National Guard F-15 Jet Crashes In Virginia

An F-15C fighter jet has crashed in western Virginia, say military officials, and it is unclear if the pilot survived.

The single-seater plane from Massachusetts Air National Guard was flying to Louisiana when it went down near Deerfield.

The jet was on a training exercise with no munitions onboard, National Guard spokesman Maj Matthew Mutti told AP news agency.

Witnesses reported hearing a noise like an explosion and heavy smoke coming from the side of a mountain shortly after 9am on Wednesday.

Military officials had reported losing communication with a jet, said Augusta County police dispatcher Becky Coynter.

A news release from state police said officials were on their way to the crash site.

More follows...

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UN Accuses Syria Over Chemical Weapons

A United Nations report has accused Syria of using chemical weapons eight times in April - and highlights mass atrocities by Islamic State militants.

The report by the independent Commission of Inquiry said it believed chlorine, dispatched in barrel bombs, was the agent used on multiple occasions.

It also highlighted mock crucifixions, public executions, amputations and the beheading of children by Islamic State militants in parts of Syria.

The accusations came amid reports that Syrian rebels had seized control of the Syrian crossing with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there had been heavy fighting between rebels - including the al Qaeda affiliated al Nusra Front - and the army.

An Israeli army officer stationed in the Golan Heights has been injured after errant fire, sources said.   

Islamic State fighters in northern Raqqa province

The UN's 45-page report accused the Syrian regime of dropping barrel bombs on residential areas and highlighted atrocities meted out by Islamic State members. 

"Reasonable grounds exist to believe that chemical agents, likely chlorine, were used on (northern Syrian villages) Kafr Zeita, al Tamana and Tal Minnis in eight incidents within a 10-day period in April," it said.

"Witnesses saw helicopters drop barrel bombs and smelled a scent akin to domestic chlorine immediately following impact," it pointed out.

President Assad was sworn in for another seven years in July

Victims suffered "symptoms compatible with exposure to chemical agents, namely vomiting, eye and skin irritation, choking and other respiratory problems".

It marks the first time the UN has assigned blame for the use of the chemical agent. 

Bashar al Assad and the opposition have accused each other of using chemical agents, including chlorine, in the bloody uprising, that began in March 2011.

The report also outlines atrocities being carried out by IS militants in Syria, including public executions, amputations, lashings and mock crucifixions.

The document describes beheadings of boys as young as 15 and men flogged for smoking or accompanying an "improperly dressed" female relative.

Women have been publicly lashed for not following the group's strict dress code, the report says.

IS is also recruiting and training children as young as 10, with teens being used in active combat and suicide-bombing missions, the report said.

"This is a continuation - and a geographic expansion - of the widespread and systematic attack on the civilian population," according to the report.

The four-member commission was created three years ago by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate abuses committed in the war.

Syria has said it is ready to cooperate with the international community in the fight against the militants who have taken over areas straddling both Iraq and Syria.

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Apple iPhone 6 Rumours Reach Fever Pitch

As the latest iPhone launch approaches, the rumour mill is turning at full speed.

Apple blogs and insiders predict the device, likely to be called the iPhone 6, will be on the shelves next month. Here's what to expect:

Size: The iPhone 6 It is expected to launch with two screen sizes – one measuring 4.7ins, and a larger 5.5ins version.

There has also been speculation that it may be slimmed down by removing the 3.5mm headphone jack and replacing it with a Lightning connection.

Display: With a bigger display comes a new resolution, but Apple is expected to keep its "retina" display standard.

One of the likely major selling points is a toughened sapphire screen.

The company is rumoured to have spent hundreds of millions on the material, which is tougher than the existing Gorilla Glass and said to be virtually scratch free.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook has refused to confirm whether the sapphire glass will be used on the new iPhone, but has said that a new plant in Arizona is for the material.

Camera: Some Chinese websites have predicted an impressive 10-megapixel camera - two megapixels more than the current iPhone 5s.

