Russia Assures US Over 'Humanitarian Convoy'

Russia has "guaranteed" that no military personnel are on a convoy waiting at the border with Ukraine to deliver aid to the conflict-hit east of the country.

Ukraine has been concerned the convoy of about 260 white trucks could be a 'Trojan horse', which will allow Russia to set up a permanent presence in rebel-held territory.

Officials from the Red Cross have been examining the contents of the trucks on the Russian side of the border to make sure they contain nothing other than aid.

US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said he spoke with his Russia counterpart on Friday night and requested clarification on the convoy.

Russian truck drivers check their vehicles, which are said to contain aid

A statement released by the Pentagon, about the phone call between Mr Hagel and Sergey Shoygo, said: "Minister Shoygu 'guaranteed' that there were no Russian military personnel involved in the humanitarian convoy, nor was the convoy to be used as a pretext to further intervene in Ukraine.

"He acknowledged that the goods would be delivered and distributed under the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"Minister Shoygu assured Secretary Hagel that Russia was meeting Ukraine's conditions."

Russian officials allowed journalists to see the contents of some trucks

It came after Russia angrily denied it had sent a separate armed convoy into Ukrainian territory that Ukraine claims it partially destroyed.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said his forces had destroyed part of the convoy adding: "We won't tolerate any invasion."

Officials in Kiev said they tracked the vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers, from the border and then attacked with artillery.

Ukrainian guards check people suspected of crossing the border illegally

The claim was partially verfied by journalists from the Guardian and Daily Telegraph newspapers who said they saw around 23 Russian military vehicles crossing the border near the town of Donetsk on Thursday night.

Sky's Foreign Affairs Editor Sam Kiley said any attack would mark "a very serious development" in the four-month conflict, and "could be the beginnings of something much more dangerous".

The US later said it was not able to confirm whether Kiev's forces had attacked the convoy, but said Russia had no right to send vehicles into Ukraine.

White House spokesperson Caitlin Hayden said: "Russia has no right to send vehicles, persons, or cargo of any kind into Ukraine, under any pretext, without the Government of Ukraine's permission."

Moscow's Defence Ministry dismissed Kiev's claim that it had sent a convoy into Ukraine as "some kind of fantasy".

Spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Ria Novosti agency: "There was no Russian military column, which allegedly crossed Russian-Ukrainian border, not in the night, not during the day, it just doesn't exist."

The European Union said it would consider any Russian incursion as "a blatant violation of international law".

Fighting continued on Friday with 11 civilians killed and eight more wounded by shelling in the besieged stronghold of Donetsk in 24 hours.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin is due to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Berlin on Sunday to discuss the crisis.

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South Koreans Flock To See Pope Francis Mass

An estimated one million people have gathered to watch Pope Francis deliver a mass in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.

During the service, the Pontiff beatified 124 people who died for their beliefs during the early days of Roman Catholicism in the country.

More than 30,000 police have been deployed for his five-day visit, including snipers on rooftops.

Aerial video footage showed a kilometre-long line of people cramming a route due to be taken by the 'Popemobile'.

Up to a million people lined the route taken by the Pope

Some had arrived up to seven hours before the event and most of the worshippers were in place with three hours to go.

The people beatified were among those who attempted to spread the religion in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were killed when they came up against resistance from the Joseon Dynasty, which opposed Western influences.

The streets leading up to Seoul's iconic Gwanghwamun Gate were packed with onlookers who had turned out to honour the founders of the Korean church.

The Pope is in the country for five days

Police declined to put a number on the size of the crowd but local media said it topped one million.

A cheer went up from those assembled when Pope Francis declared the 124 "blessed" - setting them on their way towards possible sainthood. The primary message from his lesson was that of reconciliation.

The beatification mass was taking place on the third day of his visit to South Korea.

The Pope blessed 124 Korean martyrs

It is his first tour to Asia since he became pope in March 2013.

Beatification is the first stage that a person undergoes before they can progress to being made a saint.

Local priests also took part in the mass

On Friday, the Pope had a private meeting with some of the survivors of the Sewol ferry disaster and the families of those who died.

He also gave a mass in their memory at a football stadium in Daejeon, attended by tens of thousands of people.

It is the first visit to South Korea by a pope for 25 years. More than five million of the country's inhabitants - around 10% - are members of the Roman Catholic faith.

Earlier, North Korea had test fired five short range missiles.

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Yazidis Return To Mountains On Rescue Mission

By Sherine Tadros, Middle East Correspondent

Tens of thousands of people from the ancient Yazidi community were left stranded on top of Mount Sinjar when Islamic State militants took over their towns and villages on August 2.

Among them was Azeez Hussein and his entire family.

They spent eight days on Mount Sinjar with little food or water until Azeez decided they were going to die on the mountain if they did not try to escape. 

Two days later he made it to Duhok in northern Iraq.

It took him and his wife over 20 hours of walking to flee, carrying their seven children, including their three-week-old baby girl.

Azzez Hussein is heading back to the mountain to find his parents

When we finally met him he was traumatised and kept saying he needed to go back.

His decision to leave with his children meant he could not take his elderly parents, who were still stuck on the mountain surrounded by the militants.

So we went with Azeez to the crossing point leading back to Sinjar. As we approached the bridge, we found hundreds of Yazidis queuing to get across.

