NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - U.N. Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura described a meeting of the International Syria Support Group on Thursday as "long, painful and disappointing," adding that he wants to believe that Russia and the United States are serious about brokering peace.

NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The United States and Russia failed to agree on how to revive a ceasefire in Syria on Thursday as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington cannot be the only one trying to hold open the door to peace and urged Russia and the Syrian government to do their part.

NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - France demanded Syria ground its planes, the Netherlands said a new Syrian government offensive on Aleppo sends the wrong signal, and Russia said "nothing happened" after a meeting of the International Syria Support Group in New York.

ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Deposed Iraqi Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari on Thursday accused former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of orchestrating his removal from office, publicly exposing rifts within an increasingly unstable government.

ERBIL, Iraq, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Islamic State militants are expected to fight bitterly to hold onto their de-facto Iraqi capital, and the battle to retake Mosul will likely be a bloody one, a German major helping train local forces said on Thursday.

NEW YORK, Sept 22 (Reuters) - World stock indexes and bond prices climbed on Thursday, extending gains from a day earlier, when the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled an increasingly cautious approach to future interest rate hikes.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Britain should apologize for its 1917 declaration endorsing the founding of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and should recognize Palestine as a state, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday.

AMMAN, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The Syrian army announced the start of a new military offensive in the rebel-held east of the city of Aleppo on Thursday, signaling a potential further escalation in a bombing campaign by Russian and Syrian jets that rebels say has already intensified in the last 24 hours.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Thursday that American companies were welcome to invest in Iran.