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Polish PM nixes trip to Israel after Netanyahu Holocaust 'comment': govt

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has cancelled a visit to Israel for a high-level summit, a government spokesperson told AFP on Sunday, after uproar in Poland over reported comments by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu about the Poles and the Holocaust. Netanyahu -- who was initially quoted in Haaretz newspaper as saying that "The Poles collaborated with the Nazis" -- has been condemned in Poland for appearing to accuse all Polish people of cooperating with Germany during World War II. Warsaw has long been at pains to point out that Poland, which was occupied by Nazi Germany, could not have and did not collaborate in the Holocaust although individual Poles may have done so.

Farrakhan Praises Omar’s Anti-Semitic Remarks: ‘Shake Up That Corrupt House’

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Sunday praised Representative Ilhan Omar's (D., Minn.) recent endorsement of an anti-Semitic trope and urged the freshman lawmaker not to bow to pressure from critics.“Ms. Omar from Somalia – she started talking about ‘the Benjamins' and they are trying to make her apologize. Sweetheart, don't do that. Pardon me for calling you sweetheart, but you do have a sweet heart. You sure are using it to shake the government up, but you have nothing to apologize for,” Farrakhan said during his annual Saviour's Day address in Chicago, in comments first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.“Israel and AIPAC pays off senators and congressmen to do their bidding, so you're not lying. So if you're not lying, stop laying down. You were sent there by the people to shake up that corrupt House,” he added.Farrakhan, who has long engaged in anti-Semitic conspiracy-mongering, went on to mock Omar's Democratic allies, who have defended her remarks as the result of inexperience and lack of knowledge regarding the historic plight of the Jewish people.“‘Oh she's just young. She just got here. Don't be so hard on her,’” he said, mocking Omar's defenders. “My beautiful sisters, you were sent there to shake that House up. Your people voted you in, but God is the overseer.”Omar argued in a series of tweets sent last week that the pro-Israel stance held by many of her colleagues can be attributed to the nefarious influence of jewish donors and organizations, such as the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She subsequently apologized after being publicly urged to do so by Democratic leadership.Since being elected in November, Omar has been confronted with allegations of anti-Semitism by critics who cite both her past tweets, one of which accused Israel of "hypnotizing the world," and her more-recent statements and associations with noted anti-Semitic pro-Palestinian activists.Farrakhan has managed to maintain ties with a number of prominent Democratic lawmakers and activists despite his extensive record of bigotry. Women's March co-chair Tamikah Mallory was roundly criticized for praising Farrakhan as the "GOAT” or “greatest of all time" on social media following his 2018 Saviour's Day address, during which he labeled Jews “satanic.”“I didn’t call him the greatest of all time because of his rhetoric. I called him the greatest of all time because of what he’s done in black communities,” Mallory said during an appearance on ABC's The View last month when asked about the Instagram post.

Thousands attend vigil for Aurora shooting victims

More than 2,000 people braved sub-freezing temperatures Sunday for a vigil honoring those killed by a factory worker who opened fire after losing his job.

Who was Gary Martin? Alleged Illinois gunman seemed fine hours before killing co-workers

Gary Martin began a gun battle with police officers who arrived within minutes after frantic calls came from where he worked, according to authorities.

Trump news: California attorney general sues White House over national emergency declaration with 12 states expected to join

Donald Trump is being accused of waging a “relentless attack” on the FBI since taking office as the fallout from his decision to declare a national emergency to secure border wall funding continues. The remark comes from former deputy director of the bureau Andrew McCabe - dismissed by ex-attorney general Jeff Sessions in March 2018 after being accused of leaking information to the media - in an interview with NPR’s Morning Edition to promote his new insider account of the bureau, The Threat. President Trump has already responded angrily on Twitter to Mr McCabe's appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday, in which the latter said he had discussed removing the president under the 25th Amendment and ordered an investigation into whether ex-director James Comey was removed in May 2017 to impede the Russian election hacking investigation.

The New Ford Focus ST Looks Awesome and Makes 276 Horsepower

It's not too late for Ford to change its mind about bringing this hot hatch to America, is it?

