Iraq: Al Qaeda Splinter Group Seizes Mosul

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki has asked parliament to declare a state of emergency after militants seized control of key buildings in the country's second-largest city.

Security forces abandoned their posts in Mosul after fighters armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers overran the provincial government headquarters and other buildings.

An army colonel in the local military command said: "We have lost Mosul this morning. Army and police forces left their positions and ISIL terrorists are in full control.

"It's a total collapse for the security forces."

A burning vehicle belonging to the Iraqi security services in Mosul

Mr al Maliki also said the government would arm citizens to fight the militants.

Hundreds of families have fled to the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq's north. Cars and trucks are reportedly queuing at a checkpoint on the boundary to the region.

Militant fighters are now moving south towards neighbouring Salaheedin province, according to Iraqi parliament speaker Osama al Nujaifi.

Sky News Arabia sources say around 1,400 prisoners have been released after gunmen torched several police stations in Mosul, which is a former al Qaeda stronghold.

Prisoners walk free in Mosul

Residents told the Associated Press detainees set free were seen roaming the streets in yellow jumpsuits.

The insurgents seized the government complex on Monday.

The fighters are believed to be affiliated with an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is behind many attacks in the country.

The group was known as al Qaeda in Iraq until ties between the two organisations were cut earlier in 2014 following a power struggle.

The violence is the worst in many years

Witnesses saw the militants hoisting black flags inscribed with the Islamic declaration used by ISIL, al Qaeda and other jihadist groups.

Government employee Um Karam said her family decided to flee on Tuesday after hearing about the the building's fall.

"The situation is chaotic inside the city and there is nobody to help us," the Christian mother-of-two said, using a nickname because of concern for her safety.

Ali Mahmoud, the media official for Nineveh province, said the fighters were able to overpower the building guards after a brief firefight.

Iraqis fleeing Nineveh province wait in their vehicles at a checkpoint

Provincial governor Atheel al Nujaifi was in a nearby guest house at the time of the attack, but managed to escape unharmed.

The violence in Iraq is the worst since the sectarian bloodletting of 2006 and 2007.

ISIL insurgents and their allies retain control of Fallujah and other parts of Anbar province, which neighbours Nineveh province.

The fighters have also launched frequent attacks in the capital Baghdad, and in other parts of the country.

Several members of the Iraqi security forces were killed last week when insurgents launched an attack on the Sunni-dominated city of Samarra.

An Iraqi Kurdish security guard frisks a man at a checkpoint

They took control of a number of districts before eventually retreating.

Insurgents also occupied a university in Anbar province, taking dozens of hostages before releasing many later on. Fifteen people remain missing.

There was also an explosion at a funeral in the central city of Baqouba for a Sunni university professor on Tuesday.

That attack has so far claimed 20 lives and left another 28 wounded.

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Pakistan's Karachi Airport Hit By Fresh Attack

Taliban See Airport Attack As Job Well Done

Updated: 11:46am UK, Tuesday 10 June 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

A protracted gun battle. Buildings ablaze. Three dozen dead. An international airport shut down. In the morbid calculus of the Taliban - a job well done.

The scenes recalled the humiliating attack on a Navy base, also in Karachi, three years ago in which 11 died.

On both occasions the Pakistani Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility and that the blood letting was revenge.

This time the Taliban used Twitter to boast of worse to come.

"We have yet to take revenge for the deaths of hundreds of innocent tribal women and children in Pakistani air strikes. It's just the beginning, we have taken revenge for one, we have to take revenge for hundreds," the militant group said.

'The one' referred to is Hakimullah Mehsud, who was killed in a US drone strike last November.

His predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, died the same way.

Barack Obama said recently that in counter terror operations "we must not create more enemies than we take off the battlefield".

The campaign of extra-judicial killing by remote control in the ungoverned regions of Pakistan has left an estimated 500 dead, many of them civilians.

Mostly drawn from Pashto communities, survivors will inevitably see an obligation to attack the US or her allies in a blood feud.

This is the interpretation that the Taliban want commentators to reach.

