Every public office-holder may have to swear an oath of allegiance to British values, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid has indicated.
The pledge would be expected to cover elected officials, civil servants and council workers.
The proposal from Mr Javid is in response to a report on social cohesion by Dame Louise Casey, which warned some sections of society did not accept British values such as tolerance.
He said he was "drawn" to Dame Louise's recommendation to bring in an oath of allegiance because it was impossible for people to play a "positive role" in public life unless they accepted basic values like democracy and equality.Writing in The Sunday Times, Mr Javid said: "If we are going to challenge such attitudes, civic and political leaders have to lead by example.
"We can't expect new arrivals to embrace British values if those of us who are already here don't do so ourselves, and such an oath would go a long way to making that happen."
Mr Javid said his aim was not to create a "Government-approved one size fits all identity" where everybody listens to the Last Night of the Proms, but "without common building blocks of our society, you'll struggle to play a positive role in British life".
Sunday, December 18, 2016
'Buses attacked' amid Syria evacuation stand-off
Convoys of buses set to evacuate people from two besieged villages in Syria have been attacked, say reports.
The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights says some of the vehicles moving people from Al Foua and Kefraya have been burned.
Some buses, as well as Red Crescent vehicles, reached the entrance to the villages.
The coalition of forces fighting for the government of President Bashar al Assad are demanding people to be allowed to leave the two villages in exchange for allowing evacuations of rebels and civilians from east Aleppo.
Syrian state media reported that "armed terrorists" - a term it uses for insurgent groups fighting against Assad's rule - attacked five buses and burned and destroyed them.
Rebel officials claim an angry crowd of people, possibly alongside pro-government forces, carried out the attack.
A resident in the area said it was not carried out by the group formerly known as the Nusra Front, which previously said it had not agreed to the evacuation of the two villages.
The stand-off has meant the evacuation operation has been suspended since Friday.
Meanwhile, the head of NATO Jens Stoltenberg has said western intervention in Syria would make matters worse.
The 28 NATO members belong to the US-led coalition fighting IS but they are not directly involved in the conflict in Syria.
Mr Stoltenberg said there were times where military intervention is necessary but Syria was not one of them
The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights says some of the vehicles moving people from Al Foua and Kefraya have been burned.
Some buses, as well as Red Crescent vehicles, reached the entrance to the villages.
The coalition of forces fighting for the government of President Bashar al Assad are demanding people to be allowed to leave the two villages in exchange for allowing evacuations of rebels and civilians from east Aleppo.
Syrian state media reported that "armed terrorists" - a term it uses for insurgent groups fighting against Assad's rule - attacked five buses and burned and destroyed them.
Rebel officials claim an angry crowd of people, possibly alongside pro-government forces, carried out the attack.
A resident in the area said it was not carried out by the group formerly known as the Nusra Front, which previously said it had not agreed to the evacuation of the two villages.
The stand-off has meant the evacuation operation has been suspended since Friday.
Meanwhile, the head of NATO Jens Stoltenberg has said western intervention in Syria would make matters worse.
The 28 NATO members belong to the US-led coalition fighting IS but they are not directly involved in the conflict in Syria.
Mr Stoltenberg said there were times where military intervention is necessary but Syria was not one of them
Boy, 3, shot dead in Little Rock road rage attack
A three-year-old boy has been shot dead by a driver who thought the car the child was travelling in "wasn't moving fast enough".
The boy, who has not been named, was on a shopping trip with his grandmother in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Saturday when they reached a stop sign.
A man, apparently furious at the delay, got out of his car with a gun and opened fire on them.
The grandmother was unhurt but at least one bullet hit the child.
She drove away and called police from a shopping centre. The child died in hospital a short time later.
The gunman has not been found and police say they are looking for an older black Chevrolet Impala driven by a tall black man.
Lieutenant Steve McClanahan said the grandmother and child were "completely innocent" and have no relation to the suspect.
It is the second time a child has been shot dead in an apparent road rage attack in Little Rock in recent weeks.
In November, a two-year-old girl was killed by someone from another vehicle shooting into her car. No arrests have been made.
