US Vows To 'Degrade And Destroy' Islamic State

Old Foes May Have To Unite To Stop IS Onslaught

Updated: 5:09pm UK, Wednesday 03 September 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

It sounds far-fetched. A utopian vision to crush the dystopia of a vast Islamic caliphate - long-standing foes united in the fight against Islamic State. But it may be the only answer.

Barack Obama has called for it. David Cameron agreed. Experts in Britain, from Lord Richards to Lord West to Baroness Neville Jones, have insisted it's essential - all of them in the space of a few hours and a day after IS militants threatened the life of a British hostage.

Seriously? It must be naive to think that, for example, Saudi Arabia and Iran could unite in the fight?

Iran allegedly has a nuclear weapons programme. Some Saudis have advocated attacking it before Tehran gets hold of The Bomb.

Iran is Shia. Saudi Arabia is Sunni - Iran is predominantly Persian, Saudi Arabia; Arab. They circle one another like snarling lions competing for influence in the region.

Qatar, tiny, hugely rich, punching above its weight, and close to the Muslim Brotherhood, has annoyed its Gulf neighbours in the United Arab Emirates because of this relationship with a movement that they consider terrorist.

It's not labelled that way in the West - but it does pose a threat to the Gulf monarchies.

The Turks, non-Arab Muslims with a long secular tradition, may not be welcome back in Mesopotamia with fighting forces. It ruled for more 500 years - not all of them remembered fondly.

Kurdish ambitions for a state linger after a peace deal with Turkey and extend into Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran.

With so many obvious magnetic repulsions, can the poles be easily switched? They can if the lessons of IS are properly learned.

These are that the IS, as the Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al Sheikh says, is the "number one enemy of Islam". This view is shared by the Shia Grand Ayatollah of Iraq, Ali al Sistani.

And that the future it holds up involves the obliteration of all interpretations of Islam and other religions.

Above all, though, the success of the IS must be understood to be its greatest danger to the outside world. Success has bred success. Recruitment to its ranks has soared as it rampaged across Iraq.

It is spreading like an oil fire and could sweep through Jordan, into Egypt (where the Sinai area already has an insurgency) then on into unstable Libya.

This is bad news for the West. It's downright catastrophic for the Arab Muslim world.

Saudi Arabia would be unlikely to survive the firestorm of an ideology that has its roots in the kingdom's own Wahabist ultra-conservative Islam, no matter how hard Jeddah has tried to mitigate the effects of al Qaeda on its population.

So the best option for the region's powers may be the once unthinkable - to put aside pointless ancient sectarian and tribal rivalries. Will they dare?

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Ukraine Troops In Call For Better Arms

By Yulia Bragina, Russia Producer, In Eastern Ukraine

On the highway between Donetsk and Mariupol in eastern Ukraine near the village of Volnovakha, there stood a military transporter with an old, self-propelled artillery gun and tired-looking men perched on it.

Having spent several hours trying to find the Ukrainian military, the Sky News team decided to pull over and speak to them.

They told us they got separated from the column when the engine of their transporter got overheated - again - as they were making their way from a mission near the town of Starobesheve.

Trench dug by Ukrainian soldiers outside Mariupol

The soldiers asked our team to tell the checkpoint on the outskirts of Mariupol that they had broken down because they had no other way of informing their commander.

"We are too close to the rebel-held territory here. If we don't get help quickly, we will not survive the night," said Artyom, 22.

The men told us they had earlier engaged with a Russian military convoy closer to the border.

A member of the Azov battalion stands guard at their base in Mariupol

"The APCs (armoured personnel carriers) that we were fighting against had a parachute painted in the front. That's a symbol of Russian paratroopers," said Artyom.

"They are not even hiding anymore. I have seen with my own eyes the Russian military convoy crossing from Russia into Ukraine on August 18, but no one believes us."

A few kilometres away we met another Ukrainian military vehicle on its way to the front line, and one of the officers agreed to talk to us anonymously.

