Written By Unknown on Senin, 23 Februari 2015 | 20.48
The school attended by three teenage girls who are believed to be heading to Syria had "no evidence" they were being radicalised or might abscond - despite another pupil leaving to join Islamic State in December.
Classmates of Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, have now returned to Bethnal Green Academy following half-term.
The trio disappeared last week - two months after a fellow pupil is thought to have left to join IS in Syria.
Principal Mark Keary revealed that police had spoken to Shamima, Kadiza and Amira at the time and found "no evidence that the girls were at risk of being radicalised or absconding".
Staff at the school were briefed by police upon their return to work, Mr Keary said, while all pupils have been offered agency support.
Video:'No Evidence' Girls Would Abscond
He added that social media was "strictly regulated" at the school - with no access to Facebook or Twitter.
This follows the revelation that a tweet from an account under Shamima's name was sent to Aqsa Mahmood, who left Glasgow for Syria to be a so-called jihadi bride in 2013.
Aamer Anwar, the lawyer representing Aqsa's family, told Sky News that security authorities were not passing on intelligence which could allow families to prevent their children from travelling to Syria or Iraq.
Video:Missing Amira's Dad: 'Come Home'
These failings mean the UK is "exporting terror" abroad, he said.
This accusation came as six French citizens had their passports confiscated after allegedly planning to travel to Syria, according to a security source.
The right to remove passports was introduced there amid a raft of new counter-terrorism laws in November.
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Gallery: Final Pictures Of Missing London Schoolgirls
These pictures were taken from Kadiza Sultana (l) and Shamima Begum's (r) twitter accounts
Kadiza and Shamima are feared to be on their way to Syria with a third girl, 15-year-old Amira Abase
The UK is braced for blizzard conditions that could cause travel disruption until well into Tuesday.
There will be no sign of spring in northern parts of the UK, where winds of up to 60mph and fresh accumulations of snow are predicted.
Parts of Scotland can expect up to 20 centimetres (eight inches) of the white stuff.
Sky News Weather Producer Rebecca Yussuf said: "There will be gusts of 50-60mph around the coasts and hills in the North and West.
Winds of up to 60mph are expected in some northern areas
"Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England will see fresh accumulations of snow, especially over the higher ground.
"The Scottish Highlands can expect significant accumulations of 10 to 20 centimetres (four to eight inches) overnight.
"There is a risk of travel disruption, with icy stretches on untreated surfaces, and the strong winds will also create blizzard-like conditions over the hills."
The Met Office has issued a yellow "be aware" warning for Northern Ireland, Scotland and northwest England that lasts until 3pm on Tuesday.
A man died after being swept into the sea by strong winds in Scarborough
The forecast follows a weekend of high tides as the 18.6-year tidal cycle reached its peak.
In Scarborough, a man walking his dog with a friend died after being swept into the sea by gale-force winds on Sunday night.
There remains a risk of coastal flooding during Monday, with 16 flood warnings in place covering Wales, the Midlands, the North West and South West.
Another 68 flood alerts are active, including 24 in the South West.
"Strong onshore winds will bring the risk of higher tide levels at high water," Yussuf said.
There will be fresh accumulations of snow in northern parts of the UK
"There is a continued risk of coastal flooding at high tide on Monday."
The latest bout of wintry weather is being caused by a deep area of low pressure moving to the northwest of Scotland on Monday.
The forecast for the rest of the week remains "unsettled, wet and windy thanks to a succession of low pressure systems", said Yussuf.
Stuart Gulliver, HSBC's chief executive, has denied any suggestion of wrongdoing amid revelations he kept millions of his own money in the bank's private Swiss offshoot.
The Guardian claimed Mr Gulliver - who announced the bank's full-year results this morning - kept $7.6m (£4.93m) via an account held by a Panamanian company.
Leaked files reportedly show that in 2007 he was the beneficial owner of an account held by Worcester Equities Inc though Mr Gulliver has insisted no tax was dodged in any jurisdiction.
He explained it was set up in the name of the Panama-based company to prevent HSBC staff in Hong Kong and Switzerland from knowing how much he was paid in the 1990s.
The account has since been closed as his pay is now disclosed to shareholders.
The disclosure was made amid the ongoing scandal over claims HSBC's Swiss private banking arm helped wealthy clients evade and avoid tax, and provided services to criminals including arms dealers.
Derby-born Mr Gulliver spoke to journalists today of the "shame" felt by staff, having apologised for the behaviour of the Swiss division in national newspaper advertisements last week.