Azeez's three-week-old daughter has had a traumatic start to her life

Azeez's cousins were at the front of the line, they had already been there for hours. They too were returning so they could try to bring back their parents.

All around us we heard tragic stories of loss and despair.

I asked one man why he was going back rather than waiting for the Kurdish Peshmerga forces or the Americans to rescue their families.

"Because our families will die waiting," he replied.

These Yazidis say they families would die if they waited for outside help

Another Yazidi man told us about how he saw Islamic State fighters abduct people in his village. He said they tried to convert him to Islam but he refused and escaped.

American and British representatives were also at the bridge crossing.

But Yazidis said they felt abandoned by the international community who are now indicating there is no need for a rescue mission.

"We are assessing the situation and seeing how much more we can help beyond what we have already provided," Richard Guera from the Department for International Development told us.

After five hours, the crossing finally opened. Azeez's cousins crossed the bridge but they have a difficult journey ahead.

They will need to drive through the mountains into Syria and then cross back into Iraq. From there, it is a seven-hour walk to the towns and villages where their families are trapped.

Despite the aid and arms pledged by the international community, it is being left to Yazidi fathers, brothers and sons to return to a place where they almost died escaping from, to save those nobody else will.

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'Corpses Everywhere' After Iraq 'Massacre'

Al Maliki's Successor Faces Old Problems

Updated: 6:29pm UK, Friday 15 August 2014

By Andrew Wilson, Sky News Presenter, in Irbil, Iraq

The disaster in the Sinjar mountains turns out to be less of a public relations nightmare for Western leaders than first feared.

A few thousand destitute Yazidi people don't carry anything like the clout of tens of thousands.

The UNHCR operators on the ground had figured this out days ago. Their job is numbers and they know that in a brutal world, the problem isn't Sinjar anymore, it's the displacement of those that were there and are now here looking for long-term shelter from the Kurdish Regional Government and maybe even homes in Europe and America.

So what about the spread of this Islamic caliphate across Northern Iraq and Syria?

Well, as far as its leaders-in-waiting are concerned, it's going pretty well.

It's ominous dark shade on the Middle Eastern map is now one colour from Aleppo to Diyala on Iraq's eastern border. 

And, to date, that progress has been largely unchallenged.

Reports of executions and crucifixions have played a part; even the Taliban back in 2001 could not generate the kind of terror that precedes Islamic State (IS) fighters wherever they go.

But IS are picking their enemies strategically as well.

Few tears were shed in Washington when the extremists turned on President Assad, and as for Baghdad, it took so long for the West to declare mission accomplished and pull out that going back in now would be unthinkably embarrassing.

Better to find another old friend to blame, this time the stubbornly sectarian Nouri al Maliki.

It is all his fault that disgruntled Sunnis allowed the IS to swoop down in their armed pickups and help themselves to all the American weapons lying abandoned in the sand.

If only he had built a more unified Iraq with loyal officers and disciplined troops, says the West, failing to mention 2003 when a cadre of professional Iraqi generals stood ready to deploy their well-trained forces for the post-Saddam rebuild only to be shunned by the American occupiers who knew better. 

So now the successor is embraced. Haider al Abadi seems a decent man, more of a consensus builder than a bully.

He is still a Shia, of course, same party as Mr Maliki, in fact, and you wouldn't want his job for all the gold in Saddam's palace.

He will need three phones; for Washington, Tehran and Brussels, and they will all be on his case to fix - in no particular order - the Islamic Caliphate; Sunni minority rights; an army that's just given all its weapons to the other side; Shia aspirations for a greater Iraq joined by holy sites to Iran and, of course, tens of thousands of displaced Yazidis.

It's difficult, if not suicidal, to be a consensus politician in the Middle East.

Think Sadat, Rabin, or even Mahmoud Abbas sitting quietly in Ramallah with "Israeli traitor" daubed on the walls near his house.

Sadly, in this part of the world, where the borders were drawn by foreigners a long time ago, the time-honoured formula, still espoused by Assad, Sisi, the Royal families of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is more simple: build a power base and crush your enemies.

Nouri al Maliki was on the way, but didn't make it.

And this time, no more boots on the ground.

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Ebola Epidemic Is Like 'War Time' Says MSF

Ebola Cure 'A Long Way Off': Facts About Virus

Updated: 12:08am UK, Thursday 07 August 2014

A cure for the deadly ebola virus, which has killed hundreds of people in West Africa, is "a very long way off", an expert has told Sky News.

David Evans, a professor of virology at Warwick University, said ebola is the latest disease to be transmitted "very efficiently" because of international travel.

More than 670 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria have fallen victim to the viral illness, which has a fatality rate of up to 90%.

Those with ebola will often be overcome by a sudden onset of fever, as well as weakness, muscle pain and headaches.

The body is then gripped by vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes, kidney and liver problems and bleeding.

The time between infection and symptoms appearing is anything from two days to three weeks.

Ebola is spread through the direct contact with the blood, organs or other bodily fluids of those infected.

The liquid that bathes the eye and semen can transmit the disease, Prof Evans said.

Horseshoe bats are believed to be the natural host of the viral disease, he said.

