Mosul: Islamic State 'could use civilians as human shields'

Thousands of people living in Mosul could be trapped and used as human shields as Iraqi and Kurdish forces close in on the IS-held city, it has been warned.

Islamic State fighters may resort to holding tens of thousands of civilians against their will, the International Organisation for Migration has warned.

The organisation's chief of mission in Iraq, Thomas Weiss, said they could be used as human shields as the battle to recapture the city intensifies.

He added that he had started storing gas marks due to fears over chemical attacks in the city.

Mr Weiss said: "There has been some evidence that ISIL (Islamic State) might be using chemical weapons.

"Children, the elderly, disabled, will be particularly vulnerable."

The military operation to recapture Mosul could displace between 200,000 and a million people, the UN estimates.

The RAF is providing intelligence gathering and air support to Iraqi ground forces as part of a US-led coalition, while British military commanders have also provided support and training.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said IS (also known as Daesh) is "failing" in Iraq, but warned Iraqi forces would not find it easy to drive them out of the city, saying "this will not be a quick operation, and we can expect Daesh to fight hard".

The warning comes as footage has emerged of people fleeing Hud, a small town around 20 miles from Mosul.

Aid groups have warned that a mass exodus of civilians from Mosul and its surrounding areas could overwhelm refugee camps.

Image Caption:This baby boy was just four days old when his family fled their home 

:: Islamic State video: Life in Mosul is 'safe and normal'

The UN Refugee Agency has five camps open with the space to shelter 45,000 people.

It says it could handle 120,000 people if it is able to find sites for several other camps.

During a visit to one of the camps, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi met a woman who was forced to flee her home with her four-day-old baby.

She said: "I couldn't take all our belongings, we just started moving."

On the humanitarian situation, Mr Grandi said: "The more civilians will feel protected inside Mosul, the less they will be displaced.  

"And for those who feel they have to go because it is dangerous, they have to be treated with dignity, with respect in full respect of their rights."

Image Caption:An Iraqi soldier is reunited with his family on the front lines of the battle 

UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, told Sky News that the organisation is "very worried" about the safety of those who choose to leave the city.

She said: "We expect that they're going to be at extreme risk from sniper fire and barrages.   

"We know that large parts of the city are probably booby-trapped."

'Deal sought to bury' email sent to Hillary Clinton's private address

The FBI was offered more agents in foreign countries – if it cut the classification of an email on Hillary Clinton’s private server, files newly made public appear to show.

The email in question was related to attacks on the US diplomatic compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi.

It detailed reports from November 2012 that Libyan police had been arresting suspects in the attack. 

It was forwarded to Mrs Clinton's private email address by one of her top aides, Jake Sullivan, from his government email account. 

The "deal" would have allowed the State Department to archive the email, so that it was "never to be seen again", according to the files. 

The source of the mooted arrangement is not clear.  

FBI records suggest the State Department's Undersecretary for Management, Patrick F. Kennedy, sought an understanding.  

But a statement issued by the FBI on Monday said it was a now-retired FBI official who had asked about deploying more agents. 

Mr Kennedy was a close aide to Mrs Clinton - who is now the Democrats' candidate for President - while she was Secretary of State between 2009 and early 2013. 

The State Department said he had been trying to understand how the FBI made its classification decisions.

"This allegation is inaccurate and does not align with the facts," said department spokesman Mark Toner. 

Ultimately, the FBI rejected the idea.

It said in a statement: "Although there was never a quid pro quo, these allegations were nonetheless referred to the appropriate officials for review."  

Donald Trump's team has sought to capitalise on the development, tweeting: "CORRUPTION CONFIRMED: FBI confirms State Dept. offered 'quid pro quo' to cover up classified emails." 

Mr Trump - Mrs Clinton's Republican rival for the Presidency - retweeted the message.  

Republicans in the House of Representatives have also commented.

In a joint statement, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said: "Those who receive classified intelligence should not barter in it - that is reckless behaviour with our nation's secrets."

In July, the FBI referred a probe into Mrs Clinton's use of her private email to prosecutors, but did not recommend charges. 

That decision lifted a major legal threat to her presidential campaign.

Cameron 'wasted' £1.3bn on Troubled Families Programme

A £1.3bn scheme launched by David Cameron to help 120,000 of Britain's most troubled families has had no real impact on changing their lives, according to an official report.

The Troubled Families Programme was set up to tackle truancy, benefits dependency and anti-social behaviour in the wake of the 2011 riots in London.

But research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) found there was no evidence it has "any significant or systematic impact."

It casts doubts over Mr Cameron's claims last year that the programme he launched to bring about "social recovery" had "turned around" the lives of 98.9% of the families involved.