Florida inmates use criminal skills to rescue baby from car

A group of prisoners in Florida put their criminal skills to good use on Valentine’s Day – breaking into a car, to free a baby locked inside. The prisoners, on work-release, were repairing parking meters in Pasco County, north of Tampa, when they spotted the family in distress. The one-year-old child was trapped inside the car, with the keys inside. The family was unable to afford a locksmith and so, in the 56 degree Fahrenheit heat, the father was preparing to break the window. That is when the prisoners, in their black and white uniforms, offered to help, and worked in a team to pry open the front door just enough for one inmate to use a coat hanger to push a button that unlocked the 4x4’s door. In a video, which has gone viral, police are heard telling the father to "pop his head in the window" so "strange faces" would not scare the baby. Another person in the video, filmed by the baby’s mother Shadow Lantry, can be heard commenting on the "hilarious situation," with police watching the crew unlock the car. The whole endeavour took about two minutes, and ended with the group cheering.  Ms Lantry said the child was "just sitting there happy" throughout the ordeal. The parents thanked the crew, deputies and firefighters for their help.

Yemen sides agree deal on first pullback: UN

Yemen's government and Huthi rebels have agreed on the first phase of a pullback of forces from the key city of Hodeida, in a deal the United Nations described Sunday as important progress. The redeployment from Hodeida is a critical part of a ceasefire deal reached in December in Sweden that calls on the government and Huthis to move forces away from ports and parts of city. The fragile truce deal marks the first step toward ending a devastating war that has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

UK's May to speak to every EU head in bid for Brexit deal changes

In her talks with EU leaders and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker she will be seeking to change the Irish backstop, one of the most contentious parts of the withdrawal agreement she agreed in November, her office said. May has told EU leaders she could pass her deal with concessions primarily around the backstop - a guarantee that there can be no return to border controls between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland. The backstop has become one of the main points of contention ahead of Britain's planned departure from the EU next month after 45 years.

Emails show how fake university set up by ICE lured foreign students

Emails obtained by the Detroit Free Press offer a glimpse into how a fake university in Detroit may have convinced students it was real.

Trade War Heats Up as EU Vows to Retaliate on U.S. Auto Tariffs

If European exports are hit by U.S. actions, the EU will “react in a swift and adequate manner,” Margaritis Schinas, a spokesman for the European Commission, told reporters in Brussels on Monday -- a day after President Donald Trump received a report on the national-security implications posed by auto imports. The EU has prepared tariffs on a total of 20 billion euros ($23 billion) in U.S. goods should Trump follow through on his threat, which would chiefly hit Germany.

Man awarded £120m in compensation from Ford after being paralysed in car accident

An Alabama jury has awarded $151.8m (£117.4m) to a young man paralyzed in a 2015 rollover accident involving a Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle, Ford and lawyers in the case said on Sunday. The jury awarded $100m in punitive damages and the rest in compensatory damages after finding that the 1998 Ford Explorer did not meet the company’s own safety guidelines, according to a court document seen by Reuters and lawyers for plaintiff Travaris “Tre” Smith. The document, released on Friday, said Ford “acted wantonly” in designing the vehicle.

GMC Acadia souped up with new engine, trim, and tech

GMC has unveiled the refreshed Acadia for the 2020 model year complete with a new trim, a fresh look, and the latest GMC infotainment system. GMC announced on Monday that the Acadia has gotten its midcycle refresh, and now, the lineup looks more like a group of Sierra pickups from the front than mid-size SUVs. In addition to its new exterior styling, the Acadia has a new powertrain option and an assortment of new technologies including an enhanced infotainment system and heads-up display.

Gisele Bundchen flaunts bikini bod, Tom Brady during family vacation

Gisele Bundchen flaunts bikini bod and husband Tom Brady during a family vacation to Costa Rica.

