Police Chief Warns Cuts Raise Risk Of Terror

Police Asking Victims To 'Investigate Own Crimes'

Updated: 2:49pm UK, Thursday 04 September 2014

Hard-pressed police forces are "encouraging" victims of high-volume crimes to carry out their own investigations, a policing watchdog has warned.

Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) said the "emerging trend" was identified in an investigation into 43 forces in England and Wales.

In a report summarising its findings, HMIC said its inspectors had witnessed call-handlers asking victims of offences like vehicle crime and "burglaries of properties other than dwellings" to assess the likelihood of the crime being solved.

It said some forces asked victims whether there was any CCTV footage of the area, any potential fingerprint evidence and whether the victim knew if there were any witnesses to the crime. 

In some cases victims were asked to interview their neighbours and to search for their property on second-hand sales websites.

"HMIC finds this expectation by these forces that the victim should investigate his own crime both surprising and a matter of material concern," the report said.

"The police have been given powers and resources to investigate crime by the public, and there should be no expectation on the part of it."

Teacher Louise Kimpton told Sky News she was surprised by the response when she called police after her car was stolen from outside her home near Rochdale in July.

"The police came round and they explained that unfortunately they only had very few officers on the beat in the area so it was highly unlikely they'd find the car" she said.

"They said they would try their best but obviously if we could look round as well that would help.

"My husband and his friend drove around and eventually they found the car."

She said they contacted police and within days received a letter saying that their case was closed.

Inspector of Constabulary Roger Baker, who led the inspection, said overall police forces have "done a good job in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour".

However he said the emerging trend suggested many officers have essentially "given up" on investigating high-volume crimes.

"It's more a mindset, that we no longer deal with these things," he said.

"Effectively what's happened is a number of crimes are on the verge of being decriminalised.

"So it's not the fault of the individual staff, it's a mindset thing that's crept in to policing to say 'we've almost given up'."

The report, named 'Core Business: an inspection into crime prevention, police attendance and the use of police time,' investigated a number of aspects of modern policing, including response to calls, quality of investigation and the use of technology.

Among its findings, HMIC said some forces were losing track of suspects and wanted persons as their systems for actively pursuing them were not up to scratch.

It also identified a policing "postcode lottery", saying attendance rates at crime scenes varied widely between police forces.

In the year to November 30, 2013, for example, 100% of crimes in Cleveland were attended by a police officer. In Warkwickshire, however, that figure stood at just 39%.

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Lockdown To Combat Ebola In Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone will impose a four-day countrywide lockdown as part of efforts to halt the spread of the deadly ebola virus.

Ben Kargbo, a presidential adviser on the country's ebola task force, said citizens will not be allowed to leave their homes between September 18 and 21.

This will allow health workers to identify cases in the early stages of the illness which has killed more than 2,000 people since March.

Mr Kargbo told the Reuters news agency: "The aggressive approach is necessary to deal with the spread of Ebola once and for all."

According to United Nations figures, Sierra Leone has recorded 491 of the total suspected, probable and confirmed deaths.

Mr Kargbo said 21,000 people would be recruited to enforce the lockdown.

Thousands of police and soldiers have already been deployed to enforce the quarantining of towns in the country's worst-hit areas near the border with Guinea.

But an aid worker in the capital, Freetown, has told Sky News a lockdown alone is not enough.

A poster in Ivory Coast warns of the risk of ebola

Augustine Allieu, from Plan International, said improving education, hygiene and facilities are also necessary.

He said: "It's not absolutely the best option, but it is definitely one of those that needs to support all of these things that I have mentioned in terms of containing the spread."

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has said a vaccine for health workers could be available by November, with testing of two candidate vaccines under way.

An American doctor who came down with the virus while working in a Liberian maternity ward is "sick but stable", officials said on Friday.

There is currently no cure or vaccine for the virus

Rick Sacra, 51, has arrived at the Nebraska Medical Center where he is being treated.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has set a goal of stopping the outbreak within six to nine months.

Mr Ban said the "next few weeks will be crucial" to step up international efforts and called on countries to contribute to a $600m (£367m) appeal for supplies to west Africa.

The UN has stepped up its campaign after the international medical group Medecins Sans Frontieres declared that the world was "losing the battle" to contain ebola.

Ebola is contracted through contact with an infected person's bodily fluids and there is currently no cure or vaccine.

Symptoms of the virus appear as a sudden onset of fever, headache, sore throat, intense weakness and muscle pain.

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Ashya Set For Specialist Treatment In Prague

The family of brain tumour patient Ashya King say they are hoping they can take their son to Prague this weekend to have specialist cancer treatment.

It comes after a British judge said the five-year-old boy could be transported to the Czech capital for proton beam radiotherapy - a technique not available to him on the NHS.

