Online Daters 'Need Protection' From Stalkers

By Adele Robinson, Sky News Correspondent

Online dating sites are not doing enough to protect women from being targeted by stalkers and violent men, according to an anti-stalking charity.

Paladin, which was set up two months ago, says it has been contacted by people who have been abused by men after meeting them on the internet.

Lack of regulation has meant those with a violent past have been able to join dating sites.

But a new code of conduct and a kitemarking system is to be introduced to the industry to help boost client confidence.

Laura Richards, from Paladin, is urging more websites to join up to the code.

She said: "I think there's a lot of them that are not taking it seriously enough, currently, and certainly with regards to stalking and other serious offences that may be committed by predatory individuals who are using these sites because they know that there are a pool of victims for them to fish within.

"I think the code of practice is definitely a step forward that the public know there is a standard that has to be met."

Sarah, not her real name, met her former boyfriend on a dating website but was unaware he had two previous convictions for violence.

She said: "He threatened me, followed me, made unwanted contact with me, it was extremely terrifying.

"When I finally left the relationship the harassment continued in an email sense."

Her ex-boyfriend was eventually convicted but Sarah said there was no interest when she initially tried to contact the dating website.

"They supposedly had buttons on there to report an abuser, block an abuser but they are not easy to find, and they generate these automatic responses.

"There was no help or assistance available at a time when I was completely frustrated and panicking about the whole situation."

Recent YouGov surveys show one in five relationships in the UK begin online with around nine million people using dating websites in total.

Figures from consumer website Which? reveal that two in five people using dating sites have discovered fake profiles.

So far 13 online dating sites have signed up to the new Online Dating Association including eHarmony, The Dating Lab, Oasis, Match, My Single Friend, Guardian Soulmates, Love and Friends, Dating Factory, Christian Connection, Muddy Matches, Lovestruck, FreeDating and The Single Solution.

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Miliband 'Smear Involvement Claims Untrue'

Labour leader Ed Miliband has been forced to deny any involvement in attempts to smear opponents amid claims that "damaging" emails could have been sent by him to one of the key figures in a plot to attack senior Tories.

The potential link between Mr Miliband and Derek Draper, who was behind a proposed Labour-supporting political gossip website, is among the latest allegations in a memoir from Gordon Brown's former spin doctor.

The drip-feed of claims from Damian McBride threatens to overshadow the Labour Party conference despite Mr Miliband's efforts to seize the initiative by announcing he would scrap the "bedroom tax" if he wins the 2015 general election.

In the latest extracts from Mr McBride's memoir Power Trip, being serialised in the Daily Mail, the former member of the Brown inner circle suggests Mr Miliband could "have problems" if any emails to Mr Draper became public.

Labour sources denied that Mr Miliband had any involvement in the proposed Red Rag website, which ultimately brought about the downfall of Mr McBride, and the book does not suggest he was involved.

Mr McBride (far left) with Gordon Brown

A spokesman for Mr Miliband said: "Ed was not involved in any plan to smear or spread lies about opponents. Any suggestion he was is totally untrue."

Mr McBride was forced to resign as Mr Brown's head of strategy in 2009 after he sent Mr Draper emails containing scurrilous gossip and lies about Conservative MPs as planning for Red Rag took shape.

Meanwhile Labour activists have begun to gather for the party conference in Brighton where delegates are to be told that childcare will be a "top priority" for the 2015 general election.

Parents of primary school children will be guaranteed access to childcare from 8am to 6pm under Labour plans to help working families, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper has told The Guardian.

The conference on Sunday is expected to focus heavily on cost of living issues and newspaper reported that other policy pledges would include strengthening the minimum wage in specific sectors such as retail and catering as growth returns, as well as fresh action to crack down on energy bills.

Ahead of the event former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott urged Mr Miliband to produce concrete policy proposals and has questioned the "character" of the new generation of Labour MPs.

He said Mr Miliband's attempts to appear strong by seeking a confrontation with the unions were "not enough" and he needed to put forward a "coherent" agenda.

In an interview with Total Politics magazine, Lord Prescott said Mr Miliband had to set out a "very clear idea" and a "vision" about what he wanted to achieve as Labour leader.

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Plane Diverts To Stansted: Pair Arrested

Two men have been arrested after a plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Stansted Airport.

The Sri Lankan Airlines A330 Airbus, which was carrying 267 passengers and crew, was due to land at Heathrow but was diverted to the Essex airport just after 7.30pm on Friday.

Police officers boarded the plane, which had departed from Colombo, and arrested the pair on suspicion of endangering an aircraft.

However, Essex Police said their investigation was a criminal matter rather than a terrorism inquiry.

Both arrested men, aged 49 and 57, are British nationals, the force said.

The 49-year-old is being treated for a medical condition, not an injury, in hospital.

Essex Police added: "The 49-year-old is currently receiving medical treatment in hospital and the other is in custody at Harlow police station.

"They will be interviewed by detectives. The incident is being treated as a criminal investigation."

All of the passengers on board the aircraft left safely and have since travelled to Heathrow by coach.

A spokesman for Stansted confirmed the airport remained open, with all flights arriving and departing as normal.

In May this year, two men were arrested on board a plane from Pakistan carrying 297 passengers that was intercepted and diverted to Stansted by RAF typhoon jets.

Police later said the incident in May was being treated as criminal rather than terrorism-related.

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Barclays Cyber Raid: Arrests Over Stolen £1.3m

Eight men have been arrested after a gang stole more than £1m from a high street bank by taking control of one of its computer systems.

The money was stolen from a Barclays branch in Swiss Cottage, London, earlier this year, using a device known as a "keyboard, video and mouse" (KVM) switch.

The hardware, which can be purchased online for as little as £10, allowed the gang to transmit the contents of the computer's desktop and take control of the machine remotely.

It is believed the device was installed by a man who pretended to be an IT engineer to gain access to the branch.

A KVM device similar to the one used to steal money from Barclays accounts

Some £1.3m was withdrawn from accounts, although much of the money has since been recovered.

Detective Inspector Mark Raymond, of the Metropolitan Police's Central e-Crime Unit (PeCU), said: "Those responsible for this offence are significant players within a sophisticated and determined organised criminal network, which used considerable technical abilities and traditional criminal know-how to infiltrate and exploit secure banking systems."

The men, aged between 24 and 47, are in custody at various police stations in London, where they are being held on suspicion of conspiracy to steal and conspiracy to defraud.

Thousands of credit cards and people's personal data were seized following searches of properties in Westminster, Newham, Camden, Brent and Essex, including one described by detectives as a control room for the Barclays theft.