Soldiers like Roman say there is a lack of basic equipment

Petro (not his real name) said he was 28, had a wife and three children and had been serving in the Ukrainian army for nine years.

He was angry with the policies of the government in Kiev which he regarded as too indecisive, and warned that if it continued the army would turn and march on the capital.

Petro criticised Western politicians for not supporting Ukraine with positive action. What they needed, he said, was modern equipment and arms, not words.

Roman shows off the sneakers supplied by a family member

"We have many patriots who want to defend their country, but people are just scared to fight with tanks and APCs that are 30 to 40 years old," he said.

His call was echoed by members of the volunteer Azov battalion on the outskirts of Mariupol like 27-year-old Roman.

Roman, a veteran of nine firefights, said the sneakers he was wearing had been sent to him by his brother who lives in Florida.

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Al Qaeda Launches New Militant Branch In Asia

India has ordered several states to be on increased alert after al Qaeda chief Ayman al Zawahiri launched a new branch of the militant Islamist group in Asia.

A video posted on jihadist forums features the 63-year-old saying the new force would "crush the artificial borders" dividing Muslim populations in the Indian subcontinent.

Al Qaeda is active in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where its surviving leadership is thought to be hiding, but Qedat al Jihad would operate in India, Bangladesh and Burma - also known as Myanmar.

Zawahiri said: "This entity was not established today, but is the fruit of a blessed effort of more than two years to gather the mujahedeen in the Indian subcontinent into a single entity."

He called on Muslims "to wage jihad against its enemies, to liberate its land, to restore its sovereignty and to revive its caliphate".

Since the death of Osama bin Laden in May 2011, al Qaeda has been eclipsed by its own offshoots in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and now by the Islamic State fighting in Iraq and Syria.

Qedat al Jihad will be led by senior Pakistani militant Asim Umar.

The 55-minute video features Zawahiri and Umar, along with a new group spokesman identified as Usama Mahmoud.

It was produced by al Qaeda's As Sahan Media Foundation and has been widely distributed, according to the US-based SITE terrorism monitoring group.

Zawahiri said the regions of Assam, Gujarat and Kashmir, which all have large Muslim populations, would be targets for the new organisation.

The 2008 Mumbai terror attacks saw 166 people killed

"In the wake of this al Qaeda video, we will be on a higher alert,"  S.K. Nanda, the senior bureaucrat in the home department of Gujarat, said.

"We will work closely with the central government to tackle any threat posed to the state."

Gujarat is also the home state of India's new prime minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist criticised over riots in 2002 that left hundreds of Muslims dead.

Kashmir has an active armed insurgency against Indian rule and there have been terrorist attacks in other areas - including the 2008 Mumbai attacks which saw 166 people killed.

Zawahiri remains America's most wanted fugitive. The State Department "Rewards for Justice" programme has a $25m bounty on his head.

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Sotloff: Murdered Journalist 'No War Junkie'

Sotloff: Driven Reporter And Mideast Expert

Updated: 1:19pm UK, Wednesday 03 September 2014

Steven Sotloff, the US journalist who was beheaded by Islamic State militants, also held Israeli citizenship, Israel has revealed.

The information had been apparently withheld by Israel in a bid to reduce the risks to the captive.

"Cleared for publication: Steven Sotloff was #Israel citizen RIP," tweeted Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.

Friends and colleagues described 31-year-old Mr Sotloff as an honest and courageous journalist who sought to understand the culture of the places he reported from and tell the stories of the people affected by conflict.

His work appeared in Time, Foreign Affairs and World Affairs magazines. He also contributed to some Israeli publications.

"We refused to acknowledge any relationship with him in case it was dangerous for him," said Avi Hoffman, editor of the Jerusalem Report magazine, which had published Mr Sotloff's work.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, quoting a former fellow captive, said Mr Sotloff had kept his Judaism a secret from the Islamist insurgents, pretending he was sick when he fasted for the Yom Kippur holiday.

