Saudi officials are to pay the Free Syria Army wages in a bid to encourage mass defections, reports The Guardian on Friday.

Following on from a recent wave of weapons, sent to the rebels by Saudi Arabia and Qatar across the Turkish border, this latest move was discussed last month between US and Arab officials.

According to The Guardian, the rebels will be paid in either US dollars or euros, in view of the Syrian pounds sharp decline.

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has addressed both Houses of Parliament during her visit to Great Britain.

Ms Suu Kyi met Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall ahead of a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron at No 10.

At a joint press conference the prime minister paid tribute to Ms Suu Kyi.

He said: "Over these years you have been a symbol of courage and of hope for our people and for your people and around the world.

More than one million people around the world took part in marking World Refugee Day  on 20th June, remembering the 42 million people who are currently displaced from their homes.

In his keynote speech, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said that many more millions had been displaced in the past 18 months from Cote d’lvoire, Libya, Mali, Somalia, Sudan and Syria.

Ban Ki-Moon said,

A Syrian air force pilot, Colonel Hassan Hamada, defected to Jordan on Thursday, flying his MiG-21 fighter plane over the border to the King Hussein military air base in Jordan.

According to Jordanian officials the defecting pilot was seeking aslyum.

Jordan's Minister of State for Information, Samih al-Maaytah, said to the Reuters news agency:

"The cabinet has decided to grant the Syrian pilot political asylum upon his request."

The head of the observer mission to Syria, General Robert Mood, has told the Security Council that the UN team was targeted by gun fire and hostile crowds, ahead of his decision to suspend the mission.

Diplomats say Gen Mood described how his 300 unarmed monitors were targeted at least 10 times by direct fire and nine UN vehicles were struck in the past week alone.

Gen Mood earlier called on both sides to allow the evacuation of trapped civilians; however the Syrian government blamed opposition fighters of ‘obstructing’ their attempts.

France has warned Iran of tougher sanctions if it doesn’t negotiate seriously over its nuclear program.

Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said the EU should implement an agreed oil embargo from July 1.

Recent talks between Iran and the US, China, Russia, Germany, France, and the UK, also known as the P5+1, left ‘significant gaps’ according to EU foreign policy head, Catherine Ashton.

The UK government ministers have decided to boycott England’s Euro 2012 quarter-final on Sunday due to concerns over human rights in Ukraine.

The sports minister, Hugh Robertson, will not travel to the game on Sunday. The Foreign office have defended the decision given the questionable justice and human rights record in Ukraine.

When asked why ministers would not be there, a Downing Street spokeswoman said,

A Russian arms vessel carrying weapons to be delivered to the Syrian government has turned back towards Russia, after having its insurance withdrawn.

The MV Alaed, currently off the coast of Scotland, is believed to be carrying Mi-25 attack helicopters and anti-ship missiles for Syria, a move that drew the ire of the United States.
 

The Sudanese government's security wing, the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) ordered three independent newspapers not to distribute their Sunday edition this weekend, despite having printed them.

The daily newspapers, Al-Ahdath, Al-Watan and Al-Jarida, were also ordered not to publish Monday's editions until further approval by the NISS agent.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Argentine President Cristina Kirchner were involved in a confrontation on the sidelines of the G20 summit.

Cameron approached Ms Kirchner before the first session of the summit, and told her she should ‘respect the views’ of Falkland Islanders.

"I am not proposing a full discussion now on the Falklands but I hope you have noted that they are holding a referendum and you should respect their views.