Israeli Airstrikes: Five Palestinians Killed

A Complex Web Of Friends And Enemies

Updated: 5:06pm UK, Friday 11 July 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

Rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel at dawn. The opening of a new front for Israel already engaged in an escalating air campaign in the Gaza Strip? No.

Neither the Israelis nor Hezbollah, which has an arsenal of 100,000 rockets and controls southern Lebanon, are that stupid.

The missile attack on Israel's north was an attempt by Sunni militants to spark a confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel that both know would be a zero sum.

Why would Sunnis, in all probability descendants of Palestinian refugees from what is now Israel, want to do that?

It's Hezbollah, a Shia movement, after all, that has been a major conduit of experts, funding and modern rockets to Hamas, a Sunni organisation, in Gaza. Hamas and Hezbollah are allies.

But only when it comes to fighting Israel.

In Syria, Hamas has condemned the Assad regime, which like Hezbollah is backed by Iran.

Sunnis of Palestinian descent are among volunteers who have joined rebel groups fighting Damascus, while Hezbollah has sent thousands of its best fighters to the frontlines to defend the regime of Bashar al Assad.

There is a logic at work here.

If Sunni groups in south Lebanon can sucker the Israelis into a war with Hezbollah they could enjoy the double whammy of reduced pressure on Gaza, and the use of Israel's devastating air power against Hezbollah, the Sunni's enemies in Syria.

No better example of an attempt to kill two birds with one stone.

It won't happen because both Hezbollah and Israel, foes who have the greatest respect for one another, saw through the plot some time back. It's not the first time it has been tried.

But it does signal just how the Middle East's tectonic plates of conflict have shifted and can overlap.

The explosion of sectarian Muslim war between Sunni and Shia in Syria, which has spread into Iraq and has destabilised Lebanon, has become the defining clash in a new age of chaos.

Rival regional powers Saudi Arabia and Iran use proxies to vie for influence and control.

The Saudis have become increasingly nervous of the spread of a Shia crescent from Tehran through Baghdad to Damascus and south Lebanon.

But Tehran has also used enemy forces to bolster the positions of its allies.

According to intelligence sources Muhsin al Fadhli, once a senior al Qaeda figure based in Iraq has taken up an operational roles inside Syria - at the instigation of the Iranian government.

Why would Tehran release someone to fight a key client an ally in Damascus?

Because radical groups like the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have fought harder against fellow rebel groups than they have against the Assad regime.

Tehran has split the rebels.

But now ISIS threatens Iran's client government in Baghdad showing that an enemy's enemy may be a friend from time to time, but will remain an enemy.

This may be complicated but there is no excuse for stupidity in the Middle East. Failure to comprehend this can be fatal.

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Archbishops Split Over Right-To-Die Debate

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has made an extraordinary U-turn by announcing he is backing laws to legalise assisted dying.

His support for Labour peer Lord Falconer's Bill, which will be debated in the House of Lords next week, goes against the Church of England's official line that the law on assisted suicide should not change.

Lord Carey said it would not be "anti-Christian" to legalise assisted suicide and that by opposing reform the Church risked "promoting anguish and pain".

Tony Nicklinson died two years ago

He said the case of Tony Nicklinson - the locked-in syndrome sufferer who died after being refused the legal right to die - had the "deepest influence" on his change of heart.

"Here was a dignified man making a simple appeal for mercy, begging that the law allow him to die in peace, supported by his family," he wrote in the Daily Mail.

"His distress made me question my motives in previous debates. Had I been putting doctrine before compassion, dogma before human dignity?"

Assisted suicide is already legal at clinics like this in Switzerland

Mr Nicklinson's widow Jane said she was "amazed and thrilled" at Lord Carey's U-turn.

His comments come as a surprise because he was part of a coalition that helped stop Lord Joffe's Assisting Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill in 2006 in the House of Lords.

But while the former Archbishop has come out in favour of a change in the law, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, has condemned the Bill as "mistaken and dangerous".

Writing in the Times, Archbishop Welby warned the "deep personal demands" of individuals should not blind people to the pressures others could be put under should the practice become legal.

Lord Falconer's Bill would allow adults to ask for help to die

"It would be very naive to think that many of the elderly people who are abused and neglected each year, as well as many severely disabled individuals, would not be put under pressure to end their lives if assisted suicide were permitted by law," he wrote.

Archbishop Welby said a law that permitted assisted suicide would be "bound" to lead some people feeling they ought to stop "being a burden to others".

Under the 1961 Suicide Act, it remains a criminal offence carrying up to 14 years in jail to help take someone's life.

If successful, Lord Falconer's Bill would allow mentally-capable adults in England and Wales to ask for help to die if they were suffering from a terminal illness and had less than six months to live.

