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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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 Jihadist 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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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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Olympic Organisers Issue Ban Over Ebola Risk

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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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 hit close to 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.

The Russain aid convoy has turned towards Luhansk

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

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

It also came as Vladimir Putin said 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.

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

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.

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

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.

Vladimir Putin says he wants to end the bloodshed in Ukraine

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.

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

A Russian soldier stands guard at the Kharkiv checkpoint

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

"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.

Luhansk has been the scene of intense fighting

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

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

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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Economy: Eurozone GDP Growth 'Breaks Down'

The 18 nations which use the euro recorded zero GDP growth as a bloc in the second quarter of 2014, with Germany's economy - Europe's biggest - contracting.

Official GDP figures showed that weakness in France and Germany - which together make up 66% of GDP output in the single currency area - choked off some improvements elsewhere including in bailed-out Portugal and in Spain.

Germany recorded a surprise 0.2% GDP dip between April and June as foreign trade and investment, particularly in the construction sector, weighed on growth.

Investor and business confidence has since taken a knock because of the crisis in Ukraine - straining relations with Russia - raising fears of an even weaker recovery because of the threat of deepening tit-for-tat sanctions.

France called on the European Central Bank (ECB) to do more to tackle the risk of deflation and bring the euro to a more competitive level as it posted zero GDP growth for the second consecutive quarter.

French President Francois Hollande's popularity has tumbled

The figures also prompted the finance minister Michel Sapin to slash his government's forecast for growth in 2014 to "around 0.5%" compared with a previous projection of 1%.

He told the daily Le Monde newspaper: "Growth has broken down, in Europe and in France.

"With zero growth in the second quarter, thereby extending the stagnation we saw in the first, our country is slowing down and will not achieve the 1% growth observers were predicting three months ago".

Analysts have warned for months that France, the second biggest economy in the eurozone, looks increasingly the weak link in a halting recovery as the government battles to push through much-needed reforms.

Unemployment hit a new record in June to a shade under 3.4 million while the forecast for France's public deficit is now predicted to be above 4% of GDP this year - missing key targets demanded of it by the EU.

The country's statistics agency blamed falling manufacturing output as a key component of its performance and cited a large number of midweek public holidays as having a particular impact on productivity.

Jitters about eurozone output were reflected in financial markets on opening - with the German DAX and the CAC 40 in Paris both losing ground amid a wider sell-off across Europe - but the major indices later turned positive on hopes of further ECB measures to combat deflation and even quantitative easing.

The performance of the 18 nations using the single currency contrasts sharply with the UK's economic recovery which continues to gather steam despite worries over falling wage packets.

Employment has reached record levels while GDP grew by 0.8% in both the first and second quarters of the year.

On Wednesday, the Bank of England raised the prospect of a delay to an expected rise in the base rate of interest over fears that increased borrowing costs and a time of stagnant wage growth would choke off the recovery.

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Iraqis Fleeing ISIS Face 'Desperate' Plight

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," she said.

"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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Video: Reporter Confronts Iraq ISIS Militants

UK Carries Out Second Aid Drop In North Iraq

Updated: 3:53pm UK, Tuesday 12 August 2014

The RAF has completed its second aid drop over Northern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.

More than 3,000 reusable water containers holding 3,500 gallons of water and other "essential supplies" were dropped on Mount Sinjar.

Up to 40,000 Yazidis remain in the sweltering mountains after fleeing militants from the Islamic State (IS).

A previous attempt to drop supplies had to be abandoned for fear it could hurt those on the ground.

A "small number" of Tornado jets are also being sent to the region so they can be used, if required, to help ensure humanitarian supplies are delivered.

The US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Iraq's new Prime Minister Haidar al Abadi to form a new government quickly, following his appointment on Monday.

It had looked like his appointment could result in increased instability after the incumbent prime minister Nuri al Maliki refused to step down from the role he has had for eight years.

But reports from Iraq said many of Mr Maliki's previous supporters backed Mr Abadi's appointment and on Tuesday a senior Iranian official, the Arab League and Saudi Arabia also welcomed the move.

