Large Earthquake Strikes Icelandic Volcano Site

A large earthquake has hit the Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland where authorities have been on high alert since a surge of small quakes this month.

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake was recorded under Bardarbunga's main volcano on Saturday - but there were no immediate signs of a fresh eruption.

The quake is the latest in a series of tremors which have sparked concerns there could be a similar eruption to the one that hit the country's Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010.

That eruption shut down much of Europe's airspace.

On Friday, there was a small eruption in a fissure in a glacier at the Holuhraun lava field around 25 miles from the main crater.

It caused the Icelandic Met Office to raise the aviation warning to red. It later reduced the alert level to orange and withdrew airspace restrictions after the eruption stopped.

Seismologist Martin Hensch said there were currently no signs of magma heading towards the surface, but added it was impossible to predict what would happen.

He said: "There are so many parameters in this system. We cannot make a forecast for the next hours or the next few days.

"So we have to continue to monitor and react to events when they happen."

Thousands of flights across Europe had to be cancelled during the 2010 eruption over fears volcanic ash could harm jet engines.

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Ebola Drug ZMapp 100% Effective In Monkey Trial

Experimental ebola drug ZMapp has cured all of the infected monkeys it was tested on, lifting hopes it could be used to fight West Africa's deadliest ever outbreak.

Scientists reported the drug healed all 18 monkeys who were given a lethal dose of the virus.

According to the study, published by the journal Nature, the monkeys were treated with ZMapp three to five days after they were infected and when most were showing symptoms. 

Even those suffering advanced symptoms like rashes, liver dysfunction and haemorrhaging and were just hours from death survived.

No other experimental ebola drug has ever shown success in primates so long after infection, with five days equal to between nine and 11 days after infection in humans. 

Three monkeys who were not offered the treatment, produced by San Diago-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, died by day eight.

Kent Brantly, the US doctor who survived ebola, was treated with ZMapp

"The level of improvement was utterly beyond my honest expectation," said one study leader, Gary Kobinger of the Public Health Agency of Canada in Winnipeg.

In a commentary published by Nature, virologist Thomas Geisbert of the University of Texas Medical Branch, described the results as a "monumental success."

It was the first time the drug was tested on primates.

Although it is not known whether the success will be replicated on people, who can take up to 21 days to show symptoms, Mapp has already begun producing more of the drug ready for scientific human testing.

The company has no more doses of ZMapp, which is grown in tobacco plants and takes several months to produce.

Ebola spread to a fifth African country on Friday

The final doses were given to seven people infected with the virus in recent weeks.

Two American aid workers were among five people who survived after being given the drug.

Their physicians do not know whether it was instrumental in their recovery as roughly half of those infected during West Africa's recent outbreak have recovered naturally.

A Liberian doctor infected with the virus died this week despite being given the drug, as did a Spanish priest.

It comes after researchers revealed the outbreak may have started at a funeral in Sierra Leone.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 1,552 people of 3,069 confirmed ebola cases have died. 

WHO says there could be as many as 20,000 cases before the virus is brought under control. 

There is no approved vaccine or treatment beyond keeping patients hydrated and nourished. 

The virus spread to a fifth African country on Friday, with Senegal reporting that a university student who had travelled from Guinea was being treated.

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Ukraine Says Russian Tanks Have Attacked Town

Russian tanks have attacked a town near the border city of Luhansk and forced Ukrainian forces to withdraw, according to the country's president.

Petro Poroshenko, speaking at a joint news conference in Brussels, said tanks had been used to "destroy virtually every house" in the town of Novosvitlivka.

He added that there were now thousands of foreign troops and hundreds of foreign tanks inside Ukraine.

In a tweet, Kiev's defence and security council said: "Direct military aggression against eastern Ukraine is continuing."

Satellite imagery reportedly shows Russian military vehicles inside Ukraine

It comes as David Cameron is set to urge European leaders to increase pressure during a summit in the Belgian capital later on Saturday.

Jose Manuel Barroso, European Commission President, told the news conference the EU was ready to defend its principles in the Ukraine conflict against apparent Russian involvement.

He said: "Russia should not underestimate the European Union's will and resolve to stand by its principles and values."

This image shows trucks and armoured vehicles near the Russia border

He added the EU was ready to take "strong and clear measures", but was "keeping our doors open to a political solution".

Mr Cameron will later call for closer alignment between EU sanctions and those imposed by the US and Canada.

These include measures against specific Russian firms in banking and energy sectors.

Nato released images apparently showing Russian forces on the ground in eastern Ukraine.

Government sources said separatists are believed to have heavy weaponry supplied by President Vladimir Putin.

Included in the weaponry are 100 tanks and artillery pieces, anti-tank weapons and shoulder-mounted missile launchers, the sources said.

Barack Obama said the satellite pictures made it "plain" that Russia had "deliberately and repeatedly violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine".

He said: "The violence is encouraged by Russia. The separatists are trained by Russia, they are armed by Russia, they are funded by Russia."

Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said: "Despite Moscow's hollow denials, it is now clear that Russian troops and equipment have illegally crossed the border into eastern and south-eastern Ukraine.

"Russian forces are engaged in direct military operations inside Ukraine."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk has said he will ask parliament to drop the country's non-aligned status and apply to join Nato.

This has previously been dismissed as unacceptable by Russia.

