Freed Islamic State Hostages Return To Turkey

Dozens of Turkish hostages seized by Islamic State militants in Iraq have been freed in what Turkey's president described as a secret rescue operation.

The 49 hostages - including diplomatic staff, special forces soldiers and children - were taken from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11 after the city was overrun by IS fighters.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they were released after a "pre-planned operation" involving the country's intelligence services.

"After intense efforts that lasted days and weeks, in the early hours, our citizens were handed over to us and we brought them back to our country," he said.

One the freed hostages is reunited with their family

The release of the hostages came as a full-length propaganda film produced by IS emerged.

It was not immediately clear what Turkey had done to secure the return of the hostages, but independent broadcaster NTV said no ransom was paid and there were no clashes with insurgents during the operation.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "I thank the Prime Minister and his colleagues for the pre-planned, carefully calculated and secretly conducted operation throughout the night.

"MIT (the Turkish intelligence agency) has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation."

The PM (R) kisses Turkish consul-general Ozturk Yilmaz after his release

Police formed a cordon outside the airport in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa as the hostages arrived in buses with curtains drawn.

The Prime Minister, who cut short an official trip to Azerbaijan to travel to Sanliurfa, hugged the hostages before boarding a plane with them to the capital, Ankara.

Mr Davutoglu did not provide further details on the circumstances of the release, but said it was carried out through "MIT's own methods".

Hostages quizzed by journalists as they got off the plane said they could not go into detail as to the nature of their ordeal, but a couple of them hinted at ill treatment and death threats.

Mr Davutoglu (L) with the freed captives in Ankara

Alptekin Esirgun told the state-run Anadolou Agency that militants held a gun to Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz's head and tried to force him to make a statement.

Mr Yilmaz thanked Turkish officials involved in his release but did not give details about their captivity or how they were freed.

He refused to take more questions, saying: "I haven't seen my family for 102 days. All I want to do is to go home with them."

Seizure of the hostages put Turkey in a difficult position as a summit of 30 countries met in Paris last week to co-ordinate their response to IS.

The hostages were taken in Mosul and returned to Sanliurfa

The nations agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

Turkey resisted joining the coalition and the United States was careful not to push Ankara too hard as it worked to free the hostages.

The hostage release comes as Turkey opened up its border to thousands of Kurds fleeing clashes with IS in neighbouring Syria.

Under tight security, the refugees, mostly women and children, crossed to the Turkish side of the border in the southeastern village of Dikmetas.

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Kerry Says Iran Has A Role in Defeating IS

The Day I Came Face To Face With Islamic State

Updated: 7:53am UK, Tuesday 16 September 2014

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent

I was told to wait on the side of a road outside a mosque in the Syrian city of Aleppo. An Emir speaking in the mosque would see me after prayers.

As hundreds of worshippers streamed through the open doors, a young man with long, black hair emerged surrounded by the most thuggish bunch of gunmen I had ever come across in Syria, and that takes some doing.

They fired up matt black cars, jeeps and trucks with anti-aircraft guns welded to the floor. He stopped briefly and shook my hand while my trusted translator introduced me.

He never took his eyes off me as he was asked if we could film in his area. He nodded and told us to follow them.

His convoy screamed down the road past their headquarters and crossed two blocks into the territory of another gang. The trucks split into sections and they surrounded a building.

Then they started firing. Hundreds if not thousands of rounds smashing through doors and windows, brick work pulverised into dust, walls collapsing. If there was anyone inside they died. It was brutal. I had just met ISIS.

It was in the early months of 2013 and ISIS was growing stronger by the week. I would regularly come across them or other groups who would soon join them, over the next few months.

It soon became clear to me and my translators and guides that the usual dangers of travelling through Syria that I had been dealing with since the winter of 2011 had got a lot worse.

Stories of violent roaming checkpoints, abductions, killings and the imposition of strict Sharia law in previously relaxed secular areas began to grow.

We heard of local people, aid workers and journalists, some of them my friends, being taken. But we had good relations with the fledgling ISIS leadership and by keeping a very low profile and with a network of drivers who knew every road we managed to avoid the checkpoints and disappear into the teeming streets of Aleppo.

In a school room converted into a court another Emir, Abu Al Homam, ruled on local disputes. Handing out judgements with a ruthless uncompromising efficiency.

He told me they did not execute people although he insisted he could. At that stage he said cutting people's hands off was enough to instil order over Aleppo's growing problem of crime.

But as I asked about a beheading we had been told of, one of my team saw the Emir's adviser shaking his head indicating that he should not admit to ordering the death penalty. Later locals told me it was common.

Abu Al Homam was not strictly speaking ISIS at that point. But he talked of the creation of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and warned Western governments not to interfere in the business of Muslims.

All sounds pretty familiar now, beheadings and caliphates and the like.

With remarkable speed ISIS grew. From Al Raqqha to the east of Aleppo, with access to oil fields and out of the reach of the Syrian government forces, they stabilised, launched their takeover of much of northern Iraq and changed their name to Islamic State.

While some of the myriad jihadist groups in Syria are fighting IS they have become the pre-eminent power. Their ruthlessness and total disregard for reasonable norms have surprised everyone.

A senior intelligence officer in Iraq explained the difference between IS and even al Qaeda's most extreme members.

"With AQ I could rationally argue that what they did in beheading a person was against the Koran. It might take days, but they would listen and often they would accept it and agree it was wrong," he told me.

"IS are totally different. They do not care. They are bloodthirsty and pure evil. They need to be destroyed as an organisation and then killed," he added.

For people like me who have worked so hard reporting the uprising in Syria against the regime of Bashar al Assad, this is all very depressing. Whatever anyone says, the uprising was real. It was not a jihadi-inspired takeover. But in many ways it is now.

Travelling was always dangerous, but with IS spies in areas they don't control and desperate people prepared to hand over foreigners to IS for cash it is probably too dangerous to go there right now.

Last year I set out for Al Raqqah. A long, dangerous trip with multiple car swaps. Finally we reached a house and were told to wait for people in the city to fetch us.

They never arrived, but after a day some other rebels did and offered to take us in. We thought long and hard. To go would break all my own safety rules, but I was tempted. Had they driven the road? Was it okay?

After hours of talk they admitted they had not been to the city in four days. I declined their invitation and they waved to us as they headed off.

An hour down the road they drove into a checkpoint. All four were killed on the side of the road. These are the days of IS.

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IS Releases Gruesome Full-Length Film

Freed Islamic State Hostages Return To Turkey

Updated: 3:51pm UK, Saturday 20 September 2014

Dozens of Turkish hostages seized by Islamic State militants in Iraq have been freed in what Turkey's president described as a secret rescue operation.

The 49 hostages - including diplomatic staff, special forces soldiers and children - were taken from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11 after the city was overrun by IS fighters.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they were released after a "pre-planned operation" involving the country's intelligence services.

"After intense efforts that lasted days and weeks, in the early hours, our citizens were handed over to us and we brought them back to our country," he said.

The release of the hostages came as a full-length propaganda film produced by IS emerged.

It was not immediately clear what Turkey had done to secure the return of the hostages, but independent broadcaster NTV said no ransom was paid and there were no clashes with insurgents during the operation.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "I thank the Prime Minister and his colleagues for the pre-planned, carefully calculated and secretly conducted operation throughout the night.

"MIT (the Turkish intelligence agency) has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation."

Police formed a cordon outside the airport in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa as the hostages arrived in buses with curtains drawn.

The Prime Minister, who cut short an official trip to Azerbaijan to travel to Sanliurfa, hugged the hostages before boarding a plane with them to the capital, Ankara.

Mr Davutoglu did not provide further details on the circumstances of the release, but said it was carried out through "MIT's own methods".

Hostages quizzed by journalists as they got off the plane said they could not go into detail as to the nature of their ordeal, but a couple of them hinted at ill treatment and death threats.

Alptekin Esirgun told the state-run Anadolou Agency that militants held a gun to Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz's head and tried to force him to make a statement.

Mr Yilmaz thanked Turkish officials involved in his release but did not give details about their captivity or how they were freed.

He refused to take more questions, saying: "I haven't seen my family for 102 days. All I want to do is to go home with them."

Seizure of the hostages put Turkey in a difficult position as a summit of 30 countries met in Paris last week to co-ordinate their response to IS.

The nations agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

Turkey resisted joining the coalition and the United States was careful not to push Ankara too hard as it worked to free the hostages.

The hostage release comes as Turkey opened up its border to thousands of Kurds fleeing clashes with IS in neighbouring Syria.

Under tight security, the refugees, mostly women and children, crossed to the Turkish side of the border in the southeastern village of Dikmetas.

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Did Turkey Negotiate With IS Over Hostages?