Modelled on a system in place in the US state of Oregon, patients would be able to administer a fatal dose of drugs to themselves, but would not be able to be given help if they could not lift it or swallow it.

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World Cup Ticket Scam: Briton On The Run

By Paul Kelso, Sports Correspondent, in Rio de Janeiro

Ray Whelan, the British executive at the heart of a ticket-touting investigation, is considered to be "on the run" after he left his hotel "in a hurried manner" before police arrived to arrest him.

Mr Whelan, a director of Match Services, a subsidiary of the Byrom Group which owns Fifa's ticket and hospitality rights, is suspected of supplying tickets to a ticket-touting gang working at the World Cup.

He was first arrested on Monday on the basis of telephone taps in which he was heard discussing $25,000 (£14,500) cash deals for ticket packages with Lamine Fofana, an Algerian suspected of being the conduit for hundreds of tickets.

Match have described Whelan's arrest as 'arbitrary and illegal'

Mr Whelan was released on bail on Tuesday morning but on Thursday a judge approved an arrest warrant, a precursor to his being formally charged. Under the order he was to be taken into custody along with 10 other suspects.

Police went to his hotel, the Copacabana Palace, on Wednesday afternoon but found he had left by a staff entrance an hour earlier, at around 3pm local time.

His fugitive status came as Match Services promised to do all it could to assist the authorities in Brazil.

Police said in a statement: "Teams from the 18 Precinct (Flag Square), coordinated by the delegate Fabio Barucke, were at the Copacabana Palace Hotel on the afternoon of Thursday, to comply with probation warrant issued by the court against Raymond Whelan. According to the delegate, the English fled out the back door of the hotel and is now considered a fugitive."

Marcos Kac, the Rio de Janeiro investigating magistrate in charge of the inquiry, said they may ask for help from federal police in case Mr Whelan is considering leaving the city by private jet.

He surrendered his passport as a condition of his bail and is not permitted to leave the country.

Match has described the arrest of Mr Whelan as "arbitrary and illegal" and accuse the police of failing to understand the ticket and hospitality market.

In a statement Jaime Byrom, the chairman and founder of the Byrom Group, said: "Notwithstanding our belief that the action taken against Mr Whelan was illegal and baseless, Match Services and I personally remain totally committed to assist the authorities from the 18th Precinct or any other jurisdiction in Fifa's fight against illegal ticket sales."

As well as owning the rights to Fifa's hospitality operation, Match also supply ticketing and accommodations services, and run a ticket enforcement programme, effectively working with local authorities to clamp down on touts or unlicensed hospitality providers working in opposition to them.

Under Fifa rules it is illegal for anyone to sell an ordinary match ticket for above its cover price. Tickets provided by Match as part of corporate packages, however, can be sold at any price, as long as they are accompanied by an element of hospitality or accommodation.

Match say that in the telephone conversations with Fofana released to the media Mr Whelan is discussing unsold hospitality packages for all seven games at the Maracana in Rio, which have an approved price of $24,750.

While Fofana was banned from buying products from Match, they say Mr Whelan could not be expected to know that. They acknowledge that while cash deals are unusual it is not a breach of the rules.

Fofana and 10 other suspects were arrested with hundreds of tickets, including some in the name of former players and the son of a senior Fifa executive committee member.

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'Omar The Chechen' Should Come Home, Says Dad

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent, in Pankisi, Georgia

The father of ISIS commander Omar al Shishani has told Sky News his son felt rejected by his country when he left to fight jihad.

With his distinctive red beard, al Shishani has become one of the most recognisable faces of a group now notorious for extreme brutality in its pursuit of an Islamic state across large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

But his father remembers a young man who was never particularly religious, but who always wanted to be a soldier.

Born in the remote Pankisi Gorge in Northern Georgia, an area once seen as a stronghold for Chechen militants, his real name is Tarkhan Batirashvili.

When he was younger, he worked as a shepherd boy in the hills above the gorge, where he reportedly first met Chechen fighters, crossing the Caucasus mountains to fight Russian forces across the border.

Al Shishani was 'tormented' when he was not allowed back in the army

"He was a very good boy, very well behaved," Timur Batirashvili remembers.

"Always very intelligent, very nice, he hated when people lied.

"Do you know what I think now? I didn't know my son. I didn't know him at all."

Tarkhan joined the Georgian army and served in the Russia-Georgia war in 2008. His father said he seemed happy, that he had found his place in the world.

Mr Batirashvili says he son told him to convert to Islam and hung up on him

He was due to be promoted to become an officer, and told his father their lives were about to change, that he was going to earn so much more money.

But then he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and admitted to hospital, after which he was discharged from the army on medical grounds.

He tried and failed to get back in - Mr Batirashvili said he was "tormented" - sent from office to office to no avail.

'Omar the Chechen' comes from Georgia's Pankisi Gorge

A few months later he was arrested and sent to prison for possession of illegal weapons.

