Family Of UK Hostage Tell IS Captors: Contact Us

British Aid Worker Held By IS Militants

Updated: 6:10pm UK, Thursday 04 September 2014

David Cawthorne Haines is an aid worker with more than a decade of experience in areas including South Sudan, Libya and the former Yugoslavia.

A father-of-two, he was abducted in March 2013 at a Syrian refugee camp close to the Turkish border, according to aid workers.

The 44-year-old grew up in Perth, Scotland, but is believed to have lived in Croatia with his wife Dragana, where he was a consultant director at Astraea - a kitchen supply company.

He had previously been a security manager with the Belgium-based Nonviolent Peaceforce.

Tiffany Eastholm, of the group, confirmed Mr Haines had worked with the company for six months in 2012 in South Sudan.

She told NBC News he was "very familiar with insecure locations". She added: "He was very caring, had a good sense of humour."

Mr Haines is thought to have gone to Syria with Agency for Technical Co-operation and Development (ACTED), a French international relief agency founded in 1993.

The threat to his life came in a video which showed US hostage Steven Sotloff being killed by a masked militant.

In the video footage of Mr Sotloff's murder, a masked Islamic State (IS) militant says: "We take this opportunity to warn those governments who have entered this evil alliance with America against the Islamic State to back off and leave our people alone."

Mr Haines, wearing an orange jumpsuit, is shown to the camera as the militant grabs his collar and a caption underneath gives his name.

He is thought to have been captured along with Italian aid worker Federico Motka, 31, who was released in May.

British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond said the UK was looking at "every possible option to protect" Mr Haines after he appeared in the video.

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Islamic State May Have 31,500 Fighters, Says CIA

The Islamic State (IS) may have as many as 31,500 fighters in Syria and Iraq - three times higher than previously feared, the CIA believes.

A review of intelligence reports from May to August estimates the militant group can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 jihadists, up from a previous figure of 10,000, it said.

The new total reflects stronger recruitment by IS after its military successes and declaration of a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, said CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is pressing Arab states to support an expanded American military campaign against IS, including airstrikes in Syria.

On Thursday, key Arab allies promised to "do their share" to fight IS, including stopping the flow of fighters and funding to the militants, but Nato member Turkey refused to join in.

The 10 Middle East allies announced their backing for a strategy to "destroy" the group "wherever it is, including in both Iraq and Syria," following a meeting with Mr Kerry in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

John Kerry with Arab foreign ministers in Jeddah

Nearly 40 countries have agreed to contribute to what Mr Kerry said would be a worldwide fight to defeat the militants, however Germany said it would not take part in airstrikes.

"The devastating consequences of extremist hate remain fresh in the minds of all Americans, and to so many of our friends and allies around the world," said Mr Kerry on the 13th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.

"Those consequences are felt every day here in the Middle East."

Moscow said any unilateral US airstrikes in Syria would be a violation of international law.

"In the absence of an appropriate decision of the UN Security Council, such a step would become an act of aggression, a crude violation of the norms of international law," said a spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry.

Turkey attended the Jeddah meeting, but did not sign the final agreement over fears for 49 Turkish citizens kidnapped from its consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul when it was overrun by IS in June.

Some Gulf states could in theory help with US airstrikes, as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar did in the aerial campaign over Libya in 2011, as well as assisting with weapons, training, intelligence and logistics.

America has launched more than 150 airstrikes in Iraq over the past month, and has sent military advisers into the country.

It also announced on Friday nearly $500m (£307m) in humanitarian aid for people and countries hit by Syria's civil war.

Some three million Syrian refugees have fled to neighbouring countries, but many remain trapped by the IS onslaught, says the UN.

On Monday, officials from the US, UK, France, Russia and China, and possibly other countries including Iran, are due to hold talks in Paris on how to stabilise Iraq.

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Ukraine PM: Putin Wants All Of Our Country

Ukraine's prime minister has accused Russia of seeking to to control all of the country and restore the Soviet Union.

Addressing business leaders at a conference in Kiev, Arseny Yatseniuk warned President Vladimir Putin was a threat to global order and added that only Nato could offer Ukraine proper protection.

