Virgin Casts Doubt On Jeremy Corbyn's Packed Train Claim

Jeremy Corbyn's team has insisted the Labour leader could not find an unreserved seat when he got on a train - amid a row with Virgin Trains.

The rail company took issue with Mr Corbyn after he complained in a video about "completely ram-packed" carriages on a service between London and Newcastle.

The politician was travelling on the three-hour Virgin Trains service on 11 August for a leadership hustings in Gateshead.

A video then emerged which showed him sitting on the floor, reading a newspaper, and saying "this is a problem that many passengers face every day", before calling for public ownership of the railways.

But Virgin Trains has released CCTV images which appear to show him and his team walking past empty seats at 11.07am before the filming began.

He recorded his video message on the floor around 30 minutes into the journey before finding an unreserved seat at 11.43am with the help of the on-board staff, Virgin Trains said.

Footage from the train operator shows Mr Corbyn sitting down in an empty seat more than two hours before getting to his destination.

CCTV footage shows Mr Corbyn returning to Coach H and sitting down

The firm said there were additional empty seats on the train which were reserved but not taken, meaning they were available for other passengers to sit on.

Responding to Virgin Trains' claims that seats were available, a Corbyn campaign spokesman said:

"When Jeremy boarded the train he was unable to find unreserved seats, so he sat with other passengers in the corridor who were also unable to find a seat.

"Later in the journey, seats became available after a family were upgraded to first class.

"And Jeremy and the team he was travelling with were offered the seats by a very helpful member of staff."

A Virgin Trains spokesman earlier said: "We have to take issue with the idea that Mr Corbyn wasn't able to be seated on the service, as this clearly wasn't the case.

"We'd encourage Jeremy to book ahead next time he travels with us - both to reserve a seat and to ensure he gets our lowest fares - and we look forward to welcoming him on board again."

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson, who co-owns Virgin Trains with Stagecoach, posted a link to the images on his Twitter account.

Mr Corbyn's leadership rival Owen Smith tweeted: "My campaign remains on track. Proud to be genuinely standing up for ordinary people."

Labour MP and former acting leader Harriet Harman told Sky News: "There is a case for more public control or ownership of the railways.

"But I think you have to build that case on forensic facts and figures, not by sitting outside a toilet in a railway carriage, so I'm slightly baffled by that."

BIAS ALERT: NYT columnist calls on Google to 'fix' search results about Clinton's health

Amid rampant online speculation about Hillary Clinton's health, one New York Times columnist has a solution – simply get Google to “fix” the search results.

The theories about Clinton’s health, often under the hashtag #HillarysHealth, have been gaining traction on social media in particular.

Democrats have dismissed the claims as a mix of conspiracy theories and misinformation. But now New York Times tech columnist Farhad Manjoo has called on Google to step in.

“Google should fix this. It shouldn't give quarter to conspiracy theorists,” hetweeted.

A year ago, Clinton’s doctor said she was in “excellent physical condition.”

But that has not stopped speculation, with some Republicans including Donald Trump weighing in.

Trump said in a speech last week that Clinton “lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS, and all the many adversaries we face.”

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said last week on Fox News, “Go online and put down, ‘Hillary Clinton illness,’ and take a look at the videos yourself.”

Clinton’s health first became a matter of scrutiny when she suffered a concussion as secretary of state. Recently, coughing bouts on the campaign trail and pictures of Clinton being helped up stairs by multiple aides have stoked further speculation.

Breitbart News first noted Manjoo’s tweet.

Nigeria air force kills senior Boko Haram fighters

The leader of the Boko Haram group is believed to be fatally wounded in an air strike carried out by the Nigerian military in the country's northeast, according to media reports citing a senior official sources.

The report said a number of fighters were targeted last week in the Sambisa forest near Gambaru in Borno state, near the border with Cameroon.

"Their leader, so called 'Abubakar Shekau', is believed to be fatally wounded on his shoulders," the statement released on Tuesday from army spokesman Colonel Sani Kukasheka Usman added.

The military has reported Shekau's death in the past, only to have a man purporting to be him appear later, apparently unharmed, making video statements.

There was no immediate reaction from the group.   

Boko Haram pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, also known as ISIS, last year but the groups have apparently split, with ISIL naming Abu Musab al-Barnawi three weeks ago as the group's leader for West Africa in a two-page interview in its weekly magazine, Al Naba.

Heart Donation Gag Takes Edinburgh Festival Fringe Award

A joke about heart donation has been voted the funniest at the the Edinburgh Festival Fringe - an award previously won by Tim Vine, Zoe Lyons and Rob Auton.

Comedian Masai Graham's gag impressed the 10 comedy critics that drew up a shortlist that was then voted on by 2,000 members of the public.

Graham said: "It's an incredible honour to land Joke of the Fringe. Not bad for someone from West Brom!"

The ninth annual award for Dave's Funniest Joke of the Fringe was handed out after 27% of respondents backed the line: "My dad suggested I register for a donor card, he's a man after my own heart."

