Beheading Video: 'Don't Share' Campaign Online

By Tom Cheshire, Technology Correspondent

Many social media users shared the horrific video of James Foley's murder at the hands of militants, but others called for a self-imposed media blackout on all IS imagery after the journalist's death.

"Don't watch it, don't share it," they wrote, adding the hashtag #ISISmediaBlackout.

Online every Twitter or YouTube user is his or her own executive editor. Material that wouldn't be published in a newspaper, or run on TV, is often shared.

But the IS blackout campaign also started with individual users, partly out of respect for Mr Foley and his family, partly to try to deprive IS of publicity.

A twitter user called @libyaliberty posted: "You know what I think? And I know how crazy this sounds, but we need an #ISISmediaBlackout. Amputate their reach. Pour water on their flame."

Others agreed. Soon the topic was trending, and celebrities such as Mia Farrow have echoed the call.

Sky News has not shown the images from the video.

IS has posted numerous videos on social media sites

Executive editor John McAndrew explained: "This video is deeply graphic, and what's taking place is apparent from the first frame. It's not something we need or want to show to tell the story. It would be deeply upsetting and distressing, for anyone watching."

But Sky News has played audio from the video, as the killer's British accent is relevant to the story.

The Met Police put out a statement saying it wanted to warn the public that sharing or even viewing extremist material may constitute an offence under the existing terror legislation.

Its advice was for members of the public not to distribute videos like that showing Mr Foley's death.

The early years of social networks were boom time for unfettered liking and sharing.

But, as these platforms have matured, so have their users. Many are now exercising editorial judgement just as mainstream news organisation do. These social networks are now mainstream themselves.

That's good news. Networks like Twitter and YouTube are loath to do anything unless users demand it. YouTube, for instance, says it has "clear policies that prohibit content like gratuitous violence, hate speech and incitement to commit violent acts".

IS has seized control of vast areas of northern Iraq and Syria

But it admits that it only removes videos violating these policies "when flagged by our users".

So, if users are becoming more critical, that means graphic videos are less likely to prevail on the site.

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said: "We have been and are actively suspending accounts as we discover them related to this graphic imagery."

But it remains easy for suspended users to simply create another account, as many IS affiliated accounts do on Twitter and YouTube.

And new social networks spring up all the time, or make a point of anonymity and lax standards.

Ask.fm has become a haven for IS fighters and sympathisers.

The network was bought by American firm IAC, which promised to clean up its act or shut it down.

And when Twitter shut down IS accounts, jihadists migrated to Diaspora, a private social network. Private messaging services like Kik and Telegram may be impossible to police.

Part of the appeal of YouTube and Twitter was that the media could not black them out, for however sound an editorial reason.

Could the user-generated IS media blackout have a similar effect, driving adoption of less mainstream social media platforms?

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Belgium Nuclear Reactors Shut Over Cracks

Two Belgian nuclear reactors may have to be shut down permanently after cracks were found in their core tanks.

Production at the Tihange 2 and Doel 3 sites was halted in March for tests after inspectors discovered irregularities in the strength of the tanks.

State broadcaster VRT has reported that the reactors may not be fired up again in the spring, as scheduled, because of fears over the safety of the reactors.

The sites, owned by GDF-Suex unit Electrabel, were first closed in 2012.

One reactor on the outskirts of Doel is more than 30 years old

The 1,008 MW Tihange 2 reactor in the south of the country was closed for inspection in September of that year.

Tests are continuing on the tanks but interim findings show the cracks have weakened them.

Another reactor, Doel 4, has also been temporarily shut down because of damage to its turbine.

It means than more than half of Belgium's nuclear capacity is currently offline.

Belgian industry regulator FANC forced Electrabel to shut the Doel 3 reactor two years ago over safety fears.

Antwerp announced plans last year to turn expand its port into Doel

FANC's intervention raised the prospect that the then 30-year-old reactor would be shut permanently.

Meanwhile Doel has become a near-ghost town in recent years.

In addition to the nuclear woes, the port of Antwerp announced plans last year to expand facilities into Doel - erasing it from the map.

The Flemish regional government aimed to include the village in one of Europe's largest ports.

Remaining villagers asked the country's highest administrative court to block the planned redevelopment.

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Japan Mudslides Kill At Least 36 People

At least 36 people have died and up to a dozen are missing after a mudslide on the outskirts of Hiroshima.