"These bats transmit the virus between themselves, but periodically it then ends up in probably primates or other types of bushmeat which are then hunted by villagers and the virus is then transmitted from the sick animals to humans," he said.

Transmission has also been documented through the handling of chimpanzees, gorillas and porcupines.

One of the reasons for the disease's rapid spread is a tradition at burial ceremonies for mourners to have direct contact with the body of the deceased.

"Therefore barrier methods that prevent that direct contact, including things like washing of hands and things like that provide a reasonable level of protection," he said.

Healthcare workers treating patients are particularly at risk.

Public Health England said in a risk assessment published earlier this month said that the current outbreak could increase the risk for Britons working in humanitarian and healthcare delivery.

But the threat to tourists, visitors and expatriates is still considered "very low if elementary precautions are followed".

Prof Evans said there had been "periodic outbreaks" of ebola since the first recorded instances in 1976, but this is the deadliest so far.

There were two simultaneous outbreaks in Nzara, Sudan and Yambuku, a village in the Democratic Republic of Congo located near the Ebola River.

Data from the World Health Organisation shows the previous deadliest outbreak was the one in the DRC, when 280 out of 315 people infected died.

In the same country in 1995 another outbreak claimed 254 lives, with 315 patients infected.

In 2000, there were 425 cases in Uganda and 224 people died.

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West Needs To End Dithering Over Jihadists

It's bulldozed one border and has its eyes on many more.

As it carves the world into an image of its own creation the Islamic State has shown the West's foreign policy leaders to be ostriches - determined not to see the obvious.

Now that they have plucked their heads out of the ground and shaken off the sand there are signs that the need for policy is coming dimly into focus.

A Kurd of the ethnic minority of Yazidis holds up a placard in Germany

But what could it be?

The IS has made its own agenda very clear. It intends to sweep away the artificial notions of modern states in the Middle East.

They were established in the region following a 1917 colonial agreement between Britain and France known as Sykes-Picot - after its authors.

It now controls a third of Syria and the same amount of Iraq, renaming the landscape The Islamic Caliphate.

One option for the West is to work with the Kurdish Peshmerga troops

It has its eyes on Lebanon, northern Iraq, and in the end would love to establish a new Islamic empire that recreates the golden era of Islamic influence and rule which extended into southern Europe.

Perhaps even with its capital in Constantinople (modern Istanbul).

Al Qaeda has had the same idea for decades. But it's the IS that has exploited sectarian divisions and global paralysis on how to deal with them.

Its success has grown, partly, out of dithering on Syria.

US fighter jets have already conducted strikes in Iraq

Experts warned that if the largely secular and pro-democratic early uprising against Bashar al Assad was not materially supported by the West in 2011 then radical Islamists would fill that need. They were not, and it did.

Syria rapidly collapsed into a battle between Shia and Sunni. Assad's regime supported by Shia Iran, while the Islamists were Sunni groups supported by private donors in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia.

The Islamic State (then calling itself ISIS), grew out of this conflict - seizing most of Syria oil fields and focusing on building its own strength and numbers rather than fighting Assad.

It then swung into Iraq where it's leaders had cut their teeth in the insurgency against the US-led occupation.

Shi'ite volunteers have joined the Iraqi army to fight against extremists

It added former Baathist staff officers trained under Saddam Hussein, to its ranks.

Intelligence sources and its own annual report demonstrate that it's a meticulously run organism.

It's largely encircled the Iraqi capital, Baghdad while its online propaganda now also threatens attacks in the West.

The West could leave the history of the Middle East to take its natural course, for the first time since the end of the Ottoman Empire.

The region could then face decades of convulsion while it reforms itself - probably into rival Shia and Sunni blocs - while the West works on containing the contagion of chaos.

Another option is to work through proxies, like the Kurdish Peshmerga, the hapless Iraqi army, and Syrian rebel groups, providing arms and ammunition, training and intelligence, to at least roll back IS gains.

The last, least politically popular, option is direct and sustained military intervention to try to annihilate the fastest growing Islamist franchise before its spreads globally.

It's now a choice as to what is the least bad option. The dithering days are over.

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Iraq PM Quits As Rescue Mission Called Off

A US and UK humanitarian mission to rescue thousands of people trapped in Iraq is less likely to take place after the situation "greatly improved", according to President Barack Obama.

Mr Obama said airdrops had delivered more than 114,000 meals and tens of thousands of gallons of water to trapped ethnic minority Yazidis on Mount Sinjar during the past week.

His comments came hours before the divisive Iraqi prime minister Nouri al Maliki made a televised farewell speech to the increasingly fractured nation, in which he referred to the "terrorist" threat facing the country from Islamist militants.

Nouri al Maliki has bowed to pressure at home and abroad

Mr al Maliki, who had been facing growing pressure to step aside, confirmed he had given support to his replacement, Haider al Abadi, and will not be bidding for a third term as leader.

Mr Obama's decision to scale back efforts on Mount Sinjar was made after unnamed US officials said an estimated 4,500 civilians remained on the ridges - significantly fewer than the tens of thousands thought to have been there.

An RAF plane in a night drop of humanitarian aid to people on Mount Sinjar

They said nearly half were herders and shepherds who lived there before the siege and do not want to leave.

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have told Sky News there are only around 2,000 people there.