"We are still in a stage of war and the key aggressor is the Russian Federation," he said. "His (Putin's) goal is to take all of Ukraine. Russia is a threat to the global order and to the security of the whole of Europe."

A Russian aid convoy drives through a Russia-Ukraine border crossing

Kiev and the West have accused Moscow of sending Russian troops and tanks into eastern Ukraine in support of pro-Russian rebels fighting a bitter war with government forces.

A fragile ceasefire appears to be holding in the region, despite sporadic reports of outbreaks of violence, and Ukrainian troops and rebels exchanged prisoners on Friday.

The transfer of 67 prisoners of war, said to include Russian citizens serving alongside the rebels, took place near the separatist stronghold of Donetsk under the watch of international observers.

People waiting to cross the border from Russia and walk into Ukraine

The prisoner exchange was a key pillar of Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko's argument that his country can benefit from formulating a deal with the rebels.

Asked about the possibility of his country being admitted to the Nato alliance, which would create further rifts between the West and Russia, Mr Yatseniuk conceded it was unlikely Ukraine would be allowed in any time soon.

But Kiev has stepped-up co-operation with Nato and worked hard to persuade alliance states to provide arms and equipment to use against the rebels.

Ukrainian prisoners-of-war wait to be exchanged, north of Donetsk

Meanwhile, another humanitarian-aid convoy has reached the rebel-held city of Luhansk will ease the plight of civilians caught up in the fighting, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Some 100 vehicles arrived on Saturday morning with another 100 expected to reach the city later in the day. It is the second such aid convoy dispatched by Moscow into Ukraine.

A convoy sent in August was denounced by Kiev and the West for crossing the Russia-Ukraine border without permission.

A senior human rights official with the United Nations has declared the death toll in the conflict is likely to be above 3,000 if the victims of the MH17 plane crash are included.

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US Campaign Against IS A Work In Progress

Key Arab allies of the US have pledged to "do their share" to fight the Islamic State group.

But, strikingly, the country with the biggest border adjacent to Islamic State-conquered territory is not on board.

Turkey's unwillingness to sign up to the meeting's final communique is a major blow given its ability to block access to IS territory for foreign jihadists.

As is its refusal to allow its airbases to be used for airstrikes against IS.

A triple car bombing rocked a Shia district of Baghdad on Wednesday

Among its concerns are the Turkish nationals being held hostage by IS, seized during the fall of Mosul.

Ankara is also worried airstrikes could strengthen Kurdish rebels in Syria, regarded by the Turks as a terrorist threat.

So John Kerry is off to the Turkish capital on Friday night.

Secretary of State John Kerry looks over Baghdad

America is reminding its allies in the region the Islamic State is a bigger threat to them than to the US.

But while that may be true, they would far prefer the United States deals with it than them.

In Washington they know no effort against IS can succeed without cleaving Sunni support away from the organisation in both Iraq and Syria.

In Syria that requires strengthening largely Sunni Syrian opposition groups such as the Free Syrian Army, something the president has studiously avoided for three years.

A Kurdish peshmerga fighter walks past a dummy at a former IS headquarters

Otherwise US airstrikes will make America appear as the unofficial air force of the reviled Assad regime.

A year ago President Barack Obama's last-minute U-turn away from bombing Mr Assad because of his alleged chemical weapons use led to many Sunni Syrians giving up on more moderate groups and siding with the Islamic State.

It is not clear the more moderate rebels have ever recovered sufficiently to counter the IS threat. 

The Americans have not yet explained how they hope to renew their potential, if indeed they even have a plan for that yet.

President Obama marks the 13th anniversary of 9/11 at the Pentagon

In Iraq the Obama administration hopes it can turn Sunni tribes away from IS, as they did in the surge against al Qaeda in Iraq.

That will require support from regional allies, a lot of financial incentives and convincing Iraqis US airstrikes aren't solely for the benefit of the country's Shia Muslims. 

It's worth remembering that al Qaeda in Iraq was only crushed through a concerted effort at a time when the US had tens of thousands of troops in the country.