Colleagues stressed that he understood the dangers of reporting in war zones, but remained committed to the task.

"Steven was very ethical, very driven, an exceptional journalist and an exceptional person," said Matthew Van Dyke, an activist and film-maker who met Mr Sotloff in Libya in 2012.

"He was also a cautious journalist, he did everything the right way," he told Sky News.

Mr Sotloff vanished in Syria in August 2013. His capture was kept secret for months at the request of his family, who said they were now grieving privately.

He then appeared in a video that showed the beheading of fellow US journalist James Foley last month.

A Miami native, Mr Sotloff attended the University of Central Florida, where he took an interest in journalism. He did not graduate from the university.

He covered the Arab Spring uprisings and several Middle East hotspots, including Yemen, Egypt and Libya. He learnt Arabic.

"He lived in the region for a time, he really got to know the people, the culture," said Mr Van Dyke.

"This was a region that was important to him, he wasn't somebody who jumped from conflict to conflict all over the world, he was a regional specialist and he knew what he was doing."

In his Facebook and Twitter profiles Mr Sotloff called himself a "stand-up philosopher from Miami" and often spoke of his love for baseball and the Miami Heat.

World Affairs, in an August 20 statement, described Mr Sotloff as "an honest and thoughtful journalist who strives to understand the story from local perspectives and report his findings straightforwardly."

The executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon, said: "Journalists know that covering war is inherently dangerous and that they could get killed in crossfire.

"But being butchered in front of camera simply for being a reporter is pure barbarism."

The group said at least 70 other journalists have been killed covering the conflict in Syria, including some who died over the border in Lebanon and Turkey, and that more than 80 had been kidnapped.

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Ferguson Police To Be Investigated By US

Timeline Of Missouri Unrest

Updated: 11:47am UK, Monday 25 August 2014

Sky News looks at crucial events in the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown, which sparked protests in Ferguson, Missouri.

Here is a timeline:

:: August 9: Michael Brown is shot to death by police in Ferguson, a predominantly black suburb of St Louis, Missouri.

Police say the shooting took place during a scuffle where Mr Brown was shot multiple times. 

At least two witnesses say Mr Brown had his hands raised when the officer fired at him repeatedly.

:: August 10: St Louis County Police Chief Joe Belmar says Mr Brown was unarmed.

Violence erupts in the streets of Ferguson after a peaceful candlelight vigil. Several businesses are vandalised and looted.

:: August 11: Protests continue, with demonstrators demanding justice for Mr Brown.

The Justice Department announces an investigation.

Twitter users complain of alleged racial bias in the media portrayal of Mr Brown, and the hashtag "IfTheyGunnedMeDown" goes viral.

The teen's family appeal for calm and demand justice for their son. The family hire lawyer Benjamin Crump, who also represented the family of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teen who was shot dead in 2012 in Florida.

:: August 12: Police say death threats have been received and they withhold releasing the name of the officer who shot at Mr Brown.

President Barack Obama appeals for calm in his first statement on the case.

Protests continue.

:: August 13: Police say the officer involved in the shooting was injured in the confrontation.

Police chief Tom Jackson says "race relations are our top priority".

At violent protests during the night, two reporters are briefly detained by police. They are later released without any charges.

:: August 14: Mr Obama addresses the nation and urges calm, saying there is "no excuse" for "excessive force" by Missouri police.

The Missouri governor, Jay Nixon, names a State Highway Patrol captain to assume control of security in Ferguson. Captain Ron Johnson is an African-American who was born and raised in the area.

Peaceful demonstrations return to Ferguson as thousands of Americans hold rallies in 90 cities, including New York and Los Angeles, in memory of Mr Brown.

:: August 15: Police name Darren Wilson as the officer who shot Mr Brown. Mr Wilson is a six-year police veteran who had no previous complaints against him.

