Russia's Talks On Ukraine Crisis 'Constructive'

Kayla Mueller: What We Know About IS Hostage

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 08 Februari 2015 | 10.52

Islamic State claims US hostage Kayla Mueller has been killed in an airstrike by Jordanian jets, but what do we know about her?

The 26-year-old is an aid worker from Prescott in Arizona, a small town 100 miles north of Phoenix and from a young age had a single-minded determination to help others.

She was taken prisoner in Aleppo, Syria on 4 August 2013 after leaving a Spanish Doctors Without Borders hospital.

Ms Mueller is thought to be Islamic State's last remaining American hostage.

Other aid workers kidnapped at the same time are thought to have been released, but according to a CBS report last year, IS was demanding a $6.6m (£4.3m) ransom to set her free.

Ms Mueller had been helping Syrian refugees on the Turkish border since December 2012, working with aid agencies including Support to Life and the Danish Refugee Council.

In 2013, she described the desperate situation in a refugee camp, including how she helped reunite a six-year-old with his relative after the camp was bombed.

"For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal," she told Prescott's Daily Courier.

"(I will not let this be) something we just accept."

"This story is not rare in Syria," she added. "This is the reality for Syrians two and a half years on.

"When Syrians hear I'm an American, they ask, 'Where is the world?' All I can do is cry with them, because I don't know."

Ms Mueller had also campaigned on behalf of genocide victims and volunteered for three years with the Save Darfur Coalition in her late teens.

A 2007 interview for the Daily Courier describes how she called and wrote to members of the US Congress, and took part in silent walks to raise awareness.

"I love cultures and language and learning about people's cultures," she told the paper as she prepared to start university in Flagstaff.

After graduating in 2009, she spent around a year living and working with humanitarian aid groups in northern India, Israel and Palestine.

Heading back to Arizona in 2011, she worked at an AIDS clinic and volunteered at a women's shelter at night.

The US government and Ms Mueller's family had kept her name secret until IS claimed she had been killed, fearing any publicity would put her in more danger.

Her parents, Carl and Marsha Mueller, said in a statement on Friday: "Kayla found this (aid) work heart-breaking but compelling; she is extremely devoted to the people of Syria.

"When asked what kept her going in her mission, she said, 'I find God in the suffering eyes reflected in mine, if this is how you are revealed to me, this is how I will forever seek you.'"

If her death is confirmed she would be the fourth American to die while being held by IS.

The others, journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig were beheaded by the group.

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Family Of IS Hostage Hopeful She Is Still Alive

The family of US hostage Kayla Jean Mueller say they are hopeful she is still alive, despite Islamic State claims that she was killed in a Jordanian airstrike.

In a statement released by a family representative, Ms Mueller's parents Marsha and Carl Mueller made a personal appeal to IS.

"You told us that you treated Kayla as your guest, as your guest her safety and well-being remains your responsibility," they said, addressing "those in positions of responsibility for holding Kayla".

The statement asked IS to contact the family privately.

According to the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors extremists, IS said the 26-year-old aid worker died on Friday after Jordanian warplanes struck the building where she was being held.

The terrorist group said no IS fighters died in the raids in their de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria.

It released images showing a damaged building it said had been targeted in airstrikes, but no photos to back their claims Ms Mueller had been killed.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed al Momani said the matter was being investigated but added that Jordan questioned the veracity of IS' claims.

"As a first reaction, we think it's illogical and we are highly sceptical about it," he said.

"How could they identify a Jordanian warplane ... in the sky? What was the American lady doing in a weapons warehouse?"

The White House, State Department and Pentagon also have said they cannot confirm the unsubstantiated report.

"We are obviously deeply concerned by these reports," said Bernadette Meehan, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, in a statement.

"We have not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL's claim."

Jordan has also dismissed the IS claim as "criminal propaganda" and an "old and sick trick", but said its jets did carry out a second consecutive day of strikes on IS sites on Friday.

It has stepped up its operations against IS since the militants burned to death a captured Jordanian pilot.

On Saturday, Jordan carried out a third straight day of airstrikes on IS targets.

"Sorties of air force fighters today bombed bases of the Daesh terror gang," state television said, using a derogatory Arabic name for the group.

It said some of the targets were in Raqqa, but gave no other details.

Ms Mueller, of Prescott, Arizona, disappeared in August 2013 in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.

A media blackout on her abduction was recently broken by President Barack Obama, when he confirmed IS still had at least one US hostage.

He said the US was "deploying all the assets that we can" to find Ms Mueller.

Her name had not been made public due to fears for her safety.