What are the chances of doing the same against IS while there are no American boots on the ground?

US opinion polls suggest Americans see the Islamic State as a threat

This is not a finalised, definitive strategy. It's a work in progress.

The US knows it must tread and bomb carefully.

Otherwise it will drive more Sunnis to support IS. 

But American public opinion seems to be demanding more than an incremental evolution in policy towards IS.

Opinion polls suggest they see the Islamic State as a threat and they will want to see clear signs it is being destroyed. 

President Obama must still convince Americans and his allies in the region that he has done more than make just another speech.

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Islamic State May Have 31,500 Fighters, Says CIA

The Islamic State (IS) may have as many as 31,500 fighters in Syria and Iraq - three times higher than previously feared, the CIA believes.

A review of intelligence reports from May to August estimates the militant group can muster between 20,000 and 31,500 jihadists, up from a previous figure of 10,000, it said.

The new total reflects stronger recruitment by IS after its military successes and declaration of a caliphate in Iraq and Syria, said CIA spokesman Ryan Trapani.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is pressing Arab states to support an expanded American military campaign against IS, including airstrikes in Syria.

On Thursday, key Arab allies promised to "do their share" to fight IS, including stopping the flow of fighters and funding to the militants, but Nato member Turkey refused to join in.

The 10 Middle East allies announced their backing for a strategy to "destroy" the group "wherever it is, including in both Iraq and Syria," following a meeting with Mr Kerry in the Red Sea city of Jiddah.

John Kerry with Arab foreign ministers in Jeddah

Nearly 40 countries have agreed to contribute to what Mr Kerry said would be a worldwide fight to defeat the militants, however Germany said it would not take part in airstrikes.

"The devastating consequences of extremist hate remain fresh in the minds of all Americans, and to so many of our friends and allies around the world," said Mr Kerry on the 13th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks.

"Those consequences are felt every day here in the Middle East."

Turkey attended the meeting but did not sign the final agreement over fears for 49 Turkish citizens kidnapped from its consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul when it was overrun by IS in June.

US officials played down Turkey's absence, noting it is still extremely concerned about the fate of its diplomats.

Some Gulf states could in theory help with US airstrikes, as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar did in the aerial campaign over Libya in 2011, as well as assisting with weapons, training, intelligence and logistics.

America has launched more than 150 airstrikes in Iraq over the past month, and has sent military advisers into the country.

It also announced on Friday nearly $500m (£307m) in humanitarian aid for people and countries hit by Syria's civil war.

Some three million Syrian refugees have fled to neighbouring countries, but many remain trapped by the IS onslaught, says the UN.

On Monday, officials from the US, UK, France, Russia and China, and possibly other countries including Iran, are due to hold talks in Paris on how to stabilise Iraq.

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Coalition's Plans For IS Fight Look Cowardly

America has succeeded in putting together a 37-nation coalition against the Islamic State (IS). Who does what within it is to be confirmed.

All signatories to the agreement struck in Jeddah, at the Nato summit in Wales, and in phone calls over the last fortnight are agreed on one thing - none of them will send ground troops to fight the insurgency.

This is a mistake rooted in a fetishistic hang-up that the previous US-led interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan have ended in what looks to many like failure, and that there can never be public support for a return to war in the Islamic world.

But this is a coalition that is made up now of a huge number of Sunni Arab states that have most to lose from the spread of the IS and its ideology.

The movement poses a theoretical threat to the West. It poses an immediate danger to its neighbours.

But the Saudis, Egyptians, Jordanians, Gulf States, the Lebanon have all followed the lead set by the West, notably the US and UK, and refused to countenance sending troops to fight on the ground.

This makes the coalition look cowardly. It also means the coalition will have to rely heavily on a disorganised patchwork of militia groups spread across two nations, many of who have very different priorities.

In Syria, moderate rebels can expect more funding, training, and weapons. But their main aim is to depose the regime of Bashar al Assad.

Iraqi security forces look for IS fighters near Haditha

In Iraq, the national army has proven ineffective after tens of billions have been spent on its equipment and training.

