Radio Station Donates To Hoax Victim's Family

The Australian radio company behind a hoax phone call to the hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge was giving birth has donated £289,000 to the family of a nurse who killed herself after taking the call.

Southern Cross Austereo offered the money after an inquest  on Friday ruled Jacintha Saldanha committed suicide after presenters posed as members of the royal family.

Ms Saldanha's body was found hanging in nursing accommodation three days after staff at London's King Edward VII Hospital were tricked into revealing details of the Duchess of Cambridge's stay in 2012.

The mother of two, 46, was the first nurse to answer the on-air call by Australian DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who pretended to be the Queen and Prince Philip.

Jacintha Saldanha killed herself after the call in 2012

During the inquest Ms Greig broke down in tears as she apologised to the nurse's family for her part in the hoax.

"I really just wanted to say I am truly sorry," she sobbed. "I've wanted to say that for so long. This tragedy will always stay with me and serve as a constant reminder.

"To the second nurse involved, I am so deeply sorry for what you have had to endure. I pray you have found the strength to live on as best you can.

"I was always concerned about the wellbeing of both nurses and I wish I'd tried harder to stop that prank from being aired."

A statement released by Southern Cross Austereo said: "We do not assume, of course, that this donation or any amount of money could relieve the feelings of loss felt by Ms Saldanha's family, but it is our hope that it may help them in the future.

"The production of radio programmes, like television programmes, is a collaborative process. Radio announcers are an important part of the process, but they are not the final decision makers.

Ms Saldanha took the call at the King Edward VII Hospital in London

"There is no fair or reasonable basis on which blame can be apportioned to any individual, including the presenters of the programme.

"Southern Cross Austereo has always accepted full responsibility for the making of the call and its broadcast."

The two-day inquest at the High Court heard that Ms Saldanha held herself responsible for the mistake, despite the private hospital's management supporting her and the other nurse as victims of a cruel joke.

Westminster coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox said there was evidence the hoax had been "pressing on the mind" of the nurse before she killed herself, along with her difficult relationship with a junior colleague who had made a complaint of bullying and harassment against her, which had recently been dismissed.

Ms Wilcox did not criticise the DJs or the radio station but, addressing four calls made to the hospital by production staff to gain Mrs Saldanha's consent before the recording aired, added: "If she did take these calls I find it inconceivable she would have consented, as a participant in the call, to its broadcast."

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Australian Special Forces Join Fight Against IS

Australia will send 600 troops - including special forces - and 10 military aircraft to the Middle East to bolster international efforts to fight the "death cult" of Islamic State.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the commitment comes after a formal request from US President Barack Obama for partners in the global coalition against IS.

Mr Abbott said Australia's contribution would include 400 air force personnel and a further 200 military troops.

A contingent of special forces operatives is among those being prepared to assist Iraq's security forces, a statement from Mr Abbott's office confirmed.

Mr Kerry speaks at a press conference in Cairo on Saturday

The contingent could be deployed to the United Arab Emirates as early as this week.

"For some time now the Australian government has been considering how best to respond to the ISIL (Islamic State) movement at home and abroad," Mr Abbott told reporters in Darwin.

"I can advise that we have, within about the last 24 hours, received a specific request from the United States government to contribute forces to possible military action in Iraq.

"The government has decided to prepare and to deploy to the United Arab Emirates a military force, a military force that could, subject to further decisions, contribute to military operations inside Iraq."

It comes as the international community condemned the murder of British aid worker David Haines, who was beheaded by IS militants.

British aid worker David Haines has been murdered by IS extremists

The United States has been seeking to establish a global coalition to fight IS extremists in Iraq and Syria.

On Monday, an international conference will be held in Paris to address the ongoing crisis in Iraq and the threat from the Islamist group.

US Secretary of State John Kerry met Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al Sisi on Saturday as he continued to press the case for striking IS.

The Egyptian president told Mr Kerry that any global coalition should not just battle IS, but also other take on other terror groups.

On Friday Mr Kerry also held a two-hour meeting with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mr Kerry met Arab foreign ministers in Jeddah last week

Speaking in Ankara, Mr Kerry spoke of a "broad-based coalition with Arab nations, European nations, the United States and others".