The family's lawyer Juan Isidro Fernandez Diaz said Ashya could fly there as early as tonight, Sunday, or Monday at the latest and will stay at a children's hospital near the Proton Therapy Centre (PTC).

A panel of health experts at the PTC, which is not open until Monday, will discuss his case on that day.

Ashya is currently being treated in a medical centre in Malaga after Brett and Naghmeh King removed him from a Southampton hospital over a week ago without doctors' consent.

Mr Diaz said the child was "in a perfect condition to travel" and was playing with his family and his toys.

He said the parents were "really happy" with the judge's decision and the British court has been "really nice with us".

Ashya pictured with his parents in a Malaga hospital

The couple had been detained in Spain under a European arrest warrant issued by UK authorities before it was withdrawn following a public outcry and the pair were released.

The Kings want Ashya to have proton beam radiotherapy at the PTC and the judge Mr Justice Baker approved their request on Friday.

Centre spokeswoman Iva Ta'ounová said: "All necessary preparations are currently being made by the Prague proton centre to ensure that all is ready in anticipation of the arrival of Ashya King and his family from Malaga hospital, Spain.

"This standard preparation procedure can take up to 10 days but in the case of Ashya King an expert panel of physicians have agreed to discuss the transportation details and additional treatment needed according to Ashya's current health condition on Monday 8th September at 8am.

"PTC has again requested information from Malaga Hospital, in order to be made up-to-date on Ashya's current health condition, so that it can be discussed with them directly on Monday.

"PTC is aware that the boy's parents wish desperately for him to transported to Prague, however first all administrative and legal requirements must be fulfilled."

A lawyer representing bosses at Southampton General Hospital told the judge that doctors aimed to provide chemotherapy but not proton beam.

Vikram Sachdeva said such treatment could not be provided in Britain.

The judge said he had been told specialists at the PTC had considered a treatment plan.

And he said he had seen evidence of the treatment planned, evidence of plans to fly Ashya to Prague and evidence that Mr and Mrs King could afford the cost of treatment and transport.

The judge said he would cease to have responsibility for Ashya once the youngster arrived at the Czech hospital.

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Hostage David Haines' Family Under Police Guard

The Croatian family of David Haines, the British hostage held by Islamic State, are receiving 24 hour police protection, Sky sources say.

Mr Haines, who has a wife and four-year-old daughter in Zagreb, was threatened with death in the recently released video of the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff.

The aid worker was taken from a refugee camp close to the Syrian border with Turkey in March 2013.

The 44-year-old has worked for aid agencies in some of the world's worst trouble spots, including Libya and South Sudan.

He also has a teenage daughter in Scotland from a previous marriage.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, meanwhile, announced the formation of a "core coalition" to tackle IS militants, who have seized control of much of northern Iraq and Syria. 

Speaking at the Nato summit in Newport, he urged United Kingdom, France, Australia to provide the air power, intelligence, weapons and equipment to go after the group inside Iraq.

And Iraqi officials said an airstrike had killed a senior aide of IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. 

Steven Sotloff was the second US journalist beheaded in an IS video

Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday ruled out paying a ransom to the militants for Mr Haines' release, describing such payments as "utterly self-defeating".

He acknowledged it was a "desperately difficult situation" and said he was personally overseeing efforts to bring the aid worker home safely.

Mr Haines' Croatian wife earlier told the Daily Telegraph: He's everything to us. He's our life. He's a fantastic man and father.

"Nobody can understand how we are feeling. My daughter keeps asking about him every day. She hasn't seen her father for a year and a half. She has gone through so much. She sees me crying all the time," Dragana Prodanovic Haines said at the family's home near Zagreb.

Muslim religious leaders across Scotland are using Friday prayers to call for the release of all hostages held by IS.

A joint statement from the Muslim Council of Scotland, Islamic Society of Britain and Glasgow Central Mosque, said: "We send our heartfelt sympathies to the families of those who have been killed at the murderous hands of IS - regardless of where they are from or what their religion.

"The actions of IS are against the teachings of Islam and therefore supporting or joining such an organisation is unacceptable.

"We call for the immediate release of all hostages held by IS and pray for all of those killed, injured or harmed by extremism the world over."

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IS Leader's Top Aide 'Killed In Iraq Airstrike'

ISIS Leader Is Jihad's 'Rising Star'

Updated: 8:49am UK, Thursday 12 June 2014

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, commander of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) controls large parts of eastern Syria and western Iraq.

But despite his power - and a $10m (£5.9m) US reward for information leading to his capture - little is known about a man who for his own survival has shunned the spotlight.

Fighters from ISIS and its rivals have praised Baghdadi as a strategist driven by an unbending determination to fight for and establish a hardline Islamic state.

He has succeeded in exploiting turmoil in Syria and Iraq's weak central authority after the US military withdrawal to carve out his powerbase.

He has also proved ruthless in eliminating opponents to further his ambition of creating an Islamist state.