Here’s What’s Open and Closed on President’s Day 2019

Find out if banks, schools and the post office are open on President's day

Indian authorities detain 23 after deadly Kashmir attack

Indian forces have detained 23 men suspected of links to the Pakistan-based militant group that masterminded the bombing of an Indian security convoy that killed 44 paramilitary police, a top police official said on Sunday. The 23 men included members and sympathisers of Jaish-e-Mohammad, the militant group that claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack, the deadliest on Indian security forces in decades. The attack has fuelled tensions between India and Pakistan. India has demanded Pakistan close down Jaish-e-Mohammad and other Islamist militant groups that operate from its soil, while Islamabad has rejected suggestions it was linked to the attack. Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility, is claimed in its entirety by India and Pakistan, but is ruled in part by both south Asian countries. Representatives of India's National Investigating Agency questioned the suspects about the bombing on Sunday, two security officials said. "They are trying to reach out to the top commanders of Jaish-e-Mohammad, including its Kashmir Chief," one of the sources said. Mohammed Umair, the commander of the group in Kashmir who is believed to have plotted the attack, is suspected to be hiding in the region where the attacks took place, the officials said. The officials say Mr Umair had "radicalized and motivated" the Kashmiri school dropout who rammed a car laden with explosives into the convoy on Thursday. Mr Umair is thought to have entered Indian Kashmir from Pakistan in September to head the Jaish in the region. Security forces suspect he is in hiding in southern Kashmir, according to the officials, who could not be named as a matter of policy. Indian officials say Mr Umair is a nephew of Jaish-e-Mohammad's chief, Masood Azhar, who is believed to be in Pakistan. Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, has promised a strong response to the attack and says he has given the military a free hand to tackle cross-border militancy.

Netanyahu's main rival in Israeli election voices agreement with him on Iran

Former general Benny Gantz, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's strongest challenger in an election scheduled for April, voiced support on Sunday for the right-wing leader's tough policy toward Iran. "I am standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Prime Minister Netanyahu in the fight against Iran's aggression," Gantz, a former chief of Israel's armed forces and a centrist candidate, told the Munich Security Conference. Polls predict that Netanyahu's Likud party will win the April 9 election, taking about 30 of parliament’s 120 seats - enough to form a coalition of right-wing and religious factions similar to one he now heads.

World bishops head to Vatican for sex abuse summit

The heads of around 100 bishops' conferences from every continent will convene from Thursday to Sunday for the meeting on the protection of minors, with victims' groups demanding that a concrete action plan on fighting paedophilia be drawn up. The pope, who asked the bishops to speak to victims of abuse in their respective countries before the Rome convention, has tried to dial down "inflated expectations" for a cure-all. Several victims were also invited to the Vatican.

Las Vegas snow: Up to 2 inches of snow falls on strip for 1st time in decade

Wild weather in Nevada! Parts of Las Vegas, including the strip, are waking up to as much as 2 inches of snow.