Meanwhile, Mr Maliki ordered Iraq's security forces to stay out of what he called a "political crisis", damping fears they may intervene.

The US has been calling on Baghdad to form an "inclusive" government for many weeks in order to counter the threat from IS, formerly known as ISIS.

Mr Kerry said of Mr Abadi, a former exile in the UK: "We are urging him to form a new cabinet as swiftly as possible and the US stands ready to support a new and inclusive Iraqi government and particularly its fight against (the Islamic State)."

Mr Kerry had been meeting with senior figures in the Australian government and said afterwards that the allies would take the threat posed by jihadist foreign fighters to the United Nations.

The UN move came after Australia's prime minister slammed a "barbaric" photo which apparently showed the seven-year-old son of a militant holding the severed head of a Syrian soldier.

The European Union said it was increasing its aid to Iraq by 5m euros, bringing its total to 17m euros, in addition to the £13m in total provided by the UK.

The US's Centcom military information centre said it had carried out five aid drops on Mount Sinjar and a number of airstrikes on IS targets near the mountains.

France is planning a second aid drop into the mountains of Sinjar in the next two days.

The US has admitted that airstrikes against militants will not be enough to halt the advance of IS.

Joint staff operations director Lieutenant General William Mayville said: "We assess that US airstrikes in northern Iraq have slowed Islamic State (IS) … however, these strikes are unlikely to affect IS's overall capabilities or its operations in other areas."

But Mr Kerry also tried to allay US fears of being drawn back into another ground conflict in the area - 11 years after it launched a war in the country.

"There will be no reintroduction of American combat forces into Iraq. This is a fight that Iraqis need to join on behalf of Iraq," Mr Kerry added.

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Woman 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".

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Egypt Killings 'Planned At Highest Levels'

Egypt Killings Report: Key Findings

Updated: 12:17pm 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 in the span of six weeks.

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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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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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Extremists Beaten Back After Iraq Airstrikes

Islamist extremists have been forced out of two towns in northern Iraq by Kurdish troops - amid a deepening political crisis in the country.

The militants were driven out of Makhmour and al Gweir, near Irbil, after fighters were aided by a series of US airstrikes targeting armed vehicles.

Kurdish forces have been bolstered further after senior US officials said the Obama administration has begun directly providing them with weapons to defend themselves against attacks by Islamic State (previously known as ISIS).

US soldiers watch as halal meals are parachuted to the ground in Iraq

But closer to Baghdad, the Sunni militants captured Jalawla, a town 70 miles (115km) northeast of the Iraqi capital, after weeks of clashes with Kurdish fighters. 

As the violence continued, embattled Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki appeared on TV  to accuse the new president of violating the constitution.

In a surprise speech, Mr al Maliki resisted calls to resign amid the jihadist insurgency and declared he will file a legal complaint against Fuad Masum.

He accuses him of failing to name a prime minister from the country's largest parliamentary faction by Sunday's deadline.

Speaking in Australia, US Secretary of State John Kerry backed President Masum and warned Mr al Maliki not to obstruct efforts to form a new government.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond is chairing a meeting of the Government's Cobra emergency committee, after a No 10 source told Sky News there were "no plans" to recall parliament to discuss the crisis.

Yazidi refugees approach the food bundles on the ground

The political turmoil comes amid mounting evidence of the slaughter of minority Christians and Yazidis by Islamic extremists.

Photographs taken in the north of the country appear to show crucifixions and beheadings, as well as a series of executions by gunfire.

Iraq's human rights minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani said accounts from Yazidis fleeing Sinjar suggested hundreds had been slaughtered.

"Some of the victims, including women and children, were buried alive in scattered mass graves in and around Sinjar," he said.

The Australian newspaper also featured a photograph purporting to show the nine-year-old son of terrorist Khaled Sharrouf carrying the head of a Syrian soldier.

The picture was apparently posted on Twitter by Sharrouf, a convicted terrorist from Sydney.