According to the US reward notice, which depicts a round-faced, brown-eyed man with closely cropped beard and short dark hair, Baghdadi was born in the Iraqi town of Samarra in 1971.

He is said to be the only prominent al Qaeda leader not to pledge allegiance to Ayman al-Zawahiri after Osama bin Laden's death three years ago.

He split with Zawahri after falling out with al Qaeda's Nusra Front in Syria, whose leader Abu Mohammad al Golani rejected an edict to merge his forces under Baghdadi's command.

While Baghdadi's supporters believe an Islamic state would revive the glories of Islam, they say Zawahiri feared that by drawing jihadi fighters together in one place it would make it easier for the West to defeat them.

His fighters counter that Baghdadi has plenty of hidden surprises for his enemies.

"He has capabilities that he keeps secret until the right time," one ISIS supporter said.

Ignoring Zawahiri's calls to leave Syria to the Nusra Front, Baghdadi expanded operations across northern and eastern Syria in 2012 and 2013, sometimes battling Bashar al Assad's forces but more often pushing out other rebel fighters.

Baghdadi's fighters now control the city of Raqqa - Syria's only provincial capital completely beyond Assad's control - and have imposed strict Islamic law.

In neighbouring Deir al-Zor province ISIS has waged a six-week offensive against rival rebels in which 600 fighters have been killed, seizing oilfields and towns on the northeast bank of the Euphrates, 60 miles (100 km) from the Iraqi border.

There is also video evidence of ISIS in the Syrian town of Azaz, with territory they controlled marked by graffiti on the walls and a flying flag.

Video also appeared on a social media website in January purported to show the northern Syrian town of Manbij after it was captured from rival insurgents by fighters from ISIS.

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Nato Leaders To Unveil Tough Russia Sanctions

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

Tough new measures designed to halt Russian aggression in Ukraine are due to be unveiled by leaders at the Nato summit in Wales, amid fresh clashes in the ongoing conflict.

The United States and European Union will announce a new round of co-ordinated economic sanctions against Russia, US and British government sources have reported.

As talks continue in an effort to achieve a ceasefire, measures imposed on Moscow will include constraints on some of the country's all-important energy firms and travel restrictions.

But it comes amid reports of further fighting to the east of the port of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, hours before Ukrainian, Russian and European envoys are expected to back a peace plan and a ceasefire.

Mayor of Mariupol, Yuri Khotlubey, told Ukraine's 112 TV channel: "Our artillery has come and is being deployed against the (pro-Russian) rebels."

Ukrainian special forces sit on an armoured vehicle near Kramatorsk

Leaders at the summit in Newport have continued talks after watching a fly-past by British fighter jets and the Red Arrows aerobatic team.

But Sky News' Kate Stallard, who is on eastern city limits of Mariupol, said "deep, loud explosions" continued to be heard.

"That show of strength from Nato over South Wales does nothing whatsoever to reassure people here, who are watching shells landing, now about five kilometers east of their city," she said.

"You have to understand how terrifying this is for people who are living in this city. I don't think they will have any faith whatsoever in any of the political sentiment that's being expressed by European leaders today.

"We are hearing heavy shelling, which sounds like it's closer to the city now.

Nato says thousands of Russian troops are in Ukraine

"We can also see smoke rising to the north of the city and there are reports of further shelling to the north and to the west. It would seem that there is something of a push from at least two directions on to the city.

"This is happening several hours ahead of what would be a ceasefire, which in itself may be why this is happening. It's not unusual to see a concerted push in the run up to a ceasefire as both sides try to consolidate their ground."

A commander of a Ukrainian volunteer militia based in Mariupol told Reuters news agency: "We were under fire all night but we are still keeping the rebels at bay. They are facing us with tanks and artillery."

Meanwhile, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said around 2,000 Russian servicemen had been killed so far in the conflict, citing intelligence data.

Western leaders accuse Russia of sending thousands of troops into the east of the country.

But Britain's Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, told Sky News: "We are clear that there cannot be a military solution to the conflict in Ukraine.

"There had to be a political solution. Russia has to honour its international obligations, end this armed intervention ... go back across its borders, stopping supplying the separatists, stop firing rockets and missiles and artillery shells into the Ukraine and then enter into a proper dialogue with (Ukrainian) President Poroshenko about how the two countries are going to live in peace."

He said sanctions were an "effective tool" to use against Russia.

Nato wants Iraq to request military training support

"If Russia ends up in an economic war with the West, it will lose," he said.

Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has warned that Russia's incursion poses the most serious security threat to Europe since the Cold War, although Moscow has consistently denied direct military involvement.

Nato is also expected to finalise plans for a Rapid Reaction Force that can deploy to Eastern Europe on 48 hours notice.

This will include pre-positioning logistic and planning support in Baltic countries, and the provision vital equipment.