However even that upgrade would not be enough to help it catch up with some of its rivals, who boast resolutions of up to 16 megapixels.

Instead Apple is likely to focus on improving the camera's other features, such as image stabilisation.

Software: As with every Apple iPhone release, new software is expected. The latest version - iOS 8 - comes with a smart keyboard, improved photo sharing and messaging, a health monitoring app, and other improvements.

Charging: Wireless charging for the new iPhone has been a rumour circulated on several Apple blogs, but no evidence has emerged to back this up yet.

Capacity: Apple is likely to drop its 16GB version, according to Chinese website Tencent, leaving the options of 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB.

Launch date: This one's been confidently predicted by several respected Apple blogs and websites – the iPhone 6 is scheduled to be announced in early September, probably on the ninth, and released later in the month.

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Girl Accidentally Kills Gun Instructor With Uzi

Police have released footage of the moments before a nine-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed a shooting instructor who was teaching her to use an automatic Uzi submachine gun.

Charles Vacca was shot in the head on Monday at an outdoor shooting range in Dolan Springs, in north Arizona.

The 39-year-old was airlifted to University Medical Centre in Las Vegas but died shortly afterwards.

Mr Vacca was standing next to the girl at the Last Stop outdoor shooting range in White Hills when she pulled the trigger and the recoil sent the weapon over her head, investigators said.

The footage, reportedly filmed by the girl's parents, shows Mr Vacca helping the girl hold the gun, adjust her stance and then fire a single shot.

His last words to her are: "Alright, full auto."

It is not known if the range has an age limit on shooting or if the girl, who has not been named, had been through a safety class.

The youngster was on holiday from New Jersey with her parents.

Mohave County Sheriff Jim McCabe told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the video was "ghastly". 

Firearms safety expert Ronald Scott said most ranges have an age limit and strict safety rules when teaching children how to shoot.

Instructors usually have their hands on guns when children are firing high-powered weapons, he said.

"You can't give a nine-year-old an Uzi and expect her to control it," Mr Scott added.

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Better Together Ad 'Insulting' To Women

Salmond: The Man Behind The Nationalist

Updated: 9:14am UK, Monday 25 August 2014

Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond was born at home in Linlithgow in 1954, on what is one of the most important days in the Scottish calendar - New Year's Eve.

He was the second of four children born to Robert and Mary Salmond, both of whom were civil servants.

The future Scottish National Party leader attended school locally and then went on to the University of St Andrews where he took his first step towards his lifelong passion for an independent Scotland by joining the Scottish National Party.

Mr Salmond graduated in 1978 with a 2:2 MA honours degree in Economics and Medieval History.

He went to work for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland in 1978, serving as an assistant economist.

He moved to the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1980, working there as an assistant economist and then being appointed an oil economist - he later combined that role with that of a bank economist.

The early 1980s were a good time personally for Mr Salmond who met and married his wife, Moira, in 1981.

The engineer's daughter was herself a senior civil servant and had been her husband's boss during his time in what was then the Scottish Office.

The couple have no children and Mrs Salmond, who gave up her job at the time of her marriage, is known to prefer to keep a low profile.

Mr Salmond began his political career in 1987 when he was elected MP for Banff & Buchan.

He became leader of the Scottish National Party in 1990 when he beat sole opponent Margaret Ewing by 486 votes.

The General Election of 1992 was a disappointment for the party and its leader when, despite increasing its share of the vote, it failed to win a large number of seats and make the breakthrough it had hoped for.

Following a referendum in 1997 when the Scottish electorate backed the setting up of a Scottish Parliament, Mr Salmond was elected as an MSP in 1999.

But two years later he resigned as leader after being criticised from within the party about a number of fall-outs with party members. He left the Scottish Parliament.

He remained deeply involved in politics, publicly protesting about the 2003 invasion of Iraq in which the UK took part. This was not a new stand; he had also opposed PM Tony Blair's bombing of Serbia in 1999 because it was not backed by a UN Security Council resolution.