A man, apparently furious at the delay, got out of his car with a gun and opened fire on them.
The grandmother was unhurt but at least one bullet hit the child.
She drove away and called police from a shopping centre. The child died in hospital a short time later.
The gunman has not been found and police say they are looking for an older black Chevrolet Impala driven by a tall black man.
Lieutenant Steve McClanahan said the grandmother and child were "completely innocent" and have no relation to the suspect.
It is the second time a child has been shot dead in an apparent road rage attack in Little Rock in recent weeks.
In November, a two-year-old girl was killed by someone from another vehicle shooting into her car. No arrests have been made.
Suicide bomber kills 30 soldiers in Yemen's Aden
A suicide bomber has killed at least 30 Yemeni soldiers at a military base in the southern port city of Aden, a week after an attack by a local affiliate of ISIL killed dozens of troops in the city.
Military officials and medics told the AFP news agency early on Sunday that the suicide bomber detonated his explosives as a group of soldiers were gathering to collect their salaries at the al-Solban base in the city's northeast.
Aden al-Ghad, a local news website, said several people were wounded in the blast as thousands of men queued up at the entrance of the base.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which happened just eight days after a similar bombing claimed by ISIL killed 48 soldiers and wounded 29 others.
Military officials and medics told the AFP news agency early on Sunday that the suicide bomber detonated his explosives as a group of soldiers were gathering to collect their salaries at the al-Solban base in the city's northeast.
Aden al-Ghad, a local news website, said several people were wounded in the blast as thousands of men queued up at the entrance of the base.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which happened just eight days after a similar bombing claimed by ISIL killed 48 soldiers and wounded 29 others.
Islamic State training child suicide bombers in special camp
A child suicide bomber who was ordered by Islamic State extremists to carry out an attack on a sports stadium in Iraq has told Sky News how he was trained with dozens of other children in a special camp.
Shocking pictures of the failed attempt show the moment Mahmoud Ahmed was arrested in August.
He looked confused and terrified as security forces took off his explosive vest.
He was stopped near the stadium following two successful attacks in the city of Kirkuk earlier in the day.
The 15-year-old is now being held at a juvenile detention centre on terrorism charges.
Sky News was given rare access and gained a unique insight into the way IS is training children to fill their depleted ranks in the city of Mosul, which is under attack from Iraqi forces.
Mahmoud looks smaller than his age but spoke fluently throughout the interview, which was conducted in the presence of Kurdish intelligence agents.
He told me how he was radicalised and given weapons training.
"They taught us how to use a Kalashnikov and a PKC machine gun and then transferred us to Hawija.
"There were four older men who would teach us about heaven and stuff like that.
"Twenty-four hours a day they'd teach us about this stuff. There were 60 of us born from 2002 onwards.
"They would scare us and would show videos of beheadings and stuff like that."
It is not clear what will happen to him but it is expected he will be given a lengthy jail sentence.
I asked him whether he knew what he was doing was wrong.
"When I reached the target I knew it was wrong. When I saw the young kids I knew it was wrong immediately.
"I returned back to him (my handler) but he said go straight back. I told him no and he said this is an order from Abu Islam (an IS commander).
"I returned back around the stadium and they caught me."
Meanwhile, Kurdish Intelligence officials have revealed to us that thousands of children across Iraq and Syria are being exploited by the terrorist organisation to fight on the front lines and carry out suicide attacks - some of them are as young as nine years old.
The director of Zanyari Agency, Lahur Talabany, says IS is using children because they are harder to detect for the security forces. They are also more impressionable.
"We knew for the past year-and-a-half they've been looking into children and recruiting children and putting them through these kinds of programmes.
"They are very vulnerable it is much easier to turn a child into a suicide bomber than a grown up."
Children frequently appear in IS propaganda.
Some have even been indoctrinated to carry out murders in the group's name.
The child fighters are known as the cubs of the caliphate.
As the war against IS gains momentum it is clear the military alone will not be enough to defeat the extremist group.
Iraqi intelligence agencies say global action is now needed to set up deradicalisation programmes to combat the group's warped ideology.
