Confusion Over Ukraine 'Permanent Ceasefire'

Vladimir Putin says a ceasefire deal between Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels could be reached by Friday.

The Russian President's announcement comes after conflicting reports that a permanent ceasefire agreement had been reached by the two sides this morning.

Following witness reports of loud artillery explosions near the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, the country's President Petro Poroshenko modified his statement to remove the word "permanent".

Mr Putin and Mr Poroshenko were unable to agree when they met last week

It is unclear whether his actions were in response to reports of the explosion.

Reporting from Mariupol, Ukraine, Sky's Moscow Correspondent Katie Stallard said: "It's extremely unclear at this stage what exactly this ceasefire is supposed to be.

"No one we have spoken to on the ground seems to know about it.

"The Ukrainian president issued a statement this morning claiming he agreed with Vladimir Putin to a permanent ceasefire in the region.

"He has since slightly modified that statement and removed the word 'permanent'.

"A spokesman for President Putin said no such agreement has been reached, nor can it, because Russia is not a party to the conflict."

Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov was earlier quoted as saying the leaders' views "overlap to a considerable degree".

"The heads of state exchanged opinions about what needs to be done first in order to bring an end to the bloodletting in the southeast of the country as soon as possible," said Mr Peskov.

A statement from Kiev said an understanding had been achieved which would enable the "establishment of peace".

The conflict will be at the top of the agenda at the Nato summit in Wales

News of the development was greeted with an immediate rally on the financial markets - the main Russian stock exchange, the Micex, rising 4% and stocks in London with the FTSE 100 reached a 14-year high in morning trade.

Russia later announced it was to hold major military exercises in September of the forces responsible for its long-range nuclear capability. The drills will involve more than 4,000 servicemen and 400 technical units. 

Meanwhile, world leaders have begun arriving in the UK ahead of a two-day Nato summit in Wales where the Ukraine crisis will be top of the agenda. 

Speaking in Estonia ahead of the summit, President Obama said that Nato would not accept what he called Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea.

In a thinly-veiled warning to President Putin, the US President added that the Baltic states were bound by the Nato alliance.

"We have a solid duty to each other. Article Five is crystal clear; an attack on one is an attack on all," he said.

Mr Obama added the US was working to bolster the security of Nato allies and increase America's military presence in Europe.

"It would mean more US forces, including American boots on the ground continuously rotating through the Estonia, Latvia and Ukraine militaries."

Russia has repeatedly denied claims its soldiers were recently sent into eastern Ukraine to support Ukrainian pro-Russian rebels.

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PM: Britain Will Never Give In To Terrorism

Sotloff: Driven Reporter And Mideast Expert

Updated: 1:19pm UK, Wednesday 03 September 2014

Steven Sotloff, the US journalist who was beheaded by Islamic State militants, also held Israeli citizenship, Israel has revealed.

The information had been apparently withheld by Israel in a bid to reduce the risks to the captive.

"Cleared for publication: Steven Sotloff was #Israel citizen RIP," tweeted Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.

Friends and colleagues described 31-year-old Mr Sotloff as an honest and courageous journalist who sought to understand the culture of the places he reported from and tell the stories of the people affected by conflict.

His work appeared in Time, Foreign Affairs and World Affairs magazines. He also contributed to some Israeli publications.

"We refused to acknowledge any relationship with him in case it was dangerous for him," said Avi Hoffman, editor of the Jerusalem Report magazine, which had published Mr Sotloff's work.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, quoting a former fellow captive, said Mr Sotloff had kept his Judaism a secret from the Islamist insurgents, pretending he was sick when he fasted for the Yom Kippur holiday.

Colleagues stressed that he understood the dangers of reporting in war zones, but remained committed to the task.

"Steven was very ethical, very driven, an exceptional journalist and an exceptional person," said Matthew Van Dyke, an activist and film-maker who met Mr Sotloff in Libya in 2012.