The arrests come after four men appeared in court accused of a failed attempt to take control of computers at a Santander branch in southeast London, again using a KVM device.

Police said they foiled a "very significant and audacious cyber-enabled offence" that would have cost the bank millions of pounds.

The use of KVM devices to commit "low risk, high financial yield cyber-enabled crime" is on the rise, according to the Metropolitan Police.

A spokesman for the force said the latest arrests followed a "long-term, intelligence-led operation" involving PeCU and Barclays, whose security team detected the theft.

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Prison Smoking Ban 'Could Be Very Risky'

Inmates could soon be banned from smoking inside prisons in England and Wales, the Ministry of Justice has said.

A pilot scheme which will monitor how prisoners react to the move is being planned by the Government but sites have not yet been chosen.

A spokesman for the MoJ said: "We are considering banning smoking across the prison estate and as part of this are looking at possible sites as early adopters."

The pilot scheme is expected to launch in the South West in the spring of next year and if successful the ban would be rolled out across all prisons within 12 months, The Times has reported.

But there are fears the ban could cause disruption in prisons, with around 80% of inmates in England and Wales believed to smoke, according to the NHS.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said it would be "very risky" to implement a blanket ban with no extra support for prisoners.

"You're putting extra pressure on a system that's already under pressure," she said.

Prisons in the pilot scheme have not been identified

Ms Lyon says many prisoners use smoking to help "survive" their sentence. 

She says cuts to staffing and resources are already putting added strain on the prison system, and causing "increasing unrest" amongst inmates.

She does not oppose the proposed ban, but said alternate activities to smoking must be offered.

"If the substitute for smoking were more time with staff, more time outside of your cell, more purposeful activity, more skills training that would be a very different picture," she said.

Steve Gillan, general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association, told The Times that introducing the ban would be difficult.

"There is no pretending otherwise," he said.

"It could cause disturbances but they have done it successfully in Canada and in young offender institutions in England and Wales."

He added: "We welcome this move. It is our policy to have smoke-free prisons for our members.

"We will work with the ministry to make sure it works effectively."

Mr Gillan said that without a smoking ban the Prison Service risked legal action from a non-smoker claiming to suffer from the effects of passive smoking.

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India: Briton Trampled To Death By Elephant

A British national has died after being trampled to death by an elephant in India.

The man, who has been named as Colin Manell, died at the Masinagudi National Park, in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Local police said Mr Manell and two other men - a guide and an acquaintance - had entered an area of the forest that was out of bounds to tourists so they could take photos.

It was here the elephant attacked, the police said.

Mr Manell was seriously injured and treated at the local Masinagudi hospital before being transferred to Gudalur Government Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The two men with him at the time of the attack have been taken into custody for questioning.

Local guides sought help from the nearby Sagadevan resort, where Mr Manell was staying.

The Foreign Office confirmed the death, saying: "We are aware of the tragic death of a British national in southern India and we are providing consular assistance at this difficult time."

His family has been informed.

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Crocodiles Infest Floods In Acapulco, Mexico

Devastating storms have left 80 people dead across Mexico, with residents in Acapulco facing looters and crocodile-infested floodwaters.

Hundreds of thousands of residents in the port city have begun returning to their homes, with many forced to wade through waist-high water.

Pictures showed residents battling with a crocodile, which was spotted thrashing its tail in floodwater in the city centre.

An official from Mexico's transport authority said it would take until Friday to clear the two key roads that connect the city with Mexico City.

Tropical Storm Manuel has now strengthened into a hurricane. Picture: NHC

Footage also showed widespread looting in the city.

Roads and bridges were destroyed outside Acapulco after tropical storm Manuel hit the Pacific coast of Mexico over the weekend, while Hurricane Ingrid battered the Gulf coast on Monday.

Manuel strengthened to a hurricane on Thursday as it moved northwards along the coastline, the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said.

It warned heavy rain from the storm will trigger further flash-flooding and mudslides in the states of Sinaloa, Nayarit and southern Baja in California.

Mexico's federal Civil Protection Co-ordinator Luis Felipe Puente said 35,000 homes had been damaged or destroyed.

Officials said there were at least 58 people missing after a landslide in mountains north of Acapulco late on Wednesday night.

Some 5,300 people were flown out of Acapulco on 49 flights on Wednesday, but an estimated 55,000 tourists remain stranded.

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Rip-Off Pensions: OFT Calls For Shake-Up

The Office of Fair Trading's (OFT) study of the £275bn defined contribution (DC) workplace pensions market has found some schemes offer no value for money.

The trading watchdog, which decided not to refer the market to the Competition Commission or recommend a cap on charges, made a string of recommendations to shake up the sector instead.

The OFT said it had agreed a package of reforms with companies and The Pensions Regulator as the auto-enrolment programme expands.

Workers aged between 22 and the state pension age who are not members of a workplace pension are being signed up to one under the Government's plans to head off a looming retirement savings crisis feared as people live longer but fail to put enough money away for their old age.

As well as examining whether savers were getting value for money, the OFT's investigation also took in the pressure on providers to keep their charges low and looked at the size of pension pot people were likely to end up with at retirement.

The pensions minister Steve Webb has pledged to act on the findings

It said that the Government should consult on improving the transparency and comparability of pension schemes to make it easier for employers to choose a scheme for their workers.

The OFT said employers "often lacked the capability or the incentive to assess value for money."

The watchdog also called on ministers to look at preventing schemes being used for automatic enrolment which ramp up management costs for people when they stop contributing to their pension, perhaps because they have changed jobs.

It identified a risk of savers losing out in two parts of the market - in what it said were "old and high charging contract and bundled trust schemes" and in smaller trust-based schemes because of "low levels of trustee engagement and capability."

The Pensions Regulator, the OFT said, had agreed to take "rapid action" to look at whether the smaller schemes were delivering good value and Government had agreed new enforcement powers to clamp down on them.

The Association of British Insurers is to begin an immediate audit of the old and high-charging schemes, which the OFT said contained around £30bn of savings.

Clive Maxwell, OFT chief executive, said: "We have found problems in relying on competition to drive value for money for savers in this market.

"We've therefore worked closely with the Government, regulators and industry to agree a set of measures that we believe are an important step in helping to ensure that savers get better outcomes.

"It is important, particularly given that automatic enrolment is already under way, that these measures are implemented rapidly," he concluded.

Minister for Pensions Steve Webb said: "This report outlines further important ways to help consumers, and we will act on its recommendations.