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Fort Hood Gunman Wants To Become IS Citizen

The US Army psychiatrist convicted for the Fort Hood shooting rampage has reportedly written to the Islamic State leader saying he wants to become a "citizen" of the caliphate.

Major Nidal Hasan was sentenced to death last year for the shooting at the Texas military base that left 13 dead and 30 wounded.

In his letter to IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, Hasan wrote: "I formally and humbly request to be made a citizen of the Islamic State."

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi

"It would be an honor for any believer to be an obedient citizen soldier to a people and its leader who don't compromise the religion of All-Mighty Allah to get along with the disbelievers," he wrote, according to Fox News and other reports.

The letter was released by his lawyer, John Galligan.

Hasan opened fire on troops who were getting final medical check-ups before deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan at Fort Hood in 2009.

He acknowledged during his trial that he pulled the trigger.

He called himself a soldier who had "switched sides" in a war and justified the shooting as necessary to protect insurgents against American aggression in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

IS has declared a caliphate, spanning across parts of Iraq and Syria

US and other Western officials have described the IS, an Islamist extremist group that broke away from al Qaeda, as the biggest threat to security since the September 11 attacks.

At least one American citizen, Douglas McCain, is believed to have died  fighting for the IS in Syria and officials are looking into reports that a second may also have been killed.

According to the New York Times, US intelligence has identified a dozen Americans who have travelled to the region to fight alongside the Sunni militant group.

The newspaper said IS was able to draw increasing number of recruits because it has seized large swathes of territory, where it imposes strict Islamic rule.

IS declared the establishment of a caliphate in June.

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Islamic State's Warning To Kurdish Fighters

Islamic State militants have released a video which appears to show a Kurdish man being beheaded in Iraq.

The six-minute video is titled "A Message in Blood" and shows men wearing orange jumpsuits who are said to be Kurdish fighters captured by IS.

One man is later seen kneeling outside a mosque in the city of Mosul before he is beheaded.

The jihadists have warned that the other fighters will be killed if Kurdish leaders continue to back the US.

One of the captured men said: "Any mistake or recklessness from you will lead to the (loss) of our life."

It comes after President Barack Obama called for a coalition of countries prepared to take military action against IS.

The new video shows captured Kurdish fighters wearing orange jump-suits

Mr Obama said the US was working to get more countries on board in order to strike at the jihadist group.

He said: "We are going to work politically and diplomatically with folks in the region, and we're going to cobble together the kind of coalition that we need for a long-term strategy as soon as we are able to fit together the military, political and economic components of that strategy."

Mr Obama played down the prospect of imminent US military action in Syria, saying "we don't have a strategy yet", but said it was time for Middle Eastern nations to "stop being ambivalent".

France has already ruled itself out. The UK has so far provided humanitarian assistance and Prime Minister David Cameron has said he does not want troops on the ground.

On Thursday, another IS video emerged showing hundreds of "executed" Syrian soldiers.

The soldiers were captured at the weekend when the Sunni militants seized an air base in the province of Raqqa, in northern Syria.

An earlier video showed Syrian men being made to march in their underwear

The Reuters news agency said the video, which was posted on YouTube and shows dozens of bodies, had been confirmed as genuine by an IS fighter.

"Yes we have executed them all," he said.

The video shows the bodies of scores of men wearing nothing but their underwear lying face down. The line of bodies appears to be dozens of metres long.

A caption written underneath says: "The 250 shabeeha taken captive by the Islamic State from Tabqa in Raqqa have been executed."

Shabeeha is the name of armed militia forces loyal to President Bashar al Assad. Tabqa is the location of the Syrian airbase captured by IS in the last few days.

The head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights later confirmed that Syrian soldiers had been "executed" at three different places, resulting in the deaths of at least 160.

Rami Abdel Rahman said it had happened after jihadists defeated the 1,400-strong garrison at Tabqa, of whom 200 were killed in fighting, 700 escaped and dozens of the remainder were captured as they fled.

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Putin: Ukraine Assault Like Nazis In WW2

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Ukraine's assault on its eastern cities is reminiscent of the Nazi siege of Leningrad.

He urged Kiev to begin "substantive" negotiations with the separatists to achieve peace, adding that Russians and Ukrainians are "practically one people".

"It is necessary to force the Ukrainian authorities to substantively begin these talks - not on technical issues… the talks must be substantive," Mr Putin told a youth camp outside Moscow.

He also said Russia needed to strengthen its position in the Arctic, including economically and politically.

Earlier Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed claims that its troops are fighting in eastern Ukraine as "conjecture".

Mr Lavrov: 'No proof of Russian involvement'

"We're hearing various conjectures, not for the first time, but not once have any facts been presented to us," he said at a news conference.

Mr Lavrov was speaking after the US accused Russia of lying about its involvement in Ukraine and warned of tougher economic sanctions.

Speaking at the White House, President Barack Obama said Russia has been supporting pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine "for months".

He ruled out any direct US military intervention but said Russia would incur "more costs and consequences".

Mr Obama: 'There will be consequences'

"The separatists are backed, trained, armed, financed by Russia. Russia determined that it had to be a little more overt in what it had already been doing, but it's not really a shift," Mr Obama said.

Kiev said on Friday a call by Russian President Vladimir Putin for separatists to open a 'humanitarian corridor' to allow encircled Ukrainian troops to withdraw was further proof they were "led and controlled directly from the Kremlin".

"I'm calling on insurgents to open a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian troops who were surrounded in order to avoid senseless deaths," Mr Putin said in a statement.

