Foley: Secret US Raid Failed To Free Journalist

US special forces were sent to Syria this summer in an attempt to rescue US hostages, including journalist James Foley, but the secret raid failed.

Administration officials said the team found, after a fight with Islamist militants, that the hostages had already been moved.

News of the raid followed the release of a gruesome propaganda video by Islamic State (IS) militants that showed Mr Foley being beheaded.

The US meanwhile launched a new barrage of airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq on Wednesday, despite the militants' threats to execute another hostage.

The recent rescue mission was authorised after intelligence agencies believed they had identified the location inside Syria where the hostages were being held.

Militants have also threatened to kill Steven Sotloff

Officials had also become convinced that "these hostages were in danger with each passing day", Lisa Monaco, Mr Obama's senior counterterrorism adviser, said in a statement.

"The US government had what we believed was sufficient intelligence, and when the opportunity presented itself, the President authorised the Department of Defense to move aggressively to recover our citizens," Ms Monaco said.

"Unfortunately, that mission was ultimately not successful because the hostages were not present."

Several dozen special operations forces were dropped by aircraft into Syria and engaged in a fight with members of the Sunni militant group.

As they fought their way toward the spot where the hostages were believed to be kept, the US forces realised there were no captives to rescue.

Several militants were killed in the gunfight, administration officials said. No Americans died but an aircraft came under fire and one American sustained a minor injury.

The New York Times said the raid targeted an oil refinery in northern Syria and was carried out by two dozen Delta Force commandos.

The newspaper quoted a Defense Department official as saying missing the hostages may have been "a matter of hours, perhaps a day or two".

James Foley disappeared in Syria in November 2012. Pic: Nicole Tung

News of the beheading of Mr Foley, a 40-year-old American, shocked the public opinion. President Barack Obama and officials around the Western world have expressed revulsion.

The disclosure of the rescue mission marks the first time the US has acknowledged that American military personnel have been on the ground in Syria since a civil war there broke out more than three years ago.

Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said the administration never intended to disclose the mission but was forced to do so because a number of media outlets were preparing to report on it.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said: "As we have said repeatedly, the United States government is committed to the safety and well-being of its citizens, particularly those suffering in captivity.

"In this case, we put the best of the United States military in harm's way to try and bring our citizens home."

IS, an offshoot of al Qaeda that operates in Syria and Iraq, has warned that another captured American, Steven Sotloff, would also be killed unless the US called off airstrikes in Iraq.

But the US has conducted 14 fresh airstrikes, bringing to 84 the number of such attacks since they began on August 8.

James Foley's younger brother Michael has criticised the US government, saying he thought it could have done more to save Mr Foley.

He said that, as a result, it needed to do more to free Mr Sotloff.

The US officials have not specified how many Americans are believed to be held captive.

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Gaza Airstrike Kills Senior Hamas Commanders

Three senior Hamas military commanders have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian group said.

It has named the men as Mohammed Abu Shammala, Raed al Attar and Mohammed Barhoum, saying they died along with three other people overnight.

The commanders were all killed in the bombing of a house in the southern town of Rafah, one of 20 airstrikes the Israeli military said it carried out after midnight local time on Wednesday.

Israel's security agency Shin Bet confirmed the deaths of Mr Shamaleh and Mr al Attar in an email to Associated Press, but made no mention of Mr Barhoum.

Raed al Attar (left) and Mohammed Abu Shammala pictured in 1999

Palestinian health official Ashraf al Kidra said "dozens" of people were still missing, believed to be trapped in the rubble of the four-storey building hit in the Rafah airstrike.

Emergency services spokesman said four Palestinians attending a funeral in northern Gaza City were also killed when an airstrike hit a graveyard in northern Gaza City.

The Hamas deaths came after Israel apparently unsuccessfully targeted Hamas's top military commander, Mohammed Deif, on Tuesday. Instead, his wife and seven-month-old son were killed.

Palestinian officials say more than 2,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since Israel began its latest offensive in response to rocket attacks from Gaza.

The aftermath of the airstrike that failed to kill Mohammed Deif

Israel says hundreds of the dead were Palestinian militants. Sixty-four Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel have been killed.

Egyptian-mediated talks to end the weeks of fierce fighting in Gaza collapsed on Tuesday when violence broke out after 10 days of relative calm.

Israel said the latest airstrikes were in response to a resumption of Hamas rocket fire on Tuesday - adding that only one rocket launch had been registered since midnight, compared to more than 210 over the previous 30 hours.

In a TV address on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed little willingness to return to the negotiating table with Hamas.