A Yazidi figher who joined a Kurdish militia helps the safe passage

The UN's refugee agency UNHCR said earlier this week that tens of thousands of Yazidis had already managed to leave the mountain and get to safety, after fleeing Sunni militants of the Islamic State (IS), formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

IS fighters have threatened the ancient religious group with death if they fail to convert to Islam.

Britain's International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, said an evacuation of the mountain had become less likely because of the US assessment - but that an airlift had not been ruled out.

A UK government source also indicated the country would be willing to send arms and equipment to Kurdish forces if they asked for help.

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

Earlier, Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK's plans needed to be "flexible" for the "complicated humanitarian mission" and stressed the need to continue delivering aid to refugees.

The PM chaired a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee in Downing Street on Thursday.

Sky News Political Correspondent Sophy Ridge said: "Although there are fewer people on the mountain than previously thought, it doesn't mean humanitarian help is not needed elsewhere in northern Iraq."

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

Tory backbencher Mark Pritchard, who believes Britain should still be doing more, told Sky News: "Bread alone will not stop ISIS, it will require bullets."

In addition to US airdrops, the UK has successfully completed seven aid deliveries and was still sending a "small number" of RAF Chinook helicopters to the region.

It has also sent RAF Tornado jets equipped with surveillance equipment.

Mr Cameron at a UK aid Disaster Response Centre at Kemble Airport, earlier

Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdish government's high representative to the UK, told Sky News that while the new refugee figures spelled "good news", up to two million displaced civilians remained "in a dire situation" in the Kurdistan region.

Her comments came as the UN declared the crisis at its highest level of emergency and condemned the "barbaric acts" of sexual violence IS fighters have reportedly inflicted on minority groups.

UNHCR has been hurriedly building new tent facilitiies for displaced people seeking refuge in Kurdish Iraq.

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Boko Haram Islamists Kidnap Boys From Village

Suspected Islamist Boko Haram fighters have abducted dozens of boys and men from a village in northeast Nigeria, say witnesses.

Nearly 100 people are missing after militants raided the Doron Baga village, loading victims into trucks before driving them off.

Several witnesses who fled the raid in the sandy fishing village, near the shores of Lake Chad, said kidnappers had burned several houses.

The villagers said six older men were also killed in Sunday's raid.

The latest raid follows the kidnapping of 200 schoolgirls from Chibok

"They left no men or boys in the place; only young children, girls and women," said Halima Adamu.

"They were shouting 'Allah Akbar' (God is greatest), shooting sporadically. There was confusion everywhere.

"They started parking our men and boys into their vehicles, threatening to shoot whoever disobey them. Everybody was scared."

The kidnappings come four months after Boko Haram abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from the village of Chibok.

Boko Haram is fighting to reinstate a medieval Islamic caliphate in religiously mixed Nigeria.

The organisation is seen as the number one security threat to Africa's top economy and oil producer.

It has dramatically increased attacks on civilians in the past year, and the once-grassroots movement has lost popular support as it gets more blood thirsty.

Its solution - kidnapping boys and forcing them to fight and abducting girls as sex slaves - is a chilling echo of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

The LRA operated in the same way in Uganda, South Sudan and central Africa for decades.

The military did not respond to a request for comment. A security source said they were aware of the incident but were still investigating the details.

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Student Quizzed Over Pro-Israel Facebook Post

A Malaysian teenager is being investigated by police for "liking" a pro-Israel Facebook posting.

The 17-year-old student "liked" a post that declared "I love Israel" and featured a picture of the Jewish state's flag, police said.

Abdul Rahim Hanafi, police chief in the northern state of Penang, said that the student claimed to have accidentally clicked the "like" option. 

Reports of an investigation into sedition - rebellion against authorities - have sparked outrage over perceived mounting intolerance in the Muslim-majority country.

The post was accompanied by a picture of the Israeli flag

Sedition can result in three years in jail in Malaysia. The student, who has been questioned by police, has deactivated his Facebook account.

Police are also investigating death threats against the student. He has not been publicly identified.

Malaysia has no diplomatic relations with Israel. The Jewish state's policies toward the Palestinians are fiercely criticised by Malaysian Muslims.

These sentiments have been inflamed by the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

The conflict in Gaza has left more than 2,000 people dead

The episode is the latest to stoke fears in multi-ethnic, multi-faith Malaysia of mounting intolerance under the decades-old regime dominated by majority Muslim Malays.

For example, minority Malaysian Christians have been under government pressure to stop using the Arabic word "Allah" for the Christian God in the Malay language.

Christians say they have used the word for centuries, but Muslims assert "Allah" is a sacred word for Islam only.

Osman Hussain, Penang's state director of education, said he would seek to resolve the student matter without police involvement.

"He is just a student. I will try to solve the issue peacefully," he said.

The affair has triggered harsh criticism online.

"Using the same twisted logic, all Malaysians using Facebook are also committing sedition as Facebook is founded by a Jew," said one person.

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N Korea Fires Missiles As Pope Visits South

Pope Francis has called for peace in the war-divided Korean peninsular during a visit to the South - as the North fired five miissiles to coincide with his arrival.

Three rockets were fired as the Pope's plane approached Seoul - and there were reports of a further three, shortly after he touched down.

All of the short-range missiles landed in the sea off North Korea's east coast, hundreds of miles away from the Pontiff's plane.