Nato insists this does not breach a 1997 agreement not to create permanent bases near the Russian border.

The announcements will come a day after British Prime Minister David Cameron, US President Barack Obama and other senior Nato leaders met Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Mr Poroshenko announced plans to order a ceasefire, provided a peace plan is agreed during separate talks in Minsk, attended by representatives from Ukraine, Russia and pro-Russian rebel forces. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also expressed hopes a truce will come into force later, two days after he unveiled his own seven-point peace plan.

Alongside Ukraine, Nato leaders are also using the final day of the summit to discuss the threat posed by Islamic State extremists in Iraq and Syria.

Mr Obama is trying to bring together a coalition of nations and it is becoming increasingly likely the UK will authorise airstrikes against IS in northern Iraq.

But for any operation to be effective, it needs the support and involvement of countries in the region.

Nato is encouraging Iraq to request training support for its military although it will not go further and involve itself in a combat mission.

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Calais Migrants Caught On Video Rushing Ferry

The mayor of Calais has threatened to shut the port after 100 migrants tried to storm their way onto a ferry to Britain.

Police and port security were overwhelmed as the group forced open a gate and climbed over security fences before running towards the docks.

Ramps to the ferries had to be raised to prevent the men boarding the ships as a larger group of 150 migrants gathered outside the dock entrance.

The men were chased through the port by police and security

Video showed the group being chased through the port by police as lorry drivers looked on.

Ferry companies declared the port invasion a "huge intrusion" and ferry company P&O, who had a ferry at the quayside at the time, confirmed it closed all its ship's doors.

Lorry driver Mark Salt, who shot the video, said: "I checked into P&O for the crossing heard a lot of other truckers banging their horns by the border agency check point.

Ferry companies raised their ramps to prevent the men boarding the ships

"Then about 80-100 immigrants came into view heading straight for the ramps where a ship was about to dock. P&O staff, port workers and border agency security attempted to coral these guys away from the ramps."

The ship's crew reportedly turned their fire hoses on the men to prevent them boarding the ship. The ferry was delayed for about 45 minutes while it was searched by police and the crew.

British truckers who use the port say they are subject to regular attacks from migrants desperate to make their way to Britain.

Ferry companies using the port declared the invasion a 'huge intrusion'

Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart said she could block the port after meeting French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve.

"It would be illegal," Ms Bouchart admitted, "but today I want to make a strong gesture towards the British.

"The aim is to shut all the squats in Calais to control the influx so there are fewer migrants arriving in the town."

Ms Bouchart has criticised the British government for demanding security be increased at the port in Calais, but not offering a sufficient contribution towards the 10 million euro (£8m) annual cost.

Around 1,200 migrants live in makeshift camps in the town and make regular attempts to cross the channel by hiding in lorries bound for Britain.

Police attempts to clear the camps have led to violent confrontations with the men who mostly come from East African countries such as Somalia and Eritrea.

Ms Bouchart and Mr Cazeneuve have discussed opening a day centre for immigrants in the town and a night shelter for the women and children.

A Red Cross centre in nearby Sangatte was opened for migrants in 1999 but was closed in 2002 after it became overcrowded.

:: Did you see the attempt to board the ferry? Email news@sky.com

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PM: UK Will Not Pay For British IS Hostage

Nato Plans 'Spearhead' Force To Face Russia

Updated: 12:53pm UK, Tuesday 02 September 2014

Nato is set to create a high-readiness force and stockpile military equipment in Eastern Europe as a bulwark against potential Russian aggression, the alliance's chief has said.

Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the proposed new force could be comprised of several thousand troops contributed to on a rotating basis by the 28 Nato countries.

Backed by air and naval assets, he said the unit would be a spearhead that could be deployed at very short notice to help Nato members defend themselves against any threat, including from Russia.

Nato leaders are to consider the plans at a summit this week in Wales that is likely to be dominated by how the US-led alliance should respond to the Russian-backed separatist uprising in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine is not a member of Nato, but its UK ambassador told Sky News he backed the move and appealed for Ukraine's allies to step up sanctions and provide military help now.

Andrii Kuzmenko said: "What is important for Ukraine is to provide the means for our defence ... including armaments."

The move could provoke Russia, whose foreign minister warned on Monday that Ukrainian forces must pull back from areas where they can harm civilians.

Sergei Lavrov spoke amid reports that Ukrainian forces had been ordered to pull back from Luhansk airport in the face of an onslaught from Russian tanks - the latest claim of direct Russian involvement in the fighting.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Valeriy Geletey said Russian units were moving into other towns in the region, including the largest city of the Donetsk region.

"The information that Russian troops are there has been confirmed," he said.