Freed Islamic State Hostages Return To Turkey

Updated: 3:51pm UK, Saturday 20 September 2014

Dozens of Turkish hostages seized by Islamic State militants in Iraq have been freed in what Turkey's president described as a secret rescue operation.

The 49 hostages - including diplomatic staff, special forces soldiers and children - were taken from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11 after the city was overrun by IS fighters.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they were released after a "pre-planned operation" involving the country's intelligence services.

"After intense efforts that lasted days and weeks, in the early hours, our citizens were handed over to us and we brought them back to our country," he said.

The release of the hostages came as a full-length propaganda film produced by IS emerged.

It was not immediately clear what Turkey had done to secure the return of the hostages, but independent broadcaster NTV said no ransom was paid and there were no clashes with insurgents during the operation.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "I thank the Prime Minister and his colleagues for the pre-planned, carefully calculated and secretly conducted operation throughout the night.

"MIT (the Turkish intelligence agency) has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation."

Police formed a cordon outside the airport in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa as the hostages arrived in buses with curtains drawn.

The Prime Minister, who cut short an official trip to Azerbaijan to travel to Sanliurfa, hugged the hostages before boarding a plane with them to the capital, Ankara.

Mr Davutoglu did not provide further details on the circumstances of the release, but said it was carried out through "MIT's own methods".

Hostages quizzed by journalists as they got off the plane said they could not go into detail as to the nature of their ordeal, but a couple of them hinted at ill treatment and death threats.

Alptekin Esirgun told the state-run Anadolou Agency that militants held a gun to Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz's head and tried to force him to make a statement.

Mr Yilmaz thanked Turkish officials involved in his release but did not give details about their captivity or how they were freed.

He refused to take more questions, saying: "I haven't seen my family for 102 days. All I want to do is to go home with them."

Seizure of the hostages put Turkey in a difficult position as a summit of 30 countries met in Paris last week to co-ordinate their response to IS.

The nations agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

Turkey resisted joining the coalition and the United States was careful not to push Ankara too hard as it worked to free the hostages.

The hostage release comes as Turkey opened up its border to thousands of Kurds fleeing clashes with IS in neighbouring Syria.

Under tight security, the refugees, mostly women and children, crossed to the Turkish side of the border in the southeastern village of Dikmetas.

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Thai Murders: Hannah DNA Matches Asian Men

DNA taken from the body of murdered British tourist Hannah Witheridge matches that of two Asian men, Thai police say.

Officers also said they do not know if the killer is still on the island of Koh Tao, where she and David Miller, 24, were found murdered.

Sky News has obtained video of Ms Witheridge filmed in the hours before she was killed.

In the exclusive footage, she is seen on CCTV walking between bars with a group of friends.

Ms Witheridge, 23, from Great Yarmouth, suffered severe head wounds and Mr Miller died from blows to the head and drowning, post-mortem examinations showed.

Their bodies were found in a rocky area of Sairee beach on Monday.

A garden hoe with Ms Witheridge's blood on it was discovered nearby, and investigators are searching for a blunt metal object used on Mr Miller.

Sky's Jonathan Samuels, on Koh Tao (Turtle Island), said: "Today the head of Thailand's police flew to the island by helicopter - really a sense of how seriously now the Thai authorities are taking this investigation.

"He confirmed that two men's DNA that was found on Hannah's body have been analysed and he has confirmed those two samples are from two Asian men.

"Of course they have no idea at the moment, as far as we understand, who these two men may be.

"They have questioned many people on the island, but so far they tell us they have no firm suspects."

Ms Witheridge is seen leaving a bar with friends

DNA on a cigarette butt has been matched to semen found on Ms Witheridge, and officers say the cigarette was smoked by more than one person.

Police Colonel Kissana said officers have still not come up with the exact number of suspects, and confirmed they are looking for both male and female suspects.

He said reports that the FBI are involved in the investigation were incorrect, but confirmed they have British assistance.

A cash reward worth about £4,000 is being offered for information that leads to the arrest of the killers, he added.

Meanwhile, two British brothers who were questioned by police have been told they are free to return home to Jersey.

Christopher and James Ware, childhood friends of Mr Miller, were spoken to by officers but were never detained or named as suspects.

A group of Burmese migrants who were interviewed by police after bloodstains were found on their clothes have also been eliminated from police inquiries.

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Obama's Syria Plan Clears Sceptical Senate

President Obama's plan to train and equip "moderate" Syrian rebels has passed Congress, despite misgivings.

The Senate backed the measure by 73 votes to 22, a day after it was approved by the House of Representatives.

Leaders of both parties are backing Mr Obama's strategy to help Syrian insurgents take on the Islamic State extremists, but the rank and file in each chamber expressed grave reservations.

"Intervention that destabilises the Middle East is a mistake," said Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, a potential 2016 presidential candidate.

Syrian refugees crowd a Turkish border fence on Thursday

"And yet here we are again wading into a civil war."

Democratic Alaska Senator Mark Begich said he also disagreed with Mr Obama's strategy, adding: "It is time for the Arab countries to...get over their regional differences."

The administration dispatched its top officials to Capitol Hill for a second day to assure lawmakers there would be no US troops fighting in the Middle East.

A jihadist gunman looks at bottles of perfume at a shop in Raqqa, Syria

Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel told a House panel that Mr Obama "is not going to order American combat ground forces into that area".

Secretary of State John Kerry told another committee the administration appreciated the danger of a "slippery slope". 

Focusing lawmakers' minds, the Islamic State paraded their latest hostage on Thursday.

They released a video showing a British journalist, who they said he was their prisoner.

The Pentagon chief is the latest official to rule out ground forces

The extremists have already beheaded three Westerners after capturing a third of Syria and Iraq.

The group also took over 21 villages in northern Syria this week, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The House approved the Obama proposal by 273-156 on Wednesday.

Republicans, usually stalwart antagonists of the president, backed the measure by more than double the margin of his war-weary Democratic allies.

A protester is removed as the Defence Secretary testifies before the House

The plan, which is an amendment to a short-term spending bill, does not include the $500m (£300m) the White House says it needs to arm and train the rebels.

The idea is that US troops will train Syrian rebels at camps in Saudi Arabia, a process that could take a year, say military officials.

Defence officials have said they expect to recruit and train about 5,000 non-jihadist rebel fighters.

The Islamists took 21 Syrian villages this week, sparking a refugee exodus

But lawmakers have expressed doubt this will be enough to take on the Islamic State, who the CIA estimates can muster up to 31,000 fighters.

Mr Obama's strategy is to use American warplanes to help Kurdish peshmerga fighters and national forces in Iraq and the rebels in Syria do the fighting on the ground.

Fears of mission creep were raised two days ago when the nation's top military leader, General Martin Dempsey, raised the possibility of US ground troops eventually fighting in Iraq.

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British Fighter Jets Intercept Russian Planes

British fighter jets have been scrambled to intercept two Russian planes flying through international airspace.

The Typhoon jets were sent to identify the planes, which turned out to be Russian military Bears.

A statement released by the RAF said the aircraft did not enter UK airspace.

A number of images were released by the RAF

The statement said the launch was the first time a Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) had been issued from RAF Lossiemouth since the Moray base took on the role of defending the UK's northern airspace.

It was the first QRA issued at RAF Lossiemouth

RAF Lossiemouth's Station Commander, Group Captain Mark Chappell, said: "This first successful launch for QRA North has been what all of the hard work by RAF Leuchars and RAF Lossiemouth personnel over recent months has been for.

"The relocation of two Typhoon squadrons was a significant challenge, one that was met by our whole team.

"The many months of preparation and infrastructure improvements have made us absolutely ready for this launch, and shows we are in the best position to provide the service to the United Kingdom that the Royal Air Force was primarily created for - that is, the protection of our airspace."

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GlaxoSmithKline Fined £297m For China Bribes

A Chinese court has fined GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) £297m - a record in the country - for bribing doctors and hospital officials to use its products.

The pharmaceutical firm confirmed the penalty imposed by the Changsha Intermediate People's Court in Hunan Province, saying it accepted that illegal activities took place and the fine would be paid through existing cash resources.

The Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, reported that Briton Mark Reilly, the former head of GSK in China, and other executives faced jail terms.

However, a GSK source told Sky News that Reilly was to be deported after being handed a three-year suspended sentence.

Mark Reilly used to run GSKCI

The London-listed firm's statement said the court found that "GSK China Investment (GSKCI)... offered money or property to non-government personnel in order to obtain improper commercial gains.

"The illegal activities of GSKCI are a clear breach of GSK's governance and compliance procedures; and are wholly contrary to the values and standards expected from GSK employees.

"GSK has published a statement of apology to the Chinese government and its people on its website.

"GSK has co-operated fully with the authorities and has taken steps to comprehensively rectify the issues identified at the operations of GSKCI.