"He was also a cautious journalist, he did everything the right way," he told Sky News.

Mr Sotloff vanished in Syria in August 2013. His capture was kept secret for months at the request of his family, who said they were now grieving privately.

He then appeared in a video that showed the beheading of fellow US journalist James Foley last month.

A Miami native, Mr Sotloff attended the University of Central Florida, where he took an interest in journalism. He did not graduate from the university.

He covered the Arab Spring uprisings and several Middle East hotspots, including Yemen, Egypt and Libya. He learnt Arabic.

"He lived in the region for a time, he really got to know the people, the culture," said Mr Van Dyke.

"This was a region that was important to him, he wasn't somebody who jumped from conflict to conflict all over the world, he was a regional specialist and he knew what he was doing."

In his Facebook and Twitter profiles Mr Sotloff called himself a "stand-up philosopher from Miami" and often spoke of his love for baseball and the Miami Heat.

World Affairs, in an August 20 statement, described Mr Sotloff as "an honest and thoughtful journalist who strives to understand the story from local perspectives and report his findings straightforwardly."

The executive director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon, said: "Journalists know that covering war is inherently dangerous and that they could get killed in crossfire.

"But being butchered in front of camera simply for being a reporter is pure barbarism."

The group said at least 70 other journalists have been killed covering the conflict in Syria, including some who died over the border in Lebanon and Turkey, and that more than 80 had been kidnapped.

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Porch Killer Gets 17 Years For Teen's Murder

A suburban Detroit homeowner convicted of shooting dead an unarmed 19-year-old woman on his porch has been jailed for 17 years.

Theodore Wafer, 55, received the minimum sentence recommended by prosecutors for the second-degree murder of Renisha McBride.

Renisha McBride, 19, was killed on November 2

He addressed the victim's parents ahead of sentencing on Wednesday, saying he was sorry for what happened in the predawn hours on November 2.

Wafer told Miss McBride's family that he killed a woman who was "too young to leave this world".

"I will carry that guilt and sorrow forever," he added.

Wafer testified that he shot the young woman through his screen door because he feared someone was trying to break into his home.

A jury rejected Wafer's self-defence claim in a case that drew comparisons to the Florida self-defence trial over the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.

Miss McBride's killing sparked protests that were rife with racial undertones because Wafer is white while his victim was black.

Prosecutors said Miss McBride was looking for help after being involved in a car accident when she appeared at Wafer's door at about 4.30am.

Alcohol tests and testimony revealed that the teen was intoxicated at the time.

On Wednesday, Judge Dana Hathaway said that while Miss McBride made "some terrible choices", she did not deserve to be killed.

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Girl Trapped In Washing Machine On Spin Cycle

A five-year-old girl is recovering in hospital after she became stuck in a washing machine in California.

Police say the girl climbed into the machine at the Washeteria dry cleaners in Pasedena while the woman she was with was not looking.

The woman had been unable to get the machine to work and when she went to use a different machine the girl managed to get inside.

Somehow the door to the machine closed and the spin cycle was activated for several minutes before the woman noticed what had happened.

The girl was taken to hospital from the dry cleaners in Pasadena. Pic: CBS

Vance Mitchell from Pasadena Police told Fox News: "Unfortunately she spun around in that washing machine for several minutes and apparently it was on high speed. She was tumbling pretty fast in there

"One person walked by and said they saw something flopping around in there they thought it was just a dress or something because it was moving pretty fast."

The owner shut the machine down and the girl was air-lifted to hospital as a precaution, though her injuries are not life threatening.

Police do not suspect foul play.

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Mysterious Fake Mobile Phone Towers Discovered

Mysterious fake mobile phone towers discovered across America could be listening in on unsuspecting callers.

A report by Popular Science says the towers have been discovered across the country, and have the ability to attack mobile phones through eavesdropping and installing spyware.

They were discovered by people using a heavily customised Android device called the CryptoPhone 500.