The Kurdish pershmerga has lost some of its famed fighting spirit and cannot be relied upon to fight in the interests of an outside coalition rather than for its own territory.

Iraqi's Shia militia are being thrown into the fight - and some have proven as venal as IS - murdering Sunnis and torching their homes.

Sunni militia will be key and need to be turned against IS - but how far their loyalties would lie once they have secured their own local security is impossible to gauge.

If the IS is the threat to its neighbours and beyond that the world's leaders now say it is, it is striking that they are only prepared to fight by remote control to destroy it.

A refusal to even think about ground troops will signal decadence and weakness to the proclaimed enemy.

Over the next few days, former US General John Allen will be drawing up a plan for which states will contribute what.

He will start out a frustrated man. Only last month he issued a call to arms in an article for the website Defence One.

"IS must be destroyed and we must move quickly to pressure its entire 'nervous system,' break it up, and destroy its pieces," he thundered.

Then he added this: "The US military is not war weary and is fully capable of attacking and reducing IS throughout the depth of its holdings, and we should do it now, but supported substantially by our traditional allies and partners."

He's saying the military are not afraid - but the politicians are.

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US Threatens Airstrikes In Syria To Fight IS

Barack Obama IS Strategy: Speech In Full

Updated: 2:20am UK, Thursday 11 September 2014

Barack Obama has outlined his strategy to defeating Islamic State in a televised address.

Here is his statement in full:

My fellow Americans - tonight, I want to speak to you about what the United States will do with our friends and allies to degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL. 

As Commander-in-Chief, my highest priority is the security of the American people. Over the last several years, we have consistently taken the fight to terrorists who threaten our country. We took out Osama bin Laden and much of al Qaeda's leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan. We've targeted al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen, and recently eliminated the top commander of its affiliate in Somalia. We've done so while bringing more than 140,000 American troops home from Iraq, and drawing down our forces in Afghanistan, where our combat mission will end later this year. Thanks to our military and counter-terrorism professionals, America is safer. 

Still, we continue to face a terrorist threat. We cannot erase every trace of evil from the world, and small groups of killers have the capacity to do great harm. That was the case before 9/11, and that remains true today. That's why we must remain vigilant as threats emerge. At this moment, the greatest threats come from the Middle East and North Africa, where radical groups exploit grievances for their own gain. And one of those groups is ISIL - which calls itself the "Islamic State."

Now let's make two things clear: ISIL is not "Islamic." No religion condones the killing of innocents, and the vast majority of ISIL's victims have been Muslim. And ISIL is certainly not a state. It was formerly al Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq, and has taken advantage of sectarian strife and Syria's civil war to gain territory on both sides of the Iraq-Syrian border. It is recognised by no government, nor the people it subjugates. ISIL is a terrorist organisation, pure and simple. And it has no vision other than the slaughter of all who stand in its way.

In a region that has known so much bloodshed, these terrorists are unique in their brutality. They execute captured prisoners. They kill children. They enslave, rape, and force women into marriage. They threatened a religious minority with genocide. In acts of barbarism, they took the lives of two American journalists - Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff.

So ISIL poses a threat to the people of Iraq and Syria, and the broader Middle East - including American citizens, personnel and facilities. If left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond that region - including to the United States. While we have not yet detected specific plotting against our homeland, ISIL leaders have threatened America and our allies. Our intelligence community believes that thousands of foreigners - including Europeans and some Americans - have joined them in Syria and Iraq. Trained and battle-hardened, these fighters could try to return to their home countries and carry out deadly attacks.

I know many Americans are concerned about these threats. Tonight, I want you to know that the United States of America is meeting them with strength and resolve. Last month, I ordered our military to take targeted action against ISIL to stop its advances. Since then, we have conducted more than 150 successful airstrikes in Iraq. These strikes have protected American personnel and facilities, killed ISIL fighters, destroyed weapons, and given space for Iraqi and Kurdish forces to reclaim key territory. These strikes have helped save the lives of thousands of innocent men, women and children. 