"We are fighting Russia and it is Russia which is deciding what will happen in Donbass," he told Ukraine's Inter channel, referring to the informal name of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

Mr Lavrov again denied that Russian troops were in Ukraine and said he hoped talks taking place in the Belarussian capital Minsk would focus on agreeing an immediate, unconditional ceasefire.

Speaking in the east Siberian city of Yakutsk on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Europe of ignoring the Ukrainian army "directly targeting its fire on residential areas".

He said he hoped "common sense will prevail" and that Russia and the West would not harm each other with further sanctions.

Speaking in the House of Commons, David Cameron said Russia appeared to be trying to force Ukraine "to give up its democratic choices at the barrel of a gun".

The PM said the presence of Russian soldiers on Ukrainian soil was "completely unjustified and unacceptable".

A rights group that works to expose Russian army abuses claims up to 15,000 soldiers have been sent to Ukraine by Moscow in the last two months, and several hundred may have died in combat.

Valentina Melnikova, head of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, a prominent organisation representing the families of military servicemen, said that some 7,000-8,000 Russian troops are believed to be in Ukraine at present.

"Military commanders are conducting a secret special operation," said Ms Melnikova, who is a member of the defence ministry's public council.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian military spokesman said a rescue operation was continuing for two seamen missing in the Azov Sea after pro-Russian separatists attacked a Ukrainian navy vessel for the first time.

Eight other seamen survived the attack and were being treated for wounds and burns after the vessel was hit by artillery from the shore.

Separatists in the region claimed responsibility for the attack on social media.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the events of the past few days showed Russia had launched a "direct and open aggression" against Ukraine.

Leading American senators have called for the US to send weapons to help Ukraine defend itself against what they called a "Russian invasion".

Democrat Robert Mendez, who runs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN: "We should provide the Ukrainians with the type of defensive weapons that will impose a cost upon Putin for further aggression."

The call was echoed by former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who told CBS's Face The Nation that Mr Putin was "an old KGB colonel that wants to restore the Russian empire".

Earlier, the European Union gave Russia a week to scale back its intervention in Ukraine, warning of further sanctions.

China opposes additional sanctions against Russia and has urged world leaders to find a political solution to the crisis.

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Woman Found In Field Had Multiple Stab Wounds

Hampshire police have identified the body of a woman found in a field near Brockenhurst as Penelope Ann Davis.

The 47-year-old, from Blackfield, was discovered at 4.42pm on Tuesday by her husband. She was tending to her horse prior to her death.

Mrs Davis, known as Pennie, was a mother, police confirmed.

Detective Superintendent Paul Barton said: "We carried out an autopsy yesterday at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital. I can reveal that the cause of death was multiple stab wounds.

"This is therefore a murder inquiry."

More follows...

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Captured IS Suicide Bomber Reveals Threat

By Stuart Ramsay, Chief Correspondent

A wing of Sulaymaniah's military hospital has been sealed off and 24-hour security has been posted at the door of a ward.

Inside lies an injured young man; a very special patient and prisoner.

He is 23-year-old Horr Jaffer, from Chechnya, and he is an Islamic State (IS) suicide bomber.

His capture has been a secret until now.

Sky News is the first to get access to this man who was caught in the southern Kurdish town of Jalula after his bomb part exploded.

He had been attempting to destroy a Kurd checkpoint by driving a bomb-laden car into their midst.

The 23-year-old militant killed four people in his bomb attack

Four people died and many others were injured, but he was captured attempting to escape.

Under questioning he admits that he joined IS in Syria after his father, mother and six family members were killed there.

He says they had moved from Chechnya to Pakistan before going to Syria.

The Kurds believe his father and brothers were to all intents and purposes professional jihadists; moving to countries where they could ply their trade. That trade is killing people.

"I want to be a martyr. I decided after they killed my family," he says in barely audible Russian.

"They didn't tell me anything about what I was doing or where I was. I just had to press the button."

The killer claims that Syria is filling with foreign fighters; a constant stream from all over the world.

"There are nations from all over the world there. There is British amongst them. They are from Asian countries, Europe and America. From everywhere," he told me.

He says that they used to talk together and mix together but didn't understand a lot of what was said.

Spending an hour with him it was striking how little he knew about what IS is doing across swathes of Syria. He denied any knowledge of the creation of a caliphate by IS for example.

He struck me as a rather stupid boy, upset by the loss of his family and totally open to indoctrination by his IS handlers.

He was just the guy prepared to die and kill others with him and it seems there are lots like him.

When asked if he regretted what had happened he broke down.

Britain is growing increasingly concerned about the threat from IS

Arching his back in pain and misery, saying he just wanted to live a normal life that he did not mean to do what he did.

It is hard not to be moved by his anguish. Hard but not impossible. He is a killer.

Like many western governments and security services, Britain is growing increasingly concerned about both IS and the numbers of young men being radicalised and coming to Syria and Iraq.

Out here the Kurds say they are right to be concerned.