The group has already executed three American hostages: James Foley, Peter Kassig and Steven Sotloff.

Two British hostages, David Haines and Alan Henning, and two Japanese hostages, Kenjo Goto and Haruna Yukawa, have also been killed.

British reporter John Cantlie is still being held captive.

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Ukraine Desperation As Vital Supplies Run Dry

Written By Unknown on Sabtu, 07 Februari 2015 | 10.52

In Luhansk, one of the areas to suffer most in the conflict, there is a growing humanitarian crisis as food and medical shortages render the population powerless.

The streets of central Luhansk are punctuated by shell damage. Shop after shop has closed down.

There has been periodic fighting nearby, but people have been living like this for eight months now.

Beyond the immediate conflict, is a growing humanitarian crisis.

Pensions here haven't been paid since September, so many people are now dependent on public canteens.

In one centre we visited staff were giving out a daily meal of soup, fruit juice, and two pieces of bread, but increasingly they find they are having to turn people away.

Social worker Igor Chaika said: "There are really a lot of people coming here, but we can only make 100 litres, which is 300 portions.

"We can't make more, some people are obviously upset by that - there is not enough for everyone."

Some of those left homeless by the conflict are living in university dorms.

We met a mother who had fled the shelling with her six-year-old son last summer. She said he still wakes up in fear at night.

Anna Kuznetsova told us: "He wakes up crying, and dresses himself up. He got used to doing that.

"A psychologist comes into the kindergarten, but he is afraid - as soon as it's loud he is afraid."

The water is off for most of the day, when it comes back on there's a long queue to fill up containers, and the water pressure is weak.

On the floor above, 77-year-old Nina Nikolayevna showed us where she is living.

She had her own flat this time last year, but now she's sharing a room with two other elderly ladies.

She said Doctors Without Borders had given them blankets and sheets, but they had seen no other humanitarian aid.

"We go to the social canteen, it starts at 11 and they feed us once, but you know what kind of food it is there," Ms Nikolayevna explained.

"They don't give us anything on Sunday, there's nothing."

One of her roommates, 64-year-old Nina Shershen, added: "No one helps us, we are people as well.

"It's not we who created this war, it is them who came here and destroyed everything - how can we live like this?"

At the city's cancer hospital, the head doctor, Dr Alexander Torba, showed us where their buildings had been shelled.

As a result, one of their nurses was killed last year.

Staff are now working without salaries and they have no running water, but their biggest concern is chemotherapy drugs.

Dr Torba says they have around one week's supply left: "The big problem is with the anti-tumour medicines. There is not enough in the pharmacies and it's expensive. People don't have money to buy it."

Irina Timachuk, 54, has stage one ovarian cancer and needs to start her next chemotherapy cycle in 20 days.

She said: "We need treatment and we want to live. We are not old yet; my life is not over yet. I want to live, that's it. If I don't receive treatment it's over."

Valentina Gukosen, 51, who has stage three ovarian cancer, added: "I want to ask for help. I want to live. I'm not that old, but what shall I do?"

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Russia's Talks On Ukraine Crisis 'Constructive'

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Work is under way on a possible document aimed at ending the crisis in Ukraine following "constructive" talks with the leaders of Germany and France, Russia has said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held late-night talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande in Moscow on Friday in what was widely seen as a last-ditch attempt to thrash out a deal to end fighting which has claimed the lives of more than 5,300 people.

Clashes between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces in the east of the country have escalated in recent weeks, despite a peace deal agreed in Minsk last September.

The West accuses Russia of sending troops and weapons across the border although Moscow has consistently denied backing the rebels.

Despite no major breakthrough in negotiations, a Kremlin spokesman said Friday's talks were "substantial and constructive".

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Gallery: Brief Truce Allows Civilians To Flee Besieged Town Of Debaltseve

A member of the Ukrainian armed forces assists local residents onto a bus to flee fighting in Debaltseve, eastern Ukraine

Two dozen buses escorted civilians out of the town after separatist rebels and government forces agreed a brief truce to allow civilians to be evacuated. Click through for more images ...

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"At the moment joint work is under way on preparing the text of a possible joint document on implementation of the Minsk agreements - a document which would include proposals made by the president of Ukraine and proposals formulated today and added by Russian President Putin," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Mrs Merkel and Mr Hollande went to Moscow with a peace proposal discussed during a separate meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko a day earlier.

Mr Peskov said they would discuss the proposal further during a phone conversation with Mr Putin on Sunday.

He indicated Mr Poroshenko would also take part.