But this is not our fight alone. American power can make a decisive difference, but we cannot do for Iraqis what they must do for themselves, nor can we take the place of Arab partners in securing their region. That's why I've insisted that additional U.S. action depended upon Iraqis forming an inclusive government, which they have now done in recent days. So tonight, with a new Iraqi government in place, and following consultations with allies abroad and Congress at home, I can announce that America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat.

Our objective is clear: we will degrade, and ultimately destroy, ISIL through a comprehensive and sustained counter-terrorism strategy.

First, we will conduct a systematic campaign of airstrikes against these terrorists. Working with the Iraqi government, we will expand our efforts beyond protecting our own people and humanitarian missions, so that we're hitting ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on offence. Moreover, I have made it clear that we will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are. That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq. This is a core principle of my presidency: if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven. 

Second, we will increase our support to forces fighting these terrorists on the ground. In June, I deployed several hundred American service members to Iraq to assess how we can best support Iraqi Security Forces. Now that those teams have completed their work - and Iraq has formed a government - we will send an additional 475 service members to Iraq. As I have said before, these American forces will not have a combat mission - we will not get dragged into another ground war in Iraq. But they are needed to support Iraqi and Kurdish forces with training, intelligence and equipment. We will also support Iraq's efforts to stand up National Guard Units to help Sunni communities secure their own freedom from ISIL control.

Across the border, in Syria, we have ramped up our military assistance to the Syrian opposition. Tonight, I again call on Congress to give us additional authorities and resources to train and equip these fighters. In the fight against ISIL, we cannot rely on an Assad regime that terrorizes its people; a regime that will never regain the legitimacy it has lost. Instead, we must strengthen the opposition as the best counterweight to extremists like ISIL, while pursuing the political solution necessary to solve Syria's crisis once and for all. 

Third, we will continue to draw on our substantial counter-terrorism capabilities to prevent ISIL attacks. Working with our partners, we will redouble our efforts to cut off its funding; improve our intelligence; strengthen our defences; counter its warped ideology; and stem the flow of foreign fighters into - and out of - the Middle East. And in two weeks, I will chair a meeting of the UN Security Council to further mobilize the international community around this effort.

Fourth, we will continue providing humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians who have been displaced by this terrorist organisation. This includes Sunni and Shia Muslims who are at grave risk, as well as tens of thousands of Christians and other religious minorities. We cannot allow these communities to be driven from their ancient homelands. 

This is our strategy. And in each of these four parts of our strategy, America will be joined by a broad coalition of partners. Already, allies are flying planes with us over Iraq; sending arms and assistance to Iraqi Security Forces and the Syrian opposition; sharing intelligence; and providing billions of dollars in humanitarian aid. Secretary Kerry was in Iraq today meeting with the new government and supporting their efforts to promote unity, and in the coming days he will travel across the Middle East and Europe to enlist more partners in this fight, especially Arab nations who can help mobilize Sunni communities in Iraq and Syria to drive these terrorists from their lands. This is American leadership at its best: we stand with people who fight for their own freedom; and we rally other nations on behalf of our common security and common humanity. 

My Administration has also secured bipartisan support for this approach here at home. I have the authority to address the threat from ISIL. But I believe we are strongest as a nation when the President and Congress work together. So I welcome congressional support for this effort in order to show the world that Americans are united in confronting this danger.

Now, it will take time to eradicate a cancer like ISIL. And any time we take military action, there are risks involved - especially to the servicemen and women who carry out these missions. But I want the American people to understand how this effort will be different from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil. This counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist, using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground. This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years. And it is consistent with the approach I outlined earlier this year: to use force against anyone who threatens America's core interests, but to mobilise partners wherever possible to address broader challenges to international order. 

My fellow Americans, we live in a time of great change. Tomorrow marks 13 years since our country was attacked.  Next week marks 6 years since our economy suffered its worst setback since the Great Depression. Yet despite these shocks; through the pain we have felt and the gruelling work required to bounce back - America is better positioned today to seize the future than any other nation on Earth.