"In particular, we need to ensure those already in pension schemes are getting good value for money, and will be actively involved in the audit of pension schemes sold prior to 2001.

"We will consult shortly on minimum scheme standards, including further action on charges."

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Assad To Destroy Chemical Weapons 'In A Year'

Syrian leader Bashar al Assad has said he is committed to destroying his stockpile of chemical arms - but warned it would take a year to do so.

In an interview with Fox News, Mr Assad said he was committed to getting rid of the arsenal but conceded it would cost at least £600m ($1bn).

And he also challenged America to foot the bill.

"It needs a lot of money, it needs about one billion (US dollars)," he told the US crew at the presidential palace in Damascus.

"If the American administration is ready to pay those money, and to take responsibility of bringing toxic materials to the United States, why don't they do it?"

Mr Assad also insisted that his decision to destroy the weapons was not forced upon him by the threat of US strikes.

He said destroying the weapons was "a very complicated operation, technically".

"So it depends, you have to ask the experts what they mean by quickly. It has a certain schedule," he said.

"It needs a year, or maybe a little bit more."

Mr Assad denied responsibility for the gas attack. Picture: Fox News

Mr Assad also said a UN report that found "clear and convincing evidence" of a sarin nerve gas attack in Syria last month is "unrealistic", and denied responsibility for it.

"Sarin gas is called kitchen gas," he said.

"You know why? Because anybody can make sarin in his house. Any rebel can make sarin.

"Second, we know that all the rebels are supported by governments. So any government that would have such chemical can hand it over."

He also used the one-hour interview to criticise the American stance in the Syrian crisis.

He said that, unlike Russia, Washington had tried to get involved in Syria's leadership and governance.

Mr Assad's comments came after a senior Russian diplomat said Damascus would stick to its commitment to eliminate its chemical weapons by mid-2014.

After talks in Syria, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Mr Assad was "very serious" about the disarmament plan.

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Peru Drugs Accused May Be Jailed In UK

Why Peru Became The Cocaine Hotspot

Updated: 2:26am UK, Sunday 15 September 2013

By Pete Norman, Sky News Online

Peru has overtaken Colombia as the world's leading cocaine producer, according to experts.

Home to the ancient Inca civilisation, Peru is rugged, remote and the ultimate source of the mighty Amazon river.

It is also home to a long-running guerrilla campaign by the leftist Shining Path group.

While urban and coastal inhabitants have benefited greatly from market-focused economic development since the early 1980s, when military rule ended, the rural poor have gained little.

Its hilly, isolated and fertile regions are home to the guerrillas, who rely on cocaine production, hostage-taking and corruption for funds.

According to the CIA, Peru was the world's largest coca leaf producer until 1996, when neighbouring Colombia took the lead.

It says that in 2009 Peru had 100,000 acres under coca leaf production compared to Colombia's 286,000 acres - with the potential to produce 225 metric tons of pure cocaine.

US-supported efforts to reduce or eradicate coca leaf in Colombia have now tipped the scales of production towards Peru.

Aerial spraying of herbicide in Colombia has affected coca crops covering 250,000 acres while manual eradication has been done on another 150,000 acres.

The UN has said Colombia reduced its area under coca cultivation by 25% in 2012 - the biggest annual reduction since the international body began monitoring it in 2001.

Around 30 Britons are now in Peruvian prisons on drug-related convictions, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The UN Office of Drugs and Crime is expected to release its official 2012 Peru coca crop estimate in September.

Its World Drug Report 2011 said that although the area under coca leaf production was around 75% of the 1990 area, the current yield might be up to a third greater.

While Colombia still supplies virtually all of North America's cocaine, the CIA said much of the drug exported from Peru through land, air and sea routes is destined for Europe and other markets.

North America and Europe cocaine consumption has stabilised in recent years while growth has increased in Oceania and Asia Pacific regions.

It said: "Finished cocaine is shipped out from Pacific ports to the international drug market, (while) increasing amounts of base and finished cocaine, however, are being moved to Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia for … trans-shipment to Europe and Africa."

Smaller quantities are carried through air routes by so-called drug mules, while larger loads travel by sea to west Africa prior to distribution throughout Europe.

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Police Back Private 'Drunk Tanks' For Revellers

By Gerard Tubb, Sky News Correspondent

Police chiefs have backed privately-run drunk tanks where intoxicated revellers are kept overnight and made to pay for their stay.

Chief Constable Adrian Lee, the national policing lead on alcohol harm, said drunken individuals should be held in "welfare centres" run by a commercial company.

Mr Lee, head of Northamptonshire Police, told Sky News' Sunrise programme how the system might work.

He said: "The cost of policing for arresting and taking positive action for people who are drunk and disorderly and bringing them into custody cells is significant and not necessarily the best place for people who are drunk to be.

"We would arrest them, they would go to a welfare centre and when they were sober the police would return to deal with the criminality of their behaviour and there might well be a bill to pay.

"I think the impact of that would be a deterrent effect on people who choose to go out and get so drunk that they're incapable of looking after themselves."

He said the number of extra officers his own force used to police town centres on Friday and Saturday nights had increased from five to as many as 18 in the last 10 years because of binge drinking.

At the launch of a week-long campaign aimed at highlighting alcohol harm, Mr Lee also criticised the Government for failing to implement minimum pricing for a unit of alcohol in England and Wales.

Police officers have called for binge drinkers to be billed for their care

Sir Peter Fahy, vice president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), said binge-drinking was putting a massive strain on police and health services.

"Cheap drink and later opening hours only adds to the problem," he said.

The drunk tank idea came as it emerged that bouncers in pubs and clubs across the UK will be trained to protect people who are too drunk to look after themselves.

The Home Office has told the Security Industry Authority to teach all 100,000 licensed door-staff how to prevent "vulnerable" people from coming to harm.

Bouncers, who must be trained by the SIA to work in licensed premises, will be given a checklist of actions.

These include reuniting people with friends, helping them get a taxi home and, as a last resort, calling the police.

On the streets of Newcastle, where the new training for bouncers was developed, late-night drinkers admitted they "pre-loaded" with cheap booze before coming out.

Marie Thompson (R) criticised high drink prices for people with children

At 11pm, 34-year-old Donna Davison showed Sky News a half-litre bottle of vodka she had brought from home to top up her glass during the night.

She said: "I bought (a bigger bottle) at the corner shop, filled it up and brought it with us."

Her friend Marie Thompson, 40, who claimed to have drunk a litre of vodka before arriving in the city centre at 9pm, described drink prices in clubs as "extortionate".