Pope Francis arrives in Seoul - the first papal visit to Asia since 1999

In his first speech after landing, the Pope called for renewed efforts to forge peace in the war-divided Korean Peninsula.

He urged both sides to avoid "fruitless" criticisms and shows of force and told South Korean President Park Geun-hye that peace required forgiveness and mutual respect.

The North has tested an unprecedented number of rockets and missiles this year, including many in recent weeks.

It says the launches are in retaliation for US-South Korean military exercises scheduled to start on Monday.

South Korean troops fire heavy artillery to welcome the pontiff

Pyongyang often stages such tests when rival South Korea is in the global spotlight - as is the case with the papal visit - in what is seen as a means of grabbing attention.

The Argentine pope will spend five days in South Korea, meeting some of the country's five million Catholics on the first trip by a pontiff to Asia since 1999.

The pope leaves the plane in Seoul

But much of the attention will be on the Vatican's relations with China. It was the first time a pope had been allowed to fly over China on Asian tours. 

His predecessor, John Paul II, had to avoid Chinese airspace because of the fraught relations between Beijing and the Vatican.

Before touching down in Seoul, Pope Francis sent an unprecedented message of goodwill to China.

"Upon entering Chinese air space, I extend best wishes to your Excellency and your fellow citizens and I invoke the divine blessing of peace and well-being upon the nation," he said in a radio message to President Xi Jinping.

The Vatican has had no formal relations with China since shortly after the Communist Party took power in 1949.

The Catholic Church in China is divided into two communities.

A recently released picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

The first is the "official" Church known as the "Patriotic Association" answerable to the Party; the second an underground Church that swears allegiance only to the Pope in Rome.

As the Pope touched down in Seoul, there were reports that some Chinese had been barred from travelling to a youth celebration in South Korea.

About half of more than 100 Chinese who had planned to attend the Asian Youth Day event during the papal visit were unable to attend.

Heo Young-yeop, spokesman for the Committee for the Papal Visit to Korea, told reporters this was due to "a complicated situation inside China". 

He declined to give further details, citing their safety.

Another organiser, who declined to be identified, said some of the would-be attendees had been arrested by Chinese authorities.

Beijing rejects Vatican authority over its Catholics.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comments either on the Pope's goodwill message or the Chinese who were barred.

About 30 countries will be participating in Asian Youth Day, focused on the formation of a spiritual life, particularly for youth leaders. 

North Korea has turned down an invitation from the South Korean Catholic church for its Korean Catholic Association to attend a papal mass on Monday in Seoul.

The two Koreas have been divided since the 1950-53 Korean war, which left millions of families separated.

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Iraq: US-UK Row Back On Yazidi Rescue Mission

A US and UK humanitarian mission to rescue thousands of Yazidis trapped in Iraq is "far less likely" to take place after it has been revealed fewer are stranded than previously feared.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK's plans needed to be "flexible" for the "complicated humanitarian mission" and stressed the need to continue delivering aid to refugees on Mount Sinjar.

The PM, who has resisted calls for military intervention, is chairing a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee to discuss the situation further.

Tory backbencher Mark Pritchard, who believes Britain should be doing more, told Sky News: "Bread alone will not stop ISIS, it will require bullets."

A map detailing the Sinjar mountains

He added: "They are not going to stop until they are stopped... we need to confront the enemy."

The UK has successfully completed seven aid airdrops and is sending a "small number" of RAF Chinook helicopters to the region.

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

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

"What our plans need to do is to make sure that we have got the assets in place to help out in the right way and that's why last night one of our Tornados was gathering information about the situation, that's why it's important our Chinooks are in place and available if needed," Mr Cameron said.

He had said "detailed plans" were being made for an international mission to rescue the stranded Yazidis.

But Sky's Political Correspondent Sophy Ridge said: "Today I am told that just like the Americans, it is now unlikely that the UK government is going to carry out a rescue mission, and that's simply because the information has changed."

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

A US assessment of the situation has found fewer Yazidis remain trapped on the mountain than previously thought.

Some 5,000 refugees remain stranded there, according to Sky sources. Some live there, while around 1,000 are being rescued every night by Iraqi forces.

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

Mr Cameron at a UK aid Disaster Response Centre at Kemble Airport, earlier

IS fighters have threatened the ancient religious group with death if they fail to convert to Islam.

The Pentagon said an "evacuation mission is far less likely" given that humanitarian aid drops, airstrikes on IS fighters and the efforts of Peshmerga fighters had allowed many Yazidis to escape.

Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, the Kurdish government's high representative to the UK, told Sky News while the new refugee figures spelled "good news", up to two million displaced civilians remained "in a dire situation" in the Kurdistan region.

Her comments came as the United Nations ramped up its assessment of the crisis to level 3 - its highest level of emergency - and condemned the "barbaric acts" of sexual violence IS fighters have reportedly inflicted on minority groups.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, said the Iraqi government had "received atrocious accounts on the abduction and detention of Yazidi, Christian, Turkomen and Shabak women and girls and boys, and reports of savage rapes".

"Some 1,500 Yazidis and Christians may have been forced into sexual slavery," he added.

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Heavy Shelling Heard In Rebel-Held Donetsk

Heavy shelling has pounded the centre of Ukraine's separatist-held city of Donetsk, according to witnesses.

