Global Jihad 'Could Be Funded With Bitcoin'

Jihadists Embrace Social Media

Updated: 1:26pm UK, Wednesday 18 December 2013

By Sarah Hajibagheri, Sky News

This a holy war of the 21st century - where fighters are embracing social media to advertise their "five-star" jihad in Syria and blog their experiences in the hope of recruiting others.

Although Jihad is an ancient calling, it's being taken up by modern men who were born and bred in Britain.

This new breed of jihadi are entirely removed from the ascetic Islamists who flocked to Afghanistan in the 1980s and Bosnia in the 1990s.

They are no longer cut off from the outside world for months - they relax after a day's fighting on their iPads, chatting to friends in the UK or posting macho selfies.

They have left their lives and their families to fight against Bashar al Assad, but online on the front line, they are never far from home.

Just like their young counterparts in the UK, many are prolific users of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr and some have gained a large and loyal following, eager to hear daily updates from the battleground.

With many foreign fighters unable to speak Arabic, most of the posts are in English.

The Foreign Office says it is aware of at least 200 UK-linked individuals currently fighting in Syria, but Sky News has learnt the figure may be far greater.

The recruitment process has shifted away from mosques and into bedrooms. Many of the young men we spoke to were lured to Syria from online forums and websites. It's proving a fruitful PR exercise as an increasing number of Western fighters have been drawn to the region.

They come as individuals, rather than groups - often via Turkey, which is just a cheap and short flight away.

One fighter with a prominent online profile has been dubbed a jihadi 'Agony Uncle' after hosting question and answer sessions with would-be volunteers.

Recently an increasing number of questions on these sites are being posted by women eager to join the fight.

However, one by one, these social media accounts are falling silent, as these men are killed in combat.

The family of Brit Ifthekar Jaman - who gained notoriety online after his blog went viral - confirmed he had died in Syria on Tuesday.

He lived in Southsea, Portsmouth, before flying to Turkey in May, and making his way across the border to Syria to wage jihad.

In one of his last tweets, the 23-year-old wrote: "I can tell you that I haven't spoke to one muhajir who wants to return."

For these young men, leaving home to wage jihad abroad is clearly a big decision - but ultimately, for most it will be a fatal one.

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Five Arrested Over Fake Government Websites

Five people have been arrested over fake Government websites created to con people out of money.

People trying to order official documents such as passports and car tax discs have fallen victim to fraudsters who have mocked up sites.

Almost 6,000 complaints about the sites have been made to Citizens Advice.

The arrests were made under the Fraud Act and consumer protection laws. Those detained are now on police bail.

Lord Harris, chairman of the National Trading Standards Board (NTSB), said his team is "making it as difficult as possible for these online hoaxers to operate".

"We have been working with search engines such as Google and Bing to remove adverts from online search results and we continue to gather intelligence across the country to help tackle this issue," he added.

"We urge you to avoid unofficial websites which could leave you out of pocket or at risk of identity theft. Only use the GOV.UK website to find Government services. If you come across copycat websites, report them to Citizens Advice."

The fraudsters use URLs with words such as govuk and directgov in them, to appear similar to the official sites.

Martin Lewis, creator of the consumer financial advice site MoneySavingExpert, urged people to go directly to the official Government site, rather than using search engines.

He said: "Copycat websites disguise themselves as the real thing, but charge you for a useless service. I've lost count of the number of people who contact me upset and want to know how to get their cash back."

Consumer Affairs minister Jo Swinson said: "It's great that it's becoming easier and more common to use the internet to order official documents such as passports or tax discs, but people should be aware of rogue websites that are out there trying to exploit them."

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Watchdogs Pursue 'Debt Letter' Tactics

The City watchdog has urged people to send it copies of letters from debt recovery companies purporting to be working on behalf of high street names.

The Financial Conduct Authority's request comes amid reports that some banks and utility companies have sent 'bullying letters' to those in arrears over payments.

The letters may appear to be written by outside debt agencies, with only a passing mention of an in-house connection between debt collector and creditor.