It uses a secure version of the software which can tell if the phone is being subjected to what is known as a baseband attack.

It is then possible to trace the location of the offending tower.

The fake cell towers were detected in July, but the report states there could be more.

Les Goldsmith, chief executive of security firm ESD America, told the magazine: "Interceptor use in the US is much higher than people had anticipated.

"One of our customers took a road trip from Florida to North Carolina and he found eight different interceptors on that trip. We even found one at a casino in Las Vegas."

He said several of the masts were situated near US military bases.

"What we find suspicious is that a lot of these interceptors are right on top of US military bases," he said.

"So we begin to wonder - are some of them US government interceptors? Or are some of them Chinese interceptors?

"Whose interceptor is it? Who are they, that's listening to calls around military bases? Is it just the US military, or are they foreign governments doing it? The point is: we don't really know whose they are."

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Stand Up Be Counted: Thousands Get Involved

Sky News' Stand Up Be Counted: How It Works

Updated: 8:50am UK, Monday 01 September 2014

By Afua Hirsch, Social Affairs and Education Editor

There is a group of people in this country who are invisible. They have little ability to influence politics, their voices are rarely heard in the news, and their opinions are largely ignored.

:: Click here to visit the Stand Up Be Counted site

This may sound like the predicament of a small and hard to reach minority, but it has been the reality for more than half of young people in the UK.

Many 18 to 24 year olds don't vote. At the last election, only 44% of that age group voted. That means more than half not influencing who gets into power.

It means politicians can comfortably ignore a whole demographic, confident in the knowledge that they have no influence at the ballot box.

It means disengaging from the process which governs everyone's lives.

From today, Sky News is doing something different, to create a change. We are launching Stand Up Be Counted - to help give young people a voice.

Our new site will let people in this age group upload a short clip of them talking on camera about something they are passionate about.

This could range from prejudice in the criminal justice system, to the effect of the rise in tuition fees, and calls for cycling helmets to be made mandatory.

The Stand Up site is already a showcase for creative, absorbing and sometimes entertaining debate from 16-25 year olds in their bedroom, back garden or high street, talking about the things that matter to them.

You can share it too, on mobile devices on WhatsApp and Kik, and on all devices on Twitter, Facebook and email.

The process is simple. You can register via the upload button at the top of your screen. You'll need a profile picture and a short biography up to 50 words.

After that, you're a few clicks away from being able to upload your video or content. Short videos - ideally around 60 seconds - blogs and photos are all welcome on one condition - they have to come from the heart.

And it's safe to speak openly, and powerfully.

This is a place for robust debate, with zero tolerance for abuse, so that you can make your point freely, knowing that as well as starting conversations with your peers, you also have access to Sky News' audience, and crucially, those in power who have found it all too easy to ignore the views of young people.

One click on the site takes you straight to the page where you can register to vote - an act that, were every young person to do it - would drastically transform the political and decision-making landscape in this country.

This is changing Sky News, too. The voices we are hearing are informing our coverage and changing our perspective.

It's easy to think that because they don't vote, young people are disinterested.

Venting frustration on Facebook at "corruption" (one of the words young people we asked most associate with politics) is not enough.

Now is the time to speak. And, crucially, speak where the nation is listening.

:: Stand Up website: www.skynews.com/standupbecounted

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Furious Public Demand Rotherham Abuse Answers

Members of the public have shouted and jeered at Rotherham councillors during a meeting to discuss last week's damning report about child sexual abuse.

Dozens of people packed into a small chamber at the Town Hall, with one man demanding to know why they didn't act after a seminar about exploitation in 2005.

One woman received applause after she shouted: "We are very angry and we don't know why all of you haven't resigned."

Three attendees walked out of the public gallery as the council's chief executive, Martin Kimber, began making a formal statement to fellow councillors.

"There is no one more determined than me to ensure that people who commit vile criminal acts are brought to justice."