People poured out of their offices onto the stairwell of the city's main administration building after loud explosions nearby triggered an evacuation warning, reports said.

Donetsk has been surrounded for several weeks by Ukrainian forces battling pro-Russian rebels.

A resident of Donetsk after shelling in the city

The shelling follows the resignation of pro-Russian separatist leader Valery Bolotov, head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic.

Mr Bolotov said he had been injured and could no longer continue his role. 

His resignation came as a Russian aid convoy resumed its journey toward Ukraine, taking the road leading south towards rebel-held Luhansk.

The convoy of roughly 262 vehicles had been parked at a military depot in the southern Russian city of Voronezh since late on Tuesday.

The Russain aid convoy has turned towards Luhansk

There has been confusion and disagreement over how and where the aid could be delivered to Ukraine, where government troops are battling pro-Russia separatists.

By sending the convoy south, Russia appeared intent on not abiding by a tentative agreement to deliver aid to a border checkpoint in the Kharkiv region.

It had been hoped that the convoy would arrive in the Kharkiv region, so that the Red Cross could inspect the convoy.

Instead, the route taken by the convoy leads directly toward a border crossing controlled by pro-Russian rebels in the Luhansk region.

Self-styled mayor of Luhansk, Valery Bolotov, says he has been injured

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has accused Moscow of planning a "direct invasion of Ukrainian territory under the guise of delivering humanitarian aid".

Moscow has insisted it coordinated the dispatch of the goods - including baby food, canned meat and sleeping bags - with Red Cross officials.

Red Cross spokeswoman Anastasia Isyuk said talks between the organisation, Ukraine and Russia were continuing.

But she could not confirm where the Russian convoy was headed.

Vladimir Putin says he wants to end the bloodshed in Ukraine

"The plans keep changing, the discussions are going ahead and we will not confirm for sure until we know an agreement has been reached," Ms Isyuk said in Geneva.

Luhansk, where Mr Bolotov had declared himself "mayor", has been the scene of intense fighting between Ukrainian forces and separatists.

Mr Bolotov said Igor Plotnitsky, defence minister of the Luhansk People's Republic, would take over from him.

His resignation means that both the main separatist entities, in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine, are having leadership changes.

A Russian soldier stands guard at the Kharkiv checkpoint

On August 7, Aleksander Borodai, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, announced he was stepping down.

Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would do its utmost to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine.

During a visit to Crimea, Mr Putin also said that Russia should not "fence itself off from the outside world" despite a plunge in East-West relations.

As well as the shelling in Donetsk, fighting has killed at least 22 residents in the besieged rebel-held bastion of Luhansk over the past 24 hours.

Luhansk has been the scene of intense fighting

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has intensified in recent weeks, with UN officials saying there has been a spike in the number of deaths.

Some 2,086 people have died since the conflict began in mid-April, and more than half of them in the past fortnight, the UN said.

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'Horrible Stories' Of Iraqis Fleeing Extremists

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

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

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

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

A map detailing the Sinjar mountains

"Horrible stories of how they've had to walk days to get this area. Help can't come fast enough for these people," she said.

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

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

"A lot of them are injured, some of them from gunshots, some of them from the difficult conditions of the long journey."

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

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

Tadros said: "There's not much in terms of facilities, we are talking about three or four showers and toilets.

"There is no electricity and not much food either. They eat when the locals come to feed to them.

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

Iraqi Christians receive food at Ainkawa's Saint Joseph church, near Irbil

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

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

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

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

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

However, his Shi'ite party colleague, Nuri al Maliki, has refused to quit his eight-year premiership, and on Wednesday said it would take a federal court ruling for him to leave power.

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Teen Held After Mum's Body Found In Suitcase

The half-naked body of an American tourist has been discovered in a suitcase on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali - prompting the arrest of her daughter and daughter's boyfriend.

The body of Sheila von Wiese Mack was found stuffed into the blood-smeared suitcase in the boot of a taxi in front of the five-star St Regis hotel in Nusa Dua.

The 62-year-old was found with several wounds to her head and a doctor who examined her said it appeared as if she had put up a struggle.

The boyfriend of Ms Mack's daughter, Tommy Schaefer, is led away by police

Police said the suitcase had been wrapped in a bed sheet and sealed up with tape.

Local police chief Djoko Hari Utomo told reporters that Ms Mack had been staying in the hotel with her daughter, Heather, 19, and her daughter's boyfriend, Tommy Schaefer, 21.

Both have been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Police examine the suitcase

Police investigations have found that Ms Mack was recorded on CCTV arguing with Mr Schaefer in the lobby of the hotel.

The argument was filmed on Monday night, the day Mr Schaefer joined his girlfriend and her mother, who had arrived together several days before.

Mr Utomo told AFP: "This is murder, and we will decide from our investigation whether it is premeditated or spontaneous."

Ms Mack's daughter Heather, 19, is escorted from the premises

The victim's body has been taken to the main hospital in Denpasar, the capital of Bali.

A doctor said she had several wounds to the head which appeared to have been caused by "blunt tools".

A spokesman for the US embassy in Jakarta said they were "aware of the death of an American citizen that took place in Bali and we understand that two individuals have been arrested in connection with the case". 