Without them the danger is obvious - future generations indoctrinated to carry out terror attacks.
Shocking pictures of the failed attempt show the moment Mahmoud Ahmed was arrested in August.
He looked confused and terrified as security forces took off his explosive vest.
He was stopped near the stadium following two successful attacks in the city of Kirkuk earlier in the day.
The 15-year-old is now being held at a juvenile detention centre on terrorism charges.
Sky News was given rare access and gained a unique insight into the way IS is training children to fill their depleted ranks in the city of Mosul, which is under attack from Iraqi forces.
Mahmoud looks smaller than his age but spoke fluently throughout the interview, which was conducted in the presence of Kurdish intelligence agents.
He told me how he was radicalised and given weapons training.
"They taught us how to use a Kalashnikov and a PKC machine gun and then transferred us to Hawija.
"There were four older men who would teach us about heaven and stuff like that.
"Twenty-four hours a day they'd teach us about this stuff. There were 60 of us born from 2002 onwards.
"They would scare us and would show videos of beheadings and stuff like that."
It is not clear what will happen to him but it is expected he will be given a lengthy jail sentence.
I asked him whether he knew what he was doing was wrong.
"When I reached the target I knew it was wrong. When I saw the young kids I knew it was wrong immediately.
"I returned back to him (my handler) but he said go straight back. I told him no and he said this is an order from Abu Islam (an IS commander).
"I returned back around the stadium and they caught me."
Meanwhile, Kurdish Intelligence officials have revealed to us that thousands of children across Iraq and Syria are being exploited by the terrorist organisation to fight on the front lines and carry out suicide attacks - some of them are as young as nine years old.
The director of Zanyari Agency, Lahur Talabany, says IS is using children because they are harder to detect for the security forces. They are also more impressionable.
"We knew for the past year-and-a-half they've been looking into children and recruiting children and putting them through these kinds of programmes.
"They are very vulnerable it is much easier to turn a child into a suicide bomber than a grown up."
Children frequently appear in IS propaganda.
Some have even been indoctrinated to carry out murders in the group's name.
The child fighters are known as the cubs of the caliphate.
As the war against IS gains momentum it is clear the military alone will not be enough to defeat the extremist group.
Iraqi intelligence agencies say global action is now needed to set up deradicalisation programmes to combat the group's warped ideology.
Without them the danger is obvious - future generations indoctrinated to carry out terror attacks.
Donald Trump says US should let China keep seized underwater drone
Donald Trump has said the US should let China keep the underwater drone it seized in international waters.
The President-elect wrote on Twitter: "We should tell China that we don't want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!"
His message came after the US military announced it had reached an understanding with Beijing for the return of the underwater glider, which China said it seized to ensure the "safe navigation of passing ships".
Earlier on Saturday Mr Trump used Twitter to criticise China, slamming the move as an "unpresidented (sic) act". He later corrected the spelling.
Washington said the drone was collecting scientific data in the disputed South China Sea, and was one of two being recovered by a survey ship, when it was taken by a Chinese warship on Thursday.
Within a couple of hours of Mr Trump's original tweet, China accused the US of "hyping up" the incident and said it was not conducive to a "smooth" resolution of the dispute.
On Saturday evening, the Pentagon said that after "direct engagement with Chinese authorities" it had "secured an understanding" that the 10ft-long unmanned glider would be returned.
The US oceanographic survey ship, USNS Bowditch, was positioned about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay, near the Philippines.
When the Chinese warship approached and seized the drone, the two vessels were 500m apart.
No shots were fired and the Chinese ship left with the drone.
Tensions between the US and China have escalated since Mr Trump's shock election victory, with the President-elect suggesting he is willing to abandon the "One China" policy which guides Washington's position on Taiwan.
Mr Trump caused outrage in Beijing after he took a call from Tsai Ing-wen, the President of democratically self-ruling Taiwan, which China views as a rogue province awaiting unification.
The President-elect wrote on Twitter: "We should tell China that we don't want the drone they stole back.- let them keep it!"
His message came after the US military announced it had reached an understanding with Beijing for the return of the underwater glider, which China said it seized to ensure the "safe navigation of passing ships".