Smoke billows from Gaza following an airstrike

"We are determined to continue the campaign with all means and as is needed," he said.

"We will not stop until we guarantee full security and quiet for the residents of the south and all citizens of Israel."

 

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'McDonald's Cult Murder': Five In Court

Five people have gone on trial, accused of beating a woman to death in a McDonald's restaurant for refusing to join a Chinese cult.

The five allegedly stamped on and beat the woman to death on May 28 after she refused to hand over her number during a recruitment drive.

Reports at the time suggested the murder, in Zhaoyuan city, had been filmed on CCTV and mobiles phones.

One of the suspects, a woman, is held down in the restaurant

Zhang Fan, Zhang Lidong, Lu Yingchun, Zhang Hang and Zhang Qiao appeared at Yantai Intermediate People's Court in Shandong province charged with murder.

Zhang Lidong, Zhang Fan and Lu were also accused of "using an evil cult organisation to undermine the law".

The five were allegedly trying to recruit new members for their group known as Quannengshen - or "All-powerful Spirit".

An online video emerged at the time of the killing showing a man resembling Zhang striking out angrily with a pole.

He can be seen shouting, "Damn you, devil! Go to hell!", as a woman yells, "Kill her! Beat her to death!"

Zhang was also paraded on state television "admitting" the crime.

"She was a demon," he said in an interview with China Central Television.

The TV channel has screened a string of "confessions" in recent months, mainly from those who have riled authorities.

"We are not afraid of the law, we trust in God," Zhang added.

Quannengshen claims Jesus has been resurrected as a Chinese woman. It is one of 14 cults that China has listed as illegal.

Following the death, authorities announced the round-up of hundreds of alleged cult members.

China has struggled at times to control grassroots religious movements based on Christian or Buddhist ideology.

The most notable case was the Falun Gong movement that attracted millions of adherents before being brutally repressed in 1999.

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Ukraine 'Captures Russian Armoured Vehicles'

Ukrainian forces have seized two Russian armoured vehicles from an elite army paratrooper unit fighting in the east of the country, officials said.

The claim came as Ukrainian border guards began checks on a Russian aid convoy carrying humanitarian relief for eastern cities where residents have run short on supplies during ongoing battles between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

Security spokesman Andriy Lysenko told a news briefing: "Ukrainian soldiers captured two armoured vehicles of Russia's Pskov Airbourne division in a battle near Luhansk.

"One of the vehicles had a full set of documents, from driver's licences to military documents," he said, adding that the vehicles had been abandoned by their drivers.

Red Cross vehicles cross the border from Russia to Ukraine

Ukrainian journalist Roman Bochkala, who is with the Ukraine army in the Luhansk region, published pictures on his Facebook page claiming to show a vehicle with its plates scratched out and various items apparently found inside, including a Russian passport.

A social networking page of a 20-year-old Russian with the same name and date of birth as that on the passport shows him posing in a typical Russian paratrooper uniform. The page was last updated in July.

Russia immediately rejected allegations that it had sent vehicles into Ukraine.

"Among the daily 'exposure' of Russian presence in Ukraine this is the 1001st such piece of 'evidence'," military spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian state agency Itar-Tass.

Ukraine has accused Russian forces to supporting separatists

He said that Ukraine's army has the same equipment and the documents allegedly found inside had been stolen.

Kiev has repeatedly accused Russia of sending weapons and soldiers into eastern Ukraine to aid the rebels as it mounts an offensive to surround Donetsk and Luhansk and cut off the area from the Russian border.

Nato has said Russia is engaging in "hybrid warfare" and sending "secret commandos" across the border using the 76th Chernigov airborne assault division based in Pskov, a city in western Russia close to the borders with Estonia and Latvia.

The aid convoy is expected to head to Luhansk once it is allowed to pass across the border, but its 200 trucks are expected to be thoroughly searched as Ukraine has suggested it could be a "Trojan horse" to to supply the separatists. 

"The processing of Russian humanitarian aid has begun," senior border service official Sergiy Astakhov said.

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Apple Ordered To Pull Secret App From Store

A court in Brazil has ordered Apple to pay a fine of almost $9,000 (£5,400) per day if it does not remove a controversial app from its store.

Secret was designed to anonymously share gossip between friends, but it has also been abused by people posting libellous and bullying claims.

Now Judge Paulo Cesar de Carvalho of the Fifth Civil Court of Victoria has given Apple 10 days to comply with an order to remove the app from its digital store in the country.

If it fails to act, the company will be fined 20,000 Reals every day, according to Brazil news outlet Estadao.

Apple has also been asked to remove the app from individual devices.