"When he came back from prison he was really thin," Mr Batirashvili said.

"He lost his colour in prison, and he told me, 'Father, this means that this country doesn't need me.'

"I haven't seen him ever since. He felt really bad, he was really angry.

"He made a pact that if he left the prison alive he would start a holy war for God.

"'I will start a holy war in the name of God', he said, and that's what he's doing right now."

He reappeared in Syria last year under a new name, Omar al Shishani - which translates as Omar the Chechen - and became the leader of an al Qaeda-inspired group, The Army of Emigrants and Partisans, before pledging his allegiance to ISIS.

Mr Batirashvili said his son phoned him once, asking whether everything was okay, and whether he was praying to God.

When he replied that he was praying to Saint George, a Christian saint, al Shishani told him he should convert to Islam and hung up.

We asked him what he would say to his son if he could speak to him now.

He said: "Come back home. I am an old man. I need to be taken care of, I need to be looked after. Come home."

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PM Plots Anti-Strike Law Amid National Walkout

Unions: Workers Can't Feed Their Families

Updated: 8:59am UK, Thursday 10 July 2014

Unions say they are angry at 'abysmal pay', working conditions and pensions. Here is a snapshot of each union's main complaints.

:: Unite

Members: 1.4 million from various sectors, ranging from industry and manufacturing to education and agriculture - 70,000 of them are in local government and are directly affected by Thursday's strike.

Unite national officer for local government Fiona Farmer said: "Our members have endured four years of pay cuts in real terms and they voted overwhelmingly to strike on July 10 to drive home the message to ministers that poverty pay in local government must end.

"The depth of feeling on the pay issue is reinforced by the fact that local government unions, GMB and Unison, and members of the National Union of Teachers are all taking action on tomorrow.

"Poverty pay is widespread across local councils. Household bills continue to soar, but our members' buying power is constantly being eroded. The national minimum wage will soon overtake local government pay scales; members are choosing between heating and eating."

:: NUT

Members: 300,000 qualified teachers

Christine Blower, General Secretary National Union of Teachers, said: "Despite months in talks with Government officials, the real issues of our dispute have not been addressed. Teacher morale is at a low ebb.

"Changes to pay, pensions and a workload of 60 hours are unacceptable and unsustainable. Thousands of good, experienced teachers are leaving or considering leaving their job and a teacher shortage crisis is looming.

"The fact that teachers are prepared to take strike action is an indication of the strength of feeling and anger about the Government's imposed changes. Strike action is a last resort but, due to the intransigence of the coalition Government, it is one which we cannot avoid."

:: Unison

Members: 1.3 million workers from a range of roles within all public service areas, including people employed by public service authorities, private companies and community organisations.

Dave Prentis, Unison General Secretary, said: "Unison's local government and school members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland hold their first one day strike over an abysmal 1% pay offer. Faced with soaring food, fuel and housing costs, they have had to put up with three years of frozen pay, and now yet another below inflation offer.

"They have seen the value of their pay fall by nearly 20% since the coalition came to power and many struggle to make ends meet, to feed their families and pay their bills. Our charity is seeing more and more people asking for help and we know that many have had to resort to food banks to put food on the table.

"This is a national disgrace that these workers, who keep vital services running for their communities should be paid so badly, that they can't pay all their bills. And the lowest paid are still waiting for £250 promised by the Chancellor for two years' running. They have now voted to take strike action; that is not something they do lightly. But they are saying enough is enough. Work should pay enough for people to be able to live on."

:: GMB

Members: 617,000 workers, including school meal servers, street cleaners, binmen and carers.

GMB National Secretary, Brian Strutton, said: "We have tried sensible discussions, we've sought to negotiate reasonably, we've said we are willing to accept ACAS arbitration rather than go on strike - but to everything we've tried the employers have said 'no'. So we have no choice.

"GMB members serving school meals, cleaning streets, emptying bins, looking after the elderly, helping children in classrooms and in all the other vital roles serving our communities are fed up with being ignored and undervalued.

"Their pay has gone up only 1% since 2010 and in October even the national minimum wage will overtake local authority pay scales. Their case is reasonable, the employers won't listen and don't care, no wonder they have turned to strike action as the only way of making their voices heard."

:: PCS

Members: 270,000 civil servants.

A PCS spokesman said: "We're striking because, as well as tens of thousands of job being cut from the civil service since 2010 and the ongoing threat of more of the civil service being privatised, wages have been frozen and capped to such an extent that by next year incomes for many civil servants will be 20% lower than they would have been if they'd kept pace with increases in the cost of living. That is a huge hit in salary to take.

"There are other endemic issues, such as unequal pay. For example, staff in the Passport Office - in the eye of the storm at the moment - can be paid £3,000 less than their colleagues doing similar work elsewhere in the Home Office.