Martin Kimber said he was determined that abusers be brought to justice

But one victim of child sexual abuse in Rotherham, who was raped repeatedly over the course of three years as a teenager, has claimed the council does not care about those affected.

She told Sky News: "What's an apology going to solve? That's not going to change what happened to those girls, it's not going to change what happened to me, and it's not going to change what happened to kids in the future.

"They're just bothered about getting a pay rise."

The gathering came as the Police and Crime Commissioner at the heart of the scandal, Shaun Wright, faced a motion of no confidence at Sheffield City Council this afternoon.

The urgent item of business stated that councillors believed Mr Wright "no longer has the confidence of the public", and demanded that he "resign with immediate effect".

Shaun Wright is facing a vote of no confidence from Sheffield City Council

Lib Dem Councillor Colin Ross said: "Sheffield City Council needs to show that it takes its responsibility to protect vulnerable young people extremely seriously.

"If this vote goes through, I do not see how Shaun Wright can remain in post. His position will be untenable."

But Mr Wright, who did not take heed of calls to stand down last week from the Prime Minister and Home Secretary, has insisted that the failings in Rotherham were "not about one person or one organisation".

The leader of Rotherham Council, Roger Stone, is the only person to have resigned since Professor Alexis Jay outlined how at least 1,400 children were sexually exploited over a 16-year period.

On Tuesday, the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, David Crompton, confirmed that 12 more victims had come forward since the report was published last week.

An independent inquiry into the force's handling of sex abuse complaints has been announced, and Mr Wright has agreed to give evidence.

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Sky News Moving To Freeview Channel 132

Sky News has moved channel on Freeview.

Previously on channel 82, Sky News is now available on channel 132.

You can continue to get the first in breaking news and the best analysis on Sky channel 501, Virgin Media channel 602 and Freesat 202 as before.

And you can catch the latest news on UK and world events on the Sky News For iPad app, online at Skynews.com, and on your smartphones.

For more information visit www.digitaluk.co.uk or www.freeview.co.uk website pages or @freeviewadvice and @freeviewTV on Twitter.

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US Vows To 'Degrade And Destroy' Islamic State

Old Foes May Have To Unite To Stop IS Onslaught

Updated: 5:09pm UK, Wednesday 03 September 2014

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

It sounds far-fetched. A utopian vision to crush the dystopia of a vast Islamic caliphate - long-standing foes united in the fight against Islamic State. But it may be the only answer.

Barack Obama has called for it. David Cameron agreed. Experts in Britain, from Lord Richards to Lord West to Baroness Neville Jones, have insisted it's essential - all of them in the space of a few hours and a day after IS militants threatened the life of a British hostage.

Seriously? It must be naive to think that, for example, Saudi Arabia and Iran could unite in the fight?

Iran allegedly has a nuclear weapons programme. Some Saudis have advocated attacking it before Tehran gets hold of The Bomb.

Iran is Shia. Saudi Arabia is Sunni - Iran is predominantly Persian, Saudi Arabia; Arab. They circle one another like snarling lions competing for influence in the region.

Qatar, tiny, hugely rich, punching above its weight, and close to the Muslim Brotherhood, has annoyed its Gulf neighbours in the United Arab Emirates because of this relationship with a movement that they consider terrorist.

It's not labelled that way in the West - but it does pose a threat to the Gulf monarchies.

The Turks, non-Arab Muslims with a long secular tradition, may not be welcome back in Mesopotamia with fighting forces. It ruled for more 500 years - not all of them remembered fondly.

Kurdish ambitions for a state linger after a peace deal with Turkey and extend into Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran.

With so many obvious magnetic repulsions, can the poles be easily switched? They can if the lessons of IS are properly learned.

These are that the IS, as the Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al Sheikh says, is the "number one enemy of Islam". This view is shared by the Shia Grand Ayatollah of Iraq, Ali al Sistani.

And that the future it holds up involves the obliteration of all interpretations of Islam and other religions.