Key Arab allies last week promised to "do their share" to fight IS, including stopping the flow of fighters and funding to the militants.

Some 40 countries have so far agreed to contribute to what Mr Kerry says will be a worldwide effort to defeat the militants.

The US has already carried out more than 150 airstrikes in Iraq since early August, including a strike on Friday near the country's largest dam.

The CIA estimates Islamic State has as many as 31,500 fighters in Syria and Iraq.

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North Korea Sentences American To Hard Labour

A 24-year-old US citizen has been sentenced to six years' hard labour in North Korea after being convicted of entering the country illegally and trying to commit espionage.

The country's Supreme Court said during a 90-minute hearing that Miller, of Bakersfield, California, tore up his tourist visa after landing at the airport in the capital, Pyongyang, on April 10.

Prosecutors said he had admitted having the "wild ambition" of experiencing life in the country's notorious prison system so that he could secretly investigate the human rights situation.

Miller, who apparently refused the right to a lawyer, was handcuffed and led away after the passing of the sentence - against which the court said there was no possibility of appeal.

Earlier, it had been believed Miller had sought asylum when he entered North Korea.

During the trial, however, the prosecution argued that this was was a ruse, adding that Miller also falsely claimed to have smuggled in secrets about the US military in South Korea on his iPad and iPod.

Miller is one of three Americans now being held in North Korea.

A trial is expected soon for Jeffrey Fowle, a 56-year-old equipment operator for the city of Moraine, Ohio, who entered the North as a tourist but was arrested in May for leaving a Bible at a provincial club.

The third American, Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae, is currently serving a 15-year sentence for alleged "hostile acts".

All three have appealed to the White House to send a senior statesman to Pyongyang to intervene on their behalf.

Miller has told the Associated Press news agency he has written to President Barack Obama but had not received a reply.

The US has repeatedly offered to send Robert King, its envoy for North Korean human rights issues, to Pyongyang to seek the freedom of the detainees, but without success.

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Air Power Could Have Stopped IS Two Years Ago

Every red-blooded Brit will be feeling the body blow of the murder of David Haines and the need for revenge, now.

The temptation to insist that Britain go back to war in the Middle East is a visceral as it is understandable. But now is not the time for sudden action.

That was more than two years ago, before so called Islamic State was much more than a small group of fanatics.

Syrian leader Bashar al Assad

Back then it was as clear as day that if non-radical rebel groups in Syria were not given serious military support, probably in the form of a no-fly zone and aerial support to ground troops, then they will have been betrayed by the West.

Radical groups inevitably filled the vacuum left by what was seen as Western hypocrisy.

The West could and should have come to the aid of Syria rebels. It would have been unpopular with the electorates, it would have been messy, but it would in the long term have controlled a region that has now spun, almost, out of control.

In Paris, Francois Hollande is sponsoring an international conference on Iraq and Syria this week. Joining it will be the coalition of Arab nations who have joined some Nato allies plus Australia and others to agree to try to put an end to Islamic State.

David Haines was taken hostage in Syria before he was killed

There has been a rush to condemn Mr Haines' murder. And just as big a rush to insist that there can be no foreign 'boots on the ground' - as Lord Dannatt, former head of the British army said, putting western troops especially into these arenas frequently means they become part of the problem.

But there now is also an opportunity to think the unthinkable. To try to use the evil tactics of IS against it.

Not by emulation but through revulsion.

The IS has murdered wholesale. It has forced young Syrian and Iraqis to queue to be shot, garrotted and beheaded - in their thousands. Just like Mr Haines, Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff.

David Cameron warned the UK was battling a 'poisonous ideology'

There is equally considerable evidence that Bashar al Assad was complicit in the emergence of the IS.

He released hundreds of hardcore fundamentalists from his jails to try to split the rebel movement and there has been, until recently, clear evidence that IS has held back attacks against his forces in favour of driving other rebel groups out of territory they had liberated.

So the Assad regime could properly be considered part of the problem by the West and its allies across the Middle East.