She said: "People on poverty who've got kids, it's not fair really, because they charge £6 for one single drink.

"We like to go out and have a good night, that's why we bring our own, it's cheaper."

Acting Superintendent Bruce Storey, from Northumbria Police, said the new training for bouncers had helped reduce crime in Newcastle since being introduced earlier in the year.

He said: "If people have had too much to drink, quite clearly their inhibitions go, their ability to be aware of their surroundings tends to be diminished and the consequences of that are obvious."

Bouncer Chris Woodcock described the training as a form of customer service.

He said: "It's being aware of vulnerable people and making sure that everyone has a good night and they get to go home safely."

But his colleague Paul Faetz, 50, who has 32 years working on the doors in Newcastle, says binge drinkers have made the job unbearable and he is retiring.

He said: "It's been over the last five years (that) people have become more and more heavy drinkers.

"I don't really want to be around that. Now with drugs and drink, it's not a nice place to work."

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Syria: New Evidence 'Implicates Rebels'

Syria has handed Russia new materials which it claims implicate rebels in a chemical attack in Damascus, says a Russian minister.

"The corresponding materials were handed to the Russian side," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

"We were told that they were evidence that the rebels are implicated in the chemical attack."

Speaking to Russia's state news agency RIA, Mr Ryabkov also said his country had serious reservations about the United Nations report into the August 21 attack.

"We are disappointed, to put it mildly, about the approach taken by the UN secretariat and the UN inspectors, who prepared the report selectively and incompletely.

"Without receiving a full picture of what is happening here, it is impossible to call the nature of the conclusions reached by the UN experts ... anything but politicised, preconceived and one-sided," he said.

Mr Ryabkov was talking after meeting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem in Damascus.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the report's findings were "indisputable"

The UN report into the attack, which was published earlier this week, said chemical weapons had been used on a "relatively large scale".

It did not lay any blame for the atrocity, but the US, France and the UK all believe that it shows the Syrian regime was responsible.

Rockets tested at the attack site in Damascus were found to contain sarin, while the area in which they landed was contaminated with the deadly gas.

Blood and urine samples taken from patients injured in the attack tested positive for the nerve agent, while survivors said they had experienced symptoms including loss of consciousness, shortness of breath and blurred vision, all of which are consistent with intoxication.

Photographs taken by the inspectors also appeared to show possible Cyrillic, or Russian, engravings on one of the rocket casings.

Speaking at the publication of the report, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it gave "clear and convincing evidence" that chemical weapons were used and described the incident as a "war crime".

The US believes more than 1,400 people were killed in the attack but some other estimates are lower. The Syrian regime maintains that rebel forces were to blame.

Russia, a close ally of Syria's, has strongly opposed threatened US air strikes against the Assad regime.

More follows...

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Daniel Pelka Report: 'No One Suspected Abuse'

By Lisa Dowd, Midlands Correspondent

Chance after chance was missed to intervene in the case of a four-year-old boy who was beaten to death by his mother and stepfather.

A serious case review into the death of Daniel Pelka found repeated failures by agencies set up to safeguard children's welfare.

But it concluded that nobody could have predicted his death at the hands of an abusive mother and stepfather last year.

The report's author, Ron Lock, said: "No one professional, with what they knew of Daniel's circumstances, suspected or could have predicted that he would be killed.

"This was a complex and tragic case.

"Daniel's mother seemed plausible in her concerns about him, and no concerns were expressed by neighbours or the wider community.

Magdelena Luczak and Mariusz Krezolek were both jailed for life

"Strong concerns nevertheless emerged about Daniel's circumstances and his care, although at no point were practitioners who had contact with him prepared to think the unthinkable and consider that he might be suffering abuse.

"But if professionals had used more enquiring minds, and been more focused in their intentions to address concerns, it's likely that Daniel would have been better protected from the people who killed him."

Daniel was brought up in a chaotic family where violence and heavy drinking were the norm. He was known to police, social services, teachers and doctors.

But the report found that not one professional asked him what was going on at home.

Mr Lock said: "He didn't speak good English. His self-esteem was so low, he was a very isolated little boy so people found it hard to engage him.

"His mother often spoke on his behalf, as did his sibling, so rather than ask Daniel others were asked what he was thinking and to ask his mum and sibling was not going to give the correct answers."

Daniel was terrorised at his home in Coventry by his mother Magdelena Luczak and his stepfather Mariusz Krezolek.

He was starved, beaten and force-fed salt. At school he rooted through bins for food and once turned up with two black eyes. He later died from a serious head injury on March 3, 2012.

The four-year-old had 40 injuries on his body when he died

The review found the couple misled authorities by lying about his injuries and pretending he had an eating disorder, rendering Daniel "invisible" to health professionals.

But it also highlighted how stretched children's services were in the city.

It described overworked staff who were "naive", who were not "inquisitive" and assumed others were "intervening".

It noted missed opportunities to help Daniel, including 27 reports of domestic violence to police.

In January 2011 he went to hospital with a broken arm - a spiral fracture suggested twisting -  but professionals were too ready to accept it was accidental.

In September, when Daniel started school, teachers noticed a pattern of injuries which they failed to record or act on.

In February 2012 he saw a community paediatrician - his weight loss was not recognised and child abuse was not even considered.

A few weeks later the four-year-old was dead. He had 40 injuries and a doctor said he looked like a concentration camp victim.

Martin Reeves, chief executive of Coventry City Council, said: "Professionals didn't have the whole picture. Daniel's voice wasn't heard at all.

"Arguably they are basic errors, but we have to put this against a backdrop of social care workers, police, health colleagues working every day making what some would argue are impossible judgement calls on child protection, so I think our key now is how do we learn from those issues."

The review, by the Coventry Safeguarding Children Board, has published 15 recommendations aimed at preventing such a failure happening again.

Luczak and Krezolek, both originally from Poland, were convicted of Daniel's murder in a trial earlier this year and are now both serving minimum 30-year terms in prison.

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Navy Base Shooter 'Arrested Over Guns Before'

A defence contractor and former Navy reservist who allegedly shot dead 12 people at a US naval yard had been arrested twice before for shooting incidents, it has emerged.

Aaron Alexis, 34, was killed in a gun battle with police following his alleged rampage at the US Naval Sea Systems Command headquarters in Washington DC on Monday morning.

Alexis, from Forth Worth, Texas, was arrested over gun-related incidents in 2004 and 2010 in Fort Worth and Seattle and was described in police reports as "seething with anger".

The police report also said Alexis - who was discharged from the Navy in 2011 - had been traumatised by being present at the 9/11 attacks. 