Our technology companies and universities are unmatched; our manufacturing and auto industries are thriving.  Energy independence is closer than it's been in decades.  For all the work that remains, our businesses are in the longest uninterrupted stretch of job creation in our history.  Despite all the divisions and discord within our democracy, I see the grit and determination and common goodness of the American people every single day - and that makes me more confident than ever about our country's future.

Abroad, American leadership is the one constant in an uncertain world. It is America that has the capacity and the will to mobilize the world against terrorists. It is America that has rallied the world against Russian aggression, and in support of the Ukrainian peoples' right to determine their own destiny. It is America - our scientists, our doctors, our know-how - that can help contain and cure the outbreak of Ebola. It is America that helped remove and destroy Syria's declared chemical weapons so they cannot pose a threat to the Syrian people - or the world - again. And it is America that is helping Muslim communities around the world not just in the fight against terrorism, but in the fight for opportunity, tolerance, and a more hopeful future.

America, our endless blessings bestow an enduring burden. But as Americans, we welcome our responsibility to lead. From Europe to Asia - from the far reaches of Africa to war-torn capitals of the Middle East - we stand for freedom, for justice, for dignity. These are values that have guided our nation since its founding.  Tonight, I ask for your support in carrying that leadership forward. I do so as a Commander-in-Chief who could not be prouder of our men and women in uniform - pilots who bravely fly in the face of danger above the Middle East, and service-members who support our partners on the ground.

When we helped prevent the massacre of civilians trapped on a distant mountain, here's what one of them said. "We owe our American friends our lives. Our children will always remember that there was someone who felt our struggle and made a long journey to protect innocent people."

That is the difference we make in the world. And our own safety - our own security - depends upon our willingness to do what it takes to defend this nation, and uphold the values that we stand for - timeless ideals that will endure long after those who offer only hate and destruction have been vanquished from the Earth.

May God bless our troops, and may God bless the United States of America.

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US Strategy Risks Pushing Sunnis Into IS Arms

US To Lead 'Broad Coalition' To Destroy IS

Updated: 9:38am UK, Thursday 11 September 2014

Barack Obama has authorised airstrikes in Syria for the first time in a major escalation of the military campaign against the Islamic State.

In a live televised address, the US President also announced expanded strikes in Iraq as part of "a steady, relentless effort" to root out IS extremists.

"We will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, wherever they are," Mr Obama told Americans.

"That means I will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria, as well as Iraq," he said, using an acronym to describe the group.

"This is a core principle of my presidency: If you threaten America, you will find no safe haven."

The prime-time address came on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. 

The President said that while there was no evidence IS was plotting to strike America, "if left unchecked, these terrorists could pose a growing threat beyond that region, including to the United States."

The decision to authorise airstrikes in Syria marks a turnabout for the President, who had been wary of dragging the US military into a country embroiled in a three-year civil war.

Last year, he shied away from airstrikes to punish Syrian President Bashar al Assad for using chemical weapons against his own people.

The plans also amounted to a striking shift for a President who rose to political prominence in part because of his early opposition to the Iraq war.

Mr Obama said he was dispatching nearly 500 more US troops to assist Iraqi security forces and conduct intelligence and reconnaissance flights, bringing the total number of American forces sent there this summer to more than 1,500.

But he insisted the military would not be dragged into another ground war, saying that "these American forces will not have a combat mission" and that the campaign "will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil".

The President also urged Congress to authorise a programme to train and arm Syrian rebels who are fighting both the Islamic State militants and the Assad regime.

IS has been on the warpath in Iraq and Syria, taking large swathes of territory and putting US lives at risk, according to the White House.

In the last few weeks, IS has released videos of its militants beheading kidnapped American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.

"This counter-terrorism campaign will be waged through a steady, relentless effort to take out ISIL wherever they exist using our air power and our support for partner forces on the ground.

"This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us, while supporting partners on the front lines, is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years."

On Wednesday the US announced it will provide another $48m (£29.8m) to UN agencies and other aid organisations to help ease the suffering of 1.8 million people who have been displaced by IS militants.

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Ukraine 'Regrouping' Forces To Defend East

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says his forces are "regrouping" in the east of the country after provocation from Russian "terrorists".