As a coalition is built to deal with IS leaders, it may wish to consider that now that there is international revulsion at both the so called 'Caliphate' and for the Damascus regime, that both should bear the brunt of an international counter attack inside Syria.

Arab states, who have most to lose from Syrian instability and from the spread of the IS ideology, might like to take the lead in conducting airstrikes against both Assad and the IS - allowing local forces on the ground to move forward.

Once this was unlikely. Now it may, just, be conceivable.

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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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Pakistan Blows Up Dykes To Divert Floodwaters

Military specialists have blown up dykes in central Pakistan to divert swollen rivers after rising floodwaters killed hundreds of people in Kashmir.

Authorities have been using helicopters and boats to evacuate people who have been left stranded by the floods, which were triggered by heavy monsoon rains earlier this month.

The breaches were made in dykes on the overflowing Chenab River. Pakistani news channels showed footage of the floodwaters rushing through the dykes.

Pakistani residents gather on high ground in Sher Shah

Some 280 people have been killed and a further 500 injured by the flooding in the Pakistani-controlled region of Kashmir.

Another 200 people have died in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where the floodwaters have partly receded, allowing many to return home.

Pakistan's military said is it carrying out food drops in the districts of Multan, Muzaffargarh and Jhang, while army medical teams are treating injured patients.

Medical teams in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-held Kashmir, have stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases.

Elsewhere in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the army has evacuated nearly 150,000 people whose homes were flooded.

Troops and army engineers are also working to restore the vital Jammu-Srinagar highway, which links Indian Kashmir to the rest of the country.

Flood victims stand beside their belongings in Multan, in Punjab province

The highway has been shut for the past 10 days due to landslides and fallen rocks.

Heavy monsoon rains hit another mountainous region of Pakistan in 2010, killing 1,700 people.

Pakistan-administered Kashmir also suffered a devastating earthquake in 2005 which killed 73,000 people.

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Greg Norman 'Damaged' In Chainsaw Mishap

Australian golfer Greg Norman has said he is "lucky" to still have his left hand after the two-time major winner had an accident with a chainsaw.

The 59-year-old - nicknamed The Great White Shark - posted a picture of himself recovering in a hospital bed in the US on social media after suffering the injury on Saturday.

"Working with a chainsaw ALWAYS be respectful of the unexpected," he wrote.

"I was one lucky man today. Damaged, but not down & out. Still have left hand."

Norman posted a picture of himself using a chainsaw last week

Last week, the golfer posted a picture of himself using a chainsaw to trim a plant.

He wrote alongside it: "Never ask someone to do something that you can do yourself. Love to work!"

Norman, Open champion in 1986 and 1993, also finished runner-up in two US Opens, two US PGAs and three Masters, and was world number one for a total of 331 weeks.

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IS: Beheading Is Revenge For UK Helping Kurds

The beheading of British hostage David Haines was in retaliation for David Cameron promising to arm Kurdish fighters in Iraq, says Islamic State.

Aid worker Mr Haines was killed by the insurgent group in a video where he is pictured kneeling in front of an IS extremist who is holding a knife.

The jihadist, who appears to have a British accent, said: "This British man has to pay the price for your promise, Cameron, to arm the peshmerga against the Islamic State."

He criticised the UK's "evil alliance with America", calling the Prime Minister an "obedient lapdog".

He also said the US "continues to strike the Muslims of Iraq and most recently bombed the Haditha Dam (which) will only accelerate your destruction".

"And playing the role of the obedient lapdog Cameron will only drag you and your people into another bloody and unwinnable war".

The militant added: "If you, Cameron, persist in fighting the Islamic State then you like your master Obama will have the blood of your people on your hands."

David Cameron returns to Downing Street for crisis talks

Appearing to speak under duress, Mr Haines said he held the Prime Minister "entirely responsible for my execution".

He added: "You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State just as your predecessor Tony Blair did, following a trend against our British prime ministers who can't find the courage to say no to the Americans.

"Unfortunately it is we the British public that in the end will pay the price for our Parliament's selfish decisions."

The video began with an interview clip of the Prime Minister and then featured Mr Haines, dressed in orange overalls, making his remarks.