Despite his run-ins with the law, Alexis had access to the highly secure Navy Yard as a defence contractor for IT giant Hewlett-Packard and used a valid pass to enter the base to carry out the shooting, the FBI said.

Police ruled out the possibility Alexis had an accomplice

Police have named seven of his 12 victims as Michael Arnold, 59; Sylvia Fraser, 53; Kathy Gaarde, 62; John Roger Johnson, 73; Frank Kohler, 50; Kenneth Bernard Proctor, 46, and Vishnu Pandit, 61.

Another eight people - including three who were shot - were also injured in the shooting.

Mayor Vincent Gray said the motive of the shooter - who appears to have acted alone - was not known.

But Mr Gray said there was no indication it was a terrorist attack, but that possibility had not been ruled out.

"This is a horrific tragedy," he said.

Alexis was discharged from the Navy in 2011

Seattle police said in May 2004 Alexis shot out the tyres of a car, claiming he had been traumatised by the 9/11 attacks.

According to the report, Alexis claimed men on a construction site had been mocking him and he had suffered an "anger-fuelled blackout".

The report said: "Alexis also told police he was present during 'the tragic events of September 11, 2001' and described how those events had disturbed him.

"Detectives later spoke with Alexis' father, who lived in New York at the time, who told police Alexis had anger management problems associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, and that Alexis had been an active participant in rescue attempts on September 11, 2001."

In April 2010, Alexis was arrested for shooting a bullet through his apartment ceiling in Fort Worth, according to a police report.

He claimed the weapon went off accidentally when he was cleaning it.

Alexis had been a full-time Navy reservist from 2007 to early 2011, leaving as a petty officer third class, the Navy said.

The Navy did not say why he left, but his four-year stint in the Navy was reportedly troubled.

A helicopter evacuates a man from the base during the shooting

After being discharged, Alexis - a convert to Buddhism who grew up in New York City - worked as a waiter and delivery driver at a Thai restaurant in Fort Worth.

At the time of the rampage, Alexis was employed as an IT subcontractor for a company called The Experts, which was working on a Hewlett-Packard contract to upgrade equipment for an intranet network used by the US Marine Corps and Navy, HP said in a statement.  

It was unclear if the military or HP had been aware of Alexis' brushes with the law, including reportedly two shooting incidents, before he was hired for the IT job.

Witnesses said the gunman opened fire from the fourth floor of Building 197 at the sprawling naval yard at around 8.20am on Monday as people arrived for work.

The shooting happened as people arrived for work at the naval yard

He was carrying three weapons during the shooting - an AR-15 assault rifle, a shotgun and a handgun that he took from a police officer at the scene, officials said.

"It's unbelievable that someone could get a rifle in there," David Stevens, a Navy contractor who was on the third floor of Building 197 when the shooting began, told The Washington Post.

The shooting sparked a massive show of force as police and federal agents descended on the Navy Yard, which is less than 3km (2 miles) from the Capitol.

Flights out of the nearby Reagan National Airport were briefly delayed and several schools were locked down.

The US Senate adjourned for the day as a precaution.

Alexis's brother-in-law Mr Little spoke outside the Alexis home in Brooklyn

Outside the Alexis family home in Brooklyn, Alexis's brother-in-law Anthony Little said his relatives were distraught.

"Very stressed out. Tears. You know they just didn't see it coming, it's very hurtful. And their hearts are going out more to the victims who got hurt because you know it's more lives lost and we don't need that right now," Mr Little said.

US President Barack Obama lamented "yet another mass shooting" in America and paid tribute to the rapid response of emergency personnel on the scene.

In the confusion, police said around midday on Monday that they were searching for two accomplices who may have taken part in the attack.

But as the day wore on, police dropped the others as suspects.

Washington DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier said: "We do feel comfortable we have the single and sole person responsible for the loss of life on the base."

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Costa Concordia Salvage Operation Completed

By Tom Kington, on Giglio

Twenty months after it capsized off the Tuscan island of Giglio, killing 32 people, the Costa Concordia has risen from the Mediterranean after a successful £500m salvage operation

Dozens of giant pulleys hauled the cruise ship back to an upright position in a 19-hour operation, exposing a section of the white ship's exterior that was stained by rust and algae after months under water.

By 4am on Tuesday, the 950-foot-long, 114,000-ton vessel had been pulled through 65 degrees to stand on a bed of over 1,000 concrete sacks and six huge underwater platforms.

Italy's civil protection chief Franco Gabrielli speaking at a late night press conference on Giglio, where he was applauded and cheered by residents, said: "The rotation has finished its course, we are at zero degrees, the ship is resting on the platforms."

The image shows how the ship was righted overnight

Franco Porcellacchia, an engineer working on the salvage for ship owner Costa Cruises, said: "It could not have gone better than this. It was a perfect operation."

The Costa Concordia grounded near the port of Giglio in January 2012 after its captain, Francesco Schettino, smashed it into coastal rock during a so-called "sail past".

He is now standing trial on charges of manslaughter and abandoning his ship.

The ship eventually stood on 1,000 concrete sacks and underwater platforms

Some 4,200 passengers and crew scrambled into lifeboats or plunged into shallow water after the ship ran aground and came to rest impaled on its side on two underwater outcrops of granite.

As it rose out of the water in the early hours of Tuesday, two large indentations could be seen on the side of the ship where it had been pinioned on the rocks.

After the operation started on Monday morning, 6,000 tons of pressure were required to pull the ship free from the rock, which had penetrated 18ft into the hull.

The ship was tilted heavily on its side before the operation

The ship was then slowly turned through the afternoon until 11 massive metal boxes welded to the exposed side of the ship, some the height of 11-storey buildings, splashed into the water.

By midnight, salvage workers were able to switch off the pulleys and open valves in the boxes to allow water in at 1,000 cubic feet a minute, adding the necessary ballast to bring the ship down onto the platforms.

When the ship is deemed stable, metal boxes will also be added to the formerly submerged side of the ship. Then, water will be pumped out of the boxes, floating the vessel so it can be  towed next spring to a port, probably on the Italian mainland, for breaking up.

More than 30 people were killed when the ship hit rocks

Mr Porcellacchia said: "We have already looked at the side of the ship to see where the boxes will go and we will quantify the work to do. The starboard side looks pretty bad, as we expected."

Fears that a polluted slick of paint, residual fuel, small quantities of heavy metal and rotting food would emerge from the ship, proved unfounded, officials said on Tuesday.