It is also largely a statement of the obvious.

But the Taliban threats of yet more bloody retribution cannot be seen as entirely US-driven.

The radical Islamist movement has been trying to take over the country and impose it's own interpretation of Sharia law for decades.

Its weekend attack on Karachi's airport was followed with another on Tuesday in which two groups on motorcycles conducted a hit-and-run against the Airport Security Force Academy on the northern perimeter.

The gunmen escaped but not before they had, for a few hours, once again shut the airport, dealing another body blow to Pakistan's commercial capital.

The movement came close to the gates of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, a few years ago when it launched a ground offensive.

The failure of talks with the government, which collapsed earlier this year, meant that a spectacular "listen to us" attack was almost inevitable.

But Pakistan's military has also been planning an all out offensive against the Taliban for several months.

It had been held back to give talks a chance.

The generals will see the attack on Karachi's international airport as a signal for their campaign to begin.

This may give the Taliban the 'victory' of more 'martyrs' – but both sides know neither can truly win.

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Angelina Jolie Hosts War Zone Rape Summit

By Rachel Younger, Sky News Correspondent

Angelina Jolie has said a message must be sent around the world that there is "no disgrace" in being a rape survivor - "that the shame is on the aggressor".

The actress is co-hosting the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict with Foreign Secretary William Hague, in London.

It is the largest ever gathering of its kind, with more than 140 countries taking part.

The aim is to make sexual violence in war zones as unacceptable as chemical weapons and cluster munitions.

Poline Akello was abducted from her home in Uganda and raped

As she arrived for the summit this morning, to a bank of photographers, reporters and broadcasters, Jolie, 39, said she was "so, so happy to be here".

Speaking at the start of the summit in east London, the Hollywood star said she had met a woman earlier this year on a campaigning trip to Bosnia.

She said the woman was too humiliated to tell her own child that she had been raped -  and had seen her attacker "on the streets free".

Jolie said: "On our way over, we spoke about the women we met recently on our last trip, and in particular one woman, who said that she had yet to tell her child that she had been raped because she was so humiliated and she could not bring herself to admit it to him.

Angelina Jolie at the summit this morning

"And she felt that having had no justice for her particular crime, in her particular situation, and having seen the actual man who raped her on the streets free, she really felt abandoned by the world.

"On the way over, we thought 'What is she going to think of this day?'. This day is for her."

Later, in the official opening statement Jolie added: "We must send a message across the world that there is no disgrace in being a survivor of sexual violence - the shame is on the aggressor." 

Every year, 150 million girls and women are raped in conflict around the world, along with 70 million men and boys, and the overwhelming majority of them never get justice.

Mr Hague, who announced the UK will pledge a further £6m to survivors of sexual violence, told Sky News: "This is an unacceptable crime practised on a vast scale.

"What we're trying to achieve is standards on documentation so that people don't get away with it."

Under the UK's presidency, the G8 last year declared rape and serious sexual violence in conflict as grave breaches of the Geneva Convention, as well as war crimes.

Some 144 world governments have now endorsed the declaration.

The London Summit wants to seize that momentum and turn it into practical action to prevent rape and help victims.

Estella Nelson says babies are being targeted too

One of the speakers will be Poline Akello, who was abducted from her home in Uganda when she was just 14.

Forced by the army of notorious warlord Joseph Kony to become a child soldier, she survived six years in the bush where she was given to one of Kony's commanders.

"I knew it wasn't the right time for me," she said. "My body wasn't mature enough but they took my virginity."

Poline became pregnant but her baby did not survive and she was not allowed to hold or bury her child.

"I wasn't allowed to mourn," she said. "If you cried, they would kill you."

Victim Estella Nelson, of Liberia Women Media Action Committee, told Sky News babies were also being attacked.

"We have girls as young as eight months being raped. We need to know why babies are being targeted by perpetrators," Ms Nelson said.

The summit, which is being held at ExCeL London, will run until Thursday and includes dozens of free events which will be open to the public.