"This includes fundamentally changing the incentive programme for its salesforces (decoupling sales targets from compensation); significantly reducing and changing engagement activities with healthcare professionals; and expanding processes for review and monitoring of invoicing and payments."

GSK chief executive Sir Andrew Witty added: "Reaching a conclusion in the investigation of our Chinese business is important, but this has been a deeply disappointing matter for GSK.

"We have and will continue to learn from this. GSK has been in China for close to a hundred years and we remain fully committed to the country and its people."

The investigation took a number of twists with a British man, who was hired as an investigator by GSK, being jailed for two-and-a-half years in August.

Peter Humphrey's health is said to be poor

Chinese authorities claimed Peter Humphrey illegally obtained Chinese citizens' personal information and sold it to companies including GSK.

GSK hired him after an anonymous email containing a sex tape of Reilly and his Chinese girlfriend was sent to senior management in January last year.

The email alleged corrupt practices in GSK's China operation.

GSK's ethical standards have also been called into question in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Poland.

Its share price was almost 0.6% higher in the wake of the announcement.

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Alibaba Shares Open 37% Up On Market Debut

Billionaire Alibaba Founder Shows US Doubters

Updated: 2:25pm UK, Friday 19 September 2014

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent in Beijing

At the northern end of the runways at the world's second busiest airport is a huge warehouse.

Inside, a labyrinth of conveyer belts and an army of workers.

This is the heart of a distribution operation that is as slick as it is mind-boggling.

YTO Express is China's answer to DHL or FedEx but it is growing at a rate its western cousins can only dream about.

"From the beginning the average daily volume was only about 2,000 pieces. Now our average daily volume is 6.5 million pieces," said Li Shaoming, YTO Express's Director of Overseas Business.

We watch as a fleet of laden lorries pull up at one side of the warehouse.

Parcels are unloaded onto conveyer belts. Over an hour, a combination of barcodes and manpower shuffles the parcels from conveyer to conveyer.

At the other end of the warehouse, they are loaded onto more lorries and driven away.

In between the functioning conveyers, are more under construction.

The company has seen a growth rate of 50% every year for the past five years and it cannot keep up.

YTO Express can thank one man for its success.

Jack Ma is the most successful businessman you have never heard of - the founder of Alibaba.

Some 80% of all online retail sales in China are via Alibaba's platforms: Taobao, T-Mall and Alipay.

The company has stakes in Sina Weibo (Chinese Twitter) and YouKu.com (Chinese YouTube).

It is Amazon, eBay, PayPal, Twitter and YouTube all rolled into one and it's bigger than all of them.

Across China, small businesses have been linked together and consumers empowered to buy.

Taobao is Alibaba's answer to Amazon.

T-Mall is something new. Think of a virtual shopping centre; a place where the world's brands are available with just one click.

It is not exactly revolutionary stuff, but no-one else has done it.

Western companies like Marks & Spencer are 'renting' virtual shop floors on T-Mall, opening the door to China's 600 million internet shoppers.

Remember, the individual wealth of Chinese consumers is growing daily.

For foreign investors wary of diving into China with bricks and mortar, T-Mall is a perfect alternative.

Alipay is similar to PayPal, accounting for half of all online payment transactions within China. It provides a verification process and payment system for customers - a secure online 'counter' for customers.

Uniquely, Alipay will only transfer money to sellers once the customer has accepted and is satisfied with the product.

With China's lack of consumer trust, this has proved particularly attractive.

Essentially, with Alibaba, Jack Ma has made it incredibly easy for China's new, hungry online community to buy, and for companies across China and abroad to sell.

Alibaba charges for advertising and commission paid by companies who use its virtual marketplaces.

According to its own figures, Alibaba has 279 million active users and 8.5 million sellers.

Just 15 years ago, Jack Ma went to America with his ambitions. No one took him seriously.

He is back now, with a world-record breaking IPO (Initial Public Offering) on the New York Stock Exchange and a personal wealth of £12bn.

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First French Airstrikes On IS 'Kill Dozens'

France has destroyed an Islamic State (IS) logistics depot in its first airstrikes against the militant group in Iraq.

President Francois Hollande said Rafale fighter jets, accompanied by support planes, "entirely destroyed" the depot in the north of the country.

Iraq's military spokesman said four morning airstrikes killed dozens of fighters.

"Other operations will follow in the coming days with the same goal - to weaken this terrorist organisation and come to the aid of the Iraqi authorities," Mr Hollande said. "There are always risks in taking up a responsibility. I reduced the risks to a minimum."

A soldier prepares a jet before the strikes

Qassim al Moussawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi military, said four airstrikes hit the town of Zumar, killing dozens of extremist fighters.

Zumar and surrounding towns are heavily contested by IS fighters, even though Iraqi and Kurdish security forces have managed to make headway nearby with the support of US airstrikes.

France is the first foreign country to publicly add military muscle to American airstrikes against IS.

Mr Hollande has ruled out French troops on the ground.

US Central Command said on Thursday that the US military has conducted 176 airstrikes in Iraq since August 8.

On Wednesday, it hit a militant training camp southeast of Mosul and an ammunition stockpile southeast of Baghdad. It has also conducted a number of strikes this week in Iraq's Anbar province, near the strategic Haditha Dam.

Mr Hollande at the Elysee Palace before announcing the strikes

The French air attacks took place while US General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was in France for meetings with his counterpart, General Pierre de Villiers.

The two men visited an American military cemetery in Normandy.

Gen Dempsey, who was told of the attack by de Villiers, praised the French action.

"The French were our very first ally and they are there again for us," he told reporters travelling with him in Normandy. "It just reminds me why these relationships really matter."

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New IS Video Shows Another British Hostage

British Muslims Plea For 'Mercy' For UK Hostage

Updated: 8:39am UK, Thursday 18 September 2014

British Muslim leaders have united to call for the Islamic State extremist group to release the UK hostage Alan Henning.

They have urged the militants to show mercy to the 47-year-old from Salford, and to let him go unharmed.

The father of two travelled to Syria with charity workers in December, but was kidnapped and now faces beheading at the hands of the terrorist dubbed Jihadi John.

The intervention came as a friend of Mr Henning, who was on the same aid convoy, made a direct appeal to IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, to show "compassion and mercy".

In the video the man describes travelling "several times" to Syria with Mr Henning.

"On all occasions, we - your Muslim brothers - brought him with us under our care and protection," he says.

"Alan was so moved by the suffering of the Syrian people, in particular the children, that he devoted all his free time in raising money and awareness about their suffering.

"He washed cars to raise money, he collected aid, he talked to everybody he met about crimes committed against the Muslims in Syria."

More than 100 Muslim leaders have signed a statement to IS pleading for Mr Henning's release, and branding them "monsters" for the brutal murder of fellow hostage David Haines.

In a letter published in the Independent newspaper, they said: "We, the undersigned British Muslim Imams, organisations and individuals, wish to express our horror and revulsion at the senseless murder of David Haines and the threat to the life of our fellow British citizen, Alan Henning."

They said those holding Mr Henning hostage must accept that what they are doing is against the Koran and "constitutes the worst condemnable sin".

The Muslim Council of Britain was among the signatories.

Dr Shuja Shafi, the council's Secretary General, said: "Such a man should be celebrated, not incarcerated. Taking such people hostage, and murdering them, are against the principles laid out in the Qur'an and our Prophetic traditions."

It comes as new footage shows Mr Henning en route to Syria, saying it is "all worthwhile" to make sure aid gets to where it is needed.

Mr Henning, a taxi driver, was kidnapped within 30 minutes of crossing from Turkey into Syria.

He had volunteered to drive an ambulance full of medical aid as part of a community-funded charity trip organised by volunteers from Bolton and the UK Arab Society.

It is believed he was abducted by IS in Al Dana, a town 38km (24 miles) from Aleppo.

Reports suggest he was separated from Muslim counterparts by masked men.

Friends who travelled with him said they made desperate attempt to get him freed before returning to the UK.

The man in the video appeal describes Mr Henning's commitment to raise as much money as he could for refugees of Syria's civil war.

The YouTube appeal was partly co-ordinated by Cage - a group campaigning against the so-called "war on terror".

Emotionally overwhelmed at the end of the video, the man urges IS leader al Baghdadi to "please, please, please, release Alan."

"He has no affiliation with any political agenda," he says.

"Show him compassion and mercy as he showed compassion and mercy to Muslims of Syria."

Mr Henning appeared at the end of the video released on Saturday in which Mr Haines was beheaded by IS - with a threat that he would be next.

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IS Planned Beheading In Australia, PM Says

Fears supporters of Islamic State were planning to kidnap a random person and carry out a "demonstration killing" prompted Australia's largest ever anti-terror raids, the prime minister has said.