He went on to praise the pro-Russian separatists whom he described as "insurgents" for "undermining Kiev's military operation which threatened lives of the residents of Donbass and has already led to a colossal death toll among civilians."

A satellite image allegedly showing a Russian military incursion in Ukraine

It is thought Mr Putin was referring to Ukrainian troops who have been trapped outside the strategic town of Ilovaysk, east of Donetsk, for nearly a week.

A top insurgent in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk promptly reacted to Mr Putin's appeal but said the Ukrainian troops would have to lay down their arms before they were allowed to go.

"We are ready to open humanitarian corridors to the Ukrainian troops who were surrounded with the condition that they surrender heavy weaponry and ammunition so that this weaponry and ammunition will not be used against us in future," Alexander Zakharchenko said on Russia's state Rossiya 24 television.

Ten Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 30 wounded in fighting with pro-Russian separatists in the past 24 hours, Kiev's security and defence council said on Friday.

Fighting has intensified since the rebels - allegedly helped by Russian soldiers - opened a new front just as Ukraine's army had virtually surrounded their main strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The casualty figure was released after the UN revealed a total of 2,593 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since the fighting erupted in mid-April.

It said the number included civilians as well as Ukrainian and separatist combatants, but not the 298 victims of the MH17 Malaysian Airlines plane crash.

Nato is due to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis later today, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said an EU summit on Saturday would discuss the prospect of further sanctions.

Fast food chain McDonalds has said 12 of its branches in Russia have been closed temporarily and that more than 100 inspections are under way. 

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Ebola Outbreak Could Infect 20,000 People

More than 20,000 people could become infected with the deadly ebola virus, the World Health Organisation says.

The UN health agency also warned that the actual number of current ebola cases in some hard-hit areas could be quadruple the existing estimate. 

In what amounted to be a bleak assessment of the disease, the WHO said it believed the virus was still being spread in a "substantial number of localities".

It also expressed concern at the unprecedented number of health workers who have been killed while treating patients.

Delivering its recommendations on how to stop the spread of ebola, the WHO added: "Response activities must be adapted in areas of very intense transmission and particular attention must be given to stopping transmission in capital cities and major ports, thereby facilitating the larger response and relief effort."

The outbreak has put immense strain on medical resources in West Africa

Of the 3,069 cases reported since the outbreak began, 40% of them have emerged in the past three weeks, according to the latest figures.

Its update on the outbreak came shortly after GlaxoSmithKline announced it was forming a new consortium to accelerate development of a vaccine to treat ebola.

Developed in partnership with the US National Institute of Health, it is set to be tested on healthy human volunteers within the next couple of weeks to see if it is safe and effective.

William Pooley, a health worker, was the first Briton to contract ebola

As the trials take place, the pharmaceuticals giant is set to manufacture 10,000 extra doses of the vaccine which can be used by the WHO if the clinical trials are successful.

Speaking in Geneva, the agency said it hopes to stop the spread of ebola across West Africa in the next nine to six months, with a particular focus on ensuring the virus doesn't spread internationally.

Assistant director-general Dr Bruce Aylward said plan will cost £300m to implement, with 12,750 health workers needed around the globe to tend to patients.

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Cops Kill TV Crew Member During Robbery

A crew member with the long-running TV show Cops has been shot dead by police while recording officers trying to foil a robbery.

Sound operator Bryce Dion, 38, died from a gunshot wound when police opened fire, hitting him by mistake.

The robbery suspect, 32-year-old Cortez Washington, was also shot dead by police.

The incident began when a police officer responded to a request for back up at a Wendy's store in Omaha, Nebraska.

Two Cops crew members were with the officer, and accompanied police as they entered the restaurant.

As police confronted the suspect, Mr Dion, who was wearing a bullet-proof vest, became separated from his cameraman.

Officers then fired upon Washington as he fled the restaurant. He collapsed and died of his injuries.

Police later discovered that Washington was armed with a pellet gun, which officers thought was a real handgun.

The robbery suspect, Cortez Washington, was also shot dead by police

Police Chief Todd Schmaderer told a press conference that during the gunfight, a single bullet also struck Mr Dion's arm, "slipped into a gap in the vest" and went into his chest.

Mr Schmaderer defended the actions of police, saying his officers reacted properly.

"My concern with my officers is that they are taking this very hard. Bryce was their friend," he said.

Cops is a Fox reality TV programme which shows law enforcement officers in action. It has been filmed in at least 140 US cities.

The executive producer of Langley Productions, which carries out work for the show, said the crew only had one week of filming left when the shooting occurred.

"Bryce has been with us for seven years. This is very hard for us," said Morgan Langley.

In 2010, a TV crew for the reality show The First 48 filmed a Detroit police raid in which a seven-year-old girl was accidentally killed by police.

The incident highlighted concerns about whether TV cameras influence the behaviour of police by encouraging showboating.

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Ukraine: Russia Has 'Entered' The Country

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says Russian troops have entered the country.

He has cancelled a working trip to Turkey and called an emergency meeting of Ukraine's security and defence council.

Mr Poroshenko said it followed "the rapidly deteriorating situation in Donetsk region, in particular in Amvrosiyivka and Starobesheve, as Russian troops have actually been brought into Ukraine".

Earlier the security and defence council said the border town of Novoazovsk and other parts of Ukraine's south-east had fallen under the control of Russian forces who were staging a counter-offensive with rebels.