The talks came as rebels and Ukrainian troops briefly halted fighting in the embattled eastern town of Debaltseve to allow the evacuation of civilians.

Both sides sent convoys of buses into the town to rescue residents who have been trapped without power, heat or running water for two weeks.

Rebel forces have encircled the town and are engaged in a violent battle for control with government troops.

Debaltseve is a key railway hub between the two main rebel-controlled cities of Donetsk and Luhansk which are facing a major humanitarian crisis.

Fears that the conflict is spiralling out of control have prompted the US to consider supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine, an option opposed by European nations.

Speaking in Brussels US Vice President Joe Biden said Ukraine was fighting for survival in the face of growing Russian military involvement.

"We, the US and Europe as a whole, have to stand with Ukraine at this moment," Mr Biden said.

"Russia cannot be allowed to redraw the map of Europe."

British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon warned, however, that providing additional weapons could escalate the conflict.

His comments, at the start of a security conference in Munich, were echoed by Germany's defence minister Ursula von der Leyen.

"Are we sure that we would be improving the situation for the people in Ukraine by delivering weapons?" Mrs Von der Leyen asked the conference.

"Are we really sure that Ukraine can win against the Russian military machine?" she added.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is set to meet Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the conference this weekend.

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Written By Unknown on Jumat, 06 Februari 2015 | 10.52

President Obama is considering sending lethal weapons to Ukraine as the country battles pro-Russian rebels, his Secretary of State John Kerry has said.

Mr Kerry said the US President will make a decision "soon" about supplying arms to the country, where a civil war is under way in the east of the country.

His comments came as French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Kiev for talks about a ceasefire.

Mr Kerry told a joint news conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk: "The president is reviewing all of his options, among those options is the possibility of providing defensive systems to Ukraine.

"The president will make his decision soon but not before he has had a chance to hear back from myself and others."

He added that Washington would prefer a diplomatic solution and that the US backed a "helpful" peace plan Mrs Merkel and Mr Hollande are expected to present to Mr Putin on Friday.

Mr Kerry said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had the ability to end the war in Ukraine.

More than 5,000 people are thought to have died in the ongoing conflict which erupted in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea last March.

Separatists allying themselves with Moscow have been fighting with Ukrainian troops as they attempt to set up independent states in the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Kiev has accused Russia of arming the rebels and sending manpower and equipment over the border - something Russia denies.

In the US, Republican Senator and former Presidential candidate John McCain said the Senate would write legislation requiring the provision of arms to Ukraine if Mr Obama did not send them.

The US earlier agreed to give $16.4m (£10.7m) in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

During a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Mr Kerry warned the US would not "close our eyes" to Russian tanks and fighters crossing the border.

Merkel and Francois Hollande will head to Moscow with a new initiative which they say is "based on the territorial integrity of Ukraine".

A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Vladimir Putin was ready to hold constructive talks with the European leaders and that Russia would "do everything it can" to help resolve the crisis in Ukraine.

However, he claimed the Ukrainian government was using weapons in the conflict zone which had effects similar to those of weapons of mass destruction.

Meanwhile, NATO defence ministers agreed to immediately set up six bases in eastern Europe and establish a spearhead force of 5,000 troops in response to Russian aggression in Ukraine, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg revealed.

France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and Britain have agreed to take the lead in forming the spearhead force, which would be available to deploy within a week.

Britain will provide 1,000 of those troops. A Russian government spokesman said the move was "very worrying".

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War-Torn Ukraine Facing AIDS Care 'Disaster'

By Nick Martin, Sky News Correspondent

Hundreds of children were born with HIV unnecessarily in Ukraine last year because of a shortage of vital drugs, a Sky News investigation has discovered.

A year of conflict has led to claims the country's AIDS programme is "breaking down" and not enough is being done to fight the epidemic, which has plagued the former Soviet state for more than 25 years.

War in the east of the country and political turmoil in Kiev has choked off the supply of antiretroviral drugs used to prevent the spread of the virus.

International organisations like Unicef are worried that one of the key indicators - the transferral of the virus from pregnant women to unborn children - is beginning to rise for the first time since 2002.

"There is potential for a real disaster," said Giovanna Barberis, Unicef's representative in Ukraine.

"Because of the crisis in Ukraine the system is breaking down and there is a shortage of antiretroviral drugs.

"They cost money, they are expensive and whilst the international community is there to support, it is probably not enough."

Many pregnant women who should have received antiretroviral therapy did not get access to the drug and have gone on to give birth to HIV-positive babies, Ms Barberis said.