IS militants previously beheaded two American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, posting the evidence online in videos featuring a masked jihadist with a British accent.

Mr Cameron described Mr Haines' beheading as "an act of pure evil".

He added: "My heart goes out to the family of David Haines who have shown extraordinary courage and fortitude throughout this ordeal.

"We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes."

The Foreign Office said it was offering the Haines family "every support possible".

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PM: We Will 'Hunt Down' David Haines' Killers

David Cameron has vowed that Britain will "hunt down" those responsible for the murder of British aid worker David Haines and bring them to justice.

Speaking from Downing Street after chairing a meeting of Cobra, Mr Cameron described Islamic State extremists as "monsters" who are part of a "fanatical organisation".

"We will hunt down those responsible and bring them to justice, no matter how long it takes," Mr Cameron said.

"David Haines was an aid worker. He went into harm's way, not to harm people but to help his fellow human beings in the hour of their direst need, from the Balkans to the Middle East.

"David Haines was a British hero. The fact that an aid worker was taken, held and brutally murdered at the hand of Islamic State sums up what this organisation stands for.

A man wearing black addresses David Cameron in the video

"They boast of their brutality. They claim to do this in the name of Islam. That is nonsense - Islam is a religion of peace."

Earlier in the day Mr Cameron held emergency talks with senior representatives of the military, the security services, the Foreign Office and the Home Office.

He returned to Downing Street shortly after midnight when IS released a video which showed Mr Haines' death.

Government sources say the death will not change Britain's policy and Parliament will not be recalled.

But Mr Cameron said Britain's security depends upon taking action against the extremists.

Mr Haines has been described as a 'British hero' (Pic: Lance Baldwin)

"It must strengthen our resolve. We must recognise that it will take time to eradicate a threat like this. It will require, as I have described, action at home and abroad," he said.

"This is not something we can do on our own. We have to work with the rest of the world.

"Ultimately, our security as a nation, the way we go about our everyday lives in this free and tolerant society that is Britain, has always depended on our readiness to act against those who stand for hatred and who stand for destruction."

Mr Haines was taken hostage in Syria last year

The footage of Mr Haines' death shows a knife-wielding militant who speaks with a British accent.

The clip also includes a threat to kill a second hostage, later named as Alan Henning, another British aid worker.

In the video, the victim looks into the camera and makes a statement, holding Mr Cameron responsible for his own "execution".

In the statement, which appears to have been made under duress, he said: "You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State just as your predecessor Tony Blair did, following a trend against our British prime ministers who can't find the courage to say 'no' to the Americans.

"Unfortunately it is we the British public that in the end will pay the price for our Parliament's selfish decisions."

Mr Cameron returned to Downing Street for crisis talks

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "All the signs are that the video is genuine. We have no reason to believe it is not."

The aid agency that Mr Haines was working for when he was taken hostage in 2013 said it was "appalled and horrified" by the killing.

"ACTED strongly condemns with the utmost of force these crimes. In this tragic moment, our thoughts are with his family, friends and loved ones," the agency said.

The killing comes just weeks after American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were beheaded by Islamic State (IS). Those deaths were also filmed, and the videos were released on the internet.

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Missing Boy Found Safe After Abduction Fears

A 15-year-old boy whose disappearance in Ireland was initially feared to be an abduction has been found safe and well.

Sait Canbullu was found in Ballymote, Co Sligo, on Sunday evening after getting into a car with two men 178 miles in Wexford town on Saturday afternoon.

It was initially reported that two masked men wearing balaclavas or ski masks had bundled him into the back of a car.

The Garda press office said that after extensive inquiries detectives were satisfied the teenager had not been abducted and that he had not been forced into the car.

A child rescue alert issued after Sait's disappearance on Saturday was cancelled at lunchtime on Sunday and he was found several hours later.

A Garda spokesman said: "We would like to take this opportunity to thank the media and members of the public for their assistance in this matter."

Ireland's child rescue alert is issued nationwide through the media and transport and police networks in the belief there is an immediate and serious risk to the health and welfare of a child.

It is understood the criteria was no longer met after police re-interviewed witnesses.

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