The City regulator told Sky News: "The FCA is unable to comment on the activities of individual firms, but we are aware of these reports.

"We would request that anybody who has further information about this type of practice passes it onto the FCA."

The Solicitors' Regulation Authority (SRA) said it was investigating a number of complaints that have given it "cause for concern".

SRA executive director Richard Collins said: "We will shortly be issuing guidance for in-house solicitors on our existing requirement that publicity must not be misleading.

"This will make it clear that they cannot use forms of words that give the impression that they are an independent law firm and not employed solicitors."

Lloyds Banking Group confirmed that it owned a Scottish-based subsidiary, Blair Oliver & Scott Ltd (BOS), which was used for sending out letters.

The bank insists BOS, which operated from 1991 to 2013, did not undertake legal recoveries - only debt collection.

It told Sky News: "Blair, Oliver & Scott Ltd ... functioned as a debt collection company collecting debts owed to companies within what is now Lloyds Banking Group (previously HBOS plc and Bank of Scotland groups) in relation to a range of accounts including Bank of Scotland and Halifax overdrafts, loans and credit cards.

"It also acted as a debt collection agent for companies outside the Group such as utilities companies."

RBS previously used independently regulated in-house law firm Green & Co, along with Triton Credit Services.

An RBS spokesperson said: "Our customers should never be in any doubt about who they are communicating with.

"We have reviewed our policies in this area and will stop the use of any solicitor or debt collection brand names in correspondence with our customers that could cause confusion."

A Barclays spokesperson said its in-house firm was being wound down and told Sky News: "All debt collections are now carried out under the Barclaycard name, following a decision we took in April this year to end the use of separate companies.

"Mercers Debt Collections Ltd previously managed some collections work on behalf of Barclaycard but it was made clear to customers that they were a company within the Barclays Group and collecting on our behalf."

The Student Loan Company (SLC) was recently revealed to have used a similar tactic, since 2005, over university tuition fee arrears beyond three months.

On July 1, SLC said: "We (have) developed new letters which removed reference to the Student Loans Company as a 'client' and increased the font size of the footer which said 'Smith Lawson & Company is a trading name of the Student Loans Company Limited.'"

The revelation of apparent widespread use of the third party letters comes after payday loan firm Wonga issued fake legal letters to 45,000 customers.

The FCA made Wonga pay more than £2m in compensation for the practice carried out over a number of years, including charging some borrowers administration fees.

The Law Society said Wonga's action may have amounted to blackmail. Shortly afterwards, City of London police said it would reopen its 2013 examination into Wonga's activities.

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Taylor Wimpey Ups Housebuilding By 11%

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has increased its construction rate by 11% in the first six months of the year.

The company said it completed 5,766 homes in the first half, with an average selling price of completed properties at £206,000.

The average price was up 10% on the same period last year.

In a trading statement, the company said it expected to see profit margin increase to around 16% in the period.

The company said: "Customer confidence remains good - with increased employment security and a more affordable and accessible mortgage market underpinning demand."

The boost to building comes amid concerted calls to reduce the imbalance between supply and demand in the sector.

In mid-morning trades shares in the company were down 2%, amid profit-taking.

The sector has been volatile in recent weeks, having sold off in mid-June on prospects of a UK rate hike, only to recover towards the end of the month when the Bank of England (BoE) curbs on house prices proved less draconian than had been feared.

The BoE has warned that the biggest instability to the UK economy is surging house prices in some areas.

Recent home price data has indicated a growing regional divide between price growth.

While London has seen prices rise by around a fifth in a year, some regions have seen prices remain flat.

In April, new home loan rules were brought in to ensure mortgagees would be able to afford increased repayment if the BoE base rate increases.

The Mortgage Market Review stress testing has cooled loan approvals in the latter part of the first half, and forced lenders to closely scrutinise applicants.

A new cap has also been placed on the number of approvals given to those seeking high loan-to-income ratios.