Sergio Girotto, the project manager for Italian salvage firm Micoperi, which has managed the salvage with US firm Titan Salvage, said: "Now we will see what support and adjustments the ship needs."

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Syria Chemical Weapons Report Due For Release

Doctors' Plea For Syria Medical Aid

Updated: 7:15am UK, Monday 16 September 2013

British doctors have written an open letter in the Lancet medical journal calling for attacks on hospitals and medics to halt in Syria. This is the letter in full:

The conflict in Syria has led to what is arguably one of the world's worst humanitarian crises since the end of the Cold War.

An estimated 100 000 people have been killed, most of them civilians, and many more have been wounded, tortured, or abused.

Millions have been driven from their homes, families have been divided, and entire communities torn apart; we must not let considerations of military intervention destroy our ability to focus on getting them help.

As doctors and medical professionals from around the world, the scale of this emergency leaves us horrified.

We are appalled by the lack of access to health care for affected civilians, and by the deliberate targeting of medical facilities and personnel.

It is our professional, ethical, and moral duty to provide treatment and care to anyone in need.

When we cannot do so personally, we are obliged to speak out in support of those risking their lives to provide life-saving assistance.

Systematic assaults on medical professionals, facilities, and patients are breaking Syria's health-care system and making it nearly impossible for civilians to receive essential medical services.

According to WHO, 37% of Syrian hospitals have been destroyed and a further 20% severely damaged.

Makeshift clinics have become fully fledged trauma centres struggling to cope with the injured and sick.

According to the Violations Documentation Centre, an estimated 469 health workers are currently imprisoned, and about 15 000 doctors have been forced to flee abroad according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Of the 5,000 physicians in Aleppo before the conflict started, only 36 remain.

The targeted attacks on medical facilities and personnel are deliberate and systematic, not an inevitable nor acceptable consequence of armed conflict.

Such attacks are an unconscionable betrayal of the principle of medical neutrality.

The number of people requiring medical assistance is increasing exponentially, as a direct result of conflict and indirectly because of the deterioration of a once-sophisticated public health system and the lack of adequate curative and preventive care.

Horrific injuries are going untended; women are giving birth with no medical assistance; men, women, and children are undergoing life-saving surgery without anaesthetic; and victims of sexual violence have nowhere to turn to.

The Syrian population is vulnerable to outbreaks of hepatitis, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery.

The lack of medical pharmaceuticals has already exacerbated an outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis, a severe infectious skin disease that can cause serious disability, there has been an alarming increase in cases of acute diarrhoea, and in June aid agencies reported a measles epidemic sweeping through districts of northern Syria.

In some areas, children born since the conflict started have had no vaccinations, meaning that conditions for an epidemic, which have no respect for national borders, are ripe.

With the Syrian health system at breaking point, patients battling chronic illnesses including cancer, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease, and requiring long-term medical assistance have nowhere to turn for essential medical care.

The majority of medical assistance is being delivered by Syrian medical personnel but they are struggling in the face of massive need and dangerous conditions.

Governmental restrictions, coupled with inflexibility and bureaucracy in the international aid system, is making things worse.

As a result, large parts of Syria are completely cut off from any form of medical assistance.

Medical professionals are required to treat anyone in need to the best of their ability. Any wounded or sick person must be allowed access to medical treatment.

As doctors and health professionals we urgently demand that medical colleagues in Syria be allowed and supported to treat patients, save lives, and alleviate suffering without the fear of attacks or reprisals.

To alleviate the effect on civilians of this conflict and of the deliberate attacks on the health-care system, and to support our medical colleagues, we call on the Syrian Government and all armed parties to refrain from attacking hospitals, ambulances, medical facilities and supplies, health professionals and patients; allow access to treatment for any patient; and hold perpetrators of such violations accountable according to internationally recognised legal standards.

We call on all armed parties to respect the proper functions of medical professionals and medical neutrality by allowing medical professionals to treat anyone in need of medical care and not interfering with the proper operation of health-care facilities.

Governments that support parties to this civil war should demand that all armed actors immediately halt attacks on medical personnel, facilities, patients, and medical supplies and allow medical supplies and care to reach Syrians, whether crossing front lines or across Syria's borders.

We call on the UN and international donors to increase support to Syrian medical networks, in both government and opposition areas, where, since the beginning of the conflict, health professionals have been risking their lives to provide essential services in an extremely hostile environment.

We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

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Costa Concordia Salvage Operation Under Way

By Tom Kington, in Giglio

Salvage officials have begun the mammoth task of righting the crippled Costa Concordia as jacks hoist it off rocks near the Tuscany coast.

The operation was delayed by about three hours due to bad weather, and began at 9am (8am UK time).

"All checks have been carried out and the operation has begun," said Fabrizio Curcio, the deputy Civil Protection chief.

The rescue effort will see the giant ship gradually rotated and rolled upright.

It is expected to last up to 12 hours, taking it into Monday evening. Engineers say the lifting can continue after darkness falls.

The officials have warned the stranded vessel will bend and suffer enormous internal damage during the €600m (£503m) operation, known as "parbuckling".

Five hundred engineers and divers are working on the salvage

But they are confident the ship's hull will remain intact as 56 massive chains tighten around it, avoiding the nightmare scenario of the 114,000-ton vessel shattering and spilling its contents into the waters around the Italian island of Giglio.

Sergio Girotto, project manager for Micoperi, the Italian firm that has teamed up with US company Titan to raise the Concordia, said: "The ship will probably bend during the operation and metal inside will buckle.

"We have 12,000 tons of pressure to use, which would lift two Eiffel Towers, but I hope we will only need 5,000 or 6,000."

The cruise liner capsized in shallow water 20 months ago after smashing into rock, prompting the chaotic evacuation of 4,200 passengers and crew, and causing the deaths of 32 people.

Experts have said there is little danger of pollution

Two bodies are still missing, and officials hope they will now be found.

Much will depend on how firmly the ship is wedged onto two pinnacles of underwater granite where it came to rest on the night of January 13, 2012.

The two outcrops, which are embedded six metres into the hull of the ship, are the great unknown at the heart of the operation, which will see the ship hoisted by jacks on to a bed of 1,000 cement bags and six underwater platforms bigger than a football pitch.

Franco Gabrielli, who has supervised the Italian government's role in the operation, told reporters ahead of the salvage attempt that the operation had a 100% chance of success.

The ship is due to be hauled 65 degrees back to upright position.

Within the first hour or two, the ship should be wrenched free from the two granite outcrops it is impaled on, said Franco Porcellacchia, an engineer working on the salvage for ship owner Costa Cruises.