"It is almost like super-terrorism and this is the frontline," Bafle Talabani, the British-born founder of the Kurds' elite Counter Terrorism Group, told me in the grounds of his father's house, which happens to be the Presidential Palace.

"It is more aggressive, more merciless more brutal. This is the front of the war on terror," he says.

"If we don't stop this here they will come for the West, for England, for Europe or the United States. They need to be stopped."

Bafle Talabani says IS represents a super-terrorism and needs to be stopped

IS, he believes, is the most dangerous single entity in the world today.

He is urging western governments to allow the Kurds to buy their own weapons or supply them.

"The special forces have good equipment. The peshmergas' weapons go back to the Iran-Iraq war. They are fighting against good weapons and a well-organised outfit with lots of money," he says.

With so many willing jihadists available IS is unlikely to miss this single bomber.

When he is treated and well, he will go to prison and rot there for the rest of his life.

He will be denied martyrdom. The Kurds want the foreign fighters to know that.

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Ashya's Parents 'Begged' To See Sick Son

Ashya King's parents have arrived at court for an extradition hearing for taking him from hospital without medical consent.

Brett King, 51, and his wife Naghmeh, 45, from Portsmouth, were transported from Velez-Malaga to Madrid on Monday morning to face the extradition hearing.

They were arrested in Spain on Saturday after taking their five-year-old son, who has a brain tumour, out of Southampton General Hospital to seek specialist cancer treatment abroad.

Ashya's grandmother Patricia King called on authorities to step in and stop the hearing.

Ashya King, pictured with father Brett, needs treatment for a brain tumour

She told Sky News: "They've treated them like murderers, putting handcuffs on them and everything. There's no human rights for our family at all, it's disgusting.

"They should be held up for cruelty to a five-year-old boy who's dying of a brain tumour.

"He's there in the hospital, he doesn't know anybody, there's police guarding him, he can't speak, he doesn't understand Spanish.

"My daughter-in-law and my son have begged to see him but they've been refused.

"What we want is somebody in authority to stop this going any further."

She said that Ashya's only hope was to be allowed to get treatment abroad, adding "he will die in hospital because they can't give him any more treatment".

Ashya's brother Naveed, 20, has posted a video blog claiming the family had stocked up on the food and syringes that the boy needed ahead of their journey and had bought him a brand new wheelchair costing up to £1,600.

He said his brother was "obviously happy, he wasn't in any way in any danger and he was not neglected at all".

Brother Naveed King has defended his family's actions

Since the Kings' arrest, Ashya's siblings are not thought to have been able to visit him in hospital.

Patricia King earlier said her son was selling his holiday home in Spain to pay for proton beam therapy, which costs an average of £100,000 per person.

Sky News sources said British police have arrived in Spain to question Ashya's parents.

Dr Jiri Kubes, a proton therapist in Prague, said cancer clinics in the Czech Republic could treat Ashya "within a few days" if they received a request from his doctors in the UK.

Brett and Naghmeh King arrived at a court in Madrid on Monday

He told Sky News: "The main benefit of this [proton beam] is a reduction in the dose of radiation to the organs and abdominal and chest cavities, and also brain tissues in some cases.

"If we received a request from his paediatric oncologist, we can arrange everything within a few days."

Janice Atkinson, UKIP South East MEP, said: "This little boy needs his mother at this time. He is five years old, probably doesn't speak Spanish, and will be lying in a hospital bed in distress.

"I call on the Home Secretary to contact the Spanish authorities so that Ashya's parents are released immediately. Then she should ask the assistant chief constable of Hampshire why he 'made no apology for the police being proactive' to find Ashya."

A spokesman for David Cameron said: "I think people up and down the country will understand and be moved by the grave illness from which Ashya is suffering.

"First and foremost, the priority must be that he receives the very best and most appropriate medical care.

"Of course, I am sure that every parent wants to do the best for their child. That is probably the most human of human instincts."

On Sunday, Hampshire Constabulary Assistant Chief Constable Chris Shead defended the force's actions in pursuing the family.

The little boy, who had surgery for a brain tumour last week, is thought to be in a stable condition at the Materno-Infantil hospital in Malaga.

His six brothers and sisters are also thought to still be in the city.

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Charles Bronson Jailed For Attack On Governor

Charles Bronson's Art Sale For Mum's Holiday

Updated: 5:19pm UK, Tuesday 03 June 2014

Charles Bronson, one of Britain's most notorious criminals, is selling some of his artworks to pay for a holiday for his mother.

The works belonged to Ronnie Kray, who died in 1995, and are among 150 lots being sold from the infamous East End gangster's estate on behalf of his second wife, Kate.

Bronson asked Mrs Kray if she would agree to sell eight of his artworks so that the sale could pay for his mother to go away after she became upset by his recent attack on prison guards, according to JP Humbert Auctioneers.