Hillsides have caved in or been swept down into residential areas in at least five valleys in the suburbs of the western Japanese city after heavy rains left slopes unstable.

Video from national broadcaster NHK showed rescue workers suspended by ropes from police helicopters pulling victims from the rubble as rain-soaked slopes collapsed into torrents of mud, rock and debris.

Soldiers and police carry away the body of one of the victims

Rescuers were also seen climbing carefully into windows of crushed homes as they searched for survivors.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency, quoting the local government, said 19 people were known to be injured, two of them seriously.

"A few people were washed away and it is hard to know exactly how many are unaccounted for," a spokesman said, explaining that conditions in the disaster area were hampering efforts to account for all those affected.

A soldier walks through the rubble as he searches for survivors

Authorities have issued warnings that further rains could trigger more landslides and flooding.

Landslides are a constant risk in mountainous, crowded Japan, where many homes are built on or near steep slopes.

Torrential rains in the early morning apparently caused slopes to collapse in an area where many of the buildings were newly built.

Damage from land and mudslides has increased over the past few decades because of increasingly frequent heavy rains, despite extensive work on stabilising slopes.

A soldier stands inside the wreckage of a house

There have been nearly 1,200 landslides a year over the past 10 years, up from an average of about 770 a year during the previous decade.

Thirty-five people were killed in October last year in multiple mudslides on Izu-Oshima, an island south of Tokyo.

The mudslides followed a typhoon that delivered a record 824mm (more than 32in) of rain in a single day.

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IS Beheads US Journalist James Foley In Video

Islamic State militants have released a video that shows the beheading of a US journalist who went missing two years ago.

The footage shows a masked man - speaking in English with an English accent - killing James Foley, who was seized by armed men in Syria in November 2012.

In the five-minute propaganda video, posted on social media sites by Islamic State sources, the man says Mr Foley was being killed because Barack Obama had ordered airstrikes against IS positions in northern Iraq.

Just hours after the video was released, a US official said American drones had carried out nearly a dozen airstrikes in Iraq since Tuesday.

The journalist, dressed in an orange jumpsuit like those worn by Guantanamo inmates, is seen kneeling in the desert before he blames the US for his death, in a statement presumably prepared by his abductors.

He then says: "I wish I had more time, I wish I could have the hope of freedom and seeing my family once again, but that ship has sailed." 

Mr Foley in Syria before he was captured. Pic: Nicole Tung

He is then beheaded.

The group also claimed to be holding another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, who appears at the end of the video, and said his life depended on the US President's next move.

On Wednesday, the FBI said it believed the video to be authentic.

A statement issued by Mr Foley's mother, Diane Foley, said: "We have never been prouder of our son, Jim. He gave his life trying to expose the world to the suffering of the Syrian people.

"We implore the kidnappers to spare the lives of the remaining hostages. Like Jim, they are innocents. They have no control over American government policy in Iraq, Syria or anywhere in the world.

John and Diane Foley, Mr Foley's parents

"We thank Jim for all the joy he gave us. He was an extraordinary son, brother, journalist and person. Please respect our privacy in the days ahead as we mourn and cherish Jim."

Mr Foley, 40, was an experienced correspondent who had covered the war in Libya before heading to Syria to follow the revolt against Bashar al Assad for the GlobalPost, AFP and other outlets.

Philip Balboni, GlobalPost chief executive and co-founder, said the firm had been informed that the FBI is evaluating the video to determine whether it was authentic.

"We ask for your prayers for Jim and his family," he said.

According to witnesses, Mr Foley was seized in the northern Syrian province of Idlib on November 22, 2012.

The car he was travelling in was stopped by four militants in a contested battle zone that both Sunni rebel fighters and government forces were trying to control.

His family has not heard from him since, despite a public campaign for information.

IS militants have captured large areas of northern Iraq and Syria

Several senior US officials with direct knowledge of the situation told the Associated Press that IS very recently threatened to kill Mr Foley to avenge the American airstrikes over the last two weeks.

The strikes targeted militants advancing on Mount Sinjar, the Mosul Dam and Kurdish capital Irbil.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the video, voiced by an IS fighter with a British accent, was  "an appalling example of the brutality of this organisation".

Mr Hammond told Sky News: "This is an evil organisation with an evil ideology."