Refugees flee the extremists carving a bloody path through northern Iraq

As the world watched the images from Iraq in horror, a Downing Street source told Sky News David Cameron has no plans for a recall of parliament - despite calls for MPs to discuss the crisis.

"Our focus is humanitarian support," the source said.

"The key priority is getting support to people in desperate need."

Tory backbencher Conor Burns said the Government's response so far, of ruling out military intervention and air dropping supplies, was "not strong enough".

David Cameron has been urged to recall Parliament

"These people are being beheaded by people from IS, and our only response is to drop some food or water on them," the Bournemouth West MP said.

The former head of the army, Lord Dannatt, also backed a parliamentary recall, insisting Britain was "watching in horror" as atrocities were committed.

"In the face of a crisis of this scale, with the potential for so much human misery, this is not the moment for decision-makers to be on holiday," he wrote in the Sunday Telegraph.

Yesterday, Downing Street announced that more UK advisers were being sent to the under-threat city of Irbil to help deal with the developing crisis.

The US has been carrying out airstrikes to protect the area, which is a Kurdish stronghold and major centre for the country's oil trade.

Overnight, US military planes conducted a fourth air drop of food and water for civilians besieged by jihadists on Mount Sinjar.

A C-17 and three C-130 cargo aircraft dropped 88 bundles of supplies that will provide "food and water for thousands of Iraqi citizens".

The militants have driven as many as 150,000 Yazidis from their homes into the Sinjar mountains, where they are cut off from food and water.

The jihadists have also kidnapped 300 women as slaves.

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Medics Desperate To Help Paralysed Gaza Girl

By Katie Stallard, Sky Correspondent, in Gaza

Maha is seven years old and paralysed from the neck down.

Her mother and sister were killed in the airstrike on their house. She remembers everything about it.

She told Sky News: "We were sitting at home when we heard the noise. So we went down under the stairs.

"This is where we were injured. Some of us stayed alive, some of us died.

"Those who stayed alive were injured, all the family was injured.

"Me and my mother were injured, and we knew if we stayed like this we would die. But my mother stayed at home and she died."

Maha watches everything around her, she understands what is being said, but she doesn't understand why she can't move her arms and legs.

She said: "I feel like I can't do anything with my body. And when I move like this I can't feel my body moving."

She has been like this for 22 days now.

Her family tells her that she will get better, but any real hope of that depends on urgent treatment abroad.

Mahasen Sheikh Khalil, her aunt, explained: "She doesn't know that she could stay paralysed like this.

"She's waiting to go for treatment abroad so she might get well.

"She says to me, 'Aunt, if I can move my hand then I can eat by myself. I just want to stand up, move and play.'"

The family has been told there are three hospitals willing to treat Maha - in Germany, Turkey, and the US - and a sponsor has agreed to cover the cost.

But they need to get her our of Gaza first, and they are still waiting for permission from Israel.

Palestinian aid workers are trying to help, but the sad truth is there are other children like Maha here, all of whom need equally immediate care.

Her doctor, neurosurgeon Basil Baker at al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, told us that with every day that goes by, her chances of nerve recovery fade.

He explained: "Her lower limbs are lost. The recovery for the upper limbs is the aim.

"If she remains here and gets an infection, it will be difficult to treat.

"This means that she will be worse, we will not have any chance for any nerve recovery."

He hopes that she might be eligible for stem cell therapy in the future.

At the very least, he said, she deserves to be registered as a possible candidate.

Maha has already lived through three wars - she has learned how to be brave.

She has also learned how to hate.

"I would love the Israelis to die so I can stay alive," she said.

"So nobody else from our side would be killed. Because they killed and injured a lot of us."

Maha used to want to be a doctor when she grew up, now she wants to be in the resistance.

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Gaza Negotiators In Talks As Ceasefire Holds

An Israeli delegation has arrived in Cairo for negotiations over a durable truce in Gaza, after a ceasefire held overnight.

The 72-hour ceasefire began at midnight (10pm UK time).

The talks in Cairo, which include indirect negotiations with the Palestinians, are aimed at securing a lasting end to the month-long conflict.