Questions for Those Who Believed Jussie Smollett

The “we reported the Jussie Smollett case responsibly” contention has been blasted to smithereens. Twitter accounts and headlines in the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times reported as fact Jussie Smollett’s wildly implausible allegations, and many other journalists did so as well, not to mention the innumerable activists and celebrities who piled on. So, a question for all of the above. Why did you believe Jussie Smollett? Let’s try to catalogue the red flags. 1. Had you ever heard of Jussie Smollett before the alleged January 29 attack? 2. Do you think it likely that fans of President Trump had? 3. Smollett has said that his public anti-Trump statements were the likely reason for the attack. Is it really true that he was an especially prominent anti-Trump voice? 4. Did you think it strange that Smollett or his representatives were, from the beginning, telling TMZ a different story than they told the police? He or his representatives told TMZ the attackers yelled, “This is MAGA country.” This was news to the police. 5. Related to (4), don’t you think that if Smollett’s supposed attackers had yelled, “This is MAGA country,” he would have told the police in his initial interview with them, right after the alleged assault? 6. How did Trump-loving racist homophobes know that Smollett would be at a Subway sandwich shop at 2 a.m.? Smollett has said going to the Subway was a spur-of-the-moment decision. 7. It was extremely cold in Chicago the night of January 29. Assuming Trump-loving racist homophobes wanted to track down and attack Smollett, and maybe knew where he lived, as the shop was close to his apartment, wouldn’t they have waited for more agreeable weather? 8. How likely do you think it is that attackers would shout, “This is MAGA country” in Chicago, a place that no one thinks is MAGA country? 9. If Smollett’s supposed attackers did not know he was going to be at that exact spot at that exact moment and would have been willing to attack any random gay and/or black man in Chicago, how difficult would it have been for them to find a gay and/or black man to assault without going to the trouble of a 2 a.m. attack on a frigid night? Couldn’t they have just waited outside a gay bar on a summer night? 10. Don’t you think for the attackers to have yelled a racist slur as well as a homophobic slur as well as having a bottle of bleach as well as having a noose sounds a bit overdetermined, like bad television writing? 11. Smollett supposedly received a viciously nasty letter threatening him with lynching a week before the alleged assault. Is it likely that either two separate racist parties wanted to attack him at essentially the same time or else the January 29 attackers would telegraph their intentions with a letter? 12. Don’t you think it strange that Smollett had a phone with him, yet didn’t call the police on that phone to inform them what had happened and which way his attackers had fled? 13. Don’t you think it strange that his attackers fled without much harming Smollett or robbing him? 14. Related to (13), did it not occur to you that the whole alleged attack looked a bit like the criminal equivalent of a press release, meant to send a message rather than accomplish anything? 15. If you were beaten up, would you somehow remember to pick up your Subway purchase afterward? 16. If you were subjected to a vicious, racist, homophobic, life-altering attack that included a hint of lynching, would you really leave the rope draped around your neck and calmly walk, not run, home? 17. Would you then walk past the security desk at your apartment building without telling anyone what had happened? 18. Would you wait 40 minutes before informing the police what had happened? 19. Smollett said he kept the rope around his neck to preserve evidence for the police. Yet in the police report filed on the night in question, he was quoted as saying he was reluctant to make a police report at all. Why would he preserve evidence to bolster a report he didn’t intend to make? 20. Why, as an outspoken gay black man with a long history of casting aspersions on Trump, would he not immediately file a police report about an incident that seemingly confirmed his worst fears? 21. If you were beating up somebody who was on his phone, would you maybe take the phone away from him so as to eliminate the possibility of a witness overhearing what you were doing? 22. Have you noticed that alleged Trump-related hate crimes seem to have a tendency to turn out to be fiction? 23. Did you think it odd that Smollett refused to give police his phone? 24. Did you think it odd that Smollett didn’t give police his phone records for two weeks, and when he did, they were heavily redacted, as though he might be hiding something? 25. Chicago reporters on the case began relaying that their sources in the police department were skeptical about Smollett’s claims soon after the alleged assault. Did you not notice? 26. Did you take away any lessons from Covington? 27. If not, why?

Amazon announces plans to make half of shipments carbon neutral by 2030

Online retail giant Amazon has announced plans to make alf if its shipments carbon neutral by the year 2030. The company, which ships millions of packages a year to shoppers, said that it will achieve that goal by switching to renewable energy sources and by asking suppliers to reimagine their packaging. “It won’t be easy to achieve this goal, but it’s worth being focused and stubborn on this vision and we’re committed to seeing it through,” Dave Clark, Amazon senior vice president of worldwide operations, said.

U.K. Lawmakers Recommend Harsher Penalties for Tech Firms

Damian Collins, the policy maker who spearheaded the inquiry, called for Parliament to create new laws to help a proposed regulator oversee the industry, with fines for companies to be calculated based on their revenue. “Companies like Facebook exercise massive market power which enables them to make money by bullying the smaller technology companies and developers who rely on this platform to reach their customers,” Collins said in a statement Monday.

7 Lawmakers Quit U.K.'s Labour Party Over Brexit and Anti-Semitism

Seven U.K. lawmakers resigned in an act of protest against the party’s Brexit policy and persistent allegations of anti-Semitism.

'Taking their last breath': IS hides among Syrian civilians

BAGHOUZ, Syria (AP) — From a self-proclaimed caliphate that once spread across much of Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State group has been knocked back to a speck of land on the countries' shared border. In that tiny patch on the banks of the Euphrates River, hundreds of militants are hiding among civilians under the shadow of a small hill — encircled by forces waiting to declare the territorial defeat of the extremist group.

Iran's Zarif accuses Israel, U.S. of seeking war

Addressing the Munich Security Conference, Mohammad Javad Zarif, also criticized the U.S. administration after Vice President Mike Pence this week called on European powers to pullout of the nuclear deal with Iran. Zarif urged France, Germany and Britain to do more to save that accord. "Certainly, some people are looking for war ... Israel," Zarif said.