He insisted the private bank had been "completely overhauled" since 2007, when whistleblower Herve Falciani opened the door to the scandal, stealing company data and passing it to French authorities.
Video:Timeline Of Whistleblower's Claims
Swiss prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into allegations of money laundering after raiding the bank's offices in Geneva.
The 55-year-old - who raked in a £7.3m reward package last year - is legally domiciled in Hong Kong after working there for many years, despite now working in the UK.
Representatives for the banking boss told the Guardian he had paid his bonus payments into HSBC Suisse until 2003.
Video:HSBC Whistleblower Speaks Out
They said Hong Kong tax had been paid and that Mr Gulliver had also told the UK taxman about the account a "number of years" ago.
HSBC added: "Full UK tax has been paid on the entirety of his worldwide earnings less a credit for tax paid additionally in Hong Kong.
"The Swiss account was set up in 1998 in the name of a Panamanian company for reasons of confidentiality and this had no other purpose and provided no tax or other advantage.
Video:Cameron And Miliband Clash On HSBC
MPs are set to grill HMRC tax officials on Wednesday over accusations they failed to act properly on the leaked files and potential evidence of tax evasion by more than 3,000 Britons.
The Conservatives have suspended the whip from Sir Malcom Rifkind after he was filmed allegedly offering to use his influence in exchange for cash.
Reacting to the scandal, Prime Minister David Cameron said: "These are very serious matters and we have very clear rules in this country."
He said he thought it was "right" that Sir Malcolm and Labour's Jack Straw, who is also embroiled in the allegations, refer themselves to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
Mr Cameron added: "These are serious issues, they need to be properly looked into, and I'm sure they will be."
Both Sir Malcolm and Mr Straw deny any wrongdoing.
Video:Straw Says He's Done Nothing Wrong
Mr Straw has suspended himself from the Labour Party while the claims are investigated.
They emerged following a joint investigation by the Daily Telegraph and Channel 4's Dispatches.
Reporters claiming to represent a Hong Kong-based communications agency called PMR contacted the MPs to say they were seeking to hire senior British politicians to join the company's advisory board.
Sir Malcolm, who chairs the parliamentary committee which oversees Britain's intelligence agencies, is said to have claimed he could arrange "useful access" to British ambassadors because of his status.
Mr Straw boasted of operating "under the radar" to use his influence to alter EU rules on behalf of a commodity firm that paid him £60,000 a year.
Video:MP Slams 'Unfounded' Allegations
In interviews with Sky News, the pair hit back.
Mr Straw said he was "mortified by the fact that I'd fallen into a trap", and insisted he was discussing what he might do when he stands down as an MP.
He said: "If I didn't believe it was morally right I wouldn't have done it at all.
"I'm quite clear that what I've done is morally and ethically right and is also within the rules."
Sir Malcolm said the allegations were "completely unfounded" and vowed to "fight them all the way".
Video:PM Criticises 'Cash-For-Access' MPs
He said: "I wasn't embarrassed by them.
"I was annoyed, very angry, because when your reputation is being attacked that is something you hold dear to.
"I've been in public life for a long time, I know what is permitted, what is proper, and that's what I stick to."
Labour leader Ed Miliband called the claims "disturbing".
He has written to the PM, calling on him to ban MPs from holding paid directorships and consultancies, an idea Mr Cameron has rejected.
Video:Miliband: Ban Second Jobs For MPs
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the allegations felt like "Groundhog Day - this keeps coming round".
UKIP leader Nigel Farage said it was "very questionable" whether Sir Malcolm could continue to chair the Intelligence and Security Committee.
Mr Cameron declined to say whether he believed Sir Malcolm should stand down from that position while he is suspended, stressing the chairman was selected by the committee and not the PM.
Written By Unknown on Minggu, 22 Februari 2015 | 20.49
British authorities are not doing enough to alert parents when their children are at risk of being radicalised online, a lawyer for the family of a young woman who joined Islamic State has said.
Aamer Anwar told Sky News security authorities are not passing on intelligence which could allow families to prevent their children from travelling to Syria or Iraq.
These failings, he said, mean the UK is "exporting terror" abroad.
This picture was posted on Aqsa Mahmood's Twitter page
His comments came as former Faith Minister Baroness Warsi warned that Islamic State's increasing drive to recruit young people online means security services are "fighting an ever losing battle".
"It is becoming more and more apparent that people are not being radicalised in places of worship but in their bedrooms by being on the internet," she told Sky News' Murnaghan Programme.
Video:Teens Radicalised 'In Bedrooms'
Mr Anwar was speaking on behalf of the family of 20-year-old Aqsa Mahmood who fled her family home in Glasgow in November 2013 to marry an Islamic State fighter.