Months of turmoil have left Ukraine's finances shattered and the government forced to sign a $17bn (£11bn) bailout with the International Monetary Fund.

Despite the warnings, Ukraine's new health minister Alexander Kvitashvili told Sky News the country has "a grip" on the epidemic.

"We're very well prepared to face the challenges and we are ready to send that message to our international donors," he said.

"Given the situation in the country, given the full-blown Russian aggression that we're facing, given the financial crisis, I think we have a grip on the situation."

But doctors on the frontline of the fight against HIV do not agree.

The National Treatment Centre in Kiev is home to 20 children, all of whom have HIV.

Many of them have been abandoned by their mothers and left to live in state-run orphanages.

Dr Vera Checheneva, an HIV specialist and paediatrician, is one of the few doctors who agrees to treat children with HIV - such is the level of fear among the medical profession.

"At the moment I feel I am not in Ukraine, that I am in Africa or somewhere," she said.

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Gallery: Mothers And Children Shunned In War-Torn Ukraine

These are antiretrovirals which can help alleviate the symptoms of HIV or AIDS. They are expensive and Ukraine needs constant help from international donors in order to keep up supply

Dr Vera Checheneva is an HIV specialist and Paediatrician at the Okhmadut clinic in Kiev. She is one of the few doctors in Ukraine willing to treat children with HIV and AIDS

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Pilot's Father Denounces IS 'Wild Beasts'

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 05 Februari 2015 | 10.52

The father of the Jordanian pilot who was burned alive by Islamic State has told Sky News his son's killers are "wild beasts".

His condemnation came as Jordan's King Abdullah pledged a "relentless war" against the extremists as he flew home early from Washington for crisis talks over the response to the murder of Mu'ath Al Kassasbeh.

His country's response was swift, taking revenge by executing two prisoners after a horrific video of Mr Al Kassasbeh's killing was published online.

One of them was the Iraqi would-be suicide bomber Sajida al Rishawi, who the extremists had wanted freed.

Safi, the dead pilot's father, said: "My feeling is that of every father - I am mourning my own son.

"The whole world, the Arab world, the Jordanian society is mourning with me.

"What they did is more than criminal - it's never been seen before in history.

"Even animals couldn't do this - they are wild beasts, they have no connection to Islam.

"They are not human beings let alone Muslims.

"I think the reaction of Jordan will be very strong."

There has been widespread condemnation of the fighter pilot's death, with Saudi Arabia's new King Salman describing his murder as "inhuman and contrary to Islam".

Mr Al Kassasbeh was captured by the militants in December when his F-16 crashed near Raqqa, Syria, the de facto capital of the Islamic State group's self-styled caliphate.

The 26-year-old's murder appeared to be aimed at pressuring the government of Jordan - a close US ally - to leave the coalition that has carried out months of airstrikes on IS positions in Syria and Iraq.

But experts say the brutality shown by the extremists against a fellow Muslim could backfire and serve to galvanise opposition against the militants.

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IS Seeks Reinvention Through Pilot Murder Video

The video is new, but Jordanian pilot Mu'ath Al Kassasbeh was killed more than a month ago.

A resistance group - based in Syria - uses social media to chart life under IS rule.

Early in January it tweeted: "A group of ISIS fighters in Raqqa were talking among them enthusiastically about the execution of Jordanian pilot who was burned to death by ISIS - the reports are unconfirmed yet."

A member of the group today told Sky News: "On 8 January, one of our members who was in a public place - we don't want to say where exactly for his security and to protect him - he saw some IS fighters, including one of their biggest leaders were celebrating.

"They were boasting that they had burned the Jordanian pilot that day."

Instead of publicising the murder on social media, Islamic State has kept extremely quiet online, and spent that time working on an elaborate, highly-produced video.

That shows how important they think these videos are.

This one is the most sophisticated yet.

It uses multiple camera angles, was made using expensive equipment, and employs a lot of whizz-bang visual effects and graphics.

One aim is obviously to terrorise the population in the areas they control.

Every film needs a screening and the same resistance activist told us: "Yesterday, IS projected the video on big screens in the street to show the people of Raqqa the execution.

"The reaction was one of shock, they couldn't believe what had happened.

"One person asked a fighter why they burnt him as in Islam that is forbidden. They said it was an eye for an eye, and that they had killed our women and children with their airstrikes."

The video does indeed try to strike a more emotive note than previous releases.

It also shows how the Islamic State is trying to rewrite its story.

The style is like a spy film with its graphics and treatments, compared to the all-out combat of previous videos.