Around 200 foreign, defence and development ministers have been invited to attend, along with experts from courts, charities and the military.

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Boko Haram Militants 'Seize Young Mothers'

Boko Haram gunmen have reportedly kidnapped up to 40 young mothers from an area near Chibok, the village where more than 250 schoolgirls were abducted nearly two months ago.

The exact number of women taken in the latest raid is thought to be at least 20 - although one local leader from Borno state put it as high as 40.

The kidnappings happened on Saturday in and around the village of Garkin Fulani, five miles from Chibok.

"Available information revealed that the gunmen came around noon and abducted 20 women and three young men left to keep watch on the village," said one local man.

"All the males in the settlement were away in the bush with their herd (of cattle) for grazing when the abductors came to the village.

"We tried to go after them when the news got to us about three hours later, but the vehicles we have could not go far, and the report came to us a little bit late," he said.

A separate attack in the state of Adamawa was foiled, police say

There was no immediate indication of where the women were taken and there had been no contact from the kidnappers.

A local official of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (Macban) said the young women were singled out and put into vehicles before being driven away.

Similar kidnappings for ransom have been going on in the area for some time but locals have been too afraid to speak out because of fears of reprisals from the Islamist militants, the official said.

"This is not the first time women are being kidnapped in this area and only released when we pay cattle ransom to the kidnappers. It has happened several times," he said.

A protest held in Lagos called for the return of the Chibok schoolgirls

Locals always paid the ransom but do not inform the authorities, he said.

A Borno state government official said the authorities were aware of the kidnapping of women from the village but denied knowledge of previous abductions.

"This is the first time we are hearing abduction of Fulani women and we are working to establish the circumstances surrounding the kidnap and necessary action to take," he added.

In another incident, the country's defence ministry said troops had prevented raids by Boko Haram this weekend on villages in Borno and neighbouring Adamawa state, with soldiers killing more than 50 militants on Saturday night as they were on their way to attack communities.

A policeman on the phone before the start of the Lagos rally

The military has come under rising criticism from Nigerians who say they are not being protected and are being left to fend off attacks by Boko Haram on their own.

The militant group, which wants to establish Islamic state in Nigeria, has been taking over villages in the northeast, killing and terrorising civilians and political leaders. 

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Rescuers Reach Man Trapped In German Cave

Rescuers have reached an injured man who is stuck about 1km (0.6 miles) underground inside Germany's deepest and longest cave.

A rescuer makes his way down the cave. All pics: Bayerisches Rotes Kreuz

The 52-year-old researcher was able to walk with help but the operation to bring him out may take several days.

He was expected to be gradually lifted back to the surface through five stations that were being set up in the cave on the Austrian border.

A man was transported to the cave by helicopter

The German suffered head and chest injuries after being hit by falling rocks early on Sunday in the labyrinth-like Riesending cave system near Berchtesgaden.

Several people are in the rescue team

To reach him, a six-member team from Germany, Austria and Switzerland had to cover some difficult terrain including vertical shafts and had to squeeze through narrow passages.

The man was exploring the cave with two other people, who were not hurt, when the incident happened 6km (3.7 miles) from the entrance.

The team plans its route

One of them was able to get out and raise the alarm while the other stayed with him.

A radio-based communication system has been set up that allows rescuers to send text messages to the surface.

They had to cover some difficult terrain

Around 200 helpers from across the region are helping with the operation in a remote mountainous area in southeast Germany.

"The conditions are extremely narrow, the rescue won't be easy," doctor Christoph Specht told news channel NTV.

Rescuers were forced to squeeze through some narrow gaps

"There are only a few people in Germany who know how to handle such a rescue."

The cave, which has only been explored by researchers since 2002, is more than 19km long and up to 1.15km deep.

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Alabama Beaches Closed By Huge Shark Swarm

A number of beaches in Alabama were closed on Monday because of a swarm of sharks swimming off shore.

Large numbers of sharks were seen in aerial video footage swimming in shallow waters around Alabama Point in Perdido Pass.

At times their dorsal fins were exposed.