Asked about reports that the planned attack involved a plot to behead a person in Sydney, Tony Abbott said: "That's the intelligence we received.

"The exhortations - quite direct exhortations - were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL (also known as IS or ISIS) to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country.

"This is not just suspicion, this is intent and that's why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have."

A sword was removed from one of the properties

More than 800 officers took part in the operation which saw at least 15 people detained and one charged with a serious "terrorism-related" offence.

The suspects had purchased machetes, balaclavas and military fatigues and planned to record the killing to be released on social media, Australia's ABC News reported. 

Pictures in the Australian media showed a sword being removed from one of the properties

The early morning raids of homes and businesses in Sydney and Brisbane came just days after Australia raised its national terror threat level to "high" for the first time, citing the likelihood of terrorist attacks by Australians radicalised in Iraq or Syria.

A suspect is detained by armed police during the operation

One of the suspects arrested made a brief appearance in court on Thursday.

Prosecutors said Omarjan Azari - who is charged with conspiracy to prepare for a terrorist attack- was involved in an alleged plan to "gruesomely" kill someone, an attack that was "clearly designed to shock and horrify" the public.

Court documents accused the 22-year-old of conspiring with former Sydney nightclub bouncer Mohammad Ali Baryalei, 33, who is suspected to be Australia's most senior member of IS in Syria and Iraq.

Prosecutor Michael Allnutt said the charge followed from the interception of a phone call made in recent days.

A police forensic expert gathers evidence at a property in Sydney

Police have also issued an arrest warrant for Baryalei.

Sydney is home to around half of Australia's 500,000 Muslims, with the majority living in the western suburbs where the raids were carried out.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the operation showed the reality of the threat facing Australia.

He said: "You know it is of serious concern that right at the heart of our communities we have people that are planning to conduct random attacks.

"Today we work together to make sure that didn't happen. We have disrupted that particular attack."

Australia, which is due to host the G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane in mid-November, is concerned over the number of its citizens believed to be fighting overseas with Islamist militant groups.

Police chiefs said the operation highlighted the reality of the threat

Mr Scipione said: "Our police will continue to work tirelessly to prevent any such attacks but certainly can I stress that right now, is a time for calm.

"We don't need to whip this up.

"We need to let people know that they are safe and certainly from our perspective we know that the work this morning will ensure that all of those plans that may have been on foot have been thwarted."

Up to 160 Australians have either been involved in the fighting in the Middle East or actively supporting it, officials said.

At least 20 are believed to have returned to Australia and pose a national security risk, the head of the country's spy agency said when raising the threat level last week.

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Plot Suggests Grip Of Extremists Is Widening

IS Planned Beheading In Australia, PM Says

Updated: 2:23pm UK, Thursday 18 September 2014

Fears supporters of Islamic State were planning to kidnap a random person and carry out a "demonstration killing" prompted Australia's largest ever anti-terror raids, the prime minister has said.

Asked about reports that the planned attack involved a plot to behead a person in Sydney, Tony Abbott said: "That's the intelligence we received.

"The exhortations - quite direct exhortations - were coming from an Australian who is apparently quite senior in ISIL (also known as IS or ISIS) to networks of support back in Australia to conduct demonstration killings here in this country.

"This is not just suspicion, this is intent and that's why the police and security agencies decided to act in the way they have."

More than 800 officers took part in the operation which saw at least 15 people detained and one charged with a serious "terrorism-related" offence.

The suspects had purchased machetes, balaclavas and military fatigues and planned to record the killing to be released on social media, Australia's ABC News reported. 

Pictures in the Australian media showed a sword being removed from one of the properties

The early morning raids of homes and businesses in Sydney and Brisbane came just days after Australia raised its national terror threat level to "high" for the first time, citing the likelihood of terrorist attacks by Australians radicalised in Iraq or Syria.

One of the suspects arrested made a brief appearance in court on Thursday.

Prosecutors said Omarjan Azari - who is charged with conspiracy to prepare for a terrorist attack- was involved in an alleged plan to "gruesomely" kill someone, an attack that was "clearly designed to shock and horrify" the public.

Court documents accused the 22-year-old of conspiring with former Sydney nightclub bouncer Mohammad Ali Baryalei, 33, who is suspected to be Australia's most senior member of IS in Syria and Iraq.

Prosecutor Michael Allnutt said the charge followed from the interception of a phone call made in recent days.

Police have also issued an arrest warrant for Baryalei.

Sydney is home to around half of Australia's 500,000 Muslims, with the majority living in the western suburbs where the raids were carried out.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the operation showed the reality of the threat facing Australia.

He said: "You know it is of serious concern that right at the heart of our communities we have people that are planning to conduct random attacks.

"Today we work together to make sure that didn't happen. We have disrupted that particular attack."

Australia, which is due to host the G20 Leaders Summit in Brisbane in mid-November, is concerned over the number of its citizens believed to be fighting overseas with Islamist militant groups.

Mr Scipione said: "Our police will continue to work tirelessly to prevent any such attacks but certainly can I stress that right now, is a time for calm.

"We don't need to whip this up.

"We need to let people know that they are safe and certainly from our perspective we know that the work this morning will ensure that all of those plans that may have been on foot have been thwarted."

Up to 160 Australians have either been involved in the fighting in the Middle East or actively supporting it, officials said.

At least 20 are believed to have returned to Australia and pose a national security risk, the head of the country's spy agency said when raising the threat level last week.

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Obama Again Rules Out Iraq Combat Role For US

President Barack Obama has reiterated there will be no US combat troops in Iraq, a day after his top general raised that very possibility.

Mr Obama spoke upon receiving an update from military chiefs at US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, about the US campaign of airstrikes against the Islamic State militants.

"The American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission," he told troops at MacDill Air Force Base.

"They will support Iraqi forces on the ground as they fight for their own country against these terrorists.

President Obama and US Central Command chief, General Lloyd Austin

"As your commander in chief, I will not commit you and the rest of our armed forces to fighting another ground war in Iraq."

Army General Martin Dempsey told Congress on Tuesday he might recommend to the president that US troops fight alongside Iraqi forces if the current strategy of airstrikes failed to break the Islamic State group.

Since last month, the US has conducted more than 160 airstrikes to weaken the extremists.

Secretary of State John Kerry said the group must be stopped "end of story"

Mr Obama plans to rely on US air power as well as Iraqi and Kurdish forces and the Syrian opposition to carry out the fight on the ground.

The House of Representatives approved by 273-156 Mr Obama's request for authority to equip and train "moderate" Syrian rebels to take on the Islamic State.

Testifying before a Senate committee on Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry said Islamic State forces "must be defeated. Period. End of story".

A displaced Iraqi child displays his drawing at a refugee camp in Irbil

US Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, appeared to leave the door ajar for US combat troops, as he visited Iowa.

Asked about Gen Dempsey's remarks, he said: "We'll determine that based on how the effort goes."

But Iraq's new prime minister said foreign ground troops were "out of the question".

Haider al Abadi, who took office this month, said: "Not only is it not necessary, we don't want them. We won't allow them. Full stop."

Shia fighters, who have joined the battle against IS, train in Najaf

However, Gen Dempsey, who is chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said half of Iraq's army is incapable of working with the US to recapture territory from Islamic State.

Only 26 of 50 Iraqi army brigades were capable partners for the US, he said, as he flew to Paris for a meeting with his French counterpart.

The others were too dominated by Shias to be part of a credible national force, he added.

Meanwhile, Islamic State has released a video warning the US that fighters await it in Iraq if troops are sent there.

Islamic State fighters have seized large parts of Iraq and Syria

The 52-second clip, entitled Flames Of War, shows fighters destroying tanks, wounded US soldiers and others about to be killed.

It ends with a text overlay that reads "fighting has just begun".

The CIA estimates the Sunni militant group has somewhere between 20,000 and 31,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria.

On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told NC News the Islamic State militants want to "kill humanity".

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Poland Sets Up Military Unit With Ukraine

Poland will establish a joint military unit with Ukraine and Lithuania to be based in the east of the country.

The Polish president's office said the new unit will be commanded from Lublin, in eastern Poland.

The proposed brigade will be made up of Ukrainian, Lithuanian and Polish soldiers who will be located close to their home countries.

A defence ministry spokesman said the project is aimed at creating a unit for peacekeeping operations.

The brigade may also become the basis to build a Nato battle group in the future, the spokesman added. 

It comes as the United States pledged $53m (£32m) in aid to Ukraine, including radar equipment to counter mortar attacks.

The assistance includes $46m (£28m) to bolster Ukraine's security in its conflict with Russian-backed separatists, and $7m (£4m) in humanitarian aid.

The package does not include the type of lethal weaponry that some Republican politicians wanted the US to provide.

