UK 'Prepared To Arm Kurdish Fighters In Iraq'

The UK will "consider positively" any request for military equipment from Kurdish fighters in Iraq, according to a Government source.

David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg agreed during an emergency Cobra meeting that it was "vital" to help the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants, formerly known as the Islamic State In Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

The Government is now expected to provide weapons and equipment, should Kurdish leaders make a request. 

Iraqi and Kurdish forces are battling IS, which has recently made significant gains in the north of the country, causing thousands to flee after they were issued with an ultimatum to convert to Islam or face death.

A Downing Street source said any supplies would be "dependent on what the Kurds would need".

Other EU countries have already agreed to send weapons to the Kurds

France is already sending weapons to Iraq, with President Francois Hollande confirming the "imminent delivery of military equipment".

Germany, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands have also said they will send arms or are considering doing so.

Meanwhile, several thousand refugees from the Yazidi minority remain on Mount Sinjar in searing temperatures - but the US has said it is now unlikely to mount a rescue.

Yazidi people demonstrate at the Iraq-Syria border

President Barack Obama said the situation had "greatly improved" after a special forces mission found many people had escaped.

Mr Obama said airdrops had delivered more than 114,000 meals and tens of thousands of gallons of water, with fighter jets striking Islamic State fighters to allow the drops to take place.

The militants' siege of Sinjar town had been broken, the president said, but strikes would continue.

UK International Development Secretary Justine Greening said military action and resistance from Kurdish troops had cleared a safe path for many refugees, who originally were thought to number in the tens of thousands.

Nouri al Maliki has bowed to pressure at home and abroad

Britain has also completed seven aid deliveries and a "small number" of RAF Chinook helicopters are being sent to the region, in addition to Tornado jets with surveillance equipment.

Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al Maliki, bowed to pressure and stepped down on Thursday with his country's military still struggling to contain Islamic State's onslaught. Haider al Abadi was named as his replacement.

The US called the decision a "major step forward in uniting (Iraq)".

A night vision image of an air drop by the RAF

Secretary of State John Kerry said: "We commend the important and honourable decision by Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to support Prime Minister-designate Haider al Abadi in his efforts to form a new government and develop a national program in line with Iraq's constitutional timeline.

"This milestone decision sets the stage for a historic and peaceful transition of power in Iraq."

EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels later to discuss the ongoing aid efforts, and possibly an agreement on a joint position on arming Kurdish forces.

Islamic State's offensive has seen them capture major cities, such as Mosul and Tikrit, this year, with reports of beheadings and crucifixions as they grab more territory for their self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq.

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Murder Arrest After Child Drowns In Hotel Pool

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a three-year-old girl drowned in a hotel swimming pool near Blackpool.

The youngster is believed to have been staying with her parents at the Dalmeny Hotel, St Annes, where she got into difficulty in the water on Thursday morning.

She was pulled from the swimming pool and taken to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital in a critical condition but died later.

A 40-year-old woman, from Galashiels, Scotland, was arrested on suspicion of murder and child neglect.

She remains in police custody.

Detective Inspector Nick Connaughton, of Blackpool CID, said: "This is a tragic situation where a young girl has lost her fight for life.

"We are now treating this sad death as suspicious and are investigating just how the child came into difficulties in the pool."

The Dalmeny Hotel, which overlooks St Annes beach, is described as a family-friendly resort with a heated indoor pool, a spa and three restaurants.

A spokesman for the 100-bedroom complex declined to comment on the girl's death.

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Iraq: Yazidi Rescue Mission 'Far Less Likely'

A humanitarian mission to rescue thousands of Yazidis trapped in Iraq is "far less likely" to take place after an assessment carried out by a US team.

US Army Special Forces soldiers and a US Agency for International Development (USAID) team spent several hours on the mountain speaking to refugees on Wednesday.

They have since returned to Irbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region, and reported fewer Yazidis remain trapped on the mountain than previously feared.

Some 5,000 refugees remain stranded on Mount Sinjar, according to Sky sources.

A map detailing the Sinjar mountains

It had previously been thought there were between 20,000 and 30,000 still there after fleeing militants of the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

A statement released by the Pentagon said humanitarian aid drops, airstrikes on Islamic State (IS) fighters and the efforts of Peshmerga fighters had allowed many Yazidis to escape.

It added: "The Yazidis who remain are in better condition than previously believed and continue to have access to the food and water that we have dropped.