Above all, though, the success of the IS must be understood to be its greatest danger to the outside world. Success has bred success. Recruitment to its ranks has soared as it rampaged across Iraq.

It is spreading like an oil fire and could sweep through Jordan, into Egypt (where the Sinai area already has an insurgency) then on into unstable Libya.

This is bad news for the West. It's downright catastrophic for the Arab Muslim world.

Saudi Arabia would be unlikely to survive the firestorm of an ideology that has its roots in the kingdom's own Wahabist ultra-conservative Islam, no matter how hard Jeddah has tried to mitigate the effects of al Qaeda on its population.

So the best option for the region's powers may be the once unthinkable - to put aside pointless ancient sectarian and tribal rivalries. Will they dare?

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Ashya King Reunited With His Mother And Father

Ashya King has been reunited with his parents in a Spanish hospital after they were released from prison near Madrid on Tuesday night.

Brett and Naghemeh King took the five year old abroad against the advice of doctors at Southampton General Hospital where he was was being treated for a brain tumour.

Today Mr King said he and his wife had been treated like "terrorists" - but they had only acted in their son's best interests.

Naghemeh and Brett King speak to the media after their release

Mr King said the family informed the hospital they were going to take Ashya out of the country so he could receive an alternative form of therapy.

But chief paediatrician Dr Peter Wilson said staff were taken by surprise and were "very, very worried", which is why they called police.

Ashya is now being cared for at the Materno-Infantil hospital in Malaga, where Mr King says he will have to stay because of a temporary court order obtained by Portsmouth Council.

When asked earlier if he would do the same thing again, Mr King told Sky News: "Of course. My son's worth everything.

The Kings arrive at the hospital in Malaga

"Worth me going to prison, worth everything, because they were going to kill him in England or turn him into a vegetable."

Mr King told a news conference his wife had spent most of the time in custody crying and he had considered moving from the cell next to hers because he could not bear to listen to it.

He said: "Being locked up you can't do anything. You can't help your son, you can't help your wife. And you don't know the future; what's going to happen to Ashya without us. We didn't know what was happening.

"Hopefully now we can see our son, we can be together, we can show love to him, because without that there's no purpose to life."

Mr King said Ashya was 'worth everything'

Mr and Mrs King want to take Ashya to a clinic in the Czech capital Prague to undergo proton beam therapy, which they believe will increase his chances of survival.

Dr Wilson said that while Southampton General was aware of this "at no stage did the family say to us that they were going to take Ashya and go to Prague".

"When we found that he was missing from the trust, we were at first slightly surprised, and then very very worried," he said.

"There's quite a lot of information surrounding this case that we've not been able to share with the media that made us worry for Ashya's safety.

Mr and Mrs King leave jail on Tuesday night

"We therefore, after having looked for him to ensure that we were not over-egging and jumping to conclusions, we did what we should and what any doctor or nurse does in this situation, which is contact the police."

The Proton Therapy Centre in Prague says it has been in contact with specialists at Southampton General, who have agreed to refer Ashya after two cycles of chemotherapy in the UK, which is likely to take several weeks.

Mr and Mrs King were arrested on Saturday near Malaga and taken to Madrid, where they were held in custody pending an extradition hearing.

They were freed after the Crown Prosecution Service decided to drop the case against them amid a growing clamour for the family to be reunited.

Ashya with his father

A hearing at the High Court in London on Tuesday was adjourned until next week to give Mr and Mrs King and the authorities time to reach an agreement on Ashya's future treatment. If they fail the judge will decide what is best for him.

A fundraising page set up to help pay for the treatment has so far raised more than £21,000, while Charity Kids'n'CancerUK said they have agreed to pay the £100,000 needed for Ashya's treatment, plus living costs, after donors pledged £35,000 in 24 hours.

Chief executive Mike Hyman said: "I have spoken to Ashya's brother, Naveed, and he is dead chuffed."

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