"I reject any suggestion British foreign policy is providing any excuse for what ISIL is doing," he added.

Mr Hammond said the IS extremists posed a major threat, not only to stability in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East, but also to the UK's domestic security.

The Foreign Secretary also said he did not believe the US would be "cowed" by IS threats to kill US journalist Steven Sotloff, who they claim to be holding.

Prime Minister David Cameron returned to Downing Street from his holiday early after the beheading, which came just days after he warned Europe could be facing a "poisonous" terrorist state on its doorstep.

Prosecutors in Austria also revealed on Wednesday they have detained nine people suspected of intending to join IS militants in Syria.

The release of the video comes a day after IS militants threatened to attack US targets in another video where they warned "we will drown all of you in blood".

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Iceland: Thousands Of Quakes Amid Volcano Fears

Thousands of earthquakes have been recorded in Iceland in recent days, amid concerns one of the country's volcanoes could erupt and cause travel chaos across Europe.

Some 3,000 small earthquakes have occurred since Saturday at the country's largest volcano system, Bardarbunga, which is located under Iceland's largest glacier, Vatnajokull.

Iceland's Meteorological Office said no earthquakes above magnitude three had been recorded in the last 24 hours, and seismologists have said that magma is moving horizontally, rather than vertically.

 Meteorologist Einar Einarsson said earthquakes were happening practically every minute.

"The fact that it is constant in motion and depth is probably good news," he said.

"It doesn't seem to vary a lot - it is concentrated in one area under the glacier."

The volcanic magma is moving horizontally, say scientists

The country's aviation alert level for the risk of a possible eruption is currently at orange, the second-most severe level.

The risk level was raised on Monday after magma movements were detected around six miles (10km) from the surface.

An area north of the volcano has been evacuated by Iceland's civil protection agency, which said it could not rule out an eruption.

All roads leading into the mostly uninhabited area were closed earlier this week.

Tourists and park rangers who live there during the summer are now being evacuated.

The agency said on its website: "This decision is a safety measure. It cannot be ruled out that the seismic activity in Bardarbunga could lead to a volcanic eruption."

An eruption could melt vast areas of ice and cause floods

According to the authorities, the area north of the glacier risks being hit by floods as an eruption would melt vast amounts of ice from the glacier, which is located in a national park.

The Vatnajokull National Park is more than 186 miles (300 km) from the capital, Reykjavik, and covers 14% of Iceland.

Airlines were warned about the increased seismic activity on Monday.

In 2010 an ash cloud caused by the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano shut down much of Europe's airspace for six days.

More than 10 million people were affected.

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James Foley 'Died Doing Job He Believed In'

A friend and colleague of the US journalist apparently beheaded in a video released by militants has said he died doing something "he truly believed in".

Film maker Matthew VanDyke was with James Foley in Syria just a fortnight before the 40-year-old was abducted.

And he told Sky News he had been left in "complete shock" at reports his friend had been beheaded by Islamic State forces.

"I haven't seen the video myself, but it's a complete nightmare," he said.

"James was a fun guy. He was very nice, very calm. We had good times together, good conversations. He interviewed me when I escaped prison in Libya ... and he did a great job.

"He was very kind, very good at what he did. He had a great career ahead of him."

He said Mr Foley "lived and breathed" conflict journalism.

The arrival of Islamic State fighters has changed the conflict in Syria

"It was who he was, he loved doing it," he said.

"He believed in it, believed in doing things right. What every editor would want working for them is exactly who James was.

"One thing that you can say is he died doing something he truly believed in and that he was making a difference there."

Mr VanDyke insisted Mr Foley was conscious of the dangers he faced in war-torn Syria.

"He was always aware of the risks," he said.

"He was always very serious when it came to work.

"He was not someone who did anything reckless, or cowboy things. He always checked on the security ahead of him.

"He did everything the right way, but even when you do everything the right way in Syria, things can go the wrong way."

But Mr VanDyke said the arrival of IS - previously known as ISIS - had drastically changed the nature of the conflict in Syria.

"There was always a threat of kidnapping, border strikes, airstrikes, it was always dangerous," he said.

"Ever since the arrival of ISIS in the spring of 2013, it's become a complete nightmare for journalists.

"People go there and they just disappear and they're never heard from again. It's like a black hole."