Venezuela state internet provider blocks volunteer aid page

Venezuela's state internet provider CANTV has blocked a webpage where volunteers sign up to answer National Assembly president Juan Guaido's call to help bring in desperately needed humanitarian aid, the opposition said on Monday. Guaido says he wants one million volunteers by Saturday, the deadline day he has set to bring in the aid piling up at the border with Colombia and aiming to alleviate food and medicine shortages. Last week the opposition hit out at CANTV for redirecting the volunteers webpage to another almost identical looking site to prevent more people from signing up to self-declared acting president Guaido's cause.

This Is the Airpower Theorist the Air Force Needs (And Already Has)

There is no need to borrow from seapower theory to think soundly about airpower theory.

Macau police investigate suspected murder at Sands casino resort: media

Police in the world's biggest gambling hub of Macau are investigating what they suspect is a rare murder in a five-star casino resort after a Chinese man was found stabbed in his bed, broadcaster TDM reported on Monday. Murder cases have been rare in the Chinese territory since Portugal ceded control of what had been a colonial backwater on the heel of China's southern coast 20 years ago. The suspected murder took place in Sands China's Conrad Macau hotel, TDM reported, citing police.

Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner to register as sex offender after prison release

Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner has been released from federal prison after being convicted of having illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl in 2017. The Federal Bureau of Prisons website shows the 54-year-old New York Democrat is currently in the custody of its Residential Re-entry Management office in Brooklyn, New York. The prison bureau, federal prosecutors in New York and Weiner’s lawyer didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.

Japan's Abe Declines to Say If He Backed Trump for Nobel Prize

Abe, who has worked hard to build a personal rapport with Trump, walked a fine line during a parliamentary committee meeting Monday when asked about Trump’s claim from Friday that the Japanese leader had put his name forward for the prize. “I am not saying it’s not true,” he told an opposition lawmaker, adding that the Nobel committee doesn’t reveal nominations and he would refrain from commenting. Abe praised Trump for his diplomacy with North Korea and helping to protect Japan, which relies on the U.S. military for its defense.

The Latest: Aid group says 62 die fleeing IS in Syria

BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the Syria conflict (all times local):

Australia Blames a Foreign Government for the Cyberattack on Political Parties

A culprit was not named, but analysts suspect China, Russia or Iran

Hong Kong economy stalls amid trade dispute: finance chief

Hong Kong's economy stalled last year as the ongoing China-US trade dispute and retail woes dragged down local business, the city's financial chief said Sunday. Beijing and Washington have already imposed duties on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, roiling global financial markets and weighing heavily on manufacturing output in both countries. "The impact of China-US trade frictions on Hong Kong's exports has clearly emerged at the end of last year," said finance secretary Paul Chan.

NASA posts image of ghostly blue objects, deep in the cosmos

When a star is born, a chaotic light show ensues.  NASA's long-lived Hubble Space Telescope captured vivid bright clumps moving through the cosmos at some 1,000 light years from Earth. The space agency called these objects clear "smoking gun" evidence of a newly formed star — as new stars blast colossal amounts of energy-rich matter into space, known as plasma.  Seen as the vivid blue, ephemeral clumps in the top center of the new image below, these are telltale signs of an energy-rich gas, or plasma, colliding with a huge collection of dust and gas in deep space. As NASA says, these blue masses are transient creations in the cosmos, as "they disappear into nothingness within a few tens of thousands of years." Bright lights inside a nebula. Image: ESA/Hubble/NASA/K. Stapelfeldt These blue clumps are traveling at 150,000 mph toward the upper left direction (from our view, anyhow). In total, there are five of these ghostly clumps, hurtling through space.  SEE ALSO: Opportunity rover's last picture is as grim as it is dark NASA doesn't identify the new star itself, called SVS 13, perhaps because it's obscured by thick clouds of cosmic matter. This collection of dust and gas is part of a distant nebula, which are often the remnants of exploded stars swirling through the infinity of space. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?

