proof, if any were needed, that America's enemies are not "decimated." They are emboldened and on the march. [Article written by Mr Dick Cheney, former US Vice President.]

GERMANY - Just how far can the German president go, and what are the limits of his competencies? That question was answered by Germany's highest court a few weeks ago. The Constitutional Court ruled that Germany's president is allowed to, in short, use blunt speech to express his opinion. Before the decision, a statement by Joachim Gauck himself was read out in which he gave his view on the matter. "The federal president acts through words," is how Gauck defines the president's job, adding that essentially the president can "only act through speeches and conversations."

ISRAEL - Hamas is using the Islamic Movement in Israel as a front organization to promote its goals and activity in Jerusalem. The Shabak [Israeli security service] lifted last week a gag order on the arrest of a senior Hamas terrorist in April 2014. The Shabak arrested Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Tuama as he tried to enter Israel from Jordan via the Allenby Border Cross. Tuama was born in 1951 and is married with 8 children. Originally from Tul Karem, he has been residing in Saudi Arabia since the 1970's. He joined the Muslim Brotherhood in 1983 and joined Hamas as early as 1987 when the terror organization was established.

UK - Jihadists fighting in Iraq and Syria are planning attacks on British soil, David Cameron has said. The Prime Minister warned that the current crisis in Iraq must not be dismissed as a foreign problem because the same fighters are planning to “attack us here at home in the United Kingdom”. He made his intervention amid growing concern over the number of Britons leaving the UK to fight alongside extremist groups abroad. Earlier Baroness Neville-Jones, the former security minister, warned that Britain was “exporting” more young jihadists to fight abroad than any other European country. “A sufficient number will be radicalised and will be radicalised in ways where this notion that it’s the West’s fault will get embedded in their thinking and they will come back with the intention of doing damage,” she said.

IRAQ - Iraq has formally called on the US to launch air strikes against jihadist militants who have seized several key cities over the past week. "We have a request from the Iraqi government for air power," confirmed top US military commander General Martin Dempsey in front of US senators. Earlier the Sunni insurgents launched an attack on Iraq's biggest oil refinery at Baiji north of Baghdad. Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki earlier urged Iraqis to unite against the militants. Government forces are battling to push back ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) and its Sunni Muslim allies in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces, after the militants overran the second city, Mosul, last week.

UK - Number 10 is unlikely to be a regular subscriber to China’s Global Times, a furiously nationalistic, conspiracy-packed tabloid that is controlled by the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party. But had David Cameron scanned its leading articles this morning over breakfast he would almost certainly have spilt muesli on his trousers.

USA - Fear is the ultimate enemy of liberty. Since 9/11 our “leaders”, the smiling wolves in sheep’s clothing, have capitalized on the fear of the people to lead us down the thorny path of slavery. Thirteen years after 9/11 we are less free, and less secure than we have ever been. This is not a result of the shooters, or the terrorists, but a result of the utter failure of the people to stand up for their essential liberties from those who seek to deny them to us. In short, the problem is not in our constitution, but in ourselves. It is a symptom of our failure as a people to honor our essential liberties that has led us to the sorry state that we find ourselves in. We take a knee jerk reaction to crisis; foolishly believing that denying our essential liberties will eliminate abuses by the few.

UK - David Cameron has conceded that his bid to block Jean-Claude Juncker becoming the head of the European Commission could end in failure. In a downbeat assessment of his chances of success, the Prime Minister said that he will “go on opposing” Mr Juncker’s appointment “right up to the end”. He also appeared to rebuke European leaders including Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, for failing to stand firm in their opposition to Mr Juncker despite initially voicing their concerns. “My view is very clear,” he said. “I think it’s for others to make their view clear. If you are for reform then you need to stand up and fight for reform.” Mrs Merkel has in the last week turned on Mr Cameron over Mr Juncker, saying that she now wants to “proceed as soon as possible with the appointment”.

UK - Britain’s top counter-terrorism official has been forced to reveal a secret government policy justifying the mass surveillance of every Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google user in the UK. A witness statement from Charles Farr, the director general of Security and Counter Terrorism, explained how intercepting tweets, Google and YouTube searches and Facebook posts was permitted by law due to their classification as 'external communications'.

ISRAEL - Israel re-arrested 51 Palestinians freed in a 2011 prisoner swap deal, the army said on Wednesday, in the sixth day of a hunt for three missing teenagers believed abducted in the occupied West Bank. Israel accuses Hamas Islamists of kidnapping the seminary students, who disappeared on Thursday while hitchhiking from a Jewish settlement. "We have two efforts ongoing in parallel. First is to bring back the boys, and the second is to take a toll on Hamas for its actions," spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said. Palestinians said the majority of those re-arrested were affiliated with Hamas, and accused Israel of reneging on the prisoner-swap deal, which was partially brokered by Egypt. Israel wants to make clear to Hamas it will pay a high price for the abduction. Netanyahu was swift to praise the latest arrests, which brought the total number of those detained to 240.

UKRAINE - An explosion has struck a pipeline in the central Ukrainian Poltava region. Witnesses say flames from the blast are up to 200 meter high. “The explosion occurred at about 14:45 local time in a field,” the local police press-service said in a statement. Due to the “flame and the high temperatures,” it was “impossible to get closer to the epicenter.” Operating since 1967, the “Brotherhood” is the largest consumer gas pipeline in Europe, clocking in at 4,451 km. It cuts through Ukraine and runs into Slovakia, where it diverges in two directions; with one part supplying gas to the Czech Republic, Germany, France and Switzerland, and the other to Austria, Italy, Hungary and several countries in the Balkans. Whether the explosion affects gas supplies to Europe will be seen in the coming days, Russian gas giant Gazprom has said.

IRAQ - Islamist-led militants have invaded Iraq's biggest oil refinery, after pounding it with mortars and machine guns from two directions. An official quoted by Reuters said the militants now controlled 75% of the Baiji refinery, 210km (130 miles) north of Baghdad. Government forces have made new air strikes on militants advancing towards the capital. Fighting is also reported in the western city of Ramadi.

USA - US Secretary of State John Kerry says that Washington is ready to use radical measures to halt the ISIS offensive in Iraq – including enlisting Iran’s help and launching air strikes. "We're open to discussions if there is something constructive that can be contributed by Iran, if Iran is prepared to do something that is going to respect the integrity and sovereignty of Iraq," the diplomat told Yahoo News on Monday when questioned about joining forces with Iran, which enjoys religious ties with the embattled government in Baghdad. But Kerry warned that the US should “see what Iran might or might not be willing to do before we start making any pronouncements." Kerry said the organization counted fighters from the US, Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and the Netherlands in its ranks – and that those could later return to their home countries to stage terrorist acts.

USA - The seasonally-adjusted price index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs hit an all-time high in May, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In January 1967, when the BLS started tracking this measure, the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs was 38.1. As of last May, it was 234.572. By this January, it hit 240.006. By April, it hit 249.362. And, in May, it climbed to a record 252.832.