The Government poured £448m into the initiative when it was launched but extended it for a further five years from 2015/16 to help a further 400,000 families, bringing the cost to the taxpayer to £1.3bn.

The report said: "Across a wide range of outcomes, covering the key objectives of the Troubled Families Programme - employment, benefit receipt, school attendance, safeguarding and child welfare - we were unable to find consistent evidence that the programme had any significant or systematic impact."

:: Troubled families: the task facing Government

One author of the NIESR report, Jonathan Portes, wrote on his blog of how the programme was "a perfect case study of how the manipulation and misrepresentation of statistics by politicians and civil servants - from the Prime Minister downwards - led directly to bad policy and, frankly, to the wasting of hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money."

Troubled Families evaluation now published: No evidence programme had any significant impact on key objectives. https://t.co/qzVRDwfV6N

— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) October 17, 2016

The report's findings come just two days after Communities Minister Lord Bourne hailed the programme for "transforming the lives of thousands of families".

He wrote: "We know that more than 116,000 of the families who participated in the first phase of the programme have seen significant improvements in their lives, with children back in school for a year, reduced youth crime and anti-social behaviour, and adults holding down a job.

"We believe this programme has transformed the lives of thousands of families. The councils and frontline staff who have put it into practice should be pleased with the work they have done."

Dame Louise Casey, who led the Troubled Families Team in the Communities and Local Government Department, is expected to answer questions from MPs on Wednesday.

Cameron 'wasted' £1.3bn on Troubled Families Programme

A £1.3bn scheme launched by David Cameron to help 120,000 of Britain's most troubled families has had no real impact on changing their lives, according to an official report.

The Troubled Families Programme was set up to tackle truancy, benefits dependency and anti-social behaviour in the wake of the 2011 riots in London.

But research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) found there was no evidence it has "any significant or systematic impact."

It casts doubts over Mr Cameron's claims last year that the programme he launched to bring about "social recovery" had "turned around" the lives of 98.9% of the families involved.

The Government poured £448m into the initiative when it was launched but extended it for a further five years from 2015/16 to help a further 400,000 families, bringing the cost to the taxpayer to £1.3bn.

The report said: "Across a wide range of outcomes, covering the key objectives of the Troubled Families Programme - employment, benefit receipt, school attendance, safeguarding and child welfare - we were unable to find consistent evidence that the programme had any significant or systematic impact."

:: Troubled families: the task facing Government

One author of the NIESR report, Jonathan Portes, wrote on his blog of how the programme was "a perfect case study of how the manipulation and misrepresentation of statistics by politicians and civil servants - from the Prime Minister downwards - led directly to bad policy and, frankly, to the wasting of hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money."

Troubled Families evaluation now published: No evidence programme had any significant impact on key objectives. https://t.co/qzVRDwfV6N

— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) October 17, 2016

The report's findings come just two days after Communities Minister Lord Bourne hailed the programme for "transforming the lives of thousands of families".

He wrote: "We know that more than 116,000 of the families who participated in the first phase of the programme have seen significant improvements in their lives, with children back in school for a year, reduced youth crime and anti-social behaviour, and adults holding down a job.

"We believe this programme has transformed the lives of thousands of families. The councils and frontline staff who have put it into practice should be pleased with the work they have done."

Dame Louise Casey, who led the Troubled Families Team in the Communities and Local Government Department, is expected to answer questions from MPs on Wednesday.

Cameron 'wasted' £1.3bn on Troubled Families Programme

A £1.3bn scheme launched by David Cameron to help 120,000 of Britain's most troubled families has had no real impact on changing their lives, according to an official report.

The Troubled Families Programme was set up to tackle truancy, benefits dependency and anti-social behaviour in the wake of the 2011 riots in London.

But research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) found there was no evidence it has "any significant or systematic impact."

It casts doubts over Mr Cameron's claims last year that the programme he launched to bring about "social recovery" had "turned around" the lives of 98.9% of the families involved.

The Government poured £448m into the initiative when it was launched but extended it for a further five years from 2015/16 to help a further 400,000 families, bringing the cost to the taxpayer to £1.3bn.

The report said: "Across a wide range of outcomes, covering the key objectives of the Troubled Families Programme - employment, benefit receipt, school attendance, safeguarding and child welfare - we were unable to find consistent evidence that the programme had any significant or systematic impact."

:: Troubled families: the task facing Government

One author of the NIESR report, Jonathan Portes, wrote on his blog of how the programme was "a perfect case study of how the manipulation and misrepresentation of statistics by politicians and civil servants - from the Prime Minister downwards - led directly to bad policy and, frankly, to the wasting of hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money."