Earlier on Saturday Mr Trump used Twitter to criticise China, slamming the move as an "unpresidented (sic) act". He later corrected the spelling.
Washington said the drone was collecting scientific data in the disputed South China Sea, and was one of two being recovered by a survey ship, when it was taken by a Chinese warship on Thursday.
Within a couple of hours of Mr Trump's original tweet, China accused the US of "hyping up" the incident and said it was not conducive to a "smooth" resolution of the dispute.
On Saturday evening, the Pentagon said that after "direct engagement with Chinese authorities" it had "secured an understanding" that the 10ft-long unmanned glider would be returned.
The US oceanographic survey ship, USNS Bowditch, was positioned about 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay, near the Philippines.
When the Chinese warship approached and seized the drone, the two vessels were 500m apart.
No shots were fired and the Chinese ship left with the drone.
Tensions between the US and China have escalated since Mr Trump's shock election victory, with the President-elect suggesting he is willing to abandon the "One China" policy which guides Washington's position on Taiwan.
Mr Trump caused outrage in Beijing after he took a call from Tsai Ing-wen, the President of democratically self-ruling Taiwan, which China views as a rogue province awaiting unification.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Ayatollah Khamenei condemns UK after PM May's comments
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned Britain as a "source of evil and misery" for the Middle East after British Prime Minister Theresa May called Iran a regional threat.
"Shamelessly, the British have recently called ... Iran a threat to the region, but everyone knows that ... it is the British who have always been the source of threats, corruption and misery," state news agency IRNA quoted Khamenei on Saturday as telling participants at an Islamic unity conference in Tehran.
Khamenei called "policies and the actions of the British in the past two centuries a source of evil and misery for the peoples of the region", IRNA added.
May called on Gulf Arab heads of state at a summit last week to work with London "to push back against Iran's aggressive regional actions, whether in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria or in the Gulf itself".
"So I want to assure you that I am clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and the wider Middle East," she told the summit in Bahrain on December 7.
Khamenei accused the United States and Britain of provoking conflicts among the main Sunni and Shia branches of Islam. "The old British policy of 'divide and conquer' is seriously on the agenda of Islam's enemies."
Iranian media reported on Saturday the foreign ministry had summoned a top British diplomat in Tehran to protest against British criticism of its actions in Syria.
The move came after British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Thursday he had summoned the ambassadors of Russia and Iran to convey his "profound disquiet" over events in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.
Britain and Iran exchanged ambassadors in September more than a year after Britain reopened its Tehran embassy, which was closed for nearly four years after it was stormed by protesters.
Iran and most Gulf states are on opposite sides in Middle East conflicts, with Iran an ally of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's war and of the armed Houthi movement fighting a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen.
"Shamelessly, the British have recently called ... Iran a threat to the region, but everyone knows that ... it is the British who have always been the source of threats, corruption and misery," state news agency IRNA quoted Khamenei on Saturday as telling participants at an Islamic unity conference in Tehran.
Khamenei called "policies and the actions of the British in the past two centuries a source of evil and misery for the peoples of the region", IRNA added.
May called on Gulf Arab heads of state at a summit last week to work with London "to push back against Iran's aggressive regional actions, whether in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria or in the Gulf itself".
"So I want to assure you that I am clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and the wider Middle East," she told the summit in Bahrain on December 7.
Khamenei accused the United States and Britain of provoking conflicts among the main Sunni and Shia branches of Islam. "The old British policy of 'divide and conquer' is seriously on the agenda of Islam's enemies."
Iranian media reported on Saturday the foreign ministry had summoned a top British diplomat in Tehran to protest against British criticism of its actions in Syria.
The move came after British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Thursday he had summoned the ambassadors of Russia and Iran to convey his "profound disquiet" over events in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.
Britain and Iran exchanged ambassadors in September more than a year after Britain reopened its Tehran embassy, which was closed for nearly four years after it was stormed by protesters.
Iran and most Gulf states are on opposite sides in Middle East conflicts, with Iran an ally of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's war and of the armed Houthi movement fighting a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen.
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