The BoE has kept the base rate at an historic low of 0.5% since 2009, but there has been an increasing concern that it will increase, either later this year or early in 2015.

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Network Rail Punctuality Fine To Pay For Wifi

Network Rail (NR) has been ordered to return £53.1m to the Treasury after it "failed to deliver" on major routes.

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) said that during 2013/14  long-distance and major commuter line punctuality was 86.9%, "significantly short" of the average target of 92%.

The fine will be used to part-fund a pledge to spend up to £90m improving free wifi access on routes across England and Wales.

Commuters on routes into London from Bedford, Brighton, Kent and Portsmouth are expected to benefit from connections at least 10 times faster than those currently available, along with those using services into Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester.

Rail unions criticised the "crazy money merry-go-round" that saw NR funds taken back after failing to meet planned improvements in performance in the five years to March 2014.

TSSA leader Manuel Cortes said: "All the politicians are doing is taking taxpayers' money from Network Rail and recycling it through the Treasury - this time to spend on one of their pet projects, faster wifi that should be paid for by the private rail companies.

"Once again, passengers lose out while private rail firms are laughing all the way to the bank."

ORR chief executive Richard Price said the money was ordered to be returned as NR had been specifically funded to improve train punctuality.

"But it did not deliver its commitments for passengers who travel on long-distance and LSE services," he added.

London and South East England (LSE) passenger services in 2013-2014 saw punctuality levels of 89.6% against a target figure of 93%.

Between 2009 and 2014, the ORR said around 73,100 additional late trains over and above funded obligations, while for the LSE area there were some 265,500 additional late trains.

However, the ORR said NR did achieve infrastructure targets, bringing in rail enhancement plans on time and within budget.

NR chief executive Mark Carne, who joined in February, blamed increased passenger numbers, in part, for the punctuality problems. 

"We accept that we have fallen short of the regulatory targets for train punctuality and that this is, in part, down to our failure to reduce infrastructure faults quickly enough," he said.

"At the same time, the sharp increase in passenger demand has led us to run more trains at peak times, even when we know this will lead to a more congested railway and punctuality targets may suffer."

There were more than 1.5bn passenger journeys on the network in 2013-2014, up from around 1.2bn in 2008-2009. 

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Firms Bid For Birmingham NEC Amid Cash Crisis

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

A pack of private equity firms and pension funds are assembling bids for Birmingham's National Exhibition Centre (NEC) as the city's council seeks funds to meet a £1.1bn pay bill.

Sky News understands that buyout groups including Providence Equity Partners, the controlling shareholder in the Ambassador Theatre Group, are among the parties which have tabled indicative offers for the NEC Group.

An auction process is being led by City advisers at Gleacher Shacklock, with a deal expected to raise hundreds of millions of pounds.

The sale has been triggered by a cap on local authority borrowing and a High Court case dating back to 2012, which was brought by council-employed cleaners and dinner ladies who were pursuing the right to equal pay.

The NEC Group comprises its eponymous exhibition space, the International Convention Centre, the LG Arena and the National Indoor Arena.

It also owns a national ticketing agency called The Ticket Factory; Amplify, a hospitality brand; and Amadeus, a catering operation.

Banking sources said the sale of a stake in the group was likely to appeal to cash-rich private equity funds because of the business's growth prospects.

It is not clear how much the NEC is worth, although previous reports have quoted property experts valuing it at £300m.

It is also unclear whether bidders will be able to buy the entire business or whether Birmingham City Council will remain a shareholder.

Providence took control of Ambassador, which owns Birmingham's New Alexandra Theatre, last year.

Announcing the planned sale in March, Sir Albert Bore, the council leader, said: "A key purpose of the city council investing in establishing the NEC Group more than 30 years ago was to drive economic development and regeneration.

"This has been achieved, but now the NEC Group has reached a point in its evolution where it needs to be able to adopt the financial disciplines of a private, rather than a council-owned company to enable the next stage of strategic development.

"In doing so, economic impact and job creation can be preserved and enhanced.