A worried-looking Petro Poroshenko

"A counter-offensive by Russian troops and separatist units is continuing in south-east Ukraine," the council said in a post on Twitter.

It said Ukrainian government forces had withdrawn from Novoazovsk "to save their lives" and were now reinforcing troops in the port city of Mariupol.

It added that Russian forces and separatists were combining to launch attacks on Ilovaysk and Shakhtarsk, east of Donetsk.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of having "deliberately unleashed a war in Europe" and called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting, a called echoed by Lithuania.

Ukrainian troops on their way to Novoazovsk on Tuesday

The US ambassador to Ukraine has said Russian troops have been directly involved in the fighting.

"An increasing number of Russian troops are intervening directly in fighting on Ukrainian territory," Geoffrey Pyatt wrote on Twitter.

"Russia has also sent its newest air defence systems including the SA-22 into eastern Ukraine and is now directly involved in the fighting."

On Wednesday a top rebel leader, Alexander Zakharchenko, admitted Russian troops were fighting alongside his insurgents, but said they were on "holiday" after volunteering to join the battle.

Mr Putin and Mr Poroshenko at 'peace' talks in Minsk on Tuesday

There has been increasing concern in Kiev and the West of Russia's direct involvement in the conflict -- a charge Moscow has repeatedly denied.

The spiralling tensions come two days after Mr Poroshenko and Mr Putin held their first talks in three months but made little progress despite talk of a peace roadmap.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has demanded an explanation from Mr Putin over the reports about Russian troops, while French President Francois Hollande has warned their involvement would be "intolerable and unacceptable".

The European security body OSCE had begun a special meeting to discuss "Russia violations in Ukraine" just hours before the latest developments. 

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Ukraine: The Story On The Russian Soldiers

Russian Paratroopers 'Captured' In Ukraine

Updated: 4:49pm UK, Tuesday 26 August 2014

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have sat down for talks - hours after video footage of captured Russian soldiers risked inflaming tensions between the two countries.

The two leaders met alongside senior EU officials in Belarus, where Mr Putin said the conflict in eastern Ukraine would not be solved by a military escalation in the region. 

Mr Poroshenko said the talks would decide "the fate of Europe and the world".

The Russian president's conciliatory words came after Ukraine presented fresh evidence suggesting Russian military activity within Ukraine.

Ukraine's security service (UBS) released video footage purportedly showing 10 Russian paratroopers who were captured by the army in the war-torn east of the country.

The UBS said it had opened a criminal probe after soldiers from the 98th airborne division based in central Russia were detained near the village of Dzerkalne, around 30 miles (50km) from rebel-held Donetsk.

A Ukrainian military spokesman said the men were on a "special mission".

But Russian military sources quoted by state news agencies have claimed the soldiers crossed the border by mistake.

In footage posted on the official Facebook page of the Ukrainian government's "anti-terrorist operation", the men were shown dressed in camouflage fatigues.

One of them, who identified himself as Ivan Melchyakov, listed his personal details, including the name of the paratroop regiment he said is based in the Russian town of Kostroma.

"I did not see where we crossed the border. They just told us we were going on a 70-kilometre march over three days," he said.

"Everything is different here, not like they show it on television. We've come as cannon fodder," he said in the video.

Ukraine's Defence Minister Valeriy Geletey said the soldiers were captured on Monday.

"Officially they are at exercises in various corners of Russia.

"In reality, they are participating in military aggression against Ukraine and their families know nothing about their true fate.

"I am addressing the relatives of Russian servicemen: find out immediately where your loved ones are. Take them out of Ukraine, where they are being forced to die."

US National Security Adviser Susan Rice slammed Russia over the incident, branding the latest apparent incursion "dangerous and inflammatory" on Twitter.

At the talks in Minsk, Mr Poroshenko said the only way to end the bloodshed in eastern Ukraine was through effective border controls with Russia, halting arms supplies to rebels and releasing prisoners of war.

Mr Putin said Moscow would retaliate if a trade pact between Ukraine and the EU gave European goods a back door to Russian markets - a move he said that would cost his economy 100bn roubles (£1.6bn)

Even as the Ukrainian president landed outside Minsk earlier on Tuesday, his country's military said an attack by Russian separatists on the town of Novoazovsk was ongoing.

A spokesman said a hospital was on fire and 12 Ukrainian service personnel had been killed in the last 24 hours - while government forces had destroyed 12 armoured infantry carriers in the area using artillery and aircraft.

Kiev has accused its neighbour of stoking the separatist insurgency but this is the first time authorities have claimed to have captured Russian soldiers.

Moscow continues to deny any involvement in the rebellion.

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Ukraine-Russia Talks Yield No Breakthrough

Talks between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia have ended without a major breakthrough towards ending fighting between government forces and pro-Moscow separatists.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin sat down for one-on-one talks in Belarus, hours after Kiev said it had captured 10 Russian paratroopers on its territory.

Mr Poroshenko said there were "some results" but there seemed to be no significant compromises to help end four months of fighting in east Ukraine that has left more than 2,000 dead and forced more than 400,000 people from their homes.

Russia has long been accused by Kiev of backing the separatists, charges Moscow has repeatedly denied.

Mr Putin has faced criticism from Ukraine and the West over the crisis

Mr Putin said he would "do everything" to help a future peace process but did little to ease tensions when he shrugged off the claims about the paratroopers.

