Six In The Morning Thrusday September 25

Isis: Secret footage purports to show life under the Islamic State in Raqqa

Video showed French women living under Isis reassuring their families back home

ROSE TROUP BUCHANAN 

A woman has provided a rare glimpse of what live is like under the brutal rule of Isis after secretly filming herself walking around the streets of the terror group's capital in northern Syria.

In the video, which was shot in the city of Raqqa, armed women and men can be seen walking the streets – in one instance a woman with what appears to be an AK-47 strapped to her back takes a toddler into a playground.

Raqqa has become the stronghold of the militant group as it tries to establish a caliphate across northern parts of Syria and Iraq.

The video, which was first broadcast on France2, also shows French women talking to their families via Facebook in an internet café in the centre of Raqqa.

US man jailed in North Korea ‘spending eight hours a day digging fields’

Matthew Miller, 24, was convicted on 14 September of entering the country illegally to commit espionage

• Associated Press in Pyongyang
• theguardian.com, Thursday 25 September 2014 09.13 BST

An American man recently sentenced to six years of hard labour in North Korea says he is digging in fields eight hours a day and being kept in isolation, but that so far his health isn’t deteriorating.

Under close guard and with only enough time to respond to one question, 24-year-old Matthew Miller spoke briefly to an Associated Press Television News journalist at a Pyongyang hotel, where he had been brought to make a phone call to his family. It was his first appearance since he was convicted on 14 September of entering the country illegally to commit espionage.

“Prison life is eight hours of work per day. Mostly it’s been agriculture, like in the dirt, digging around,” Miller said when asked if he was in prison and if so what conditions were like.

Children in Raqqa forced to train as Isis fighters and executioners

Children are handed Kalashnikov rifles and taught how to behead people in training camp

LOULLA-MAE ELEFTHERIOU-SMITH

 

 

Thursday 25 September 2014

In a special camp in Syria’s Raqqa province, between 200 and 300 children are understood to be receiving training by Isis militants to become fighters and executioners for the terrorist group.

The Al Sharea’l camp is reserved for children under the age of 16 who are taught to support Isis’ (also known as Islamic State) militant ideology, and are reportedly trained to handle Kalashnikov rifles and RPGs as part of their initial training.

Ibrahim al-Raqqawi, a Syrian activist, told the Telegraph that the camps are advertised to parents as “boy scout clubs” where children will be taught about Islam and the study of the Koran, but in reality are trained as suicide bombers and militant fighters.

Virgin to allow staff ‘unlimited leave’ if work up to date

Branson says in blog it’s up to staff to decide if absences will damage business or careers

Virgin tycoon Sir Richard Branson is to allow his staff to take as much annual leave as they want in a bid to boost morale, creativity and productivity.

He revealed on his blog that Virgin Group employees in the UK and US will have no limits on their time off - as long as they feel up to date on every project and their absence will not harm the business.

The billionaire entrepreneur said he would encourage all Virgin companies in which he holds a stake to adopt the policy if it proves successful.

India beats China into Mars orbit, for a fraction of cost of US probe

September 25, 2014 - 7:05AM

Ganesh Nagarajan

Chennai, India: A $US74 million ($83 million) Indian spacecraft entered orbit around Mars on Wednesday after an almost yearlong voyage, and for 11 per cent of the cost of the US Maven probe.

Mangalyaan, or "Mars craft" in Hindi, made orbit after a trip of about 661 million kilometres, the Indian Space Research Organisation said. The satellite is India's first Mars mission and reached the red planet two days after the $US671 million Maven craft.

"History has been created today," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wearing a red vest, said in a speech Wednesday at the ISRO's office in Bengaluru, formerly known as Bangalore. "We have dared to reach out into the unknown and have achieved the near impossible."

Rouhani says US should move past nuclear fears, focus on extremism

In remarks at the New American think tank, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani urged the US to move beyond fears that his country is developing nuclear arms. He said the two countries should focus on the fight against the Islamic State.

By George Jahn, Associated Press

NEW YORK — Iranian President Hasan Rouhani urged the United States on Wednesday to move beyond "insignificant" fears that his country seeks nuclear arms and challenged it to join his country in battling what he described as the global threat of Islamic extremism.

Rouhani also made clear he was not prepared to interfere in the case of Jason Rezarian, an American-Iranian journalist detained on unspecified charges in Iran, during a speech and question-and-answer session hosted by the New America think tank.

But most of his comments focused on the menace posed by the Islamic State terror group and attempts by his country and the U.S. to seal a deal to meet White House demands that Iran agree to significant long-term curbs on its nuclear program that could be used to make weapons in exchange for an end to crippling sanctions.