A Palestinian woman returns to her destroyed home during a 72-hour truce

As the Israelis arrived in Cairo, a Palestinian delegation was already locked in talks with Egyptian intelligence mediators, who will relay their demands to the Israeli negotiators.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hopes the break will provide a "chance to agree on a durable ceasefire for the benefit of all civilian populations".

Since the last truce broke on Friday, warplanes have reportedly hit more than 170 targets in Gaza, killing at least 19 Palestinians.

Those injured include seven-year-old Maha, who was paralysed from the neck down in an airstrike that killed her family and who doctors are hoping to evacuate for specialist treatment.

Meanwhile, militants fired at least 136 rockets at Israel. Some 93 hit, according to the army.

The death toll since Israel launched its military campaign on July 8 topped 2,000 on Sunday - 1,939 Palestinians and 67 on the Israeli side.

The break in fire will allow Gazans to stock up on supplies and recover the dead buried beneath rubble.

10,000 homes have been destroyed since July 8

Many Palestinians can only return to piles of rubble as more than 10,000 homes have been destroyed and the livelihoods of 300,000 people ruined.

Almost a third of the population - 500,000 people - are displaced within Gaza.

Preliminary reports say rebuilding Gaza will cost up to £4.8bn, according to the UN.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal said for the ceasefire to hold, Israel must end its blockade of the Gaza Strip and reopen the seaport.

Israel's campaign has been aimed at destroying Hamas' infrastructure, including its network of tunnels under the Gaza-Israel border intended for staging attacks in the Israeli territory.

Gazans inspect the damage after Israel's weekend bombardment

Away from Gaza, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy was apparently shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.

Mohammed Khalil al Anati was killed in Al Fawwar refugee camp, southwest of the city of Hebron, a medical official said.

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Palestinian Boy Killed As Peace Talks On Brink

An 11-year-old Palestinian boy has reportedly been shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank as talks aimed at ending the violence in Gaza are on the verge of collapsing.

Mohammed Khalil al Anati was killed in Al Fawwar refugee camp, southwest of the city of Hebron, a medical official told AFP news service.

The Israeli military said it was investigating reports the youngster was shot by one of its soldiers.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian delegation has threatened to walk out of discussions in Cairo unless the Israelis return to the table without conditions today.             

"Within the next 24 hours, the delegation's presence in Egypt will be determined," said Abu Marzouk, the deputy chairman of Hamas' political bureau.

Smoke rises from the coastal side of the Gaza Strip after an Israeli strike

Israel - whose delegation left Cairo after a 72-hour truce ended in bloodshed on Friday - has said it will not take part in talks while Hamas rocket attacks continue.

"Israel will not negotiate under fire," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after his weekly cabinet meeting today.

"At no stage did we declare (Israel's military offensive) was over. The operation will continue until its objective - the restoration of quiet over a protracted period - is achieved."

A man sits amid the ruins of his home in Gaza

The Palestinians blamed their decision to resume fire on Israel's refusal to end the blockade of Gaza and open a seaport.

Egyptian mediators have met separately with both sides at least three times this week.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama expressed "serious concern" about renewed hostilities in Gaza during a phone call on Saturday.

The leaders called on Israel to exercise "restraint".

Abu Marzouk says the Palestinian delegation is ready to walk away

A Downing Street spokesman said: "They agreed that Israel has a right to defend itself but it should do so in a way that exercises restraint and Israeli forces must take utmost care to avoid civilian casualties.

"Both agreed that the priority must be to re-establish a ceasefire that paves the way for negotiations on a more lasting peace that allows both Israelis and Palestinians to live in safety alongside one another."

A boy surrounded by rumble in a bombed out Gaza street

The Israelis launched more than 30 air attacks in Gaza on Saturday, killing nine Palestinians, while militants continued to fire rockets into Israel.

A month after Israel launched its military campaign, nearly 1,900 Palestinians have been killed - mostly civilians.

Israel has lost 64 soldiers in combat, while three civilians have died from rocket fire into the country.

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