The St Regis Hotel is one of the most exclusive in Bali with rooms starting at $470 (£250) a night. According to its website it offers a 24-hour butler service.

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Journalist Killed In Gaza Missile Blast

An Italian journalist was among five people killed when an unexploded missile detonated in northern Gaza.

The blast, in Beit Lahiya, happened as bomb squad officers attempted to dismantle the device on Wednesday.

Simone Camilli, 35, was killed along with a colleague and another three Palestinians.

At least five people were also wounded in the explosion - three of them critically.

The deaths came as Egyptian negotiators aim to secure a further ceasefire from both sides to extend a three-day truce which is due to expire at 10pm.

No breaches of the ceasefire have been reported, but Israel said its navy had fired warning shots at a boat near Rafah as it approached the Gaza border.

More than 1,950 Palestinian people have been killed in five weeks of fighting in Gaza.

Sixty four Israeli soldiers and three civilians in Israel have also died.

Hamas has said it will not halt rocket attacks on Israel until the blockade it imposed on Gaza in 2006 is lifted.

But Israel has said it will allow the reconstruction of Gaza only if Hamas fully disarms.

Both sides have said they will resume hostilities if the talks fail.

The latest conflict is the third between Israel and Palestinian militants since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.

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Derailed Train Carriages 'Plunge Into Ravine'

A train has been derailed by a landslide and several carriages have reportedly plunged into a ravine in Switzerland.

Pictures from the scene showed at least one carriage in a ravine and another hanging precariously from the tracks winding through mountains in the east of the country.

Rescue helicopters were seen hovering over the train and a number of injured passengers have reportedly been airlifted to hospital.

"Part of the train was derailed by a landslide," Rhaetische Bahn spokesman Simon Rageth told AFP, but said he was unable to give further details immediately.

More follows...

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Egypt Killings 'Planned At Highest Levels'

Egypt Killings Report: Key Findings

Updated: 2:03pm UK, Tuesday 12 August 2014

Human Rights Watch has issued a scathing 188-page verdict on the killings of more than 1,000 protesters in Egypt last year.

Here are the key findings:

:: The authorities used "deliberate and indiscriminate lethal force to disperse the two sit-ins, where protesters had remained encamped for 45 days, resulting in one of the most bloody incidents against protesters in recent history".

:: The attack on the encampment at Rabaa was carried from five different directions, with witnesses saying there were gunmen shooting down from helicopters at protesters who were being besieged with no access to safe exits for most of the day. 

:: The "brutal manner in which the security forces carried out the Rabaa and al Nahda dispersals appears to reflect policies that the Egyptian authorities at the highest levels implemented after weeks of planning". 

:: The Egyptian government used "disproportionate force, failed to take measures to minimise loss of life and knowingly opened fire on unarmed protesters".

:: The "systematic and widespread" nature of the killings along with evidence indicating the government planned to engage in mass unlawful killings, suggests the violations amount to crimes against humanity.

:: "Some protesters" carried weapons and shot at police. But "they were few in numbers" and did not justify the indiscriminate firing at unarmed protesters.

:: Rather than investigating potential wrongdoing, the government has refused to acknowledge any possible infractions on the part of the security forces. 

:: Instead, the government has accused foreign correspondents of biased coverage, and provided them with material, footage and photos to show that the encampments were training grounds for militants, often without verifying the material.  

:: An inquiry should investigate the role of the country's current President Abdel Fattah al Sisi and at least 10 senior military and security chiefs in the killing of 1,150 protesters over six weeks.

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Ukraine To Stop Russian Aid Convoy At Border

Ukraine has said it will stop an unofficial Russian aid convoy from crossing into a rebel-held part of the country.

Ukraine National Security and Defence Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the convoy of 280 lorries was not certified by the official aid coordinator, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The convoy of trucks had departed from a depot near Moscow on Tuesday morning and was expected to take up to a day to arrive at an undisclosed border location.

The ICRC confirmed it had no information on what the trucks were carrying or where they were going but Russian media said the vehicles were loaded with 2,000 tons of goods.

An orthodox priest walked along and blessed the trucks prior to their leaving the capital, driven by men in khaki uniforms, which were also believed to be carrying goods including baby food and sleeping bags.

Men load sacks on to one of the 280 trucks headed towards Ukraine

ICRC Ukraine mission spokesman Andre Loersch said that while it had reached a general agreement about aid delivery to the region, he had "no information about the content" of the trucks or destination.

"At this stage we have no agreement on this, and it looks like the initiative of the Russian Federation," he said.

The mission has already raised fears in Ukraine and the West that it is being used as a pretext for sending troops to rebel-held areas adjacent to the Russian border.

Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said there was a "high probability" that Russia could intervene militarily in eastern Ukraine as rebels struggled to hold ground against Ukrainian forces.

On Monday, Mr Rasmussen said: "We see the Russians developing the narrative and pretext under the guise of a humanitarian operation.

"And we see a military build-up that could be used to conduct such illegal military operations in Ukraine."

Russia firmly denies the allegations but Nato said Moscow has massed 20,000 troops along the border - Kiev put the number at 45,000 troops.

US President Barack Obama had earlier urged Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko to allow in humanitarian aid, including goods from Russia, to ease civilian suffering.