Mr Poroshenko speaks during a joint meeting of Congress in Washington

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appealed to US Congress for lethal and non-lethal aid during his visit to Washington today.

He asked for more aid for the military, beyond the basic equipment such as night-vision goggles which the US has already supplied.

"I strongly encourage the United States to give Ukraine a special security and defence status which reflects the highest level of interaction with non-NATO allies," Mr Poroshenko said.

"They need more political support throughout the world. They need more military equipment, both lethal and non-lethal.

"Blankets, night-vision goggles are also important, but one cannot win the war with blankets.

Mr Poroshenko also pushed for more sanctions to be put in place against Russia.

"I also asked that the United States be forceful and reflect its principles with the respect of further sanctions against the aggressor," he said.

On Tuesday the Ukrainian parliament passed a law granting greater autonomy to rebel-held parts of Ukraine's east and an amnesty for separatist fighters.

A ceasefire was also declared on September 5 which has been threatened by violations, and both sides have promised to re-group and continue fighting if required.

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American Arrested On Swim To See Kim Jong-Un

An American man has been arrested by South Korean border guards after trying to swim to North Korea to meet the reclusive state's leader, Kim Jong-Un.

He was detained while lying on a bank of the Han River, located in a restricted military area near the border, according to a South Korean defence official.

The man is aged around 29 and is a computer repairman from Texas who came to South Korea 10 days ago, according to the Yonhap news agency.

He was apparently suffering from exhaustion, according to a South Korean government official cited by Yonhap.

The border is one of the most heavily militarised in the world

The news agency also reported that the man told investigators he wanted to meet Kim Jong-Un.

Americans have been arrested after entering North Korea from China before, but a US citizen trying to enter the country from South Korea is unusual.

South Korea's defence ministry was not able to immediately confirm details of the report, but an official confirmed an American man was picked up late on Tuesday and was being questioned.

The US embassy in the South Korean capital, Seoul, said it had been in contact with authorities in the country over the issue.

Matthew Miller was sentenced to six years hard labour on Sunday

"We do not have any additional information to share at this time. We have been in touch with the appropriate South Korean authorities regarding the reports," embassy spokeswoman Nida Emmons said.

It comes after an American man, who was detained in the North after entering the country as a tourist in April, was sentenced to six years of hard labour at the weekend.

Matthew Miller was held for committing "hostile acts" towards the North Korean state.

North and South Korea are technically still at war after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

The border between the two countries is one of the most heavily militarised in the world.

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Ebola Spiralling Out Of Control, Says Obama

President Barack Obama has warned of a "potential threat to global security" if ebola-stricken West African countries break down, as he announced 3,000 US troops would be sent to the region.

"If the outbreak is not stopped now, we could be looking at hundreds of thousands of people affected, with profound economic, political and security implications for all of us," Mr Obama said at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.

The virus has claimed nearly 2,500 lives out of almost 5,000 cases this year - mostly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

Outlining measures to prop up health services in areas overwhelmed by the epidemic, Mr Obama said: "It's spiralling out of control, it's getting worse."

The president met former ebola patient Dr Kent Brantly at the White House

But he stressed the chances of an outbreak in the US were "extremely low".

Under the plan, engineers, medical personnel and other service members will build 17 treatment centres in West Africa, each with 100 beds.

The US also aims to train 500 medical staff a week and establish a military control centre for co-ordinating the relief effort.

The cost of the aid is expected to be $500m (£308m).

The US has already spent $100m (£62m) in response to the outbreak

It is expected to take two weeks to get US personnel on the ground.

Earlier on Tuesday Mr Obama welcomed Dr Kent Brantly, an American missionary who caught ebola in Liberia and made a full recovery in the US, to the White House.

Four Americans have been or are being treated for ebola in the US after evacuation from Africa.

The World Health Organization warned the number of ebola cases could start doubling every three weeks, threatening a "human catastrophe".

Bruce Aylward from the WHO warned the outbreak was 'unparalleled'

The UN health agency's assistant director General Bruce Aylward said the crisis was "unparalleled in modern times".

Doctors Without Borders president Dr Joanne Liu told a UN special briefing on ebola in Geneva: "The window of opportunity to contain this outbreak is closing.

"We need more countries to stand up, we need greater deployment, and we need it now."

In addition to the US response, the WHO said China has promised to send a 59-person medical team to Sierra Leone to help fight the epidemic.

The UK is planning to set up an ebola clinic in Sierra Leone, while Cuba has promised to send some 160 health workers to the country.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will launch a "global response coalition" in New York on Thursday.

The virus, which has also reached Nigeria, Senegal and Democratic Republic of Congo, is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of sick patients. There is no vaccine or approved treatment.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, has called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council, warning the virus could "set the countries of West Africa back a generation".

US efforts will include medics and corpsmen, engineers to help build treatment facilities and logistics specialists to assist in patient transportation.

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Ukraine PM Demands 'Full Battle Readiness'

Ukraine's prime minister has warned the country must be ready for battle with Russia, despite a 12-day ceasefire with Moscow-backed separatists.

Arseny Yatseniuk said: "Russia will not give us peace so I am asking the defence minister for full battle readiness."

Mr Yatseniuk said enacting Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's peace plan did not mean "relaxing the work of the defence and interior ministries".

He added: "Full readiness (is required). We can't believe anyone, especially the Russians." 

A firefighter tackles a blaze after an apparent rocket attack in Donetsk

He spoke as Russia's defence minister called for the deployment of reinforcements to Crimea and southern Russia, claiming a response was needed to the build-up of "foreign" forces nearby.

Sergei Shoigu said it was a "priority" to deploy a "full and self-reliant group of troops in the direction of Crimea".

Ukraine's prime minister warned the country should be ready for battle

According to Russian news agencies, he said the "situation in Ukraine has sharply worsened and the foreign military presence has increased very close to our border".

The fragility of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine has been exposed again by reports of a deadly rocket attack in Donetsk.

A journalist working for Associated Press reported seeing the remains of what appeared to be a Grad rocket that had hit the building in the north of the city, where fighting over the government-controlled airport has caught some residential areas in the crossfire.

One body was said to be visible at the scene, although it was unclear if there were more casualties.

Resident Alexander Dudnik said: "They started to shoot at each other and a shell hit a gas pipeline. Then there was a strong fire, flats started to burn.

"Firefighters did a great job, high-level professionals, they did everything they could. Unfortunately there was a disabled man on the third floor. He died."

Despite the truce and a law passed by the Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday granting greater autonomy to rebel held parts of the east and an amnesty for separatist fighters, civilian casualties have continued to rise, adding to the estimated 3,000 people killed.

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Migrant Shipwreck Dead May Have Been Murdered

People traffickers deliberately wrecked a boat that sank in the Mediterranean with 500 migrants feared dead, survivors have claimed.

Two survivors plucked from the water by a freight ship have said the criminals rammed their boat after they refused to switch to a vessel they feared was too small to hold them.

Dozens of Gazans are suspected to be among those who may have died last week, a Palestinian official has revealed.

The Palestinian survivors told the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) that around 500 passengers had been on the stricken vessel, which set off from Egypt bound for Europe on September 6.

The passengers, who also included Egyptians, Sudanese and Syrians, were forced to change boats several times during the crossing towards Europe, they said.

The IOM described the sinking as the "worst shipwreck in years," and said that if the survivors' claim was true it would amount to "mass murder".

Fayez Abu Eita, a Gaza spokesman for president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, said: "We have information that 15 (Palestinians) drowned and dozens more are missing after trying to emigrate to Italy.

"The severe living and humanitarian conditions of the Palestinians are forcing people to emigrate."

A relative said 15 members of a single family were among the missing.

The relative told the AFP news agency: "Fifteen people from the Masri family, including two brothers, a woman and two of her children, left to emigrate to a European country through a broker, and got on a boat from Alexandria headed for Italy.

"We've no news of them, whether they've drowned or survived."

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US General: Half Of Iraqi Army Not Capable

Around half of Iraq's army is incapable of working with the US to recapture territory from Islamic State (IS) in western and northern Iraq, according to the top US military officer.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that military teams that spent much of the summer in Iraq assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the security forces found that only 26 of 50 army brigades were capable partners for the US.

Gen Dempsey, a former wartime commander of US training programmes in the country, described them as well led and well equipped, adding: "They appear to have a national instinct, instead of a sectarian instinct."

These would still need to be partially rebuilt with US training and more equipment, he added.

The other 24 brigades were found to be too dominated by Shias to be part of a credible national force.

Shiite fighters, who have joined the battle against IS, train in Najaf

Gen Dempsey was speaking with reporters travelling with him to Paris, where he met with his French counterpart for talks on the conflicts in Syria and Iraq and other issues.