Troubled Families evaluation now published: No evidence programme had any significant impact on key objectives. https://t.co/qzVRDwfV6N

— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) October 17, 2016

The report's findings come just two days after Communities Minister Lord Bourne hailed the programme for "transforming the lives of thousands of families".

He wrote: "We know that more than 116,000 of the families who participated in the first phase of the programme have seen significant improvements in their lives, with children back in school for a year, reduced youth crime and anti-social behaviour, and adults holding down a job.

"We believe this programme has transformed the lives of thousands of families. The councils and frontline staff who have put it into practice should be pleased with the work they have done."

Dame Louise Casey, who led the Troubled Families Team in the Communities and Local Government Department, is expected to answer questions from MPs on Wednesday.

Cameron 'wasted' £1.3bn on Troubled Families Programme

A £1.3bn scheme launched by David Cameron to help 120,000 of Britain's most troubled families has had no real impact on changing their lives, according to an official report.

The Troubled Families Programme was set up to tackle truancy, benefits dependency and anti-social behaviour in the wake of the 2011 riots in London.

But research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) found there was no evidence it has "any significant or systematic impact."

It casts doubts over Mr Cameron's claims last year that the programme he launched to bring about "social recovery" had "turned around" the lives of 98.9% of the families involved.

The Government poured £448m into the initiative when it was launched but extended it for a further five years from 2015/16 to help a further 400,000 families, bringing the cost to the taxpayer to £1.3bn.

The report said: "Across a wide range of outcomes, covering the key objectives of the Troubled Families Programme - employment, benefit receipt, school attendance, safeguarding and child welfare - we were unable to find consistent evidence that the programme had any significant or systematic impact."

:: Troubled families: the task facing Government

One author of the NIESR report, Jonathan Portes, wrote on his blog of how the programme was "a perfect case study of how the manipulation and misrepresentation of statistics by politicians and civil servants - from the Prime Minister downwards - led directly to bad policy and, frankly, to the wasting of hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money."

Troubled Families evaluation now published: No evidence programme had any significant impact on key objectives. https://t.co/qzVRDwfV6N

— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) October 17, 2016

The report's findings come just two days after Communities Minister Lord Bourne hailed the programme for "transforming the lives of thousands of families".

He wrote: "We know that more than 116,000 of the families who participated in the first phase of the programme have seen significant improvements in their lives, with children back in school for a year, reduced youth crime and anti-social behaviour, and adults holding down a job.

"We believe this programme has transformed the lives of thousands of families. The councils and frontline staff who have put it into practice should be pleased with the work they have done."

Dame Louise Casey, who led the Troubled Families Team in the Communities and Local Government Department, is expected to answer questions from MPs on Wednesday.

Cameron 'wasted' £1.3bn on Troubled Families Programme

A £1.3bn scheme launched by David Cameron to help 120,000 of Britain's most troubled families has had no real impact on changing their lives, according to an official report.

The Troubled Families Programme was set up to tackle truancy, benefits dependency and anti-social behaviour in the wake of the 2011 riots in London.

But research by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) found there was no evidence it has "any significant or systematic impact."

It casts doubts over Mr Cameron's claims last year that the programme he launched to bring about "social recovery" had "turned around" the lives of 98.9% of the families involved.

The Government poured £448m into the initiative when it was launched but extended it for a further five years from 2015/16 to help a further 400,000 families, bringing the cost to the taxpayer to £1.3bn.

The report said: "Across a wide range of outcomes, covering the key objectives of the Troubled Families Programme - employment, benefit receipt, school attendance, safeguarding and child welfare - we were unable to find consistent evidence that the programme had any significant or systematic impact."

:: Troubled families: the task facing Government

One author of the NIESR report, Jonathan Portes, wrote on his blog of how the programme was "a perfect case study of how the manipulation and misrepresentation of statistics by politicians and civil servants - from the Prime Minister downwards - led directly to bad policy and, frankly, to the wasting of hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers' money."

Troubled Families evaluation now published: No evidence programme had any significant impact on key objectives. https://t.co/qzVRDwfV6N

— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) October 17, 2016

The report's findings come just two days after Communities Minister Lord Bourne hailed the programme for "transforming the lives of thousands of families".

He wrote: "We know that more than 116,000 of the families who participated in the first phase of the programme have seen significant improvements in their lives, with children back in school for a year, reduced youth crime and anti-social behaviour, and adults holding down a job.

"We believe this programme has transformed the lives of thousands of families. The councils and frontline staff who have put it into practice should be pleased with the work they have done."

Dame Louise Casey, who led the Troubled Families Team in the Communities and Local Government Department, is expected to answer questions from MPs on Wednesday.