Here are the top 15 jokes as voted for by 2,000 respondents:
"My dad has suggested that I register for a donor card. He's a man after my own heart" by Masai Graham
"Why is it old people say 'there's no place like home', yet when you put them in one..." by Stuart Mitchell
"I've been happily married for four years - out of a total of 10" by Mark Watson
"Apparently one in three Britons are conceived in an Ikea bed which is mad because those places are really well lit" by Mark Smith
"I went to a pub quiz in Liverpool, had a few drinks so wasn't much use. Just for a laugh I wrote The Beatles or Steven Gerrard for every answer ... came second" by Will Duggan
"Brexit is a terrible name, sounds like cereal you eat when you are constipated" by Tiff Stevenson
"I often confuse Americans and Canadians. By using long words" by Gary Delaney
"Why is Henry's wife covered in tooth marks? Because he's Tudor" by Adele Cliff
"Don't you hate it when people assume you're rich because you sound posh and went to private school and have loads of money?" by Annie McGrath
"Is it possible to mistake schizophrenia for telepathy, I hear you ask" by Jordan Brookes
"Hillary Clinton has shown that any woman can be president, as long as your husband did it first" by Michelle Wolf
"I spotted a Marmite van on the motorway. It was heading yeastbound" by Roger Swift
"Back in the day, Instagram just meant a really efficient drug dealer" by Arthur Smith
"I'll tell you what's unnatural in the eyes of God. Contact lenses" by Zoe Lyons
"Elton John hates ordering Chinese food. Soya seems to be the hardest word" by Phil Nicol

Philippines' Drugs War Deaths Reaches 1,800, Police Tell Senate Inquiry

The number of drug-related killings in the Philippines since President Rodrigo Duterte took power has doubled to almost 1,800, police have said.

The number of suspected drug traffickers killed in his seven-week-old war on drugs had previously been put at about 900 by Philippine officials.

However, Philippine National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa on Monday told a Senate committee investigating extrajudicial killings that 712 drug traffickers and users had been killed.

He added a further 1,067 drug-related deaths were being investigated by officers.

The latest figures had been compiled since the start of July, he said.

Ronald Dela Rosa (L) talks to Senator Leila De Lima

Mr Duterte, dubbed "The Punisher", took office on 30 June after winning the presidency on a single-issue campaign of tackling illegal drugs and other crime, pledging to kill tens of thousands of criminals. 

He has repeatedly called on police, and even civilians, to kill drug criminals - and warned police officers involved in the trade will face the death penalty. 

Senator Leila de Lima, spearheading the inquiry, said she was concerned law enforcers and vigilantes may be using the crackdown "to commit murder with impunity".

Witnesses have accused police officers of shooting dead suspects.

One woman told the Senate committee her husband and father-in-law were arrested and beaten by officers and taken to a police station where they were gunned down last month.

But Mr Dela Rosa told senators there was no order to kill suspects.

Last week, two UN human rights experts urged Manila to stop the killings, saying they amounted to a crime under international law.

In response, Mr Duterte threatened to pull out of the organisation over the weekend, inviting China and others to form a new global forum.

He urged the UN to also consider the number of innocent lives lost to drugs, before laying into the organisation in a typically expletive-laden tirade.

But his foreign minister Perfecto Yasay has since said the Philippines has no intention of quitting the UN.

"We are committed to the UN despite our numerous frustrations and disappointments with the international agency," said Mr Yasay.

Protests against the killings have been held outside the country's Department of Justice

Report: Huma Abedin Worked for Radical Muslim Journal

Top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin worked for a radical Muslim journal for a dozen years, according to The New York Post.

The Clinton campaign has said that Abedin had no formal role with with Saudi-based and -funded Journal of Minority Muslim Affairs, even though she was listed as an assistant editor from 1996 to 2008.

“My understanding is that her name was simply listed on the masthead in that period,” Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said. “She did not play a role in editing at the publication.”

The controversial journal has featured radically anti-feminist views, backed strict Islamic laws and even blamed the US for 9/11.

The Post reported that Abedin's brother, who was an associate editor, and a sister, also employed as an assistant editor, were listed as staff members with the journal. Her mother remains editor-in-chief.

Suspected Boy Suicide Bomber Stripped Of Explosives Belt In Iraq

Police have stripped an explosives belt from a suspected child suicide bomber in northern Iraq.

Pictures show the moment Kurdish security forces stopped and searched the boy in a street in the city of Kirkuk on Sunday.

The child looked distressed as he was restrained by four officials who grappled with the youngster as they attempted to inspect the belt.

It was eventually removed from the boy's body and the explosives defused at the scene.

The boy appeared distressed as he was detained by security forces

The boy, reportedly no older than 13, was arrested in the city's Huziran neighbourhood and driven away in a police car.

His detention followed two suicide bombings in the city earlier the same day.

It comes a day after Turkish authorities blamed a child suicide bomber for killing at least 51 people and injuring 69 at a wedding in the city of Gaziantep

At least 22 of the victims were younger than 14, according to a government official. That attack is believed to have been carried out by Islamic State.