Police also give details of a robbery at a local convenience store that took place moments before the shooting. Documents distributed by police name Mr Brown as a suspect.

Violent protests resume.

:: August 16: Mr Nixon declares a state of emergency and imposes a curfew. But that fails to quell demonstrators, who clash with police in riot gear.

:: August 17: Attorney General Eric Holder orders a separate federal autopsy on the teen.

Mr Nixon tells CBS' Face The Nation that releasing CCTV video of the robbery "had an incendiary effect".

A private autopsy performed at the request of Mr Brown's family finds that the teen was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, according to the New York Times.

As protests continue, Mr Nixon announces the deployment of the National Guard.

:: August 18: Police clash with protesters overnight yet again, leading to 31 arrests.

Capt Johnson says bottles and Molotov cocktails were thrown from the crowd and two guns were confiscated from protesters. At least two people were shot.

Some of those arrested came from as far away as New York and California.

:: August 19: Tensions rise after "knife-wielding" suspect is been shot dead by police in north St Louis, some four miles from Ferguson, 

Despite fewer protesters in Missouri than in previous nights, police charge crowds and arrest 47 people.

:: August 20: Attorney General Eric Holder visits Ferguson, where he holds a private meeting with Mr Brown's parents.

He delivers a briefing on the Justice Department investigation into the killing and tells community leaders he understands why black people do not trust police, recalling being pulled over twice while in his car and accused of speeding.

:: August 22: As protests calm down, the National Guard begins a partial withdrawal.

:: August 25: Mr Brown's funeral in St Louis.

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Britain 'Right' Not To Pay Hostage Ransom

A hostage negotiator has said the British policy of refusing to pay ransoms for hostages is the only way to deal with terrorist groups.

Dr James Alvarez said the possibility of the Government negotiating with Islamic State (IS) militants over the release of a British hostage was unlikely and that locating the captive would be extremely difficult.

He told Sky News: "David Cameron was right when he said that kidnap ransoms they go towards buying arms, they go towards funding terrorist activities and they fundamentally push foward the terrorists' agenda.

"That's exactly what we don't want to do. Not only that, if you become known as the country who pays ransoms, then no national from your country will ever be safe again."

Steven Sotloff, left, and James Foley were both murdered by Islamic State

Dr Alvarez said the Government would be exploring diplomatic avenues with IS - previously known as ISIS or ISIL and attempting to learn the location of the British hostage, whom Sky News is not identifying.

But he said the militant group, which has seized swathes of land in Iraq and Syria to form an Islamist caliphate and carried out beheadings and mass killings of captives, is seeking political concessions will not achieve.

He said: "ISIL are experts in manipulating the media and social media. This is a terrific way of getting people to pay attention.

"Sure they would like to have the millions that others have paid, but at the end of the day they're also getting lots of free publicity, they are getting their political message out, it's working for them from a recruitment perspective."

Dr Alvarez added that British jihadists had been chosen to appear in the videos showing the murder of two US journalists because they did not have the credentials to be given senior roles.

"The people who are chosen by ISIL to do the lower level jobs, like guarding prisoners and hostages, tend to be the British jihadists because they don't have the religious credentials or the military background that, say, the Chechens might," he said.

On Thursday, David Cameron said Britain will not pay a ransom for the UK hostage who is threatened with death. 

Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond said the UK was looking at "every possible option to protect" the hostage after he appeared in the video on Wednesday.

IS has beheaded two US journalists - Steven Sotloff and James Foley - in what it claims is retaliation for US airstrikes on militants in Iraq.

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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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ECB Cuts Eurozone Rates And Boosts Stimulus

The European Central Bank (ECB) has taken further action to boost bank lending and spur activity in the stagnating eurozone economy.

A series of rate cuts had an immediate impact with the value of the euro plunging against core currencies, including the dollar and the pound, hitting its lowest level against the greenback since July 2013.