"Based on this assessment the interagency has determined that an evacuation mission is far less likely.

Members of the Yazidi sect hold a banner asking for international help

"Additionally, we will continue to provide humanitarian assistance as needed and will protect US personnel and facilities."

It comes after Sky sources revealed SAS soldiers have also been involved in gathering intelligence and preparing the ground for any possible mass air lift.

IS fighters had threatened the ancient religious group with death if they failed to convert to Islam.

British Prime Minister David Cameron earlier said "detailed plans" were being made for an international mission to rescue the stranded Yazidis.

Areas the Islamic State has launched offensives and wants to make one state

Sky's Political Correspondent Sophy Ridge said: "It will be interesting to see if the UK is prepared to go it alone, or if that is now off the table."

Asked about calls for the UK to follow France in arming Kurdish fighters being out-gunned by IS, or to join the US in airstrikes, Mr Cameron said the "desperate humanitarian situation" needed to be dealt with first.

He is visiting an aid distribution centre in Wiltshire later to see some of the UK supplies before they are transported to Iraq.

The UK has successfully completed seven air drops of supplies including clean water and shelter, and is sending a "small number" of RAF Chinook helicopters to the region.

It has already sent RAF Tornado jets equipped with sophisticated surveillance equipment to gather intelligence.

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Record Numbers Take Up University Places

By Afua Hirsch, Social Affairs and Education Editor

A record number of students have been accepted into university, with nearly 400,000 taking up degree offers so far.

As young people across the UK receive their A-level results, Ucas, the organisation which handles the admissions process, said 396,990 had been awarded places - up 3% on last year.

Those who received low grades were expected to enjoy unprecedented access to university, with up to 30,000 new places created.

A decision by the Government to abolish the cap on student numbers could have a dramatic effect on this year's cohort, with fierce competition among universities seeking to attract school leavers.

Some were offering cash "scholarships", rewarding students for their A-level results, while others were offering reductions on accommodation and free tablet computers.

Mary Curnock-Cook, chief executive of Ucas, told Sky News: "Compared with their brothers and sisters two or three years ago, students will feel it's a little easier (to get into university)."

Coventry University, which is offering a £1,000 cashback, said the giveaways did make a difference but did not unduly influence students.

Deputy vice chancellor Ian Marshall said: "It makes a slight difference but most students come to university on the basis of the subject they are interested in, and the reputation of the institution."

The decision to expand the number of student places comes amid increasing concern about quality assurance in higher education and job prospects for graduates, with recent figures showing almost half of graduates were in non-graduate level jobs.

However, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said: "This shouldn't be about ever higher numbers - it should be about ever higher standards.

"An A-level is still a significant achievement ... and what we want to see is an A-level stand that future employers and universities have confidence in."

Rhasan Brunner, who received an offer to study at London Goldsmith's University, said he was deferring his place to take an apprenticeship.

The 19-year-old, who studied at Brooke House Sixth Form College in Hackney, northeast London, said students should think twice about doing degrees, which now cost up to £9,000 a year for tuition fees alone.

"That debt is going to stay over their head for quite a long time," he said.

"Plus jobs are really rare and scarce and quite competitive nowadays, so it doesn't really guarantee you a job after university."

Access to university has been expanding since the 1960s, when a report by economist Lionel Robbins advocated opening up higher education to all those who qualified by virtue of ability and attainment.

Two years ago, the Government abolished the cap on students with the highest grades, essentially paving the way for the expansion of the elite Russell Group of universities.

But the new expansion for students with lower grades - which could also include an additional 60,000 extra students next year - has prompted concerns about quality.

Jude Heaton, from Teach First, a charity set up to end inequality in education, said: "The risk is we create a two-tier system, where pupils from richer backgrounds go to the most selective institutions ... (while) people from poorer backgrounds have an almost second tier university education."

Such concerns are likely to be further fuelled by a report by social mobility charity Sutton Trust earlier this week, which warned that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are still 10 times less likely to apply to the UK's 13 most selective universities.

There are also reports that today's results will confirm a deepening of the gender divide, as girls continue to shun STEM - science, technology, engineering and maths.

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Iraq Airstrikes: 'UK Has A Moral Responsibility'

British commanders with experience in Iraq have urged David Cameron to consider taking military action against Islamic State (IS) fighters.

Colonel Tim Collins has warned the Prime Minister that ancient civilisations in Iraq could be "extinguished" unless action is taken to stop the advance of IS.