Orange Beach safety supervisor Melvin Shepard said the swarm might have been caused by the large number of fish carcasses in the water during the red snapper hunting season.

No attacks have been reported yet

There are double red flags flying at the beach to alert swimmers to stay out of the water.

Those who disobey the warning could be fined.

So far no attacks have been reported.

Local television channel WKRG News 5 reported seeing between 100 and 150 sharks during a helicopter flight above the water over the weekend.

Since then, the channel reports, the numbers have been declining.

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Vegas Gunman As Joker In YouTube Videos

Police are investigating social media postings in which one of the Las Vegas shooters rants against the government and announces the "dawn of a new day".

Jerad Miller, 31, and his wife Amanda Miller, 22, also posed as Batman villains the Joker and Harley Quinn in a Facebook photo.

The couple posing as the Joker and Harley Quinn. Pic: Facebook

The couple who killed two policemen and a good Samaritan on Sunday shared anti-government and white supremacist ideologies, authorities said.

They placed a yellow "Don't Tread On Me" flag and a swastika on the officers' bodies, officials said.

The yellow flag, with its roots in the American Revolution, is a symbol for anti-government groups.

In a YouTube video, Jerad Miller, can be seen saying he is under house arrest for selling pot. The camera then focuses on an ankle bracelet before he rants against what he describes as an authoritarian US government.

Pointing to a courthouse that can be seen from his window, he calls it a "monument to authoritarianism".

He laments citizens must go to the courthouse and "submit, crawling and grovelling on your hands and feet: 'Oh give me permission to do this, give me permission to do that'."

Jerad Miller,31, and his wife Amanda, 22

He says: "Sounds a little like Nazi Germany to me, or maybe Communist Russia."

In another online video, dressed as the Joker, he says he is running for President: "Year after year I've watched you Americans, my fellow citizens, vote for tyranny."

In his last Facebook posting, he says: "The dawn of a new day. May all of our coming sacrifices be worth it."

The scene of the shooting on Sunday

The attack at a CiCi's Pizza restaurant on Sunday killed Officers Alyn Beck, 41, and Igor Soldo, 31.

Police believe while the Millers wanted to target police, the choice of Mr Soldo and Mr Beck, who were having lunch at the restaurant, was random.

The Millers then fled to a Walmart across the street, where they gunned down 31-year-old Joseph Wilcox, who pulled his concealed firearm but was shot by Amanda Miller.

When police arrived at the scene, she shot her husband several times with a handgun, killing him, before shooting herself in the head.

Officers Alyn Beck, 41 (L) and Igor Soldo, 31, were killed in the attack

It has also emerged the Millers went to Cliven Bundy's Nevada ranch during a stand-off with federal authorities in April, but they were kicked off because they were "very radical," according to Mr Bundy's son.

Ammon Bundy said the Millers were at his father's ranch for a few days before they were asked to leave by militia members for unspecified "conduct" problems.

He told the AP news agency the couple "did not align themselves" with the beliefs of other protesters.

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Online Gamers Help Foil Armed Robbers

The home invasion of an Arizona woman playing an online video game has been thwarted when people watching a video feed called the police.

A friend of the victim watching the livestream on Monday saw two men with guns break down the woman's apartment door while she was playing the game, Lieutenant Michael Pooley, of Tempe police, said.

"From behind her, the door gets kicked in. Two guys come in with guns," Lt Pooley said, describing what was visible on the video feed.

The victim leaves the screen as she realises intruders are in the house

Police rushed to the scene and found one man still in the apartment.

The suspect, Edgardo Martinez, 27, was held on suspicion of armed robbery, kidnapping, first-degree burglary, theft of a firearm and credit card theft.

The other man remains at large.

The 28-year-old victim and her 29-year-old roommate were not injured..

According to Lt Pooley, authorities elsewhere also got calls from people who were watching the video feed and also witnessed the break-in.

"There were several callers from around the world, who were trying to find out who this victim was and they were watching this whole thing occur, while she was being assaulted and the home invasion was occurring," he said.

Suspect Edgardo Martinez

"These people calling in is what really saved them."