"Across the civil service, women are paid 10% less than men, 14% less for part-time workers. We've tried to negotiate but the Government refuses. Faced with this, it's inevitable that people will want to take industrial action."

:: RMT

Members: 80,000, of whom 361 TfL (Transport for London) backroom staff will be on strike.

RMT's Acting general secretary Mick Cash said: "While the political class, the bankers and the idle rich have all got their snouts in the trough, of course we are right to stand up and fight for the millions of workers told to take a hit despite the fact that they had no part in creating the financial crisis.

"We would be foolish not to maximise the unity of the trade union movement in the face of an aggressive, anti-union government that is mired in its own cesspit of scandal. We will take no lectures in morality from them.

"The front line of defence against cuts and austerity is the organised working class and that is why the Tories and big business want to tighten the legal noose around our necks. They will have a fight on their hands."

:: FBU

Members: 44,000 firefighters

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: "The government must realise that firefighters cannot accept proposals that would have such devastating consequences for their futures, their families' futures  - and the future of the fire and rescue service itself.

"We have tried every route available to us to make the government see sense over their attacks.

"Three years of negotiations have come to nothing because the government is simply unwilling to compromise or even listen to reason despite a huge amount of evidence showing their planned scheme is unworkable."

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Public Sector Strike 'Will Achieve Nothing'

Unions: Workers Can't Feed Their Families

Updated: 8:43am UK, Thursday 10 July 2014

Unions say they are angry at 'abysmal pay', working conditions and pensions. Here is a snapshot of each union's main complaints.

:: Unite

Members: 1.4 million from various sectors, ranging from industry and manufacturing to education and agriculture.

Unite national officer for local government Fiona Farmer said: "Our members have endured four years of pay cuts in real terms and they voted overwhelmingly to strike on July 10 to drive home the message to ministers that poverty pay in local government must end.

"The depth of feeling on the pay issue is reinforced by the fact that local government unions, GMB and Unison, and members of the National Union of Teachers are all taking action on tomorrow.

"Poverty pay is widespread across local councils. Household bills continue to soar, but our members' buying power is constantly being eroded. The national minimum wage will soon overtake local government pay scales; members are choosing between heating and eating."

:: NUT

Members: 300,000 qualified teachers

Christine Blower, General Secretary National Union of Teachers, said: "Despite months in talks with Government officials, the real issues of our dispute have not been addressed. Teacher morale is at a low ebb.

"Changes to pay, pensions and a workload of 60 hours are unacceptable and unsustainable. Thousands of good, experienced teachers are leaving or considering leaving their job and a teacher shortage crisis is looming.

"The fact that teachers are prepared to take strike action is an indication of the strength of feeling and anger about the Government's imposed changes. Strike action is a last resort but, due to the intransigence of the coalition Government, it is one which we cannot avoid."

:: Unison

Members: 1.3 million workers from a range of roles within all public service areas, including people employed by public service authorities, private companies and community organisations.

Dave Prentis, Unison General Secretary, said: "Unison's local government and school members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland hold their first one day strike over an abysmal 1% pay offer. Faced with soaring food, fuel and housing costs, they have had to put up with three years of frozen pay, and now yet another below inflation offer.

"They have seen the value of their pay fall by nearly 20% since the coalition came to power and many struggle to make ends meet, to feed their families and pay their bills. Our charity is seeing more and more people asking for help and we know that many have had to resort to food banks to put food on the table.

"This is a national disgrace that these workers, who keep vital services running for their communities should be paid so badly, that they can't pay all their bills. And the lowest paid are still waiting for £250 promised by the Chancellor for two years' running. They have now voted to take strike action; that is not something they do lightly. But they are saying enough is enough. Work should pay enough for people to be able to live on."

:: GMB

Members: 617,000 workers, including school meal servers, street cleaners, binmen and carers.

GMB National Secretary, Brian Strutton, said: "We have tried sensible discussions, we've sought to negotiate reasonably, we've said we are willing to accept ACAS arbitration rather than go on strike - but to everything we've tried the employers have said 'no'. So we have no choice.

"GMB members serving school meals, cleaning streets, emptying bins, looking after the elderly, helping children in classrooms and in all the other vital roles serving our communities are fed up with being ignored and undervalued.

"Their pay has gone up only 1% since 2010 and in October even the national minimum wage will overtake local authority pay scales. Their case is reasonable, the employers won't listen and don't care, no wonder they have turned to strike action as the only way of making their voices heard."

:: PCS

Members: 270,000 civil servants.

A PCS spokesman said: "We're striking because, as well as tens of thousands of job being cut from the civil service since 2010 and the ongoing threat of more of the civil service being privatised, wages have been frozen and capped to such an extent that by next year incomes for many civil servants will be 20% lower than they would have been if they'd kept pace with increases in the cost of living. That is a huge hit in salary to take.