She is accused of being among a number of young women now encouraging others back home to follow in their footsteps, something her family has condemned as a "disgrace".
One of three teenagers, feared to be one their way to Syria after boarding a flight to Turkey on Tuesday, is known to have contacted Ms Mahmood on Twitter.
The message - which was sent on 15 February, two days before the schoolgirls left London said: "Follow me so I can dm (direct message) you back".
"There must be an inquiry as to what exactly the intelligence services are doing with the intelligence they are gathering," Mr Anwar said.
"If the intelligence services have this information, surely they should not just be sharing it with Turkey but they should be sharing it with the families so that they can nip this in the bud.
"There is no point in declaring war in ISIS in Syria but doing very little to stop young people actually getting on the flights and getting across the border into Syria.
Video:Missing Girls
"This could happen to any other family across the country," he warned.
He said serious questions also need to be asked about how the three young women, Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, were able to board the flight unimpeded and without their parents.
It has been revealed that all three girls were interviewed by police two months ago after one of their classmates, 15, also travelled to Syria.
According to The Sunday Times two other girls attempted to join her but were apprehended.
Meanwhile the families of the three missing girls have all issued urgent appeals for them to come home.
"You belong at home with us. Syria is a dangerous place and we don't want you to go there," Shamima Begum's older sister Aklima told the newspaper.
Three Chelsea supporters wanted in connection with alleged racism on the Paris Metro have been identified, police say.
The men, whose names have not been released, are accused of being among a number of Chelsea fans caught on camera shouting racist chants ahead of Tuesday's Champions League match against Paris St Germain.
Video footage shows the group preventing a member of the public - Souleymane Sylla - from entering an underground train.
Some chanted: "We're racist, and that's the way we like it".
Their pictures were released as part of an investigation launched by the Metropolitan Police.
Video:Victim: Metro Incident Was Racist
Police are also investigating allegations that another group of men - believed to be Chelsea fans - sang racist songs as they arrived into St Pancras Station in London on Wednesday evening.
A member of the public reported the men, who were believed to have been returning home from the same PSG match.
Chelsea have suspended five supporters from attending matches following the Paris incident after carrying out their own investigation.
Manager Jose Mourinho said he was "disgusted" and "ashamed" by the behaviour, adding that the club would be writing to Mr Sylla to apologise.
He told Sky Sports he hoped Mr Sylla would accept the club's invitation to attend the return game against Paris St German on 11 March.
Video:'We Don't Want Them At Our Club'
However Mr Sylla told French newspaper Le Parisien: "I appreciate Mr Mourinho's invitation, but I can't get my head around being in a stadium at the moment".
In an interview with the Guardian, he said: "What happened has left me really afraid. I just want justice to be done, no more than that.
"I was a little bit hurt physically but in terms of morale I was hurt a lot. It has really affected my life. I can't go back into the Metro, it makes me really afraid.
"I don't think you should be denied the right to take the Metro because you're black. That's what they wanted."
By Tom Rayner, Middle East Reporter, on the Turkey-Syria border
A senior Turkish official has called on the international community to share more intelligence information to stem the flow of foreigners to Islamic State.
As the search continues for three London schoolgirls believed to be travelling to Syria, Cemalettin Hasimi told Sky News that Turkey cannot be expected to intercept people unless efforts are made to boost the country's travel blacklist.
"It's a global problem that requires a global response," said Mr Hasimi, who advises Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on security and foreign policy.
Turkish official Cemalettin Hasimi has called for a 'global response'
"The only way to prevent their entrance is to know their name, to have a list, so that we can take necessary measures.
"It is a proven fact (that) the best way to prevent the mobility of these groups or individuals is in the source countries."
Video:Efforts To Secure Turkey's Borders
Turkey currently has a list consisting of around 10,000 individuals who will be detained and deported should they try to enter the country.
The list, compiled as a result of information shared by intelligence agencies around the world, has grown significantly in recent months.
It has grown from 5,000 names in the summer of 2014, to 7,000 names by the end of that year.
But as the case of the three missing London teenagers has shown, the task of identifying those who intend to travel to Syria remains difficult.
Although the Metropolitan Police spoke to the girls two months ago in connection with another student who travelled to Syria, that information was not passed to Turkish authorities.
Video:Turkish Airport Security Challenges
Turkey attracts an average of 35 million visitors each year.
The country has established a network of Risk Analysis Centres at entry points, staffed by intelligence officials and expert profilers who assess travellers as they make their way into the country.