The reported attack on 12 guards at HM Prison Woodhill in Milton Keynes reportedly took place last month after Spurs fan Bronson went on the rampage after arch-rivals Arsenal won the FA Cup. 

The prisoner was smeared with butter at the time.

"Charles Bronson recently had a 'rumble' with 12 prison guards. In a letter to Kate Kray, he states remorse at upsetting his mother and accordingly, asked if some of his artwork could be included in the sale so as to generate funds to send his mother on holiday," said auctioneer Jonathan Humbert.

"The intimate and personal nature of these never-before seen Kray items and Bronson paintings show a real human side to these larger than life personalities and, though they are bound to polarise opinions, the lots, much like the individuals, are far from dull."

Bronson, 61, whose real name is Michael Peterson, is currently serving a life term at Woodhill, having earned public notoriety with a history of violence both inside and outside jail.

Ronnie Kray and twin brother Reggie - together with older brother Charlie - ran organised crime rackets in London's East End and were both jailed for life in 1969 for the murders of fellow gangsters George Cornell and Jack "The Hat" McVitie.

The sale, to be held in on June 17 in Towcester, includes personal items from Ronnie Kray's Broadmoor cell, including his reading glasses, a miniature birdcage clock, watches, a crucifix, numerous letters and other "personal mementos".

"This is a very important and eclectic sale of British social history," said Mr Humbert.

"The Krays were hardened criminals, without a doubt but they were also, in the public perception, nice to old ladies and children and were always immaculately turned out.

"Whilst we in no way seek to glorify their crimes, they certainly had style and that is what people remember."

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Ashya's Parents Face Extradition To The UK

The parents of Ashya King, who was taken out of hospital against medical advice, face being extradited to the UK after being arrested in Spain.

Police say officers in the Malaga area pulled over the family's car at 9pm UK time on Saturday and found the five-year-old and his parents inside after a tip-off from a staff member at the hotel in which they were staying.

The boy from Portsmouth, who underwent "extensive surgery" during an operation on his brain tumour seven days ago at Southampton General Hospital, was taken to a hospital in the local area and has since been moved from a high to a lower dependency unit which Hampshire Police described as "good news".

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Shead, of Hampshire Constabulary, said his parents, Brett King, 51, and Naghemeh King, 45, were in custody after being arrested on a European arrest warrant.

In response to criticism about the force's actions, he said: "Faced with the situation that we were, we had medical experts telling us Ashya was in grave danger... if he didn't get the care that he needed there was a potential threat to his life.

An international search was launched after Ashya was taken on Thursday

"So I make no apologies for being as proactive in this investigation as we have been.

"There are no winners in this situation. I've said all along that this must be a terribly distressing time for Ashya's family and I stand by that now."

He added that it was too soon to say when Ashya would come back to the UK, but said Southampton General Hospital had been contacted and was liaising with doctors taking care of him in Spain.

Ashya's brothers and sisters were not in the vehicle, and found in a hotel about 10 miles away.

Mr Shead said a team of Hampshire police officers would be arriving in Spain later to continue the investigation, as proceedings to extradite Mr and Mrs King to the UK get under way.

French media had picked up the story after Ashya was taken from hospital

The arrests came as footage emerged on video-sharing website YouTube in which Ashya's father, a Jehovah's Witness, insisted they had taken him from hospital to seek a cancer treatment not available on the NHS.

"We were much disturbed today to find that his face is all over the internet and newspapers and we've been labelled as kidnappers, putting his life at risk, neglect," he said.

"As you can see, there's nothing wrong with him. He's very happy actually, since we took him out of hospital. He's been smiling a lot more, he's been very much interacting with us.

"But I just wanted to say very quickly why we took him out of the hospital.

Ashya is now being cared for in a Spanish hospital

"The surgeon did a wonderful job on his head that took out the brain tumour, completely they reckon. But straight away afterwards he went into what's called posterior fossa syndrome, which means very limited moving or talking or doing anything."

He said he had spoken to specialists after Ashya's surgery and had requested proton beam treatment, which was not available on the NHS.

"Proton beam is so much better for children with brain cancer," he said.

"We pleaded with them for proton beam treatment. They looked at me straight in the face and said with his cancer - which is called medulloblastoma - it would have no benefit whatsoever.

"I went straight back to my room and looked it up and the American sites and French sites and Switzerland sites where they have proton beam said the opposite, it would be very beneficial for him."

Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions on religious grounds but are open to other medical procedures.

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Muslim Leaders Issue Fatwa Against IS Britons

Muslim leaders have reportedly issued a fatwa condemning Britons who fight for extremists in Iraq and Syria.

The fatwa, which The Sunday Times newspaper said had been issued by imams, is the strongest denunciation yet by the Muslim community of UK citizens who join militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, formerly known as ISIL and ISIS.