"There are other endemic issues, such as unequal pay. For example, staff in the Passport Office - in the eye of the storm at the moment - can be paid £3,000 less than their colleagues doing similar work elsewhere in the Home Office.

"Across the civil service, women are paid 10% less than men, 14% less for part-time workers. We've tried to negotiate but the Government refuses. Faced with this, it's inevitable that people will want to take industrial action."

:: RMT

Members: 80,000, of whom 361 TfL (Transport for London) backroom staff will be on strike.

RMT's Acting general secretary Mick Cash said: "While the political class, the bankers and the idle rich have all got their snouts in the trough, of course we are right to stand up and fight for the millions of workers told to take a hit despite the fact that they had no part in creating the financial crisis.

"We would be foolish not to maximise the unity of the trade union movement in the face of an aggressive, anti-union government that is mired in its own cesspit of scandal. We will take no lectures in morality from them.

"The front line of defence against cuts and austerity is the organised working class and that is why the Tories and big business want to tighten the legal noose around our necks. They will have a fight on their hands."

:: FBU

Members: 44,000 firefighters

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: "The government must realise that firefighters cannot accept proposals that would have such devastating consequences for their futures, their families' futures  - and the future of the fire and rescue service itself.

"We have tried every route available to us to make the government see sense over their attacks.

"Three years of negotiations have come to nothing because the government is simply unwilling to compromise or even listen to reason despite a huge amount of evidence showing their planned scheme is unworkable."

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Syria Fighter Admits Training British Teens

By Jason Farrell, Sky News Correspondent

A jihadi fighter in Syria has told Sky News he has been training British teenagers as young as 16 to fight in the war.

Yilmaz, a Dutch national who has been in the region for two years, said: "It's extremely easy to get here … People go on holiday, they end up in Syria."

Speaking via Skype, from the Idlib province of the war-torn country, the fighter insisted the majority of Britons did not pose a threat to their home country.

But he added: "There is always the chance of a loose cannon doing something stupid, doing something crazy."

Asked how young his trainees from Britain were he replied: "16, 17 ... Most are in their 20s."

Security services in the UK estimate 400 to 500 British jihadists are involved in the conflict in Syria or Iraq, and there are concerns some may wish to return and commit terrorist acts when they return.

Three Muslims from Cardiff have appeared in an ISIS video from Syria and last week a social media account in the name of one of them posted pictures of homemade bombs.

Three UK Muslims in Syria made a video calling for others to join them

Nasser Muthana, 20, appeared to warn that Britain should be afraid to allow him to return.

But Yilmaz, who was in the Dutch army and also worked in an old people's home in Holland, told Sky News: "We see this jihad in Syria as something holy.

"When I speak to the British fighters and the foreign fighters here, I just can't see them risking everything, coming home and committing crimes.

"It's funny, the British Government itself is funding and training, be it in Jordan or Syria, the Free Syrian Army. So the British Government is helping and I'm helping in my own way."

A video image purportedly showing Muslims forced to pray to President Assad

Yilmaz says he supports the goal of ISIS to overthrow the Syrian regime - but believes Iraq is a distraction.

On Sunday, it emerged that two 16-year-old twin sisters from Manchester had fled to Syria where it is feared they may have joined the ISIS fight.

Giving an insight into women's roles among his fighters, Yilmaz said: "Some brothers brought their wives or their sisters - but it's a supporting role, housework, washing, fixing clothes … there's no need for female fighters."

A British-born Londoner in the UK who converted to Islam six years ago told Sky News he believes it is his duty to go to Syria.

Londoner Suliman would like to go to Syria after being inspired by videos

Suliman, who says he has not gone for family reasons, said: "It is the best death. If you are to die out there on the battlefield, it is the best death - if I did die - I'd have done something good for people, and that would surely be written down as a good deed."

Both Suliman and Yilmaz say they were influenced in their views about Syria by YouTube videos and by social media.

Haras Rariq, of the anti-extremist organisation the Quilliam Foundation, said: "The overwhelming majority of Muslims will reject going out to fight ISIS and rightly so, they shouldn't go. It's not Islamic, it's not what the Prophet talked about.

"But the problem is a small number will go and they're the people that we need to worry about."

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Britons Fighting In Syria Face Terror Charges

Jihadi Fighter: 'I've Trained Teenage Brits'

Updated: 8:33am UK, Wednesday 09 July 2014

By Jason Farrell, Sky News Correspondent

A jihadi fighter in Syria has told Sky News he has been training British teenagers as young as 16 to fight in the war.

Yilmaz, a Dutch national who has been in the region for two years, said: "It's extremely easy to get here … People go on holiday, they end up in Syria."

Speaking via Skype, from the Idlib province of the war-torn country, the fighter insisted the majority of Britons did not pose a threat to their home country.