The trip followed on from Gen Dempsey's appearance in front of a Senate panel, when he said US ground forces could be deployed again in Iraq.

His remarks were soon contradicted by the White House's spokesman however, who said President Barack Obama "will not deploy ground troops in a combat role into Iraq or Syria".

Iraq's new prime minister, Haider al Abadi, has also said foreign ground troops are neither wanted nor needed in the country's fight against IS.

Meanwhile, the group has released a video warning the US that fighters await it in Iraq if troops are sent there.

Kurdish peshmerga troops participate in a security deployment against IS

The 52-second clip, entitled "Flames of War", shows fighters destroying tanks, wounded US soldiers and others about to be killed.

It includes a clip of Mr Obama saying combat troops will not return to Iraq, ending with a text overlay that reads "fighting has just begun".

Renewed US efforts to train Iraqi troops could revive the issue of gaining legal immunity from Iraqi prosecution for US troops who are training them, Gen Dempsey said on his way to France.

The last Iraqi government refused to give immunity to US troops who might have stayed behind as trainers after the US military mission ended in December 2011.

Gen Dempsey also warned that US firepower alone would not be enough to stop IS.

Islamic State fighters have seized large parts of Iraq and Syria

The solution, he said, hinged on the formation of an Iraqi government that is able to convince Kurds and Sunnis that they will be equal partners with the Shiites.

The US launched airstrikes on IS last month, and Gen Dempsey said fighters from the extremist group will have reacted to the strikes by making themselves less visible.

He predicted they would "literally litter the road networks" with improvised explosive devices in the days ahead.

That would then mean more counter-IED training and equipment for Iraq's army, Gen Dempsey said.

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The Day I Came Face To Face With Islamic State

I was told to wait on the side of a road outside a mosque in the Syrian city of Aleppo. An Emir speaking in the mosque would see me after prayers.

As hundreds of worshippers streamed through the open doors, a young man with long, black hair emerged surrounded by the most thuggish bunch of gunmen I had ever come across in Syria, and that takes some doing.

They fired up matt black cars, jeeps and trucks with anti-aircraft guns welded to the floor. He stopped briefly and shook my hand while my trusted translator introduced me.

He never took his eyes off me as he was asked if we could film in his area. He nodded and told us to follow them.

The group has made rapid territorial advances across Iraq and Syria

His convoy screamed down the road past their headquarters and crossed two blocks into the territory of another gang. The trucks split into sections and they surrounded a building.

Then they started firing. Hundreds if not thousands of rounds smashing through doors and windows, brick work pulverised into dust, walls collapsing. If there was anyone inside they died. It was brutal. I had just met ISIS.

It was in the early months of 2013 and ISIS was growing stronger by the week. I would regularly come across them or other groups who would soon join them, over the next few months.

It soon became clear to me and my translators and guides that the usual dangers of travelling through Syria that I had been dealing with since the winter of 2011 had got a lot worse.

Stories of violent roaming checkpoints, abductions, killings and the imposition of strict Sharia law in previously relaxed secular areas began to grow.

British aid worker David Haines was taken hostage and killed by the group

We heard of local people, aid workers and journalists, some of them my friends, being taken. But we had good relations with the fledgling ISIS leadership and by keeping a very low profile and with a network of drivers who knew every road we managed to avoid the checkpoints and disappear into the teeming streets of Aleppo.

In a school room converted into a court another Emir, Abu Al Homam, ruled on local disputes. Handing out judgements with a ruthless uncompromising efficiency.

He told me they did not execute people although he insisted he could. At that stage he said cutting people's hands off was enough to instil order over Aleppo's growing problem of crime.

But as I asked about a beheading we had been told of, one of my team saw the Emir's adviser shaking his head indicating that he should not admit to ordering the death penalty. Later locals told me it was common.

Abu Al Homam was not strictly speaking ISIS at that point. But he talked of the creation of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and warned Western governments not to interfere in the business of Muslims.

All sounds pretty familiar now, beheadings and caliphates and the like.

The group has also taken taxi driver Alan Henning hostage

With remarkable speed ISIS grew. From Al Raqqha to the east of Aleppo, with access to oil fields and out of the reach of the Syrian government forces, they stabilised, launched their takeover of much of northern Iraq and changed their name to Islamic State.

While some of the myriad jihadist groups in Syria are fighting IS they have become the pre-eminent power. Their ruthlessness and total disregard for reasonable norms have surprised everyone.

A senior intelligence officer in Iraq explained the difference between IS and even al Qaeda's most extreme members.

"With AQ I could rationally argue that what they did in beheading a person was against the Koran. It might take days, but they would listen and often they would accept it and agree it was wrong," he told me.

"IS are totally different. They do not care. They are bloodthirsty and pure evil. They need to be destroyed as an organisation and then killed," he added.

Militants have released videos depicting mass executions

For people like me who have worked so hard reporting the uprising in Syria against the regime of Bashar al Assad, this is all very depressing. Whatever anyone says, the uprising was real. It was not a jihadi-inspired takeover. But in many ways it is now.

Travelling was always dangerous, but with IS spies in areas they don't control and desperate people prepared to hand over foreigners to IS for cash it is probably too dangerous to go there right now.

Last year I set out for Al Raqqah. A long, dangerous trip with multiple car swaps. Finally we reached a house and were told to wait for people in the city to fetch us.

They never arrived, but after a day some other rebels did and offered to take us in. We thought long and hard. To go would break all my own safety rules, but I was tempted. Had they driven the road? Was it okay?

After hours of talk they admitted they had not been to the city in four days. I declined their invitation and they waved to us as they headed off.

An hour down the road they drove into a checkpoint. All four were killed on the side of the road. These are the days of IS.

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Syrian Politician Warns US Over IS Action

The Day I Came Face To Face With Islamic State

Updated: 7:53am UK, Tuesday 16 September 2014

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent

I was told to wait on the side of a road outside a mosque in the Syrian city of Aleppo. An Emir speaking in the mosque would see me after prayers.

As hundreds of worshippers streamed through the open doors, a young man with long, black hair emerged surrounded by the most thuggish bunch of gunmen I had ever come across in Syria, and that takes some doing.

They fired up matt black cars, jeeps and trucks with anti-aircraft guns welded to the floor. He stopped briefly and shook my hand while my trusted translator introduced me.

He never took his eyes off me as he was asked if we could film in his area. He nodded and told us to follow them.

His convoy screamed down the road past their headquarters and crossed two blocks into the territory of another gang. The trucks split into sections and they surrounded a building.

Then they started firing. Hundreds if not thousands of rounds smashing through doors and windows, brick work pulverised into dust, walls collapsing. If there was anyone inside they died. It was brutal. I had just met ISIS.

It was in the early months of 2013 and ISIS was growing stronger by the week. I would regularly come across them or other groups who would soon join them, over the next few months.

It soon became clear to me and my translators and guides that the usual dangers of travelling through Syria that I had been dealing with since the winter of 2011 had got a lot worse.

Stories of violent roaming checkpoints, abductions, killings and the imposition of strict Sharia law in previously relaxed secular areas began to grow.

We heard of local people, aid workers and journalists, some of them my friends, being taken. But we had good relations with the fledgling ISIS leadership and by keeping a very low profile and with a network of drivers who knew every road we managed to avoid the checkpoints and disappear into the teeming streets of Aleppo.

In a school room converted into a court another Emir, Abu Al Homam, ruled on local disputes. Handing out judgements with a ruthless uncompromising efficiency.

He told me they did not execute people although he insisted he could. At that stage he said cutting people's hands off was enough to instil order over Aleppo's growing problem of crime.

But as I asked about a beheading we had been told of, one of my team saw the Emir's adviser shaking his head indicating that he should not admit to ordering the death penalty. Later locals told me it was common.

Abu Al Homam was not strictly speaking ISIS at that point. But he talked of the creation of a caliphate in Syria and Iraq and warned Western governments not to interfere in the business of Muslims.

All sounds pretty familiar now, beheadings and caliphates and the like.

With remarkable speed ISIS grew. From Al Raqqha to the east of Aleppo, with access to oil fields and out of the reach of the Syrian government forces, they stabilised, launched their takeover of much of northern Iraq and changed their name to Islamic State.

While some of the myriad jihadist groups in Syria are fighting IS they have become the pre-eminent power. Their ruthlessness and total disregard for reasonable norms have surprised everyone.

A senior intelligence officer in Iraq explained the difference between IS and even al Qaeda's most extreme members.

"With AQ I could rationally argue that what they did in beheading a person was against the Koran. It might take days, but they would listen and often they would accept it and agree it was wrong," he told me.

"IS are totally different. They do not care. They are bloodthirsty and pure evil. They need to be destroyed as an organisation and then killed," he added.