Both requests are feasible – it is relatively simple to remove an app from the store, and it is technically possible to block software installed on iPhones and iPads, although it is usually used as a last resort.

The same court has also ordered Microsoft to pull Cryptic – which is the equivalent Windows Phone app.

Brazil's constitution outlaws anonymous attacks where the subject of the claims cannot defend themselves.

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Iceland Volcano: Mini-Quakes Revealed In Video

Geologists have released a computer-generated video showing a swarm of mini-earthquakes threatening to trigger a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

The images emerged after Iceland's authorities evacuated an area close to the country's Bardarbunga volcano over fears it could erupt.

An update issued by the Icelandic Met Office on Thursday revealed that earthquakes beneath Bardarbunga continued overnight, with magnitudes up to 3.8. 

The Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland Pic: Icelandic Met Office

Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in 2010, producing an ash cloud that severely disrupted air travel.

The video - by the Icelandic Met Office - shows a mass of seismic activity, stretching down to eight miles beneath the mountain range.

The dots show areas of seismic activity (pic: Icelandic Met Office)

The area - which is 190 miles from the capital Reykjavik - has no permanent residents but sits in a national park which is popular with tourists.

More than 3,000 small earthquakes have occurred since Saturday at Bardarbunga -  the country's largest volcano system.

Ash billows from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano In Iceland in 2010

Geologists said the magnitude of the earthquakes had been relatively small. Seismologists add that magma is moving horizontally, rather than vertically.

The country's aviation alert level for the risk of a possible eruption is currently at orange, the second-most severe level.

The risk level was raised on Monday after magma movements were detected around six miles from the surface.

The 2010 ash cloud shut down much of Europe's airspace for six days. More than 10 million people were affected.

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Video Shows Yazidis 'Converting To Islam'

An Islamic State video has emerged purporting to show dozens of captured Yazidi people converting to Islam.

The footage emerged shortly after the group released a video showing one of its black-clad fighters beheading American journalist James Foley.

The latest film, titled "Hundreds of Yazidis convert to Islam", gives no indication of the bloodshed that prompted tens of thousands of people to flee.

In the video, two Islamic State fighters field questions in Arabic. One of the fighters is a bearded middle-aged man dressed in black with an AK-47 assault rifle.

The men get off a bus and greet militants

The other is dressed in a crisp grey military uniform and camouflage cap.

"What has been said is the opposite of reality," the older man says.

He also says that Islamic State has provided the Yazidis with everything they need.

"Men, women and children have converted and I was with them and they are happy with their conversions," he says.

The video shows men asking questions to Islamic State fighters

He adds: "We advise the Yazidis to come down from the mountain and convert."

This is a reference to Mount Sinjar, where thousands who feared death at the hands of the militants took refuge.

"If they stay on the mountain, they will die of starvation and thirst. This talk about aid from Western and crusader countries is all lies.

"If they convert, we will give them everything they need. They will live a happy life."

Thousands of Yazidis have been displaced by the IS advance

The video then shows dozens of Yazidis getting off a bus, walking past a truck mounted with an anti-aircraft weapon and hugging Islamic State militants.

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

IS has been accused of killing hundreds of Yazidis since the militants moved into the area of northern Iraq where the community lives.

More than 400 men were reported to have died in the village of Kocho over two days and their families forced to move with IS militants to Tal Afar.

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Giant Crack Appears In Earth In Mexico

Video footage has emerged of a kilometre-long crack thought to have been triggered by an underground stream in northwest Mexico.

The eight-metre (26ft) deep trench opened up last week and severed Highway 26 between Hermosillo and the coast.

Captured by Hermosillo Desde El Cielo, the footage was shot by a drone flying along the length of the trench, which is up to five metres (16ft) across.

The crack is up to 8m deep in places. Pic: Hermosillo Desde El Cielo

Farm workers and vehicles have been forced to go around the area due to the unstable ground. Another crack was reported to have opened near Highway 4 in the same area.

Geological investigations are under way into the cause of the crack, according to El Imparcial newspaper.

The civil protection unit said the fissure could have been triggered by an earthquake last Sunday.

An earthquake last Sunday may have triggered the crack

The newspaper added that an investigation found that farmers in the area had built up a levee to contain rainwater which had begun to leak, causing an underground stream which undermined the earth above it until it collapsed.

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US Launches Criminal Probe Into Foley Killing

A criminal investigation has been launched into the beheading of American journalist James Foley, US Attorney General Eric Holder has said.

A video was released of the reporter being killed by a militant from the Islamic State (IS) in which the group says it is acting in retaliation for US airstrikes in Iraq.