The ECB trimmed its benchmark interest rate to 0.05% from a previous record low of 0.15% and also raised its charge on banks to park money with it - the deposit rate doubling to -0.2% in a bid to encourage banks to lend rather than hoard money.

Then, at a news conference 45 minutes later, ECB president Mario Draghi also confirmed the governing council had decided to start unconventional monetary policy, though it stopped short of quantitative easing.

He said the ECB would start purchasing asset-backed securities and covered bonds in October - a scheme he described as credit easing - which sources told Reuters could amount to €500bn over three years.

Asset-backed securities are created by banks pooling mortgages and corporate, car or credit card loans and sold to insurers, pension funds or now even the ECB.

The idea is the money generated by the banks from the sales could then boost liquidity in the wider economy.

Covered bonds are similar in principle but are protected in the event of a bank collapsing.

The policy moves are a response to a weakening of the eurozone's economic recovery - the most recent figures confirming zero growth across the euro area as a whole, with Germany's GDP actually contracting in the second quarter.

Both business and consumer confidence have been hurt by the continuing row with Russia over Ukraine.

Inflation has also slipped to dangerously low levels in recent months with high unemployment dragging on spending.

Mr Draghi admitted the governing council was split on starting an outright asset purchase programme.

He said: "QE was discussed. Some of our governing council members were in favour of doing more than I've just presented, and some were in favour of doing less.

"So our proposal strikes the mid-road", he explained.

Former Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member, Andrew Sentance, told Sky News he agreed with many economists that the package could have been stronger - describing the measures as "symbolic".

But he said: "The euro is likely to weaken against the dollar and the pound and that's probably a good thing".

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Dalai Lama Refused South Africa Visa - Again

South Africa has declined a visa application from the Dalai Lama - allegedly because of fears it would damage its relations with China.

It is the third time in five years the government has refused entry to the religious leader, who was planning to attend the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in October.

"We have informally received contact His Holiness won't get his visa," said Nangsa Chodon, the Dalai Lama's South Africa-based representative.

The South African foreign ministry denied the visa application had been rejected, saying it had received written confirmation the Dalai Lama had cancelled his tip.

Desmond Tutu has warned that other nobel laureates may boycott the event

Tashi Phuntsok, the spokesman for his exiled government in India, said: "If the news reports are correct, it is unfortunate that the South African government did not extend the same courtesy to the respected religious leader, the Dalai Lama, as it did to the other Nobel laureates."

A spokesman for Archbishop Desmond Tutu warned the rejection could lead to other laureates boycotting the gathering in Cape Town.

City Mayor Patricia de Lille said: "We remain hopeful that the national government will grant the visa in order to spare South Africa the international humiliation of failing to do so."

Each of the three visa refusals has led to outrage from South Africans, who perceive the move as a flagrant breach of the Tibetan leader's human rights.

China has long been accused of using its political and economic influence to stop the Dalai Lama from travelling around the world, as it believes he campaigns covertly for Tibetan independence.

The Dalai Lama met US President Barack Obama in 2011

A representative of former South African president Frederik Willem de Klerk, whose foundation is involved in organising the annual gathering, said "boycotting the summit would be the worst way of protesting".

Dave Steward said: "The best way would be to come to the summit and celebrate the 20th anniversary of our democracy - and then make any views they want to make known."

The Dalai Lama was welcomed into South Africa in 1996 for a meeting with Nelson Mandela, but was first refused entry into the country in 2009.

The 79-year-old was barred from attending a peace conference, as the government feared his presence would be an unwelcome distraction from the World Cup a year later.

He was also subject to "unreasonable delays" during his visa application in 2011, a South African court ruled, when he was stopped from attending the 80th birthday of Mr Tutu, the Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town.

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EU Expected To Announce New Russia Sanctions

The European Union is expected to announce more sanctions against Russia on Friday, British government sources have said.

More follows...

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