Lt Pooley said he did not immediately know the name of the game that the woman was playing, but Phoenix TV station KTVK reported it was Defense of the Ancients 2.

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South Korea: Crew Of Sunken Ferry Go On Trial

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

Fifteen ferry workers have gone on trial in South Korea, charged over the deaths of more than 300 people in April's ferry disaster.

Heavy security surrounded the arrival of the crew at the district court in Gwangju.

Local TV images showed the ferry captain, Lee Joon-Seok, being led into the court followed by the rest of the crew.

Captain Lee, 69, and three other crew members face murder charges for which they could receive the death penalty.

They are accused of abandoning the ferry having issued an order to the passengers to remain in their cabins. The rest of the crew face lesser charges of negligence.

Victims' relatives struggle with a security guard to get into court

The Sewol ferry sank on April 16. It had been travelling from the port of Incheon to the southern island of Jeju.

Almost two months after the sinking, 292 bodies have been recovered and 12 others remain missing. Some 250 of those who died were children, most from one high school in Seoul.

One hundred relatives of those who died have been permitted to sit through the trial, some in an annex to the court. The proceedings are being relayed to them via video-link.

As the defendants entered the courtroom, one family member is reported to have yelled: "You murderers. Can you even eat?!"

The judge appealed to family members to stay calm

The judge tried to calm proceedings, saying: "I also have children. I empathise with you but please control yourself."

Speaking on behalf of the relatives, spokesman Kim Byung-Kwon said: "They say when time passes wounds heal, but for us it's as if time has stopped. Even nowadays when I see children wearing school uniform coming home from school, it feels as if our children will say: 'Mum, Dad I'm home'."

A total of 172 people, including 22 of the ship's 29 crew members, were rescued. Evidence from some of the survivors will form part of the prosecution's case.

The chief prosecutor, Park Jae-Eok, was visibly emotional as he addressed the court.

Salvage vessels near the upturned ferry

"These good students innocently waited in the ferry as instructed. They were confined inside and couldn't attempt to escape. They left only words: 'Mum, dad I love you'," he said.

There are serious concerns the trial will never be a fair one. The South Korean President, Park Geun-hye, has already stated that the captain's actions are -  in her words - akin to murder, views which are shared by the relatives.

"If the defendant had announced an evacuation… when they were escaping, if they had made the announcement, the children might have lived... If this is not murder what is? The defendants not only killed the passengers but also killed the family members' soul," the families' spokesman added.

A memorial to those lost at sea

To argue a case of murder successfully, prosecution lawyers will need to prove the captain and crew left the ship knowing the passengers were likely to die on board.

However, shortly after his arrest, Captain Lee insisted he believed the passengers would have been in more danger had they evacuated.

"At the time, the area had high waves and it was very cold. Regardless of whether they wore life jackets, they would have drifted away and faced many other difficulties," the captain said.

There were angry scenes outside the court, with one relative holding a placard reading: "You are not human. You are beneath animals." The sign was pulled away from him.

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Rat Poison Plot Captured On Camera In Italy

A mother and son have been accused of poisoning a rich elderly relative after their alleged murder attempt was caught on camera.

Elisabetta Martini, 62, and Marco Coggiola, 36, were arrested after they laced the 97-year-old woman's beverages with rat poison at her nursing home in Pinerolo, near Turin, in northern Italy.

Elisabetta Martini and Marco Coggiola

The pair allegedly carried out the plot in order to get inheritance from the relative. 

Police say the mother and son poisoned the woman on at least three occasions - adding the poison to coffee, water and a milkshake.

Doctors twice tested the woman's blood after she became ill but could not find anything wrong.

CCTV shows Coggiola appearing to hold the poison in his hand

But on the third occasion they found traces of rat poison and discovered a stash of the solution at of the home of the two accused.

The rat poison they allegedly used

Video footage at the nursing home shows Martini feeding the elderly woman a drink, allegedly spiked with the poison.

Both have been charged with attempted murder. Italian police say both have confessed to the plan.

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