He also claimed the Government has "left for lunch" on the issue, and accused politicians of refusing to accept the "moral responsibility" to act.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said: "In the next months ancient civilisations will be extinguished on our watch unless we act.

"Britain helped create Iraq in 1920 and we have a moral responsibility to help.

The Prime Minister has been on a 10-day holiday in Portugal

"We have used the Kurds as a public convenience for too long, now their backs are against the wall and we've got to support them."

It comes as the UK steps up its delivery of aid to the thousands of ethnic minority Kurdish Yazidis trapped in the Sinjar mountains after fleeing the advance of violent jihadists in the north of the country.

International Development Secretary Justine Greening confirmed RAF plans had carried out a third round of aid drops over night including tents to provide shelter from the 40C heat and water purification kits.

Downing Street has so far resisted calls for UK forces to join the US in taking military action against IS. It has also rejected demands for Parliament to be recalled to debate the crisis.

Mr Cameron has been on holiday in Portugal with his family, but is expected to return to Number 10 on Wednesday.

Tony Abbott, in London on Tuesday, hinted forces could return to Iraq

A YouGov poll carried out for The Times suggests support for the British bombing of militants in Iraq is now at 40%. Some 36% of those asked were opposed to the UK taking action.

The United Nations estimates that between 20,000 and 30,000 people from the ancient Yazidi community remain stranded on Mount Sinjar.

Britain is sending a "small number" of RAF Chinook helicopters to the region as efforts continue to ease the plight of the trapped Yazidis.

The Government has already sent RAF Tornado jets equipped with sophisticated surveillance equipment to help gather intelligence about the situation.

The UK has also committed to transport military equipment to resupply Kurdish forces which have been outgunned by IS.

After talks with Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in London on Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has indicated his country's combat forces could return to Iraq but stressed it would be to "prevent genocide" on a "fundamentally humanitarian mission".

US service members prepare humanitarian aid for the Yazidis in Iraq

Germany has pledged to deliver "non lethal" military aid, including armoured vehicles, helmets and night vision goggles, to the Iraqi army.

General Sir Mike Jackson, who was the professional head of the army during the Iraq War, told the Daily Telegraph Britain should join the US in launching airstrikes.

"Given our history over recent years in Iraq, we have a moral duty to do what we can on humanitarian grounds," he said.

"I would have no difficulty at all in saying that we should be alongside the United States and up the British ante to the use of airpower, on humanitarian grounds."

Former Conservative Defence Secretary Liam Fox also said it was time RAF jets were sent in to join US airstrikes. Writing in the Daily Mail, he said sending in aid was not enough.

The US has sent 130 more military advisers to northern Iraq to assess the scope of the humanitarian mission.

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Iraqis Fleeing ISIS Face 'Desperate' Plight

The US has sent 130 more military advisers to northern Iraq to assess the scope of the humanitarian mission, as the plight of families displaced by Islamist extremists deepens.

Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the soldiers had been sent to northern Iraq to develop additional humanitarian assistance options beyond the current airdrop effort.

The move is in support of displaced Iraqi civilians, including Christian and Yazidi minority groups, trapped in the Sinjar mountains by Sunni militants of the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Sky's Middle East Correspondent Sherine Tadros, in northern Iraq, said the situation was also getting "ever more desperate" for those fleeing the violence and who had managed to escape.

A map detailing the Sinjar mountains

"Many have friends and relatives still stuck in the areas taken over by the militants, with no idea if they will make it out alive," she said.

"We are talking about thousands of people that are now taking refuge wherever they can."

What began as a couple of families squatting on a piece of land owned by a Kurdish businessman, has been transformed into a makeshift refugee camp in Dohuk province which has attracted between 6,000 and 8,000 men, women and children.

Areas the Islamic State has launched offensives and wants to make one state

Tadros said: "There aren't enough tents. There are only about 230 actual tents that have been donated by the local mayor, and so most of them are actually on the floor, without any shelter, and are using bits of metal, anything they can to shelter from the blistering heat.

"There are a couple of showers and bathrooms, but that is it, and the situation is getting worse, by the day, by the hour, as more people come here, completely dependant on locals providing them with food and clothes.

"The owner of this area has told me he doesn't even know if he is going to be able to feed all of these people this afternoon.

A man gestures to a crater caused by a suicide car bomb blast in Baghdad

"And these of course, are considered the lucky ones, the ones who did manage to escape."