More than 500 people who were not on the travel blacklist have been detained and deported as a result of the checks over the past year.
They include a man from Norway carrying parts of an assault rifle in his luggage, and a Swedish citizen with bags of military-style camouflage and other equipment, who had travelled from Denmark.
Turkey is also stepping up its efforts along the Syria border, digging a trench nearly 60 miles long and three metres deep in the Kilis region.
Video:2014: Passports Reveal Turkey Link
It is also installing concrete walls to prevent vehicles, weapons and people being smuggled along the 600 miles of border it shares with Syria.
The governor of Kilis, Suleyman Tapsis, told Sky News authorities in the region have apprehended 184 foreigners from 34 different countries in the past year.
"We are catching them with military overalls, camouflage, binoculars and other such equipment," he said.
"They have computers and the photos we find on their USB sticks make clear they are in a troubled state of mind."
During a visit to Turkey in December, Prime Minister David Cameron insisted the UK was prepared to offer "the highest level of intelligence co-operation we can possibly achieve" with Turkey.
John Prescott is to return to frontline politics ahead of the General Election after Ed Miliband appointed him a climate change adviser.
The former deputy prime minister will be working with heads of state and foreign governments to "raise their ambition", according to the Labour leader.
He wants Lord Prescott to work on an agreement in the run-up to a crucial United Nations summit in Paris at the end of the year.
Mr Miliband said he was inspired to appoint the life peer because of his experience in getting an agreement at the landmark Kyoto Protocol in 1997.
Lord Prescott became known during the premiership of Tony Blair for his pugnacious style and is considered a formidable negotiator.
Video:2001: Prescott Punches Protester
Writing in The Observer, Mr Miliband said: "His abilities and experience... must be used at this critical time for our future and there is no one better than John at bashing heads together to get a deal."
In his column in The Sunday Mirror, Lord Prescott said he will continue to work with politicians from around the world.
He said: "For the last two years, I've spent my time trying to get agreement from elected parliamentarians around the world.
"From Mexico, to India and Europe, politicians have agreed it could be a way forward. But now we need to get the world leaders involved."
He said he was prepared to work with the current coalition Government in order to try to get a deal in Paris.
Video:Labour Welcomes Prescott
Mr Miliband said that following last year's floods climate change had become an issue of national security for Britain.
It would be a "disaster" if the summit failed to achieve a meaningful agreement, he added.
"There is a real danger that this great chance to achieve action is going to slip by, without the world even noticing."
"I do not want to see Britain or any country having to adopt crisis measures to halt the slide into global catastrophe because we missed this critical opportunity now," he said.
Mr Miliband said he would use the talks to push for ambitious carbon emissions targets for all countries.
Video:Campbell Welcomes Prescott Return
Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander told Sky's Murnaghan programme: "I certainly remember the thumping victory in 2001 and the key role that John played there.
"The truth is John has for many years been one of our strongest campaigners and I think whether it's his work on social media or whether it's his work motivating supporters over many years, he's done a fantastic job.
"The role and brief that John has been given right now is to focus on climate change, but I fully expect that as well as that policy role he'll continue to support the Labour campaign in the months ahead and I certainly welcome that."
Former Labour director of communications Alastair Campbell also welcomed the move, saying on the BBC's Andrew Marr show that Lord Prescott was "absolutely brilliant" when the Kyoto protocol on climate change was being negotiated when the party was in power.
Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 21 Februari 2015 | 20.48
The clue came right at the start of Yanis Varoufakis' press conference.
Up until last night's bailout extension deal, the Greek finance minister spent most of his international media appearances addressing an international audience - speaking fluent, verbose English, taking questions from outlets from around the world.
Last night, in the small Greek briefing room in the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, he was talking to someone else entirely.
His eyes fixed down the barrel of the cameras, for a quarter of an hour he spoke only in Greek.
"We are now co-authors of our own destiny," he said.
Video:Greek Rescue Package Explained
"Negotiation means compromise. But this deal is a small step in the right direction.
"We are no longer following a script given to us by external agencies," he added.
Unusually for him, though, he was reading his speech rather than talking off the cuff.
It did not take a political genius to work out what was going on.
Syriza came to power in Greece last month promising not to do a deal with the shady characters in Brussels.
It promised not to sign up to a continuation of the unpopular bailout programme.
It promised not to have its domestic policies monitored and influenced by the so-called Troika of lenders (the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank).
Video:Greeks Win Loan Extension
But the deal it signed up to on Friday night involved, essentially, all of the above.
There were changes in some of the terminology.