Four to five hours will then be needed to pull the ship upwards before gravity takes over, and its final descent into an upright position, also taking four to five hours, is controlled by adjusting the buoyancy of the massive metal tanks attached to its sides.

A 12-man team will control the pulleys and tanks from a barge close to the wreck.

Marine biologist Giandomenico Ardizzone, who has been monitoring the sea bed for the ship's operator Costa Crociere, said he had dived under the vessel on Saturday to fix cameras on the points where the rocks plunge into the hull.

"We have been told to get ready for loud noises during the lifting," said Mr Ardizzone.

How the ship will look if it is successfully righted

He added that 29,000 tons of water will pour out of the ship as it is pulled upright, and an even greater amount, 43,000 tons, will enter the ship.

"That means less of the ship will be visible out of the water after the parbuckling," he said.

What does come out will be polluted water that has swilled inside the ship for months in a mix of residual fuels, heavy metals and rotten food, including more than three tons of melon, 500 litres of olive oil, 14,000 packets of cigarettes, 18,000 bottles of wine, eight tons of beef and over 11 tons of fish.

Mr Ardizzone said the quantities of heavy metals and fuels were too small to create concern for the surrounding protected marine park, a view shared by Maria Sargentini, the head of a public commission set up to monitor the operation.

However, an Italian navy patrol ship, the Cassiopea, which specialises in pollution control, was stationed off the coast of Giglio in case any pollutants spill from the Costa Concordia.

Officials also played down reports that a large cloud of stinking gas would be released from the ship as the rotting food emerges.

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Christopher Jefferies: Police Express 'Regret'

Chris Jefferies: Timeline Of Events

Updated: 8:25am UK, Monday 16 September 2013

This is how events unfolded in relation to the murder of one of Christopher Jefferies' tenants, landscape architect Joanna Yeates.

:: October 25, 2010: Joanna Yeates, 25, and boyfriend Greg Reardon, 27, move into Flat 1, 44 Canynge Road, owned by Mr Jefferies, who lives in a flat upstairs.

:: December 11: After five weeks working in the USA, Vincent Tabak, 33, returns to Flat 2 - next door to Miss Yeates and Mr Reardon - where he lives with girlfriend Tanja Morson. The flat is also owned by Mr Jefferies.

:: Friday December 17: Vincent Tabak strangles Joanna Yeates after she arrives home from the Bristol Ram pub near her office, where she had been for drinks with colleagues.

Mr Reardon is on his way to Sheffield to visit his family for the weekend. He rings the flat at 10.30pm, but no one answers.

:: Sunday December 19: Mr Reardon reports Miss Yeates missing when he returns to Bristol.

:: Saturday December 25: Police confirm the body of a woman has been found by a couple walking their dog on a verge in Longwood Lane, Failand, North Somerset - three miles from Miss Yeates' home.

:: December 30: Police arrest Mr Jefferies, a former teacher at independent Clifton College, on suspicion of murdering Miss Yeates.

:: January 1, 2011: Mr Jefferies is released on police bail pending further inquiries.

:: January 20: Tabak is arrested at a flat in Aberdeen Road, Cotham, Bristol, where he has been staying, on suspicion of the murder of Miss Yeates.

:: January 22: Avon and Somerset Police announces Tabak has been charged with the murder of Miss Yeates. He is remanded in custody at Bristol Magistrates Court two days later.

:: March 5: Mr Jefferies' bail is cancelled and he is released without charge.

:: May 5: Tabak appears at the Old Bailey where he denies Miss Yeates' murder but admits her manslaughter.

:: July 29: The Daily Mirror is fined £50,000 for contempt of court in articles on December 31 and January 1 and the Sun £18,000 for contempt of court in article on January 1.

One Daily Mirror front page carried the headline "Jo Suspect is Peeping Tom" beneath a photograph of Mr Jefferies, and another front-page headline read "Was Killer Waiting In Jo's Flat?", with sub-headings reading "Police seize bedding for tests" and "Landlord held until Tuesday".

The Sun's front-page headline read "Obsessed By Death", next to a photograph of Mr Jefferies, and below the words "Jo Suspect 'Scared Kids"'.

:: The same day Mr Jefferies collected "very substantial" libel damages from a total of eight newspapers over their coverage following his arrest.

Some sources have indicated he could have won something approaching £500,000 in total from the publishers of The Sun, Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Daily Mail, Daily Record, Daily Express, Daily Star and The Scotsman.

:: October 4: Tabak's murder trial commences at Bristol Crown Court.

:: October 28: Tabak is found guilty of murder and jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years.

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Peru Drugs: Melissa Reid 'To Plead Guilty'

Why Peru Became The Cocaine Hotspot

Updated: 2:26am UK, Sunday 15 September 2013

By Pete Norman, Sky News Online

Peru has overtaken Colombia as the world's leading cocaine producer, according to experts.

Home to the ancient Inca civilisation, Peru is rugged, remote and the ultimate source of the mighty Amazon river.

It is also home to a long-running guerrilla campaign by the leftist Shining Path group.

While urban and coastal inhabitants have benefited greatly from market-focused economic development since the early 1980s, when military rule ended, the rural poor have gained little.

Its hilly, isolated and fertile regions are home to the guerrillas, who rely on cocaine production, hostage-taking and corruption for funds.

According to the CIA, Peru was the world's largest coca leaf producer until 1996, when neighbouring Colombia took the lead.

It says that in 2009 Peru had 100,000 acres under coca leaf production compared to Colombia's 286,000 acres - with the potential to produce 225 metric tons of pure cocaine.

US-supported efforts to reduce or eradicate coca leaf in Colombia have now tipped the scales of production towards Peru.

Aerial spraying of herbicide in Colombia has affected coca crops covering 250,000 acres while manual eradication has been done on another 150,000 acres.

The UN has said Colombia reduced its area under coca cultivation by 25% in 2012 - the biggest annual reduction since the international body began monitoring it in 2001.

Around 30 Britons are now in Peruvian prisons on drug-related convictions, according to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The UN Office of Drugs and Crime is expected to release its official 2012 Peru coca crop estimate in September.

Its World Drug Report 2011 said that although the area under coca leaf production was around 75% of the 1990 area, the current yield might be up to a third greater.

While Colombia still supplies virtually all of North America's cocaine, the CIA said much of the drug exported from Peru through land, air and sea routes is destined for Europe and other markets.

North America and Europe cocaine consumption has stabilised in recent years while growth has increased in Oceania and Asia Pacific regions.