"I have not yet received a report from the defence ministry. But from what I have heard, they were patrolling the border and could have ended up on Ukrainian territory," Mr Putin said, adding that Ukrainian troops had previously crossed into Russia.

Mr Poroshenko (right) demanded action, not words, to end the fighting

"I am hoping that there won't be any problems with the Ukrainian side over this case."

Military sources in Moscow said they crossed over the border "by accident".

Ukraine's military released footage purporting to show the captured paratroopers, who were detained around 30 miles (50km) southeast of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.

The two leaders also discussed aid to the east and the gas dispute

At the talks all sides "without exception" agreed to a Kiev peace plan, Mr Poroshenko said, but he demanded "decisive actions", not words, afterwards.

But Mr Putin said only Kiev can agree a ceasefire with the separatists, insisting: "This is not our business. This is Ukraine's business."

Moscow could only "create an atmosphere of trust for this important and necessary process", he claimed.

One of the Russian paratroopers Kiev claims to have captured

Russia's decision to send an aid convoy to east Ukraine last week also raised tensions, but Mr Putin claimed to have "reached certain" agreements at the talks on sending aid there.

Moscow announced on Monday it was planning to send a second convoy to the area this week.

Mr Putin also said the two countries agreed to restart gas talks after Moscow turned off the taps to Kiev over a pricing dispute.

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UN Says Syria May Have Used Chemical Weapons

A United Nations report has accused Syria of using chemical weapons eight times in April - and highlights mass atrocities by Islamic State militants.

The report by the independent Commission of Inquiry said it believed chlorine, dispatched in barrel bombs, was the agent used on multiple occasions.

It came amid reports that Syrian rebels had seized control of the Syrian crossing with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there had been heavy fighting between the rebels, including the al Qaeda affiliated al Nusra Front, and army forces.

An Israeli army officer stationed in the Golan Heights has been injured after errant fire, sources said.   

The UN's 45-page report accused the Syrian regime of dropping barrel bombs on residential areas and highlighted atrocities meted out by Islamic State members. 

Islamic State fighters in northern Raqqa province

"Reasonable grounds exist to believe that chemical agents, likely chlorine, were used on (northern Syrian villages) Kafr Zeita, al Tamana and Tal Minnis in eight incidents within a 10-day period in April," it said.

"Witnesses saw helicopters drop barrel bombs and smelled a scent akin to domestic chlorine immediately following impact," it pointed out.

Victims suffered "symptoms compatible with exposure to chemical agents, namely vomiting, eye and skin irritation, choking and other respiratory problems".

President Assad was sworn in for another seven years in July

It marks the first time the UN has assigned blame for the use of the chemical agent. 

Bashar al Assad and the opposition have accused each other of using chemical agents, including chlorine, in the bloody uprising, that began in March 2011.

The report on the human rights situation also found that public executions, as well as amputations, lashing and mock crucifixions regularly take place on Fridays in parts of Syria controlled by Islamic State (IS).

In the document, the panel described beheadings of boys as young as 15, men flogged for things like smoking or accompanying an "improperly dressed" female relative, and women publicly lashed for not following the group's strict dress code.

IS, which declared a "caliphate" in an area stretching across northern Iraq and eastern Syria, is also recruiting and training children as young as 10, with teens being used in active combat and suicide-bombing missions, the report said.

"This is a continuation - and a geographic expansion - of the widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population," according to the report of the four-member commission that is chaired by Brazilian diplomat and scholar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.

The commission was created three years ago by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate abuses committed in the war, which is estimated to have killed nearly 200,000 people.

It will present to the council next month its latest report covering a litany of war crimes and crimes against humanity it says were carried out by the Syrian government, IS and opposition groups.

Syria has said it is ready to cooperate with the international community in the fight against the militants who have taken over areas straddling both Iraq and Syria.

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Gaza High-Rise Blocks Wrecked By Airstrikes

Israeli airstrikes have destroyed much of one of Gaza's tallest apartment blocks.

Palestinian officials said 70 families lived in the block, known as the Italian Complex, which also housed offices and a shopping centre.

Gaza's health ministry said 25 people were injured.

Hundreds of people living nearby have been evacuated because of fears that the remaining part of the structure could collapse.

Another of Gaza's tallest blocks - the Basha Tower - was completely destroyed.

The buildings were evacuated before they were hit because warnings were issued by Israel, which said it had only targeted sites linked to militants.

Rockets fired from Gaza at Israel badly damaged a house

The Gaza government said at least nine people were killed in Israeli airstrikes elsewhere in the territory.

Israel said eight rockets had been fired at its territory from Gaza overnight. More rockets were also fired at it from across the Lebanese border, it said.

One of the rockets from Gaza injured up to a dozen people in Ashkelon and badly damaged a house.

It followed a day in which 130 rockets were fired from Gaza.

Israel said on Tuesday it had carried out 15 airstrikes in Gaza overnight. It also released a video showing targets where it said militants had been operating from.

The rocket strike on Ashkelon left more than a dozen injured

The latest strikes came as Egypt urged Israel and Hamas to restart indirect talks on establishing a permanent ceasefire.

Negotiators have been using the Egyptians as go-betweens to discuss the future of the blockade on Gaza, which Israel says is necessary to limit what it describes as terrorist attacks from the territory.