But he added: "There is always the chance of a loose cannon doing something stupid, doing something crazy."

Asked how young his trainees from Britain were he replied: "16, 17 ... Most are in their 20s."

Security services in the UK estimate 400 to 500 British jihadists are involved in the conflict in Syria or Iraq, and there are concerns some may wish to return and commit terrorist acts when they return.

Three Muslims from Cardiff have appeared in an ISIS video from Syria and last week a social media account in the name of one of them posted pictures of homemade bombs.

Nasser Muthana, 20, appeared to warn that Britain should be afraid to allow him to return.

But Yilmaz, who was in the Dutch army and also worked in an old people's home in Holland, told Sky News: "We see this jihad in Syria as something holy.

"When I speak to the British fighters and the foreign fighters here, I just can't see them risking everything, coming home and committing crimes.

"It's funny, the British Government itself is funding and training, be it in Jordan or Syria, the Free Syrian Army. So the British Government is helping and I'm helping in my own way."

Yilmaz says he supports the goal of ISIS to overthrow the Syrian regime - but believes Iraq is a distraction.

On Sunday, it emerged that two 16-year-old twin sisters from Manchester had fled to Syria where it is feared they may have joined the ISIS fight.

Giving an insight into women's roles among his fighters, Yilmaz said: "Some brothers brought their wives or their sisters - but it's a supporting role, housework, washing, fixing clothes … there's no need for female fighters."

A British-born Londoner in the UK who converted to Islam six years ago told Sky News he believes it is his duty to go to Syria.

Suliman, who says he has not gone for family reasons, said: "It is the best death. If you are to die out there on the battlefield, it is the best death - if I did die - I'd have done something good for people, and that would surely be written down as a good deed."

Both Suliman and Yilmaz say they were influenced in their views about Syria by YouTube videos and by social media.

Haras Rariq, of the anti-extremist organisation the Quilliam Foundation, said: "The overwhelming majority of Muslims will reject going out to fight ISIS and rightly so, they shouldn't go. It's not Islamic, it's not what the Prophet talked about.

"But the problem is a small number will go and they're the people that we need to worry about."

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'Ten Politicians Named' In Calls To Abuse Line

Who Were Paedophile Group PIE?

Updated: 1:43pm UK, Tuesday 25 February 2014

A campaign group for lowering the age of consent, a networking group for paedophiles and the publisher of newsletters giving easy access to child porn.

The Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) started life in 1974 as a splinter group - or special interest group - of a Scottish gay rights movement.

It quickly moved to London because that was where the greatest interest in its activities lay and by 1975 had been accepted as an "affiliate" group by the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL).

Run by paedophiles who had "come out" and openly lobbied for child sex to be legalised, the group also provided a means for the like-minded to contact each other.

It also published regular newsletters - which became the now-defunct magazine Magpie, which published pictures of children, paedophilia "jokes", and also assisted paedophiles to obtain child pornography.

The group won support among left-wing groups largely by allying itself with the battle for gay rights and academia.

The freelance journalist Eileen Fairweather, who worked for the feminist magazine, Spare Rib, and who went on to expose abuse in Islington children's homes wrote recently for The Daily Telegraph: "PIE fooled so many on the Left, within academia and in social work, because they adroitly hijacked the language of liberation.

"Little was known then or discussed about the extent or horror of child abuse. PIE members also portrayed themselves as 'child lovers', benign uncle figures who offered tenderness, not rape.

"They claimed that paedophiles, like women, gay men and children, were 'oppressed by the patriarchy'. Therefore we should all make common cause. Spare Rib, to its credit, refused to fall for this self-serving guff. But nor did we condemn it."

In 1975, PIE submitted a 17-page document to the Home Office Criminal Law Revision Committee lobbying for no age of consent.

During this time PIE sent a leaflet to MPs which said: "Paedophiles are ordinary, decent, sensible human beings, no more sexually depraved than yourself, and with a capacity for loving and helping children which is at present being repressed."

In 1977 PIE chairman Tom O'Carroll was allowed to make a speech at the spring conference of the NCCL, giving the group further legitimacy.

In late 2013, the Home Office announced an inquiry into claims that PIE was being inadvertently financed by the Labour administration of the time through grants.

In 1980 O'Carroll published "Paedophilia: the radical case" which argued for "a climate in which children come to view all consensual sex, including consensual paedophilia, positively and without guilt may be necessary for the welfare of everyone".

O'Carroll moved that a relationship between adults and children could proceed on a basis of signals being interpreted saying " … the man might start by saying what pretty knickers the girl was wearing, and he would be far more likely to proceed to the next stage of negotiation if she seemed pleased by the remark".

By 1981 O'Carroll had been jailed for the contact advertisements in PIE publications offering to put people in touch with child pornography distributors.