It is presented as "a security database" and there's a detailed 3D breakdown of the weapons and vehicles used by those fighting IS.

The message - they are not scrappy desert fighters any more, training by jumping through fiery hoops and engaging in limp hand-to-hand combat.

Now they are a sophisticated intelligence network.

Of course, they are not.

The whole aim of the video is to make them seem much more sophisticated than they actually are.

Finally, as polished as it is, the video is not a product, but a continuation of a dialogue.

When Mr Al Kassasbeh was shot down at the end of last year, a hashtag spread through Twitter, asking IS supporters how he should be killed.

One user suggested a bulldozer.

This video ends with another call to action.

It shows the names and purported address of other Jordanian air force pilots, and offers a reward for their murder.

The real sophistication of this video, and of IS generally, is involving others in their story online.

Artur Beifuss, author of Branding Terror, said: "ISIS is not only at war with the so-called West, but also in competition with other terrorists groups that offer the same product.

"Think about the competition: Boko Haram in Nigeria, 9/11 or the Taliban killing 144 school children in Pakistan in December 2014.

"The product is the same, but only one group will be the most notorious one."

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Iraqi Militant Executed After IS Murders Pilot

Written By Unknown on Rabu, 04 Februari 2015 | 10.52

Jordan has executed two prisoners after Islamic State murdered one of their pilots, a government spokesman has said.

One of those executed was Iraqi would-be suicide bomber Sajida al Rishawi, who was on death row for her role in a hotel attack that killed 60 people.

The other was Ziad al Karbouli, who had been an aide to the late former leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq and who confessed to a number of killings in 2006.

Jordan had promised a swift and lethal response after IS released a video showing captured pilot Mu'ath Al Kassasbeh being burned alive in a cage.

More follows...

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Jordan Will Have Revenge For Murdered Pilot

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It's slickly produced with iconography and graphics fitting for a thriller or spy movie.

It even uses 'flashbacks' as the condemned man looks into the sky and contemplates just how justified his punishment is going to be compared to the 'crimes' he has committed.

The latest murder video from the death cult that calls itself Islamic State is revealing not for the visible 'power' of the movement but for its weakness.

Indeed the whole saga of the Japanese hostages and murder of flight lieutenant Mu'ath Al Kassasbeh begins to reveal a picture of an organisation that is losing its grip.

It has already abandoned Kobani after losing 1,200 men. It has been driven from some key towns and villages in the east of Iraq, and now it would appear to be incoherent in its kidnap policy.

Last year it made about £30m ($45m) from negotiating the release of foreigners.

It murdered Britons and Americans on camera because the shocking snuff movies of their deaths generated a level of publicity that outweighed the profits it might have raised from desperate families.

Throughout the talks aimed at swapping Sajida al Rishawi, a failed suicide bomber on death row in Amman, IS was unable to provide proof that Flt Lt Kassasbeh was alive.

Activists in Raqqa said on 8 January that they believed he had been killed.

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Gallery: Tension Mounts Over IS Hostages' Plight

Japanese television networks reveal the plight of hostage Kenji Goto, whose release in exchange for freedom for a jailed female jihadist is being negotiated through the Jordanian capital Amman

Supporters of Mr Goto take part in a vigil outside Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Tokyo office

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A Japanese journalist at the protest headquarters in Amman for the family of pilot Muath al Kasaesbeh, who has been held hostage by IS since December

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The father of the missing pilot has led the campaign for his son's release

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Public protest is increasing in Jordan over the pilot's fate, with pressure growing on King Abdullah, as supporters continue to revere his father King Hussein

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During the same period, when negotiating over a $200m ransom for the two Japanese citizens, the usual videos were replaced with print-outs of photos of the murder of Haruna Yukawa who was killed first.

His friend Kenji Goto was beheaded on video - but not in the open location that previous crimes had been committed.

One could over-interpret such clues, it is true. But so-called IS appears to be having to keep its hostages on the move, rush out its demands, and has resorted to a form of murder that could galvanise support against them in the very communities they most need it.

The aim of the latest killing is to force a wedge between King Abdullah II of Jordan and the Bedouin tribes who traditionally support him.

There have been small elements within them, especially in the south, that have drifted towards the ideology of Salafism, the Islamo-fascist creed of al Qaeda and IS.

Some Jordanians are dismayed at their country's involvement in fighting IS in Syria and Iraq.

The hostage killers want these people to blame their kind for his death.

But this is a gamble. Bedouin tribes have already been fighting IS in Syria. And now the large Kasasbeh clans are locked in a blood feud.

As Jordan's army has already sworn - it will have revenge.

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