Counter-terrorism police in the UK have already begun efforts to identify the black-clad man beheading the 40-year-old.

Although his face is covered, he speaks with an English accent.

People previously held hostage by IS have suggested he may be a jihadist known as "John" who was part of a group guarding captives in Syria. 

A former hostage, who was held for a year in the Syrian town of Raqqa, told The Guardian the killer was the ringleader of a trio of UK-born extremists the captives nicknamed "The Beatles" because of their nationality.

Mr Foley's killer is believed to be British

IS pressed the American government to provide a multi-million-dollar ransom for Mr Foley's release, according to The New York Times.

The US - unlike several European countries that have given millions to the terror group to spare their citizens - refused to pay, the paper said.

American airstrikes have continued against IS forces in northern Iraq, despite the group threatening to kill a second US captive if attacks go on.

US Navy fighters and drones provided air cover to Iraqi and Kurdish forces trying to retake and maintain control of Mosul Dam.

The US military has carried out 90 air strikes in Iraq since August 8, with 57 of them in support of Iraqi government forces near the dam.

The US has launched 57 airstrikes around Mosul Dam

Meanwhile, Interpol has called for a globally co-ordinated push to stop the tide of international fighters joining IS, also known as Isis.

It did not give any specific recommendations, but said it is particularly concerned that Mr Foley's killer may be British.

"(This highlights) the need for a multilateral response against the terror threat posed by radicalised transnational fighters travelling to conflict zones in the Middle East," said Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble.

More than 1,000 radicals from Europe have joined Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq, and Interpol has long warned of the threat such fighters pose.

European governments fear they could stage attacks when they get home and have introduced new anti-terrorism measures to try to catch them or stop them leaving in the first place.

Earlier, a US journalist and Muslim convert - who has experience of Western jihadi fighters in Syria - told Sky News the UK Government's approach to the issue is completely wrong.

Bilal says UK Government is 'totally clueless' in how to deal with IS

Bilal said: "Isis realises that by using a Western voice to push the narrative for them, it would get a coverage that they would not have gotten, had that been a Syrian voice or an Iraqi voice."

He added: "They operate very much like a gang-like mentality. There are some Brits that are there that wanted out ... but they don't have any place to go. Where are they going to go to exactly?

"The issue is that if they were to leave the ranks of Isis (are) they going to trade that for a UK jail cell?

"I think that the British government is totally clueless in terms of how to deal with this issue ... and despite the education that a lot of their leaders have, they appear as if they are totally perplexed."

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Ebola Doctor 'Thrilled' As He Leaves Hospital

Two US medical missionaries who were infected with ebola while working in the West African nation of Liberia have left hospital.

Dr Kent Brantly hugged the doctors who cared for him during a press conference, where it emerged that 59-year-old Nancy Writebol was discharged on Tuesday.

"Today is a miraculous day," Dr Kent Brantly, 33, told journalists at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.

"I'm thrilled to be alive, to be well and to be reunited with my family."

Dr Bruce Ribner, medical director of the hospital's infectious disease unit, said neither patient posed a public health threat.

Nancy Writebol left hospital still feeling weak, said her husband

"After a rigorous course of treatment and thorough testing," he told the news conference, "we've determined... that Dr Brantly has recovered from the ebola virus infection and that he can return to his family, his community and his life, without public health concerns."

Dr Ribner paid tribute to both patients' "spirit and strength".

Ms Writebol's husband said she left hospital, still feeling weak, to recuperate at an undisclosed location.

Emory University Hospital is home to one of four US biocontainment units

The patients were given a clean bill of health based on blood and urine samples and other infectious disease tests, hospital officials said. 

Franklin Graham, president of the Samaritan's Purse charity, earlier spoke of the aid group's relief at the recovery of its employee, Dr Brantly.

Both Americans were flown out of Liberia this month after contracting the disease.

They spent nearly three weeks in the Atlanta hospital's isolation unit.

Dr Brantly and Ms Writebol received an experimental treatment called Zmapp, though it is not clear whether the drug aided their recovery.

Dr Ribner said of Zmapp: "Frankly, we do not know whether it helped them, whether it made no difference or whether it theoretically delayed their recovery."

World Health Organization (WHO) officials visited two hospitals in Liberia on Thursday where authorities have sealed off entire neighbourhoods to try to stop the spread of the disease.

A nationwide curfew was brought in after clashes between protesters and security forces in the West Point area of Monrovia, which residents have been prevented from leaving.

The ebola outbreak has killed at least 1,350 people across Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria in western Africa.

It is only spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of those infected with the virus who are experiencing symptoms.

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