Mr Poroshenko said the ICRC must co-ordinate aid deliveries to the area, where more than 1,300 lives have been lost since April, according to the United Nations.

The leaders agreed but the White House said "any Russian intervention in Ukraine without the formal, express consent and authorisation would be unacceptable and a violation of international law".

It was unclear whether the trucks would cross the border into that province, where much of the frontier remains under separatist control, or the government-held Kharkiv province.

At least 60 miles of the border is currently in rebel hands and the ICRC said it was ready to facilitate any aid operation with the involvement of all sides concerned.

But Laurent Corbaz, ICRC head of operations for Europe and central Asia, said "practical details of this operation need to be clarified" before the deliveries could be made.

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Spanish Priest With Ebola Dies In Hospital

A Spanish priest who contracted ebola while working in Liberia has died in hospital, health authorities in Madrid have confirmed.

Father Miguel Pajares was the first European infected by a strain of the virus that has killed more than 1,000 people in West Africa.

He was airlifted from Liberia on August 7 after becoming infected while working for a non-governmental organisation there.

The 75-year-old was flown to Spain for treatment with his co-worker Juliana Bohi, a nun who has since tested negative for the disease.

Fr Parajes had been in quarantine in Madrid's Carlos III Hospital

Spain's Health Ministry said Fr Pajares was being treated with the experimental drug ZMapp, manufactured by U.S. company Mapp Biopharmaceutical. 

Two US aid workers infected by the disease have shown some signs of improvements since being given the drug, which had only previously been tested on monkeys.

Fr Pajares was part of a Catholic order at St Joseph's Hospital in Liberia's capital, Monrovia.

A Congolese nun died at the hospital over the weekend, days after its director also passed away.

The hospital has since been closed because of the outbreak.

Authorities in affected countries are spreading the word about the disease

Medics Zukunis Ireland and Abraham Borbor are expected to be the first Africans to be treated with ZMapp and have given written consent, Liberia's Information Minister Lewis Brown said.

Mr Brown told Reuters the Liberian government received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the pair to be treated before the drug could be exported - and that supplies should arrive in the next 48 hours.

Meanwhile, a panel of medical experts has ruled that it is ethical for infected patients to be treated with experimental drugs such as ZMapp, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

The UN health agency said in a statement: "In the particular circumstances of this outbreak, and provided certain conditions are met, the panel reached consensus that it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention." 

Treatment with experimental drugs requires informed consent, freedom of choice, confidentiality, respect for the person, preservation of dignity and involvement of the community, the WHO said.

The virus has spread to four African countries - Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria - infecting a total 1,848
people, according to the WHO, which has branded the outbreak an international health emergency.

The latest outbreak has killed around 55-60% of those infected.

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Egypt Leaders 'Not Willing To Provide Justice'

By Sherine Tadros, Middle East Correspondent

August 14, 2013, was the bloodiest day in Egypt's modern history.

Two sit-ins in Cairo by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi were forcibly removed by the army and police.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW) more than 800 protesters were killed in just a few hours.

Sky's Mick Deane was among four journalists killed that morning. He was filming a group of women who were gathered near a mosque when he was shot dead.

Sky cameraman Mick Deane was killed in the violence

The Egyptian government claims the protesters were armed and shot at security forces, but rights groups say the officers used excessive force against largely peaceful protesters, including women and children.

Now, HRW has released a report detailing what they describe as the methodical and systematic killing of over 1,000 people last summer by Egyptian security forces.

The report, entitled All According to Plan: The Rabaa Massacre and Mass Killings of Protesters in Egypt, is the result of a year-long investigation involving over 200 witnesses who were interviewed and the examination of physical evidence.

The report concludes that the killings were "meticulously planned at the highest levels".  

Human Rights Watch says more than 1,000 protesters were killed

In fact, HRW identified more than a dozen of the most senior leaders in the chain of command - including the current president, Abdel Fattah al Sisi.

The report also points out that a year on, not a single police or army officer has been held accountable.

The findings may mean that crimes against humanity were committed. Egyptian authorities have been given a copy of the report by HRW but have yet to respond to the findings.

The sit-ins at Rabaa and Nahda squares in Cairo, organised by the Muslim Brotherhood, were in response to the Army's overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi last July following a wave of protests against his rule. 

Their violent removal marked the start of an unprecedented crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition forces in Egypt.

The report implicates President Abdel Fattah al Sisi in the violence

Tens of thousands were arrested and hundreds, including Muslim Brotherhood leaders, have since been sentenced to death.

HRW directors, hoping to launch their report in Cairo, were denied entry to Egypt on Monday and deported on arrival for the first time in the organisation's history.

Authorities did not explain their decision but said they were refused entry for "security reasons".

In a statement, HRW executive director Kenneth Roth said: "We came to Egypt to release a serious report on a serious subject that deserves serious attention from the Egyptian government.

"Instead of denying the messenger entry to Egypt, the authorities should seriously consider our conclusions and recommendations and respond with constructive action."

But the move is yet another sign of the Egyptian government's growing intolerance to criticism at a time when they claim the country is in a transition to democracy. 

For the thousands who lost loved ones last summer, the report may offer some answers as to what happened and who was responsible. 

But holding those people to account is not, it seems, the kind of justice Egypt is willing to provide right now.

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