In 1984 the group was disbanded and in the years that followed a number of its senior members were sentenced for paedophilia offences.

In 2006 the last of the leading PIE associates was jailed. David Joy was sentenced to 18 months after 1,129 of the worst level of child pornography images were found at his Leicestershire home. The images were of children aged between one and 13.

The judge warned him that he may never be eligible for parole because of his commitment to paedophilia.

He said: "It's clear that you hold firmly to a set of beliefs involving sexual activity with adults and children.

"Those beliefs are wholly in variance to the views held by most members of society, views that most of society would find abhorrent."

Many in 2014 find it hard to believe that such a group existed openly but as the Tory MP Nadine Dorries recently pointed out in a tweet: "In 70's following legalisation of homosexuality (rightly) and a decade of 'free love' organisations like PIE genuinely thought they were next."

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Pistorius Trial Adjourned As Defence Closes Case

Oscar Pistorius' defence has wrapped up its case, with the trial due to resume with closing arguments on August 7.

The court heard that the prosecution will file its "heads of argument" on July 30.

The defence will file on August 4.

The statements will then be presented in court on August 7 and 8.

The trial was adjourned a day after the last defence witness completed his testimony.

Professor Wayne Derman, a doctor for the South African Paralympic team, was quizzed over Pistorius' ability to move around on his stumps.

The prosecution attempted to show Prof Derman had overstated the athlete's lack of mobility without prostheses.

The defence argues that Pistorius' limited mobility and mental vulnerability led him to shoot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp out of fear that she was an intruder.

Not explicitly mentioned in court was the controversy over an Australian TV broadcaster's decision to air a video showing Oscar Pistorius re-enacting the night of the shooting.

The material was filmed to help the Paralympian's defence team build their case.

It shows Pistorius, wearing a vest and shorts, running without his prosthetic legs with his fist clenched as if holding a gun.

Pistorius, who is on trial for premeditated murder, denies deliberately killing Reeva Steenkamp.

He faces between 25 years and life in prison if found guilty.

More follows...

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Pistorius At Court As Trial Set To Resume

Oscar Pistorius has arrived at court on a day that could be dominated by arguments over video footage broadcast in Australia.

The footage, commissioned by defence lawyers, shows the athlete re-enacting the night he shot Reeva Steenkamp.

The day started with Judge Thokozile Masipa lifting the ban on publishing the psycologist's reports on the defendent's mental health - notes that have already been widely reported. 

The questioning of Professor Wayne Derman, the doctor for the South African Paralympic team, then resumed as the defence case draws to a conclusion.

Professor Derman testified last week that Pistorius was vulnerable, stressed and would have been unable to flee because of disability.

Pistorius, who is on trial for premeditated murder, denies deliberately killing his girlfriend, claiming he mistook her for an intruder.

He faces between 25 years and life in prison if found guilty.

More follows...

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Independent Review Into Child Sex Abuse Claims

Claims of a child sex abuse ring operating at some of the country's most powerful institutions in the 1980s will be investigated, George Osborne has said.

The Chancellor announced there would be an "independent and authoritative" review of the claims as pressure over allegations of a paedophile-ring operating in Westminster intensified.

Mr Osborne said the investigation needed to "get to the truth" behind the widespread claims of child sex abuse and Home Secretary Theresa May would be announcing the details of the review in a statement later on Monday.

It comes after the former Conservative cabinet minister, Lord Tebbit, said there may have been a political cover-up of allegations in the 1980s to "protect the establishment".

A Home Office investigation found 114 official files relating to claims of child abuse by politicians have been lost or destroyed.

The allegations include claims of abuse by late Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith

These files are in addition to a dossier alleging child abuse involving around eight powerful and famous figures at Westminster in the 1980s that is also missing, handed to the Home Office by the late Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983.

The allegations include claims of abuse by the late Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith and alleged paedophile activity at parties attended by politicians at the Elm Guest House in Barnes, southwest London.

Mrs May is expected to will announce an investigation into who knew what and when and why the allegations were missed, overlooked or ignored by public bodies.

It has been suggested that a panel of experts will take evidence from members of the public as part of the investigation but it will stop short of a full public inquiry.

Mr Osborne told the Radio 4 Today programme: "The best approach to this is to find an independent and authoritative way to

Lord Tebbit believes an establishment cover-up is possible

investigate it. The Home Secretary is going to be setting out to the House of Commons in just a few hours' time the approach we are going to take.

"But people can be absolutely clear, these are very, very serious matters, we take them very seriously, we want to get to the truth and nothing but the truth, and we will do it in an independent and authoritative way."

A Home Office spokesman said Mrs May's statement would address to key concerns: "First, the Home Office's response in the 1980s to papers containing allegations of child abuse.

"And second, the wider issue of whether public bodies and other institutions have taken seriously their duty of care towards children."