Polish NGO leaves to deliver sex abuse report to Pope

Representatives of a Polish NGO helping victims of child abuse committed by Catholic priests left Warsaw early on Monday hoping to deliver a report to Pope Francis in the Vatican about Polish bishops neglecting pedophilia cases. The "Have No Fear" organization, led by a former victim Marek Lisinski, hopes that the report, which accuses some bishops in devoutly Catholic Poland of failing to report crimes, will trigger resignations from top positions in the Church.

How tough will President Trump be on China?

Hudson Institute director for the Center for Chinese Strategy Michael Pillsbury says Trump’s tariffs have brought the Chinese to the negotiating table.

Jussie Smollett: 'Empire' producer stands by star, Ava DuVernay weighs in

In light of the recent developments in the investigation into last month's attack on Jussie Smollett, celebrities are speaking out.

Trump 25th Amendment: Lindsey Graham vows to investigate 'bureaucratic coup' against president

A key ally of Donald Trump has decried alleged efforts by senior officials to depose the president as a “bureaucratic coup” and pledged to hold a congressional investigation. Republican senator Lindsey Graham said it was “stunning” the former acting director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, had admitted in a TV interview he had discussed invoking the 25th Amendment – which allows the cabinet to remove a president from office – with the deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein. “I know Rosenstein vehemently denied it but we’re going to get to the bottom of it.

Saudi official fires back after Iran blames attack on Riyadh

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A senior Saudi diplomat on Monday fired back after Iran initially blamed the kingdom for an attack last week that killed 27 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard.

Shamima Begum is 'traumatised', says her lawyer as he likens Isil bride to a First World War soldier