In 2004, despite having earlier said he would not be leadership candidate for the SNP, Mr Salmond decided to stand and won the contest with more than 75% of the vote.

After becoming leader of the SNP, he was elected as an MSP for the constituency of Gordon in May 2007, making political history by becoming the first nationalist to be elected First Minister of Scotland.

Mr Salmond lives with his wife in Strichen, Aberdeenshire, and he lists his hobbies as horse racing, football - he supports Scotland and Heart of Midlothian FC - golf and reading.

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Panda May Have Faked Pregnancy For Buns

Panda Facts - In Black And White

Updated: 1:34pm UK, Tuesday 12 August 2014

Edinburgh Zoo is hopeful that Tian Tian the panda is expecting a little panda. Here are some facts about what she can expect.

:: The foetus does not start to develop until the final weeks of pregnancy.

:: A cub weights around 5.3oz (150g) at birth - that is 1,000th of a fully grown female panda. It grows up to 10 times its birth weight in the first five to six weeks of life.

:: The cub is born pink, finely covered in short, white, hair with tightly-closed eyes. These partly open at between 30 and 45 days and open fully a week or two later.

:: It starts to develop black patches after around a week. The cub starts to grow black hair on its patches a few weeks later.

:: After a month, the cub is beginning to resemble its giant panda parent but it has a longer tail. 

:: It takes several weeks before the cub can crawl, and before then it cries loudly and often so its mother is aware of its needs for food and sleep.

:: Panda mothers lick their cubs often and stay with the cub for up to a month, by which time the cub can regulate its own body temperature and does not need its mother to keep it warm.

:: By 75 to 80 days cubs can stand and walk a few steps. Their eyesight is improving, as is their hearing and they are beginning to teethe. 

:: At four months cubs are active, running about and climbing on their mother's back in play.

:: At five months they follow their mother and mimic her as they eat bamboo and climb trees.

:: The cub starts to eat solids at around six months.

:: It will get its permanent teeth at around the time of its first birthday when it will now weigh between 50lb and 60lb (23kg-27kg). It will be suckling only once or twice a day.

:: By the age of two, the same age that the cub starts to make its own way in the wild, the cub is likely to go back to China.

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Russian Paratroopers' Mothers Plead For Release

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

The wives and mothers of some of the Russian paratroopers captured in Ukraine have appealed to President Vladimir Putin to help bring them home.

Recording their messages on camera phones, the women pleaded for the men to be returned alive.

They spoke from the office of the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, a human rights organisation in Kostroma, the central Russian town where the men are based.

"Dear President, Minister of Defence and commanders," the first woman said. "My child, Yegor Valeryevich Pochtoev, is at the moment in captivity on Ukrainian territory.

"I am begging you in the name of God: give me my child back. Get him back alive and all the other boys who were captured with him.

"My son, boys, we are with you. Guys, we will get you out of this trouble in any case. If the commanders don't help us, we will do it ourselves; your mothers will do it."

Russia says the men crossed the border "by accident"

The mother of Sergei Arkhipov addressed her son: "Serega, we love you, we are waiting for you, we are doing everything we can.

"We are addressing everyone: Please, help us."

The mother of paratrooper Sergei Smirnov tried to speak but broke down in tears and had to ask her husband to make the appeal for her.

"We are asking the President and the Minister of Defence to help to resolve this conflict, so that they would send guys wisely in the future," he said.

"So that everyone would come back alive. Please, help us."

Paratrooper Alexey Generalov's wife sobbed as she said: "Lesha, we love you and wait for you at home. Save them and help us to bring them home alive and in good health.

"I am addressing everyone, all the government, the Minister of Defence and the President. Please, bring them back to us as soon as possible."

The men are apparently being held in the Ukrainian capital Kiev

The 10 paratroopers were detained close to the village of Dzerkalnye, approximately 19 miles (30km) from the Russian border, according to Ukraine's state security service.