Lord Tebbit, who served in a series of senior ministerial posts under Margaret Thatcher, said the instinct at the time was to protect "the system" and not delve too deeply into uncomfortable allegations.

"At that time I think most people would have thought that the establishment, the system, was to be protected and if a few things had gone wrong here and there that it was more important to protect the system than to delve too far into it.

"That view, I think, was wrong then and it is spectacularly shown to be wrong because the abuses have grown," he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show.

Asked if he thought there had been a "big political cover-up" at the time, he said: "I think there may well have been."

Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered an internal review at the Home Office to "find answers" about the missing files.

But Labour says the review is not enough and is calling for a full-scale public inquiry, led by independent experts, to restore public confidence.

The internal review will be led by the Home Office's top civil servant Mark Sedwill.

Home Affairs Select Committee chair Keith Vaz has asked Mr Sedwill to appear before the committee on Tuesday to answer questions.

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Leon Brittan 'Questioned Over Rape Claim'

Former home secretary Leon Brittan was questioned by police last month over a historical allegation of rape, according to reports.

The Independent on Sunday said the 74-year-old Conservative peer was interviewed by detectives under caution about the claim but was not arrested.

Lord Brittan is understood to have strongly denied the claims.

At the time of the alleged incident, Lord Brittan was not an MP after unsuccessfully contesting the North Kensington seat in 1966.

Last night, a Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed an allegation of rape had been made against a man in his seventies over an incident in 1967.

He said: "In late 2012, a woman alleged to the Metropolitan Police Service that she was raped by a man in 1967 at an address in London.

"The woman was over the age of 18 at the time of the incident.

"The allegation is being investigated by officers from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command.

"In June 2014, a man aged in his 70s was interviewed under caution by appointment at a central London location in connection with the allegation.

"He was not arrested. Enquiries continue."

Lord Brittan was home secretary in Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government between 1983 and 1985.

The police interview is said to have taken place at the London offices of law firm Mishcon de Reya.

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Westminster Abuse Claims Probe: 114 Files Lost

The Home Office has admitted that more than 100 official files relating to allegations of historical child abuse by politicians have been lost or destroyed.

The department's permanent secretary, Mark Sedwill, said the documents - which related to a 20-year period between 1979 and 1999 - were "presumed destroyed, missing or not found".

The disclosure came as Mr Sedwill said he will appoint a senior legal figure to assess the Home Office's handling of a dossier alleging historical child abuse involving powerful and famous figures at Westminster in the 1980s.

Shamed children's entertainer Jimmy Savile and disgraced MP Cyril Smith are two names which are said to be contained in the dossier, which the Home Office says is also missing.

The Home Office disclosed that 114 files have vanished without a trace

It follows the Prime Minister's call for him to establish what happened to the file which was handed to the then home secretary Leon (now Lord) Brittan by Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983.

Lord Brittan admitted he had received the dossier and passed it on to officials, but no action was ever taken.

In a letter to the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Mr Sedwill revealed that while the original review had identified 527 potentially relevant files which had been retained, there were a further 114 files which could not be located.

The Prime Minister is under pressure to launch a full public inquiry

He said that the investigation had not found a single dossier from Mr Dickens, but several sets of correspondence over a number of years to a number of home secretaries containing claims of sexual offences.

However he said that the review had found no record of specific allegations by Mr Dickens of child sex abuse by senior figures.

"Like any other citizen, I am horrified by what we have learnt in the past couple of years about the systematic abuse of children and vulnerable adults by prominent public figures, and the state's failure to protect them," he wrote.

"Some have been brought to justice and I hope that the police investigations now under way across the country are equally successful. The Home Office has and will co-operate fully with any police inquiry."

Earlier, David Cameron faced criticism for an "inadequate" investigation into what happened to the dossier.

Labour MP Simon Danczuk, whose campaign raised the issue of what happened to the Dickens' file at a Commons Home Affairs Committee hearing, said there needed to be a public inquiry.

He told Sky News: "The public are very clearly concerned and they won't be satisfied with another review by Home Office officials.

"Reviews like this often prove to be whitewashes.

"The Prime Minister should establish an over-arching review led by child protection experts to draw together the results from all these different case, investigations and institutional inquiries."

Allegations of sex abuse have been made against the late Cyril Smith

Labour leader Ed Miliband has told Sky News that as well as a "thorough review" of what happened at the Home Office, there must also be a wider look at child protection.

The Met Police said in a statement: "We are currently assessing information and conducting a number of investigations under Operation Fairbank.

"Any material submitted to us, historic or current, is reviewed to establish if it is relevant to these."

Calls for more to be done about allegations of child sex abuse by politicians have increased since the 2010 death of Liberal Democrat MP Cyril Smith, who was subsequently said to have been a paedophile.

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