The Egyptians have suggested a gradual easing of restrictions on trade and movement in and out of Gaza and in exchange for giving Hamas' Palestinian rival, President Mahmoud Abbas, a foothold in the territory.

Hamas seized Gaza from Mr Abbas in 2007, triggering the blockade. Hamas and Israel blamed each other for delaying agreement.

At least 2,133 Palestinians have been killed in the latest conflict and more than 11,000 wounded, according to Palestinian health officials.

The UN estimates that more than 17,000 homes have been destroyed, leaving 100,000 people homeless.

A cat among the ruins of the Basha Tower

Israel says 68 of its citizens have been killed, all but four of them soldiers.

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Captured Russians: 'We Are Here As Cannon Meat'

Ukraine's security service has released video footage purportedly showing 10 Russian paratroopers who were captured by the army in the war-torn east of the country.

The UBS said it had opened a criminal probe after soldiers from the 98th airborne division based in central Russia were detained near the village of Dzerkalne, around 30 miles (50km) from rebel-held Donetsk.

A Ukrainian military spokesman said the men were on a "special mission".

But Russian military sources quoted by state news agencies have claimed the soldiers crossed the border by mistake.

Ukraine's President Poroshenko has arrived in Belarus for crucial talks

In footage posted on the official Facebook page of the Ukrainian government's "anti-terrorist operation," the men were shown dressed in camouflage fatigues.

One of them, who identified himself as Ivan Melchyakov, listed his personal details, including the name of the paratroop regiment he said is based in the Russian town of Kostroma.

"I did not see where we crossed the border. They just told us we were going on a 70-kilometre march over three days," he said.

"Everything is different here, not like they show it on television. We've come as cannon fodder," he said in the video.

Ukraine's Defence Minister Valeriy Geletey said the soldiers were captured on Monday.

"Officially they are at exercises in various corners of Russia.

Separatists walk in front of garages set ablaze by shelling in Donetsk

"In reality, they are participating in military aggression against Ukraine and their families know nothing about their true fate.

"I am addressing the relatives of Russian servicemen: find out immediately where your loved ones are. Take them out of Ukraine, where they are being forced to die."

The videos emerged as Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko prepares to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the first time in months alongside top EU officials.

Even as the Ukrainian president landed outside Minsk, his country's military said an attack by Russian separatists on the town of Novoazovsk was ongoing.

A spokesman said a hospital was on fire and 12 Ukrainian service personnel had been killed in the last 24 hours - while government forces had destroyed 12 armoured infantry carriers in the area using artillery and aircraft.

Ukrainian soldiers inspect their bus, which was destroyed in fighting

Kiev also claimed four guards were killed in an attack on a border post by Russian MI-24 helicopters on Monday.

Mr Poroshenko has pledged to "talk peace" with President Putin, but insists the withdrawal of pro-Kremlin forces is the only way to end the conflict.

Kiev has accused its neighbour of stoking the separatist insurgency but this is the first time authorities have claimed to have captured Russian soldiers.

Moscow continues to deny any involvement in the rebellion.

Russian tanks and armoured vehicles are reported to have crossed the border near the towns of Shcherbak and Novoazovsk.

Associated Press reporters say they saw three similar military convoys driving through the town of Krasnodon last week, coming from the direction of Russia.

Mr Poroshneko has dissolved Ukraine's parliament and called early elections, accusing some politicians of supporting the rebels in the conflict, which has left more than 2,000 dead.

"Snap parliament polls are part of my peace plan," he said, adding a change of leadership was vital to stop the fighting.

Meanwhile, Moscow has announced plans to send another aid convoy into eastern Ukraine "this week".

Russia unilaterally sent about 230 lorries carrying what it claimed was 1,800 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the rebel-held city of Luhansk on Friday.

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US Launches Surveillance Flights Over Syria

The US has begun surveillance flights over Syria, a move that could pave the way for airstrikes against Islamic State militant targets there.

President Barack Obama has authorised the missions in order to garner reliable intelligence in Syria.

The intelligence and surveillance flights include drones, which are unmanned, as well as manned aircraft. The AP news agency said the flights got under way early on Tuesday.

The US had already run some surveillance missions over Syria, but the current wave appears to focus on IS sites as possible targets.

The White House has said that Mr Obama has not approved military action inside Syria, but Pentagon officials have been drafting potential options for the president, including airstrikes.

Mr Obama has been wary of any military intervention in Syria

Mr Obama has long resisted taking military action in Syria, even as the US began strikes against the Islamist group inside Iraq earlier this month.

He is wary of involvement in a country ravaged by a protracted civil war.

Mr Obama is also concerned launching airstrikes against the militants could unintentionally help embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose regime the US has denounced.

Syria said on Monday any US airstrikes without consent from Damascus would be considered an aggression.

But Mr Obama's resolve to go after IS, the militant group formerly known as ISIS and ISIL, appears to have strengthened in recent weeks.

He has cited the threat to American personnel in the country and a humanitarian crisis.

The US has also been shaken by the beheading of American journalist James Foley by an IS militant.

James Foley, 40, was remembered in a memorial service on Monday

The group is also threatening to kill Steven Sotloff, another American journalist, and other US citizens held captive in Syria.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week IS would eventually need to be addressed on "both sides of what is essentially at this point a non-existent border" between Syria and Iraq.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest insisted on Monday the president has demonstrated his willingness to order military action when necessary to protect American citizens.

"That is true without regard to international boundaries," he said.