Times Foreign Correspondent Tom Coghlan, a former friend and colleague of Mr Foley, described him as "immensely brave".

He told Sky News: "James Foley was one of the kindest people I've ever met. a deeply compassionate, principalled man, a man of great courage, an incredibly generous man.

"I haven't watched the video of his death and I don't intend to, I wish no one would watch it, but I understand he died very bravely and that doesn't surprise me."

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Twitter 'To Remove Gory Photos Of Death'

Twitter has said it will remove images and videos of dead people at the request of immediate family members.

In a crackdown on gory and upsetting photographs on the service, Twitter said it would consider removing images of deceased individuals taken "from when critical injury occurs to the moments before or after death".

However, it said it would take into account the public interest of any content and warned that it may not comply with all requests.

On Tuesday, following the beheading of American journalist James Foley, the White House contacted social networks asking them to remove videos of his death.

Twitter declined to say whether it had also had a request from Mr Foley's family.

But Google's former public policy chief Andrew McLaughlin warned the photos could have an important news value.

Robin Williams and his daughter Zelda

He told the Washington Post: "You can imagine that if you're a family member of this person, by all means you would want the horrific photos of their moment of death taken offline.

"But … the photos are obviously newsworthy.

"It's awful that these photos were taken, and it's awful that this moment happened, but their very existence is news.

"It's the sort of thing that moves history."

The policy change comes a week after Robin Williams' daughter Zelda abandoned her Twitter account over gruesome digitally altered images of her father.

Twitter's vice president of trust and safety Del Harvey said: "We will not tolerate abuse of this nature on Twitter.

"We have suspended a number of accounts related to this issue for violating our rules and we are in the process of evaluating how we can further improve our policies to better handle tragic situations like this one.

"This includes expanding our policies regarding self-harm and private information, and improving support for family members of deceased users."

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IS 'Selling Oil From Seized Wells' In Iraq

The Iraqi government says it is troubled by reports that Islamic State militants are selling oil from wells they have captured in northern Iraq.

Baghdad has warned buying such supplies could help the group fund its operations, as the US revealed it has carried out nearly a dozen drone airstrikes since Tuesday as it tries to push back the extremists.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has urged the world to back Iraq against IS, which was previously known as ISIS.

Mr Zebari described the fighters as a threat to the world, and not just the minority ethnic groups IS has killed in Iraq.

IS has seized large parts of Iraq in recent months

Thousands have been killed as IS seized swathes of territory in an offensive that has also forced 1.5 million people from their homes.

IS has released a video that appears to show a masked man - who speaks with an English accent - beheading US journalist James Foley.

The footage came a day after militants threatened to attack US targets in another video clip.

US airstrikes have helped Kurdish and government forces push IS fighters back from recently-conquered areas in the north of the country, including Mosul Dam.

An Iraqi Shia fighter takes part in military and first aid training

Among the latest strikes, an apparent jihadist meeting at a school near the strategically important dam was targeted, Kurdish officers said, although Washington has not confirmed the attack.

Germany and Italy have said they are ready to send arms to bolster the military capabilities of forces fighting IS, with Berlin denouncing the militants as "barbaric".

France began shipping weapons to Kurdish forces last week.

As well as military support, aid has been delivered to those caught up in the fighting by Germany, France and Britain.

The aftermath of a US airstrike at a checkpoint at Mosul Dam

The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Wednesday that a humanitarian airlift to northern Iraq had begun.

The agency said 100 tonnes of emergency supplies, including plastic sheeting for shelter, kitchen sets and jerry cans, were on a cargo plane that touched down in the Kurdish regional capital, Irbil.

It is the start of a 10-day operation to provide tents and other aid to half a million displaced people.

President Barack Obama ordered US warplanes to begin striking IS fighters earlier this month, arguing they threatened US personnel in Irbil and risked carrying out a genocide against religious minority groups.

Mosul Dam supplies water and power to millions. Pic: File

But while he has insisted the scope of the strikes would remain limited, Iraqi officials have argued that only foreign intervention can overturn IS's gains.

An offensive launched on Tuesday to secure Tikrit was presented as a major push to liberate the city, but this appears to have stalled.

The hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein was hit by shellfire on Wednesday while Iraqi security forces remained positioned outside of the city, police and witnesses said.