In terms of those that have been trapped in the mountains for days and weeks, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "We will make a very rapid and critical assessment because we understand it is urgent to try to move those people."

Since June the US has sent about 700 military personnel to Iraq to protect diplomats there and take stock of the country's military capacity.

Western powers and international aid agencies are considering further help for the thousands of refugees driven from their homes by IS fighters near the Syrian border.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has so far resisted calls from MPs and senior military commanders for UK forces to join the US in taking military action against IS extremists.

Instead, the UK has stepped up its humanitarian focus in northern Iraq, with a total of five successful aid airdrops over northern Iraq.

Mr Kerry said the US would consider requests for military and other assistance once Iraq's new prime minister-designate forms a government to unite the country.

Haider al Abadi has received support from the US and Iran as well as Sunni neighbours Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

However, his Shi'ite party colleague Nuri al Maliki has refused to step aside after eight years as prime minister.

Meanwhile, at least eight people were killed in a car bomb blast in a shopping district of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, near the home of Mr Abadi, on Tuesday night.

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Robin Williams: Tributes For Actor Dead At 63

Relatives, showbiz personalities and politicians have expressed their sadness at the death of Robin Williams, who has died at the age of 63 in a suspected suicide.

The Oscar-winning actor was found dead at his home in northern California, according to the Marin County Sheriff's Office.

Williams' wife Susan Schneider said in a statement: "This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one of its most beloved and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken."

His daughter Zelda Williams posted an excerpt from the French poet and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupery, which read: "You - you alone will have the stars as no one else has them ... In one of the stars I shall be living."

She added: "I love you. I miss you. I'll try to keep looking up."

Dawber and Williams together in 1995

The star of much-loved films including Mrs Doubtfire and Good Morning, Vietnam had been struggling with severe depression in recent weeks, according to Williams' press agent Mara Buxbaum.

A statement from President Barack Obama described the actor as "one of a kind".

"Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind," he said.

"He arrived in our lives as an alien - but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. He made us laugh. He made us cry.

Matt Damon, Williams and Ben Affleck celebrate their Oscar wins in 1998

"He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most - from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalised on our own streets.

"The Obama family offers our condolences to Robin's family, his friends, and everyone who found their voice and their verse thanks to Robin Williams."

Many celebrity colleagues and admirers took to Twitter to express their shock at the actor's death, and to pay tribute to Williams' large and well-respected body of work.

Ellen DeGeneres expresses her sadness at the death of Robin Williams

Pam Dawber, his co-star in Mork and Mindy, said: "I am completely and totally devastated. What more can be said?"

Director Steven Spielberg, who worked with Williams on Hook, said: "Robin was a lightning storm of comic genius and our laughter was the thunder that sustained him.  He was a pal and I can't believe he's gone."

Actor and comedian Steve Martin, his co-star in Waiting For Godot, said: "I could not be more stunned by the loss of Robin Williams, mensch, great talent, acting partner, genuine soul."

Williams receives an award in New York in 2012

Williams' Mrs Doubtfire co-star Sally Field said: "He always lit up when he was able to make people laugh, and he made them laugh his whole life long - tirelessly. He was one of a kind. There will not be another."

The Birdcage co-star Nathan Lane said: "What I will always remember about Robin, perhaps even more than his comic genius, extraordinary talent and astounding intellect, was his huge heart - his tremendous kindness, generosity, and compassion as an acting partner, colleague and fellow traveler in a difficult world."

His Good Will Hunting co-star Minnie Driver said: "My heart's broken. Robin was a beautiful, kind soul. Can't bear that he's gone. So incredibly sorry for his family."

Ben Stiller, who starred in the Night At The Museum films with Williams, said: "A tweet cannot begin to describe the hugeness of Robin Williams heart and soul and talent. This is so sad."

The third installment of the franchise is due for release later in the year.

Johnny Depp said: "The world lost a legend of an actor and an extraordinary man today. Rest In Peace Robin Williams."

Comedian Eddie Izzard pays tribute to Williams on Twitter

The US actor and director Henry Winkler wrote on Twitter: "Robin Williams was like no other .. To watch him create on the spot was a privilege to behold.

"Robin you are an angel now!!! REST IN PEACE," he added.

Comedian Eddie Izzard said: "Robin Williams has died and I am very sad. From every comedian here at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, we salute him & we say goodbye."

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