The move does not amount to a new offensive against pro-Moscow separatists, but is simply a move to defend Ukraine's territory, he said.

Mr Poroshenko said the four-day ceasefire has been difficult to maintain because of the rebels' actions.

On Wednesday morning, he signed a law which allowed for fresh economic sanctions to be imposed on Russian individuals and companies who have been backing rebels in eastern Ukraine. 

Pro-Russian rebels at a checkpoint near the airport in Donetsk

There are also parliamentary plans for a "special status" - giving greater autonomy - for Donetsk and Luhansk within the next week.

Despite the concerns raised during a televised government meeting in Kiev, a spokesperson for the Kremlin said Russia and Ukraine are happy with how the ceasefire is holding "on the whole".

It came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned that Ukraine could be facing a health emergency because its medicine supplies are dwindling.

Ukrainian refugees wait to receive food on the outskirts of Mariupol

Dorit Nitzan, the UN health agency's representative in Kiev, warned: "Ukraine has no vaccines ... they don't have any vaccines in their storage. Even before the crisis began they had low (immunisation) coverage."

The professor's main concern is that there could be an outbreak of polio, a disease which mainly affects young children, as it "usually comes in countries of turmoil".

The European Union is set to discuss when its new sanctions against Russia, which were formally agreed on Monday, should be implemented.

President Poroshenko unveiled his latest measures in a government meeting

EU President Herman van Rompuy confirmed there would be "an assessment of the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and the peace plan".

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is also planning to deploy drones in the region to monitor whether the ceasefire is holding.

Mr Poroshenko said Russia had moved 70% of its forces "back across the border" from eastern Ukraine.

"This further strengthens our hope that the peace initiatives have good prospects," he said.

There were concerns earlier this week as fighting continued in east Ukraine

Meanwhile, Amnesty International says it has evidence that both sides have committed war crimes.

At a news conference in Moscow, the group's secretary general, Salil Shetty, warned that some separatists, along with Ukraine's Aidar battalion, were responsible for human rights abuses.

"Amnesty International has called the conflict in Ukraine an international conflict, and Russia a party to that conflict," he added.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

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'Solid Family' Massacred On Australian Farm

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

Police divers have found the body of a man at a dam in Australia after a woman and her three children were discovered shot dead at a remote farmhouse.

Farmer Geoff Hunt has been missing since the bodies of his wife Kim, 41, and his children Fletcher, 10, Mia, eight and Phoebe, six, were found at a property near Wagga Wagga in New South Wales on Tuesday.

Divers at Lockhart Dam, not far from the farmhouse, found a gun on the dead man and police said the body had injuries "not inconsistent" with wounds found on the woman and children.

Police earlier on Wednesday described the death scene of the mother and her three young children as "horrific" and like nothing they had ever encountered.

"I don't think even the most hardened professional could remain unmoved by what's out there," Wagga Wagga local area commander Superintendent Bob Noble said.

"It's certainly not something I've encountered anything similar to before, and I hope not to ever again."

Local media reported the alarm was raised when the children failed to turn up to school.

The fatal shootings happened at a property near Wagga Wagga

Emergency services were called to the farmhouse on Tuesday afternoon and found the children's bodies inside the property and their mother on the path outside.

The Hunt family were well loved by the local community, Supt Noble said.

"It's going to send quite a shock wave through those communities and throughout the whole area," he said.

"These people were well integrated into the local community through work, through social events, through sport. Three young children attended the local school.

"It is going to devastate everyone."

Lockhart Mayor Peter Yates said the 900-strong town community was in severe shock, according to the Australian Associated Press.

"It's just really, really, really traumatising," he said.

Deputy mayor Roger Schirmer said the mood was sombre.

"They were a highly regarded solid family. It will rock this town," he said.

Mrs Hunt had just returned to nursing in April after recovering from a serious car accident two years ago.

The local parish priest, Father Tony Schipp, said nobody in town had suspected anything was amiss with Mr Hunt.

"He was happy. He was making arrangements for events that were coming up, that he was going to be part of," Father Schipp said.

It is understood police have found a suicide note.

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