The US ran surveillance missions over Syria ahead of an attempted mission to rescue Mr Foley and other US hostages this summer.

That mission failed, possibly due to imprecise intelligence, as the hostages had already been transferred by the time the special forces launched the raid.

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Kidnappers Release US Journalist In Syria

Kidnappers in Syria have released a US journalist who was abducted in 2012.

The United Nations (UN) confirmed Peter Theo Curtis, 45, was transferred to its peacekeeping force in the disputed Golan Heights region.

"After receiving a medical check-up, Mr Curtis was handed over to representatives of his government," the UN statement said.

Al Jazeera reported that the move followed diplomacy from Qatar.

US reporter James Foley

It comes six days after the Islamic State (IS) released a video of US reporter James Foley being beheaded in Iraq.

The UK says it is edging closer to identifying the apparently-British killer.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "Particularly after a week marked by unspeakable tragedy, we are all relieved and grateful knowing that Theo Curtis is coming home.

A map showing IS territory

"Over these last two years, the United States reached out to more than two dozen countries asking for urgent help from anyone who might have tools, influence, or leverage to help secure Theo's release and the release of any Americans held hostage in Syria."

Steven Sotloff is being held by IS in Iraq

The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists estimates that about 20 journalists are missing in Syria. Many of them are believed to be held by IS.

Mr Kerry said: "Every diplomatic, intelligence and military tool" is being used to secure the release of other American hostages.

A Qatari source told Reuters that "any captives with (Islamic State) will be very difficult for Qatar to free, while others with different groups would be easier".

IS has threatened to kill another US reporter, Steven Sotloff, if airstrikes sanctioned by President Barack Obama in Iraq continue.

Mr Curtis, who is from Boston and has written books under the name Theo Padnos, was abducted near the Syria-Turkey border in October 2012

In a video statement released by kidnappers during his captivity, Mr Curtis said he "had everything" he needed and "everything has been perfect, food, clothing, even friends now".

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Teen's Dad Calls For Peace Ahead Of Funeral

Timeline Of Missouri Unrest

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

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

Here is a timeline:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Justice Department announces an investigation.

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

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

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

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

Protests continue.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Violent protests resume.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Ukraine Troops Battle Rebel Armoured Convoy

Ukraine says its forces have clashed with a rebel armoured column it claims crossed the border from Russia.

The military said border guards were engaged in a battle with around 50 vehicles, including tanks, near the southeastern town of Novoazovsk, as it headed toward the port city of Mariupol.

The latest violence came as Moscow announced plans to send a second controversial aid convoy to rebel-held eastern Ukraine in a move which threatens to further escalate the bloody conflict.

There was heavy criticism of an earlier unauthorised Russian convoy

An earlier column of more than 200 trucks sent across the border by Moscow, with a cargo of what was said to be aid, without permission was branded by the government in Kiev as a "direct invasion", and was heavily criticised by the West.

There are concerns the aid convoy is a move to assist the insurgency or be used as a pretext to invade, but Russia insists it is to help the stricken region.

The continuing unrest comes on the eve of crucial talks between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents on Tuesday in a bid to find a diplomatic solution to defuse tensions, and end the deadly crisis.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the aim was to "help Ukrainians agree among themselves".

But at the same time he ramped up tensions with plans to send a second aid convoy to eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian prisoners were displayed in Donetsk in mockery of a Kiev parade

Mr Lavrov said: "The humanitarian situation is not improving but deteriorating."

Kiev is also likely to have been antagonised by Mr Lavrov's comments that there was nothing demeaning about parading Ukrainian prisoners through the rebel-held city of Donetsk.

There was condemnation after pro-Russian separatists displayed captives before baying crowds in mockery of the country's Independence Day celebrations in Kiev.

The captives were followed by rubbish trucks to "clean" where they had walked.

Germany has said it was quite likely a war crime.

A foreign ministry spokesman said: "It is completely distasteful and it's just not done."

But Mr Lavrov said: "I saw images of that parade and I didn't see anything close to what could be considered as humiliating."

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UK Steps Up Help For Kurds Amid Massacre Fears

Britain will supply Kurdish forces with "non-lethal" equipment, including night-vision goggles and body armour, in their fight against militants in northern Iraq.

No 10 said the Government was stepping up its efforts to help defeat Islamic State (IS) by also appointing a special representative to the country's Kurdistan region.

Security envoy Lieutenant General Sir Simon Mayall will support Kurdish and wider Iraqi efforts to counter IS and work with Iraq's leaders as they try to establish a unity government.

He will travel to the country next week to meet political chiefs in Baghdad and the Kurdistan regional government in Irbil to encourage all sides to unite against IS, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL.

Some of the Kurdish forces who are taking on Islamic State

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said the Government was investing "significant resources" to tackle "a barbaric ideology".

And he warned that if the IS militants are not stopped in Iraq and Syria "sooner or later they will seek to strike us on British soil".

It comes as the United Nations warned of a "possible massacre" in an Iraqi town which has been besieged by IS insurgents.

The UN's special envoy to the country said immediate action was needed to protect 17,000 people in Amerli.

Nickolay Mladenov said reports "confirm that people are surviving in desperate conditions" and there is "unspeakable suffering".

Shia Turkmen residents of the town, in the Salaheddin province north of Baghdad, have been cut off from food and water supplies by IS for months.