For people like me who have worked so hard reporting the uprising in Syria against the regime of Bashar al Assad, this is all very depressing. Whatever anyone says, the uprising was real. It was not a jihadi-inspired takeover. But in many ways it is now.

Travelling was always dangerous, but with IS spies in areas they don't control and desperate people prepared to hand over foreigners to IS for cash it is probably too dangerous to go there right now.

Last year I set out for Al Raqqah. A long, dangerous trip with multiple car swaps. Finally we reached a house and were told to wait for people in the city to fetch us.

They never arrived, but after a day some other rebels did and offered to take us in. We thought long and hard. To go would break all my own safety rules, but I was tempted. Had they driven the road? Was it okay?

After hours of talk they admitted they had not been to the city in four days. I declined their invitation and they waved to us as they headed off.

An hour down the road they drove into a checkpoint. All four were killed on the side of the road. These are the days of IS.

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Raqqa: Islamic State's Menacing Power Base

Raqqa in northern Syria is Islamic State's power base and the focus of international efforts to defeat the Islamic extremists and rescue Western hostages.

The city - effectively the capital of the IS "caliphate" - is almost completely inaccessible to journalists and Westerners - but information can be gleaned from IS propaganda videos, residents who have managed to flee and an underground resistance network that posts videos and reports online.

:: Raqqa is the highly organised capital of the jihadists' Islamic caliphate

IS captured Raqqa amid fierce fighting in May 2013 but has maintained a hold on the city by setting up a functioning government and public services. Military operations and civilian administration are run separately, with fighters and employees getting a salary from the "Muslim Financial House" department. IS has claimed the poor are effectively paid benefits, while taxes are imposed on the wealthy and prices are kept low in the markets. Foreign experts have been recruited to run ministries - a Tunisian with a PhD in charge of telecoms, an Egyptian engineer serving as oil minister.

:: The city is the centre of the search for Jihadi John

Raqqa is believed to be where IS is holding some 20 international hostages, including Briton Alan Henning, and intelligence efforts to save them are focused on the city. Experts and a small resistance movement within the city have matched up photos and video footage to pinpoint the location on the outskirts of the city where they believe James Foley was beheaded. They suggest the killings took place on open ground near a cemetery, not far from the city's Alltihad University.

:: IS is thought to be using a network of tunnels under the city

The hunt for the hostages and their captors has been frustrated due to the suspected use by IS of a network of underground tunnels to move around the city. IS is believed to move the hostages between safe locations regularly and the group's leaders, including Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, rarely stay in one place for more than a day or two.

:: Foreign fighters have "flooded" the city

A jihadist boasted to Reuters this month that Raqqa was welcoming 1,000 new IS volunteers every three days, many of them from abroad. Fighters with South African, French, Dutch, Australian and of course British accents have appeared in videos or on social media praising life under the Islamic State. The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation claims Glaswegian Aqsa Mahmood is a key figure in the al Khanssaa brigade, a female militia set up to punish women for "non-Islamic" behaviour.

:: The Hisbah police keep the people in check

The hisbah - clad in a distinctive uniform of white thobe with black waistcoats and black caps - patrol the streets with Kalashnikovs slung over their backs, enforcing strict Sharia law in the previously cosmopolitan city. They police everything from the price of beef in markets to female dress and follow up on reports of residents suspected of using drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Attendance at prayers is rigidly enforced, with jihadists boasting of emptying once busy markets five times a day. Anyone who crosses the hisbah faces immediate imprisonment and punishment according to Sharia law - from whipping for alcohol sellers to public execution for drug users.

:: Children are being drawn into the IS cause

Raqqa is the IS base for preparing the next generation of jihadists. Islamic education groups are held in mosques and festivals have been held to encourage youngsters to sign up to the cause. Children are shown videos of beheadings to inure them to violence and warn them of the consequences of resisting the jihadists. Warda Ali, a female resident who fled Raqqa after resisting IS, told US broadcaster NPR how parents - keen to please their new rulers - brought their children to the town square to watch public beheadings.

:: Resistance - "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently"

A small group of activists have been risking their lives to reveal a true picture of the grim conditions imposed by IS. Under the slogan "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently," they post videos and photos of public executions and other punishments meted out by the Islamists, as well as possible locations for IS training camps and the executions of Western hostages. IS has condemned the activists as "enemies of the lord" and reportedly executed one, Motaz Billah, after tracing him through Facebook.

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Ukraine Ratifies EU Pact Amid Fragile Ceasefire

Ukrainian MPs have voted to strengthen the country's political and economic ties with the European Union - the very issue which first sparked the crisis last year.

Before the ratification of the agreement, President Petro Poroshenko told parliament that Ukrainians who lost their lives in the protests and subsequent fighting in the east "died not only for their motherland - they gave up their lives for us to take a dignified place among the European family".

Shying away from such a pact resulted in the ousting of then president Victor Yanukovych in November 2013, who instead chose to establish stronger ties with Russia.

Mr Poroshenko holds aloft the signed landmark agreement with the EU

It also led to the annexation of Crimea by Russia and an ongoing five-month war with pro-Russian separatists which has claimed the lives of more than 2,600 people.

Earlier, MPs also agreed to grant greater autonomy to the rebel regions in eastern Ukraine, and an amnesty for most of those involved in the fighting as part of a fragile ceasefire which has repeatedly been broken since it came into effect 10 days ago.

Three people were killed and five wounded when their homes were struck by shells overnight in the eastern city of Donetsk.

A steel factory destroyed by the shelling overnight in Donetsk

Reports of the latest fatalities of the crisis came as Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu talked of a need to send extra troops to Crimea because of the increase in fighting.

"The deployment of proper and self-sufficient forces in the direction of Crimea is one of (our) top priorities," Russian news agency Itar-Tass reported him saying.

"The situation in Ukraine has escalated sharply and the presence of foreign military has increased in the immediate vicinity of our borders."

The chain of events since last November has provoked the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War, with the United States and its Western allies imposing sanctions against Moscow.

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General: US Ground Troops Possible In Iraq

What We Know About The IS Capital Raqqa

Updated: 12:51pm UK, Tuesday 16 September 2014

Raqqa in northern Syria is Islamic State's power base and the focus of international efforts to defeat the Islamic extremists and rescue Western hostages.

The city - effectively the capital of the IS "caliphate" - is almost completely inaccessible to journalists and Westerners - but information can be gleaned from IS propaganda videos, residents who have managed to flee and an underground resistance network that posts videos and reports online.

:: Raqqa is the highly organised capital of the jihadists' Islamic caliphate

IS captured Raqqa amid fierce fighting in May 2013 but has maintained a hold on the city by setting up a functioning government and public services. Military operations and civilian administration are run separately, with fighters and employees getting a salary from the "Muslim Financial House" department. IS has claimed the poor are effectively paid benefits, while taxes are imposed on the wealthy and prices are kept low in the markets. Foreign experts have been recruited to run ministries - a Tunisian with a PhD in charge of telecoms, an Egyptian engineer serving as oil minister.

:: The city is the centre of the search for Jihadi John

Raqqa is believed to be where IS is holding some 20 international hostages, including Briton Alan Henning, and intelligence efforts to save them are focused on the city. Experts and a small resistance movement within the city have matched up photos and video footage to pinpoint the location on the outskirts of the city where they believe James Foley was beheaded. They suggest the killings took place on open ground near a cemetery, not far from the city's Alltihad University.

:: IS is thought to be using a network of tunnels under the city

The hunt for the hostages and their captors has been frustrated due to the suspected use by IS of a network of underground tunnels to move around the city. IS is believed to move the hostages between safe locations regularly and the group's leaders, including Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, rarely stay in one place for more than a day or two.

:: Foreign fighters have "flooded" the city

A jihadist boasted to Reuters this month that Raqqa was welcoming 1,000 new IS volunteers every three days, many of them from abroad. Fighters with South African, French, Dutch, Australian and of course British accents have appeared in videos or on social media praising life under the Islamic State. The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation claims Glaswegian Aqsa Mahmood is a key figure in the al Khanssaa brigade, a female militia set up to punish women for "non-Islamic" behaviour.

:: The Hisbah police keep the people in check

The hisbah - clad in a distinctive uniform of white thobe with black waistcoats and black caps - patrol the streets with Kalashnikovs slung over their backs, enforcing strict Sharia law in the previously cosmopolitan city. They police everything from the price of beef in markets to female dress and follow up on reports of residents suspected of using drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Attendance at prayers is rigidly enforced, with jihadists boasting of emptying once busy markets five times a day. Anyone who crosses the hisbah faces immediate imprisonment and punishment according to Sharia law - from whipping for alcohol sellers to public execution for drug users.