Russia's defence ministry says they crossed the border "by accident".

Speaking at a news conference in Kiev on Wednesday, the men repeated their earlier assertion that they had not known they were crossing into Ukraine.

Sergeant Vladimir Savosteyev said: "Only the highest command probably knew what would happen. We didn't know. No one had any idea."

Paratrooper Ivan Romantsev explained: "We are ordinary soldiers and we don't want to fight.

"We are not informed at all. We were sent there. We either got lost or not, we were sent there, we didn't know the way and where we were going.

"And when it all happened - shelling - and when we came to your boys, we realised that it's war indeed. There is a war, but by this time we don't know who runs this war."

A spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council said the men were being held at a pre-trial detention centre in Kiev.

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Who Should Be Called To Account In Rotherham?

Many people are asking why no-one in a position of responsibility has been held accountable in the wake of the Rotherham sex abuse scandal.

A devastating report revealed at least 1,400 children were sexually exploited over 16 years - between 1997 and  2013 - with girls as young as 11 repeatedly raped by large numbers of men.

The inquiry found Rotherham council knew as far back as 2005 of sexual exploitation on a wide scale - mostly by Asian men - but failed to act.

Three reports into the extent of sexual abuse were published between 2002 and 2006, but were "ignored or suppressed" by the police and council.

Roger Stone (L) stepped down and there are calls for Shaun Wright to quit

However, But Rotherham chief executive Martin Kimber said there was not enough evidence for the council to take action against any employees, while many other were now working elsewhere. 

Some of the notable figures in positions of responsibility during the scandal include:

:: Roger Stone - Council Leader

Council leader Roger Stone resigned following the publication of the report. He is the only councillor to lose his position over the scandal. He said he took responsibilty on behalf of the council.

:: Shaun Wright - Police and Crime Commissioner and Rotherham cabinet member for children's services 2005-10

Joyce Thacker (L) has an OBE, and Dr Sonia Sharp (R) now works in Australia

There is mounting pressure for South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, Shaun Wright, to step down.

He was responsible for children's services at the town council for five of the 16 years during which at least 1,400 children were subjected to sexual abuse.

Questions are being asked about others who were in positions of power when the child abuse took place.

:: Joyce Thacker - Head of Child Services, Rotherham Council

Joyce Thacker is head of child services at Rotherham Council. She was given an OBE in 2007 for her work with children.

:: Dr Sonia Sharp - Strategic Director of Children and Young People's Services at Rotherham Council 

Dr Sonia Sharp was in position between 2005 and 2008. She now works in the Department of Education in the Australian state of Victoria.

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Rotherham Abuse: Police Boss Refuses To Quit

South Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner is resisting growing calls to resign over the Rotherham child abuse scandal - claiming he was unaware of the scale of the problem.

Shaun Wright, who was responsible for children's services at the town council for five of the 16 years in which at least 1,400 children were abused, is being urged to stand down, including by his own Labour Party.

Mr Wright told Sky News he was "completely astonished" at the extent of the abuse revealed in a damning report, which detailed examples of 11-year-olds being gang raped and children being forced to watch violent sex abuse while being threatened they would be next.

But Professor Alexis Jay, who headed the inquiry, cast doubt on claims people had been unaware of the problem, which had been set out "unambiguously" in seminars and reports.

Rotherham Council leader Roger Stone stood down in the wake of the report

She also told Sky News nearly everyone in positions of authority should have done more.

Home Secretary Theresa May also piled pressure on Mr Wright to stand down, saying he "has real questions to answer".

Sky News Senior Political Correspondent Jon Craig said there was now so much pressure on Mr Wright to resign, "I'd be very surprised if he's still in his post by later on this evening."

Mr Wright was a Labour councillor for Rotherham until he was elected Police Commissioner in 2012, and was in charge of children's services from 2005 to 2010.