An IS fighter in the city of Mosul

Sky's Stuart Ramsay, reporting from Kalar, about 25 miles from Amerli, said: "We understand the Iraqi military is north and south of the town and it is claimed they are attempting to get in to try and relieve the people who are in pretty terrible conditions.

"No food, no water and running very low on ammunition. How they have been holding out against IS I simply cannot imagine. I suspect IS have not tried to go in with any great force because they are well-organised and extremely well-armed."

Thousands of Kurdish peshmerga forces have been fighting Sunni extremists around northeastern towns including Jalula and Sa'dya, which have been controlled by IS for weeks.

Meanwhile, at least 30 people were killed on Saturday in explosions in Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk, where three blasts went off in a crowded commercial area.

In the capital, a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into the gate of the intelligence headquarters in the Karrada district - killing civilians and security personnel.

In Irbil, the capital of the Kurdistan region, local media said a car bomb had exploded.

After pouring in from Syria across a desert border that it does not recognise, IS has taken over large parts of both countries and declared its own caliphate.

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Video Shows Collapse Of 12-Storey Gaza Tower

Amateur video footage has emerged of the moment an apartment building in downtown Gaza City was hit by Israeli missiles.

Huge fireballs can be seen erupting after the missiles strike the 12-storey Zafer Tower, part of a group of high rises in the Tel al Hawa neighbourhood.

The building collapses in a cloud of smoke shortly afterwards.

Some 100,000 Gazans have become homeless, with more than 17,000 homes destroyed or damaged beyond repair so far during the conflict, says the UN.

However, Saturday's incident is the first time an entire apartment building has been destroyed.

Smoke billows from the collapsed apartments

The Israeli military said the target was a Hamas operations room in the building, but did not say why the whole tower with 44 apartments was brought down.

Police in Gaza said a warning missile was fired five minutes before impact and some residents were able to get out of the building in time.

Gaza hospital officials said 22 people were wounded, including 11 children and five women.

Resident Maher Abu Sedo said two strikes came within seconds of each other.

"People started shouting Allahu Akbar, and women and kids were screaming," he said.

A warning missile was fired by Israel five minutes before impact

"This is crazy. The state of Israel has resorted to madness.

"In less than a minute, 44 families have become displaced... They lost everything, their house, their money, their memories and their security."

Elsewhere in Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians in the enclave on Sunday as militants in Gaza kept up rocket fire.

The pace of Israeli raids was slower than Saturday when at least 60 strikes pounded Gaza.

They came after a shell from the territory hit a farming village in southern Israel and killed a four-year-old boy.

Firemen at the scene of the mortar attack that killed a four-year-old boy

Israeli media reported that many residents of communities near the Gaza border were leaving their homes to head for safer areas following the death in the Nahal Oz kibbutz.

Since the fighting began on July 8, Israel has launched some 5,000 airstrikes on Gaza, while militants have fired almost 4,000 rockets and mortars, according to Israel.

More than 2,100 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, have been killed, according to the UN and Palestinian health officials.

Sixty-four Israeli soldiers and four civilians have also died.

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Ukraine Military Parade On Independence Day

Ukraine is marking 24 years of independence from the Soviet Union with a military parade in Kiev - as fighting continues to rage in the east of the country between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has told a crowd of thousands in the capital Kiev that the country would face a military threat "for the foreseeable future", and pledged $3bn (£1.8bn) to re-equip his nation's forces.

President Petro Poroshenko has pledged to re-equip his nation's military

"It is clear that in the foreseeable future, unfortunately, a constant military threat will hang over Ukraine," he said.

"And we need to learn not only to live with this, but also to be always prepared to defend the independence of our country."

He added: "I am convinced that the battle for Ukraine, for independence, will be our success.

Wreaths were laid to those killed in the winter protests in Kiev

"War has come to us from over the horizon where it was never expected.

"In the 21st century, in the centre of Europe, there is a flagrant attempt to breach the border of a sovereign state without declaring war.

"It is as if the world has returned to the 1930s, the eve of World War II."

Wreaths were also laid to those killed in the winter protests which forced former pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych from power.

The bloody conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed an estimated 2,000 people

His overthrow led to the Russian invasion of Crimea, and triggered the current unrest in the east.

Many of those attending the event in Kiev wore the national colours of blue and yellow and sang the national anthem as the country's flag was raised.

Oleksandr Kaplya said: "It is a demonstration of the unity and independence of Ukraine. We want to show the world that we are one."

Shortly before the parade got under way, shelling struck a hospital in the rebel-held eastern city of Donetsk.

A hospital building in the rebel-held city of Donetsk was hit by shell fire

The morgue bore the brunt of the attack, taking a direct hit.

Stunned patients, being treated in nearby buildings, looked on as separatist fighters inspected the scene.

Rocket attacks on Donetsk have become common as government troops seek to drive out rebel forces, causing several hundred thousand civilians to flee.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday pushed for a new ceasefire in crisis talks with Mr Poroshenko in Kiev.

During her visit to Kiev, Ms Merkel called for a "bilateral ceasefire and effective border controls" to help stop four months of fighting in Ukraine.

Her visit came ahead of crucial talks on Tuesday between Mr Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin alongside top EU officials.

Tensions surged on Friday when Russia sent a convoy of trucks it said were carrying aid to the rebel-held city Luhansk in an unauthorised move Kiev described as a "direct invasion".

The West sharply rebuked Russia over the convoy, which left on Saturday, with Washington describing it as a "dangerous escalation".

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