The "programme" is now renamed the "contract"; the hated "memorandum of understanding" which entailed the reforms the country needed to make, is called the "Master Financial Assistance Facility Agreement"; the "Troika" is now referred to as "the institutions".
But, for the most part, the bailout extension Greece signed up to looks like precisely the thing Syriza and Varoufakis said they would not agree to.
True, there are some important changes: Greece will be given more leeway on its public finances this year; it will have the opportunity to curtail some of the tougher reforms, such as firesales of assets and changes in pension provisions - though these, too, will have to be approved by the Troika, sorry, institutions, in conversations starting on Monday.
Crucially, Syriza can rightly claim that its government has eased the conditions on the bailout a lot more than its predecessors.
However, this was hardly the revolution in economic policy that many Greeks will have hoped for.
Video:Greece: Everything You Need To Know
It does not represent a new deal - so much as an old deal in new clothing.
Then again, perhaps that is the best that could have been expected.
This is only a short-term extension to bide the country over.
Without it, there was a distinct chance it would have defaulted and left the euro - the latter of which the vast majority of Greeks are set against.
The country's financial system was looking perilously exposed.
Throughout the Eurogroup meeting, the ECB president Mario Draghi warned repeatedly that unless Greece and its euro counterparts came up with a deal soon, money could start escaping from Greek bank accounts rapidly that there might be a full-blown financial crisis as soon as Monday.
This was a difficult meeting for Mr Varoufakis.
Video:Anti-Austerity Party Wins In Greece
The former academic has taken the political world by storm in recent weeks, carrying out a whistlestop tour of European capitals to explain the Greek position.
However, so visible has he been in this period, so adamant that Greece will not water down its demands, that the events of the past 24 hours may prove tough to contextualise.
What made the job harder still is the fact that he and the finance ministry were marginalised towards the end of the negotiations.
Alexis Tsipras, the Prime Minister, stepped in and carried out some of the talks behind the scenes with his fellow leaders when things looked as if they were breaking down.
After the previous Eurogroup meeting on Monday descended into farce, amid a flood of leaks, the PM insisted that all press communications should be done through his office, rather than Mr Varoufakis'.
It was said that behind-the-scenes, the Germans were refusing to talk to Mr Varoufakis - that some Greek finance officials had been urged to get rid of their boss.
That would be a terrific mistake: their new finance minister is one of the biggest assets Greece has, particularly when it comes to explaining to an international audience why austerity has not worked, and why future deals might have to be different.
Video:Family Living Off Food Donations
And there will almost certainly need to be another deal once these four months have elapsed.
In the meantime, Mr Varoufakis and his colleagues have a tough job on their hands explaining why what was agreed in Brussels was a triumph rather than a defeat.
Their previous feat - overturning decades of two-party domination in Greece - may end up looking easy in comparison.
"Super tides", 50mph winds and large waves are threatening to combine to bring flooding misery for coastal communities in England this weekend.
The warning comes as many in the South East woke up to a covering of snow on Saturday, with forecasters predicting further blizzards for northern areas.
The biggest flood risk is in the southwest, with six "immediate action required" warnings issued by the Environment Agency (EA), mainly for the Somerset coast, and five for the northwest.
Two warnings are also in place around the Wye Estuary in the Midlands. There are also dozens of lower-level amber flood alerts - meaning flooding is possible.
Most of the serious warnings are in southwest England. Pic: EA
"It's possible we could see some large waves and spray and urge people to take care near coastal paths and promenades and not to drive through flood water," said the EA's flood risk manager, Jonathan Day.
The spring "super tides" occur regularly when the gravitational pull of the sun and moon combine.
But the pull of the planets is also at an 18-year peak, making the tides slightly bigger this year, according to the EA.
Surfers on the River Severn made the best of the tidal boost, riding the incoming bore wave on Saturday morning.
Southeast England also saw a dusting of snow on Saturday morning
Crowds gathered on the banks to watch the phenomenon, which at its peak can reach 13mph and three metres in height.
Saturday's wave is one of several large surges expected in February and March.
Meanwhile, heavy snow is also set to add to a turbulent mix of weekend weather, causing travel problems in Pennine areas and the Highlands.
A woman on a paddle board prepares for the Severn bore surge
Parts of southeast England have already had snow this weekend, with rural areas of East Sussex, Surrey and Kent seeing some picture postcard scenes.
The Met Office said freezing temperatures on Saturday night would see more wintry showers sweeping in in the morning.
"The whole of the country will experience strong winds and severe gales over the course of tomorrow, meaning it will be a wet and windy day for many - and a snowy and windy day for northern parts," said Met Office forecaster Simon Partridge.