It comes as former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown accused Conservative ministers of "kneejerk" responses to the terrorism threat from extremists - and the US carried out airstrikes against IS fighters near Amerli in northern Iraq.

Air drops were also made to civilians in the area, including two by British Hercules aircraft, as the Iraqi army evacuated people from the besieged town as Iraqi and Kurdish forces closed in on IS fighters.

A number of Britons are known to have joined Islamic State militants

The UK Government has raised the terror threat to Britain from "substantial" to "severe", although Home Secretary Theresa May said there was no evidence to suggest an attack was "imminent".

Issued by a learned Muslim scholar, a fatwa is an edict that may concern any aspect of Islamic life.

Technically it cannot be revoked and dies only with the person it is imposed on.

The Sunday Times reported six senior Islamic scholars have endorsed the fatwa, describing Britons allied to Islamic State cells as "heretics".

According to the newspaper, the fatwa says Muslims have a "moral obligation" to help those in war-torn Syria and Iraq, but that they should do so "without betraying their own societies".

Lord Ashdown said the terror threat should be countered 'without panic'

The term fatwa rose to prominence in the West in 1989 after the author Salman Rushdie was forced into hiding after having a "death fatwa" issued against him.

It was imposed by Ayatollah Khomeni, then Supreme Leader of Iran, who said Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses, had "insulted" Islam.

Meanwhile, Lord Ashdown has argued in an article for The Observer that the current terror threat to the UK is one "one we have faced before and one we know how to deal with - effectively, without panic and without a whole new range of executive powers which could endanger our liberties".

"Indeed, when it comes to facing threats, it was surely far more difficult to cope with IRA terrorists slipping across the Irish Sea than it is to stop jihadis returning from Iraq," he wrote.

He said Prime Minister David Cameron had initially seemed to be keen to avoid a rushed response.

But he argued Tory ministers had recently "indulged in a spasm of kneejerking which would have made even St Vitus feel concerned".

"And Labour, frightened as always when it comes to liberty and security, capitulates to the demand."

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Ashya's Parents Wanted Proton Beam Treatment

The parents of Ashya King have said they removed him from a Southampton hospital because they were unable to get a specialist treatment on the NHS.

In a YouTube video, Brett King said they were hoping to get to the Czech Republic to seek specialist medical care for their five-year-old son.

They were trying to get access to proton beam radiotherapy, which is currently only available to treat eye conditions on the NHS in the UK.

The treatment is already being used by European countries and in the US for a range of cancers in adults and children.

Ashya's parents were arrested on Saturday near Marbella, Spain

It differs from X-ray methods by focusing proton beams more precisely at cancer cells, with doses aimed directly at the tumour.

It spares the healthy tissue and organs behind it.

Speaking in the video, Mr King said: "Proton beam is so much better for children with brain cancer.

"It zones in on the area, whereby normal radiation passes through his head and comes out the other side and destroys everything in his head.

His family want him to receive proton beam treatment in the Czech Republic

"We pleaded with them (in Southampton) for proton beam treatment. They looked at me straight in the face and said with his cancer - which is called medulloblastoma - it would have no benefit whatsoever.

"I went straight back to my room and looked it up and the American sites and French sites and Switzerland sites where they have proton beam said the opposite, it would be very beneficial for him."

Ros Barnes, whose son Alex went to the US after he was unable to get beam therapy in the UK for his brain tumour, said she would do the same thing as Ashya's family.

She told Sky News: "We were told the same thing, that Alex's tumour wasn't suitable for proton therapy by the NHS here in this country.

Ashya is now in a children's hospital

"The alternative here was radiotherapy, and he was only four years old at the time it would have caused extreme brain damage and probably wouldn't have worked either. So yes, I would have done the same as this family.

"They wanted us to have the operation here and for him to have radiotherapy, but he would have been blind, brain damaged and in a wheelchair, if he survived, and his prognosis was terrible.

"It was so difficult to go against the doctors here because they were all saying the same thing, 'oh you know they're only after your money, it hasn't been tried and tested'."

Professor Justin Stebbing, consultant oncologist at Imperial College in London, told Sky News: "The conventional wisdom is that these heavier particles are more precise, you can get more energy into a very specific area.

"The problem is that we don't yet have the trials to support that, so in America at the moment where there are many more proton beam machines than in the UK and in Europe they are now performing those trials to see if protons actually prolong survival."

A Department of Health spokesperson said: "Decisions on treatment for individual patients are made by doctors who are best placed to know what their patient needs.

"We are investing £250m in new proton beam therapy facilities, in Manchester and in London, and more people are being funded to go overseas until facilities are available in the UK."

Ashya's parents were held in custody after the family's car was pulled over by police in Malaga at 9pm UK time on Saturday.

The little boy, who underwent "extensive surgery" during an operation on his brain tumour seven days ago, was taken to a hospital.

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