He told Sky News he was "completely astonished" at the abuse, and said he had been unaware of the scale of the problem.

He said: "I take my share of the responsibility. There was systemic failure. I only wish that I knew more at the time.

"If I knew then what I know now then clearly more could have been done.

"I do have regrets I wasn't more aware of the issue at the time."

Alexis Jay's highly critical report detailed "appalling" abuse

He claimed information was not "escalated up" to the political level or senior managers.

But pointing to a number of seminars and reports detailing the abuse, Prof Jay told Sky News: "I would be surprised if anyone could say at the end of that, they didn't know."

Calling for Mr Wright to quit, Colin Ross, the leader of the Lib Dem group on Sheffield City Council, said it is "difficult to see how local people can have confidence in him to continue as our Police and Crime Commissioner".

A Labour spokesperson said: "The report into child abuse in Rotherham was devastating in its findings. Vulnerable children were repeatedly abused and then let down.

"In the light of this report, it is appropriate that South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Shaun Wright should step down."

The leader of Rotherham Council, Roger Stone, stepped down with immediate effect following the publication of the report.

Chief Superintendent Jason Harwin, police district commander for Rotherham, said no officers had faced disciplinary action but added: "A number of individuals that were in the service then are no longer in the service."

A lawyer who represents some of the victims told Sky News they intend to take legal action against the authorities.

Solicitor David Greenwood said he was "appalled" by what he called a "systematic failure".

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Syria Hostage Peter Theo Curtis Back On US Soil

An American journalist held hostage in Syria for almost two years has thanked the hundreds of "brave and determined people" who helped secure his release.

In his first public remarks since touching down in the US, Peter Theo Curtis said: "I had no idea when I was in prison that so much effort was being expended on my behalf.

"Now that I have found out I am just overwhelmed with emotion."

Mr Curtis, 45, was reunited with his mother Nancy after landing back on home soil on Tuesday.

Nancy Curtis was pictured with her son on his return. Pic: Curtis Family

The journalist, originally from Boston, was released by al Qaeda's official wing in Syria, al Nusra Front, two days earlier after 22 months in captivity.

His voice trembling at times, Mr Curtis told reporters he was also overwhelmed that total strangers had been coming up to him and saying "we are glad you are home, welcome home, I'm glad you are back, glad you are safe."

"To all those people I say a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart," he said.

Shortly after being reunited with her son, Nancy Curtis told reporters he was "so excited to be home".

Peter Theo Curtis was captured by al-Nusra Front in 2012

She said while she was "overwhelmed with relief", his arrival home was a "sober occasion", given recent events in Syria.

Fears had risen for Mr Curtis over the last month after the FBI revealed it had received a video of him pleading for his life, saying he had just three days to live.

Qatar, whose diplomacy helped secure Mr Curtis' release, is believed to be working to free remaining hostages in Syria.

Journalist James Foley was killed by a rival extremist group last week

Mr Curtis' release came days after the execution of fellow journalist James Foley who was captured by al Nusra's rivals, the militant group Islamic State (IS), in 2012.

IS posted a video showing the beheading of Mr Foley, which they said was in retaliation for US airstrikes on IS positions in northern Iraq.

The group also threatened to kill another American journalist in their captivity, Stephen Sotloff.

Mr Sotloff's mother made an emotional and rare public appeal for his release on Wednesday, in a video broadcast on the al-Arabiya channel.

"Steven is a journalist who travelled to the Middle East to cover the suffering of Muslims at the hands of tyrants," she said.

"Steven is a loyal and generous son, brother and grandson. He is an honourable man and has always tried to help the weak."

She added: "Since Stephen's capture, I've learned a lot about Islam. I've learned that Islam teaches that no individual should be held responsible for the sins of others.

"Stephen has no control over the actions of the US government. He's an innocent journalist."

The US has been preparing military options in Syria, including surveillance flights, in an effort to eradicate IS. 

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