:: Children are being drawn into the IS cause

Raqqa is the IS base for preparing the next generation of jihadists. Islamic education groups are held in mosques and festivals have been held to encourage youngsters to sign up to the cause. Children are shown videos of beheadings to inure them to violence and warn them of the consequences of resisting the jihadists. Warda Ali, a female resident who fled Raqqa after resisting IS, told US broadcaster NPR how parents - keen to please their new rulers - brought their children to the town square to watch public beheadings.

:: Resistance - "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently"

A small group of activists have been risking their lives to reveal a true picture of the grim conditions imposed by IS. Under the slogan "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently," they post videos and photos of public executions and other punishments meted out by the Islamists, as well as possible locations for IS training camps and the executions of Western hostages. IS has condemned the activists as "enemies of the lord" and reportedly executed one, Motaz Billah, after tracing him through Facebook.

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French Black Power Leader Arrested In Paris

A convicted anti-Semite with links to the controversial French comedian Dieudonne has been arrested after arriving in Paris to promote a book.

Radical black power activist Kemi Seba was held on Saturday after a public appearance at the Main d'Or theatre in the French capital, where Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala regularly performs, AFP reported.

A magistrate ordered his imprisonment on Sunday, as he was wanted for having violated the terms of a 2009 suspended sentence for violence.

Seba, real name Stellio Capo Chichi, has been living in Senegal but told followers he would be travelling to France to publicise his book.

Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala has been prosecuted for anti-Semitism in France

The head of the French branch of the New Black Panther Party posted a series of photos of himself posing with fans at the Main d'Or event on Saturday evening before he was arrested.

Two groups founded by Seba - Tribu K and later Jeunesse Kemi Saba - have been dissolved by the French justice ministry for inciting "racist and anti-Semitic" ideology.

He was also expelled from Switzerland in 2012 over fears that he would incite violence.

Seba has used Dieudonne's Main d'Or theatre in the past and staged joint press conferences with the comedian, who has been prosecuted several times in France over anti-Semitic comments.

Anelka celebrated a goal by doing the quenelle gesture

Dieudonne was banned from the UK in February following a row over footballer Nicolas Anelka's use of the comedian's quenelle gesture to celebrate a goal for West Bromwich Albion.

Many people believe the quenelle is anti-Semitic because of its similarities to a Nazi salute - but the comic and his supporters claim it is merely an anti-establishment gesture.

Anelka was banned for five matches by the Football Association and sacked by West Brom in March over the affair.

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Suicide Vests Seized In Uganda Terror Raid

Security services in Uganda say they have foiled an imminent terrorist attack after the seizure of "substantial amounts of explosives" and suicide vests in raids.

Some 19 people were arrested in the police operation, which saw the US embassy warn its citizens to take shelter.

The authorities say the suspected al Shabaab terrorist cell was planning an assault on the capital Kampala.

People in the city have been urged to remain vigilant.

The authorities say they have increased security at hotels and other sites

Information Minister Rose Namayanja said: "The operation is still going on. We just want to ensure that we exhaust all the leads so that there are no more terrorist cells."

The Ugandan authorities say they have increased security at hotels and other key sites, including Entebbe International Airport.

"Anything could have happened," if the plot had not been foiled, the minister said.

The discovery of the alleged cell came as Kenya prepared to mark the first anniversary of an al Shabaab attack on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall in which 67 people were killed.

In 2010, al Shabaab bombed sports bars in Uganda where people were watching the World Cup on television.

Both Kenya and Uganda contribute troops as part of the African Union peacekeeping force battling al Shabaab in Somalia.

The militant group, which is aligned with al Qaeda, has threatened more attacks since the killing of their leader Ahmed Godane in a US strike earlier this month.

Last week, the group targeted two military convoys near the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and on Saturday militants gunned down a senior Somali national security officer in his car.

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Hurricane Odile Hits Mexico: Winds Hit 125mph

Holidaymakers have been sheltering in hotels and many coastal resorts have been evacuated as Hurricane Odile batters Mexico's popular tourist region of Baja California.

The storm has reached the resort area of Los Cabos in the western state, with winds of up to 205kph (125mph) uprooting trees.

Flights were cancelled and shelters for up to 30,000 people prepared amid warnings of large waves and torrential rain that could lead to landslides and flash floods.

Another photo shows Hurricane Odile closing in on the coast

Experts said it was set to be the strongest hurricane in the region since Kiko in August 1989, which was also a category three by the time it hit the peninsula's eastern coast.

Electricity has also been turned off to avoid damage from power lines if the winds bring them down.

Denise Mellor, a tourist from Orange County, California, who is staying in San Jose del Cabo, said: "It's a little bit (unsettling) that we don't have a choice but to sit in here and hope for the best. So that makes me a little bit scared."

Odile had been rated a category four hurricane but it lost strength on Sunday afternoon just before it hit the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, the US National Hurricane Centre said.

Residents of the tourist resort and fishing town prepare for the storm

The eye of the storm is expected to move northwest by the middle of this week and US Marines are on standby.

Around 26,000 foreign tourists and 4,000 Mexicans are in the resort and fishing region, according to officials.

As authorities walked the street using megaphones to call for people to leave their house, Baja California Sur Gov Marcos Covarrubias said the evacuations were to "guarantee wellbeing".

Los Cabos resident Felipa Flores said she was heading for a shelter. She said: "Later on we're going to be cut off and my house of wood and laminated cardboard won't stand up to much."

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Anti-IS Coalition Agrees Military Action Plan

World leaders meeting in Paris to form a broad coalition against Islamic State have agreed to provide military aid to Iraq to fight the extremist network.

International efforts to combat the Islamist militants, who have grabbed large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, have taken on an added urgency after the beheading of British aid worker David Haines and the threat to kill a second UK hostage.

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond was at Monday's summit - spearheaded by French President Francois Hollande and Iraqi President Fuad Masum - bringing together 30 countries to co-ordinate a response to the IS threat.

Mr Hammond said Britain had yet to decide whether to launch airstrikes against IS targets and that the SAS had not been sent in to rescue British hostage Alan Henning because it was not clear exactly where he was being held.

Aid worker Mr Henning appeared at the end of an IS video released on Saturday in which fellow UK hostage David Haines was killed, with a threat that he would be next.

Speaking to Sky News Mr Hammond said he understood Mr Henning's family was "going through hell," and that the government was doing everything possible to protect him.

"We have considered every possible option to support these kidnap victims, both British and others," he said.

"If we knew where they were, it would be a different story but we do not.

Mr Hammond and US Secretary Of State John Kerry arriving in Paris

"We have to do what we can to protect the individual in question, and we also cannot be deterred from our strategic objective of crushing IS and the barbarous ideology it is trying to impose on the region."

The nations agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said: "When you are facing a terrorist group as dangerous as this one, a certain number of measures have to be taken of a military nature, and these will vary according to the country."

Mr Haines was taken hostage in Syria last year

Mr Hollande opened the summit, warning: "The terrorist threat is global and the response must be global. The cowardly murder of David Haines is a terrifying example of what is going on... There is no time to lose."

Some 930 French citizens or residents, including at least 60 women, are actively engaged in jihad in Iraq and Syria, or are planning to go there.

Mr Masum said there was a need for a "quick response" to the Islamist group which he said had "committed massacres and genocidal crimes".

Mr Cameron has vowed to 'hunt down' the 'monsters' who killed Mr Haines

Representatives of the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) and US Secretary of State John Kerry were also among the delegates at the conference.

However, Iran said it had rejected a request from the US to join the fight against IS because of Washington's "unclean intentions".

Sky's Europe Correspondent Robert Nisbet, in Paris, said: "This is about building a much broader alliance with regional actors, especially countries with Sunni majorities.

A central part of the plan is to engage Arab countries in the coalition

"This is now the pressing international issue and America would like to see all countries uniting against Islamic State."

Ahead of the talks, the US said several countries in the Middle East had offered to join airstrikes against the militants, while Australia said it would send aircraft and personnel and France announced it would begin reconnaissance missions over Iraq.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who is under pressure to act following the killing of Mr Haines, has given no indication over whether he would commit military forces to airstrikes.

Video footage of the British aid worker's death showed a knife-wielding militant who speaks with a British accent.

The clip also included a threat to kill a second hostage, Alan Henning, who was a volunteer on an aid convoy.

It followed the beheadings of two American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

Mr Cameron vowed to "hunt down" the "monsters" who killed Mr Haines, and said the crime would "strengthen our resolve" to smash the extremist network which has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Explaining Mr Cameron's dilemma, Sky's Chief Political Correspondent Jon Craig said: "He tried to get a vote in Parliament last year on missile strikes on Syria.

"Thirty or so Conservative MPs voted against, as did Labour, and he lost the vote. He was humiliated. So he doesn't particularly want to go down that route again."

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