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Mass Murderer Breivik's Dad Writes Book On Son

Anders Behring Breivik's father admits he feels some guilt over the actions of his son, who killed 77 people in Norway three years ago.

The revelation came in an excerpt from a book Jens Breivik has written about his son.

In My Fault? A Father's Story, which has been put together with the help of a ghost writer, Mr Breivik writes: "I feel some guilt and I feel some responsibility.

"What would have happened if I had been a better father? Would Anders have done what he did?"

Breivik is serving a 21-year prison sentence, which can be extended, for the killing of 77 people in Oslo and the island of Utoeya in 2011.

The book is a form of "self-trial" according to its editor, Arve Juritzen, who said Mr Breivik re-established contact with his son this year. 

"In fact he is pretty hard with himself," Mr Juritzen said.

Mr Breivik, a former diplomat who moved to France when he retired, has been described as an absent father.

He was separated from his son's mother shortly after he turned one and later lost a custody battle.

By the time Breivik was a teenager, his father had lost contact with him.

During the course of the investigation and trial it emerged social services had suspected Breivik was neglected as a child.

A book about Breivik's late mother, Wenche Behring Breivik, which she collaborated on at first but later rejected, portrayed Mr Breivik as a domestic tyrant.

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Hamas Chief 'Deserves To Die Like Bin Laden'

An Israeli cabinet minister has said Hamas's military leader "deserves to die just like bin Laden", after an airstrike apparently targeting him left his wife and infant son dead.

Interior Minister Gideon Saar told army radio Mohammed Deif was a legitimate target, as Hamas and Israel's military carried out rocket attacks and airstrikes following the breakdown of the latest truce.

"He is an arch murderer and as long as we have an opportunity we will try to kill him," Mr Saar said.

Mr Deif, who has escaped numerous Israeli assassination attempts in the past, was not at home at the time of the latest attack.

Israel has yet to comment officially on the airstrike

The bodies of 27-year-old Widad and her seven-month-old son Ali have been taken from the wife's family home to a mosque in the Jabaliya refugee camp for prayers and were later laid to rest in a cemetery.

The airstrike was one of around 60 carried out after Israel claimed three rockets fired by Hamas landed in open areas near the city of Beersheba on Tuesday.

The latest rocket attacks were condemned by Israel as a "grave and direct violation of the ceasefire" and the Israeli military said at least 80 rockets have been fired since the truce collapsed.

Rockets from Gaza are intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system

This came amid Egyptian efforts to mediate a longer-term truce to the conflict following a 24-hour extension to a temporary ceasefire secured on Monday.

The talks now hang in the balance; Israel has withdrawn its team from the indirect discussions, while Hamas officials said the chances of a durable ceasefire were "evaporating" and blamed the "Zionist occupation" for the lack of progress.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry expressed "deep regret" over the breaking of the truce and security officials said Cairo is still pressing the two sides to agree on a ceasefire.

A bus window damaged near Yad Mordechay by a rocket fired from Gaza

Since hostilities resumed, 20 Palestinians have been killed and at least 120 wounded in Israeli strikes, Gaza Health Ministry official Ashraf al Qudra said.

Among those that died were a pregnant woman, her unborn child, three other children and three men in a strike on the southern Gaza town of Deir el-Balah, emergency services said.

Meanwhile, seven-year-old Maha Sheik Khalil, who was paralysed from the neck down in an Israeli airstrike last month, has left Gaza bound for Turkey.

Maha Sheik Khalil is being taken to Turkey

Air raid sirens sounded in southern Israeli cities on Wednesday, warning of incoming rockets from Gaza, after Hamas accused Israel of opening a "gateway to hell".

Hamas has also threatened to fire more rockets at Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv.

Israel's civil defence authority has ordered the reopening of public bomb shelters within 50 miles (80 km) of Gaza.

Maha's mother and two sisters were killed in the airstrike

Israel's military said it targeted two Palestinian militants after they fired rockets at Israel. The Palestinian Red Crescent said they were killed.

Shortly afterwards a rocket fired from Gaza hit a house in southern Israel, causing damage to the home but no injuries.

An Israeli soldier directs a tank near the border with the Gaza Strip

Since the war began, more than 2,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed, according to Palestinian and UN officials.

Sixty-four Israeli soldiers, two Israeli civilians and a worker from Thailand have also died.

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