It said: "Finished cocaine is shipped out from Pacific ports to the international drug market, (while) increasing amounts of base and finished cocaine, however, are being moved to Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia for … trans-shipment to Europe and Africa."

Smaller quantities are carried through air routes by so-called drug mules, while larger loads travel by sea to west Africa prior to distribution throughout Europe.

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Syria: US Strike Threat Remains If Plan Fails

US President Barack Obama has indicated that the threat of military action remains should Syria fail to comply with a plan to destroy its chemical weapons.

Mr Obama welcomed the newly-brokered US and Russian plan, calling it an "important, concrete step", but warned that "if diplomacy fails, the United States remains prepared to act".

In a statement, he said the diplomatic solution was working partly due to America's "credible threat" of military force.

Earlier he told the US public, in a television address, that the country would "maintain our military posture in the region to keep the pressure on the Assad regime".

The US and Russia have given Syria one week to submit a "comprehensive list" of its chemical weapons stockpiles - otherwise, the US will seek a UN resolution that could still authorise strikes.

The US says last month's alleged gas attack killed more than 1,400 people

On their final day of talks in Geneva, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that once the details had been handed over the Assad regime would have until November to allow UN inspectors access to the sites.

Destruction of the regime's chemical weapons must then be complete by mid-2014.

Syria has previously said it would need a month to hand over initial details of its weapons stash.

The disarmament plan - instigated by Russia - managed to avert a planned US Congress vote on potential military strikes earlier this week, which President Obama looked liked losing.

Speaking in Geneva, Secretary of State Kerry reiterated that he now expected no stalling tactics from Syria.

He said: "The world will now expect the Assad regime to live up to its commitments ... there can be no room for games. Or anything less than full compliance by the Assad regime ... Syria must allow immediate, unfettered access to chemical sites".

UN inspectors are due to deliver their report in the coming days

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also hailed the US-Russia agreement as "excellent" and said its significance was "hard to overestimate".

The rapport between the two men is seen by many experts as having played a crucial part in getting a difficult deal done.

Russia has long backed away from sanctioning the Syrian regime and strongly resists the possibility of military action.

Mr Lavrov and Mr Kerry also told journalists their teams of experts had reached "a shared assessment" of President Bashar al Assad's existing stockpile.

The US has estimated that Syria possesses around 1,000 metric tonnes of various chemical agents, including mustard and sarin gas, sulfur and VX.

The Russian estimates were initially much lower, according to US officials, but Mr Kerry said the two countries had reconciled their different assessments.

A US official told reporters that Washington believed there were 45 sites across Syria linked to the country's chemical weapons programme.

France's Laurent Fabius will host more talks on the plan's implementation

"Roughly half have exploitable quantities of chemical weapons materials," the official said, adding that all of the sites were currently under the control of the government.

France, an important ally for the US in recent weeks, welcomed the chemical weapons deal.

"The draft agreement reached in Geneva about eliminating the Syrian regime's chemical weapons is an important step forward," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.

Fabius said a Russia-U.S. deal to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons was an important first step and called for a political solution to address the mounting death toll in Syria.

He made the comments to reporters in Beijing after meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Fabius will then hold more discussions on the plan's implementation on Monday, when Mr Kerry and British Foreign Secretary William Hague travel to Paris.

Mr Hague said the UK government was also firmly behind the plan.

The war has claimed more than 100,000 lives and devastated some cities

He tweeted on Saturday: "Have spoken to Secretary Kerry. UK welcomes US-Russia agreement on #Syria chemical weapons. Urgent work on implementation now to take place."

He added: "The priority must now be full and prompt implementation of the agreement, to ensure the transfer of Syria's chemical weapons to international control.

"The onus is now on the Assad regime to comply with this agreement in full. The international community, including Russia, must hold the regime to account."

But influential US Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said the agreement was a debacle.

In a joint statement, the two Republican lawmakers voiced fear that Washington's friends and foes alike will view the agreement as an "act of provocative weakness on America's part."

Syria's opposition also rejected the US-Russian initiative.

Speaking from Istanbul, the Free Syrian Army's chief said the move would not solve the crisis, claiming Assad's forces had been moving their chemical weapons stockpiles to Lebanon and Iraq over the last few days.

"We in the Free Syrian Army are unconcerned by the implementation of any part of the initiative ... I and my brothers in arms will continue to fight until the regime falls," General Selim Idriss said.

The alleged poison gas attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta on August 21 killed more than 1,400 people, according to the US government.

However, the Syrian regime has long denied the claims and says rebel forces were responsible.

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School Uniform Costs 'Must Be Cut' - Minister

Schools are being urged to avoid branded uniforms and allow parents to "shop around" to cut costs for cash-strapped families.

Schools minister David Laws said the cost of clothing was often "unnecessarily high" at a time when family budgets were being squeezed.

An Office of Fair Trading investigation last year suggested that three quarters of schools placed restrictions on where uniforms could be bought.

That typically added £5 to the price tag for each item, leaving parents an estimated £52m a year worse off.

Mr Laws announced the new guidance for schools at the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow.

Exclusive single supplier contracts should not be used, unless regular tendering processes are run to ensure firms provide value for money.

They should also not enter into 'cashback' agreements with shops.

Compulsory items of uniform should be available relatively cheaply, and branding should be kept "to a minimum", under the guidelines.

Schools are urged to avoid changing specifications frequently.

Mr Laws told Sky News the revised guidance on uniforms would end the "over-reliance" by schools on single supplier agreements.

"It ought to be possible for parents to shop around, to get good quality school uniforms but from different suppliers," he said.

"Schools should avoid changing their school uniforms too often and requiring parents to buy different items.

"They ought to keep in mind what is specified in a school uniform and keep it as cheap as possible.

"And they ought to enable standard items like trousers and shirts and so forth to be bought from some of the big supermarkets and other shops where actually those items can be bought very cheaply.

"I think schools can actually do this and give parents a better deal but without actually compromising on quality."

Asked why the guidelines were not being pushed further, the minister said he did not think it was necessary for ministers to legislate and "set out hundreds of pages of bureaucracy in order to get schools to do what is the right thing".

He said he expected schools to follow the guidance, but if they failed to, the Government would respond to parental complaints.

According to an Ipsos Mori put out by Mumsnet, female support for the Lib Dems has fallen by 15% since 2010.

Asked if the move was a bid to win the female vote at the next general election, Mr Laws said households were facing "living cost" challenges across the country and that his party would be making a series of announcements this week on "actions that we are going to take to help hard-pressed families".

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