The Isil bride who travelled to Syria to marry a terrorist is "traumatised", according to her lawyer, who likened his client to a First World War soldier.  Shamima Begum, 19, flew to the Middle East four years ago to join the terror group. There, she married a Dutch-born fighter with whom she had three children.  Her two eldest children have died, but she gave birth at a refugee camp in northeastern Syria on the weekend and now wants to return to Britain.  In an interview over the weekend, Begum said that people should be feeling sympathy for her, and her lawyer Tasnime Akunjee defended her attitude.  He told ITV's Good Morning Britain on Monday: "I think it's difficult to take what she's saying in the current circumstances and try to draw from the lack of emotion that she has.  "She's a traumatised person. She finds herself in a camp and was clearly quite attached to her husband, it would seem, and suddenly he's not by her side." When confronted with the fact Begum does not seem traumatised and instead appeared to be composed, Mr Akunjee said: "You might've said the same thing about a World War One soldier in the middle of shellshock." Presenter Richard Madeley said this comparison was "a bit of a stretch", to which Mr Akumjee responded:  "It's a warzone. They're both warzones." Lawyer Tasnime Akunjee Credit: Emrah Gurel/AP The teenager, who gave birth to a baby boy on the weekend, appeared to defend the Manchester Arena bombing as tit-for-tat retaliation for air strikes in Syria.  In an interview with the BBC, she said the deaths of 22 innocent people in the terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert in 2017 were akin to the "women and children" being bombed in Isil territory in Baghuz. She told the broadcaster: "I do feel that it's wrong that innocent people did get killed. It's one thing to kill a soldier that is fighting you, it's self-defence, but to kill the people like women and children... "Just people like the women and children in Baghuz that are being killed right now unjustly, the bombings. It's a two-way thing really. "Because women and children are being killed back in the Islamic State right now and it's kind of retaliation. Like, their justification was that it was retaliation so I thought 'OK, that is a fair justification'." She was partly inspired by videos of fighters beheading hostages and partly by other propaganda films showing the "good life" IS could offer. The Begum's family lawyer, Mr Akunjee, said he understood some of the responses to her pleas for sympathy. He told BBC Breakfast: "The family have gone out of their way from day one to try to get her away from the Isil narrative and the context which she finds herself in. "She's been there for four years and we would be surprised if she hadn't been further damaged beyond the degree she had already been groomed into. "The family are concerned, as they have been for the last four years, not just to get her away, but, as of yesterday, to make sure that their grandchild - her child - is not influenced by that sort of thinking." Mr Akunjee said he anticipated that Begum would probably face criminal proceedings upon any return to the UK, but said it was the family's hope that she would be given professional help following her experience in Syria. Begum was one of three schoolgirls, along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green Academy who left the UK for Syria in February 2015. Ms Sultana was reported to have been killed in an air strike in 2016, while the other two are reported to still be alive. 'Show me some sympathy', says Isil bride after giving birth The British schoolgirl who ran away to join Isil has appealed for public sympathy following the birth of her son, as a row intensifies over whether she should be allowed to return to the UK. Shamima Begum, 19, went to Syria in 2015 and was discovered there in a refugee camp last week, heavily pregnant and insisting she wanted to go home. The birth of her child over the weekend prompted calls for the baby to be subject to care proceedings should Begum be able to return from Syria, as it emerged that the Family Division of the High Court had presided over cases involving at least 150 children deemed at risk of radicalisation in the last five years. In an interview with Sky News recorded at the Kurdish-controlled camp to which she fled from the last pocket of Isil-controlled territory, Begum said there was "no evidence" she had done anything wrong and she could not see "any reason" why her child should be taken from her when she had simply been living as a housewife. Speaking just hours after giving birth, her baby at her side, she said she had no regrets about fleeing the family home in Bethnal Green, east London, to support Isil, claiming the experience had made her "stronger, tougher". Shamima Begum's Dutch-born husband Yago Riedjik She said she could see a future for herself and her son, whom she has named Jarah after one of the two children she lost to malnutrition and disease in the last three months, "if the UK are willing to take me back and help me start a new life again and try and move on from everything that’s happened in the last four years". She added: "I wouldn’t have found someone like my husband [Yago Riedijk, 26, a Muslim convert from the Netherlands] in the UK. I had my kids, I had a good time there." Her other children, Jarah and Surayah, a daughter, died aged 18 months and nine months. Asked how she felt about the debate over whether she should be allowed to return home, Begum said: "I feel a lot of people should have sympathy for me, for everything I’ve been through. "I didn’t know what I was getting into when I left, I just was hoping that maybe for the sake of me and my child they let me come back.  "I can’t live in this camp forever. It’s not really possible." In the interview, Begum apologised for the first time to her family for running away, and said that though she knew it was "like a big slap in the face" for her to ask after she had previously rejected their calls for her to return, "I really need their help". Tim Loughton, deputy chairman of the home affairs select committee, said he thought it "extraordinary" that Begum was asking to come back while showing "not a scintilla of regret". The Conservative MP added: "My own feeling is in line with most others, that she has made her bed and should lie in it. But the law must prevail and we are probably going to have to let her back" "However, I think her child should be subjected to care proceedings due to the threat of radicalisation." He said a forthcoming report by the Henry Jackson Society disclosed that the Family Division of the High Court had presided over cases involving at least 150 children deemed at risk of radicalisation in the last five years. Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, said last week that he would "not hesitate" to prevent the return of anyone who supported terrorist organisations abroad. He reiterated his stance in a Sunday newspaper article, expressing compassion for any child born or brought into a conflict zone, but stating that the safety and security of children living in this country had to be the priority. Isil schoolgirls' journey into Syria Jeremy Wright, the Culture Secretary and former Attorney General, said Britain was "obliged" to take back British citizens.  However, he added: "That doesn’t mean that we can’t put in place the necessary security measures to monitor their activities. It doesn’t mean either that we can’t seek to hold them to account for their behaviour thus far.”  He said the nationality of Begum’s baby was a "difficult question", but the pair’s health was the most pressing matter. "In the end she will have to answer for her actions," he added. "So I think it is right that if she’s able to come back to the UK that she does so on the understanding that we can hold her to account for her behaviour thus far." Ms Begum said she was attracted to Isil by videos that she had seen online, which she said showed "how they’ll take care of you". She said she knew that the group carried out beheadings, but that she "was OK with it at first. I started becoming religious just before I left and from what I heard Islamically that is all allowed". "At first it was nice," she said of life in the so-called Islamic State. "It was how they showed it in the videos, you know, you come, make a family together, but then things got harder.  "We had to keep moving and moving and moving. The situation got fraught." Begum acknowledged that it would be "really hard" to be rehabilitated after everything she had been through.   "I’m still in that mentality of planes over my head, emergency backpacks, starving... it would be a big shock to go back to the UK and start again," she said. Isil bride Shamima Begum | Read more Writing in The Sunday Times, Mr Javid said that decisions about what to do with potential returnees had to be made on a case-by-case basis, based on the "facts of each case, the law and the threat to national security". He added: "I think about the children that could in future get caught up in dangerous groups if we don’t take a firm stance against those who support them… And that means sending a message to those who have backed terrorism: there will be consequences." His comments were described as "sick" by Ms Begum’s lawyer on Sunday. Mr Akunje told Radio 4’s The World This Weekend: "We are talking about a newborn baby who poses no risk or threat to anybody, [who is] not even cognitive, and yet he’s speaking about a child who’s a British citizen in terms of a security threat." Mr Akunje suggested that the birth of Begum’s child increased pressure on the British authorities to allow her to return home. He also revealed that Begum’s family has struggled to make direct contact with her and is now considering the possibility of getting out to Syria themselves. Her family has indicated that if she is jailed for supporting a terrorist group, they want to step in and raise her son themselves. Begum names boy after Islamic warlord, historian says Quoting Sunday's Telegraph story on Twitter, leading historian Tom Holland accused Begum of having "the moral self-awareness of a brick".  He said that the Isil bride's baby boy has been named after Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah - a general from the early days of the Arab conquests chiefly famed for beating infedels.  Begum said she named the boy after one of her other two children who have since died in Syria.  But Mr Holland said it was the name her husband took after converting to Islam, insisting it was a deliberate glorification of Islamic brutality.  If she’d wanted to signal that she was returning to Britain in peace, she might have considered naming her baby after someone other than Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, a general from the early days of the Arab conquests chiefly famed for beating the crap out of infidels.— Tom Holland (@holland_tom) February 17, 2019 Cressida Dick hits back at claims Met failed  The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has hit back at claims that officers failed to stop another runaway schoolgirl on the same flight as a 15-year-old arrested as she attempted to flee the UK to join Islamic State (IS). Cressida Dick said it was "incredibly complicated" and difficult to know about somebody's intentions, and claimed the schoolgirls - Sharmeena Begum and another unnamed passenger - were in fact on separate flights as the latter was pulled from the runway at Heathrow in December 2014 when she sought to get to Syria. The Times newspaper said the 15-year-old was arrested but not prosecuted, despite officers finding extremist material on her devices. Asked about the flight to Istanbul, on which both Sharmeena Begum and the unnamed 15-year-old were said to have been passengers en route to Syria, Ms Dick told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "I think it was actually a different flight and I think the question that's being asked is whether we were able to pass on sufficient information and understand well enough what these three girls were intending. "The truth of the matter is it's incredibly hard to know what somebody's intending. "The moment we informed the school about the girl who came off the flight, we did not know these girls were intending that, they were merely witnesses and we were talking to them as witnesses. These things are incredibly complicated. "We try to stop people from travelling when we knew they were travelling with ill-intent." Sign up for your essential, twice-daily briefing from The Telegraph with our free Front Page newsletter.

Facebook 'digital gangsters' who spread fake news: British MPs

A scathing British parliamentary report on Monday branded Facebook "digital gangsters" who failed to fight the spread of fake news and violated data privacy. Lawmakers' 18-month investigation into technology companies and disinformation also accused the world's largest social media platform of trying to hide the extent of Russian interference in foreign elections. Facebook is coming under attack over its response to Russia's suspected use of misleading stories and targeted ads to sway the 2016 US presidential election and a series of European votes.

Seven lawmakers quit UK Labour Party citing Brexit 'betrayal', anti-Semitism

In a direct challenge to Corbyn, the seven centrist MPs said they were courting others from across parliament to join their group, saying "enough is enough" in keeping silent over their doubts about the Labour leader's fitness for office. United by a desire for a second referendum on Britain's decision to leave the European Union, they acknowledged that their resignations would not change the arithmetic in parliament, where there is as yet no majority for such a vote. With only 39 days until Britain leaves the EU, its biggest foreign and trade policy shift in more than 40 years, divisions over Brexit have fragmented British politics, breaking down traditional party lines and creating new ad hoc coalitions.