"An open sale process has been identified through an extensive strategic review process as the way to achieve full value for this internationally-renowned asset, whilst achieving the other principal objectives of enabling the Group to achieve its potential and growing economic impact."

Gleacher Shacklock declined to comment on Monday.

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Channel Tunnel Passengers Evacuated From Train

Hundreds of passengers have been evacuated from a broken-down train inside the Channel Tunnel, causing delays of up to four hours for other services.

The Eurotunnel shuttle train, which was heading to France, came to a halt around 7.30am, seven miles into the 30-mile long tunnel.

It stopped after a problem with the overhead power line.

Some 382 passengers and four dogs were taken off the train and then transferred to the French terminal where they waited for it to be brought out of the tunnel so they could get their cars back.

Passengers were transferred to the French terminal. Pic: Richard Byrom

Services using the one unblocked passenger tunnel were able to continue.

But Eurotunnel warned services were delayed, with hold-ups possibly lasting for the rest of the day.

The company said in a statement: "Our passenger service is currently operating with some timetable disruption. This is due to an incident in the tunnel which is in the process of being resolved."

For people travelling from its UK terminal in Folkestone, Kent, there was a waiting time of around 90 minutes.

For those going from its French terminal in Calais, there was a waiting time of about two-and-a-half hours before check-in and 90 minutes on the terminal.

It added: "We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this will cause to your journey. "

The company carries passengers in vehicles on board trains between Folkestone and Calais.

Eurostar, which does not take cars, said if journeys were not essential passengers would be able to exchange tickets, free of charge, to another available service within the next four months.

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Travellers To US Face Losing Uncharged Devices

What Can You Bring On US-Bound Flight?

Updated: 11:34am UK, Monday 07 July 2014

US officials are requiring that passengers coming to the US from some airports turn on electronic devices before boarding.

The measure aims to enhance aviation security at a time of increased threat.

Here is a look at what you can or cannot bring on flights to the US, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), an agency of Homeland Security in charge of ensuring the safety of air travel.

:: Liquids

Liquids, aerosols and gels, in limited quantities, are safe to bring aboard an aircraft.

For carry-ons, officials allow 3.4oz (100ml) bottle or less (by volume), which should be placed in a 1 quart-sized, clear, plastic, zip-top bag.

However, restrictions have been eased and in some cases - such as, if travelling internationally into the US with a connecting flight, if the container is transparent - larger quantities of liquid can be put in the carry-on.

Medications, baby formula and food, and breast milk are allowed in reasonable quantities exceeding three ounces and are not required to be in the zip-top bag. Officers may need to open these items to conduct additional screening.

:: Sporting Equipment

Most sporting equipment can be checked in but cannot be brought in the cabin.

Skates can be brought in a carry-on, but baseball or cricket bats, golf clubs or hockey sticks need to be put in the checked luggage, the TSA says.

:: Musical Instruments

The agency allows musical instruments to be carried on if they can be X-rayed or physically screened by security personnel.

The department vows that "security officers will handle musical instruments very carefully and will allow you to be as involved as possible in any physical screening".

However, if the instrument cannot be cleared, it must be checked in.

:: Blunt Objects: 

Knives, scissors, box cutters, razor-like blades cannot be part of carry-on and must be checked in.

:: Food and Liquor 

For most foods the safest thing is to put them in the checked luggage. Jams, syrups, sauces, oils and vinegar, liquors that exceed the permitted 3.4oz will not be permitted in the cabin.

:: Pre-Check

The TSA has launched a "Pre-Check" scheme to speed up security lines at some airports. Passengers who meet certain criteria - for example members of the armed forces or certain types of frequent flyers - can apply, but their status can be revoked.

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Going For Gold: Price-Fix Debate On Future

The global authority on increasing demand for gold has launched an attempt to overhaul the century-old London-based system to improve transparency.

The World Gold Council (WGC) organised a meeting early on Monday to discuss options for moving from a system of quotes to a price set by actual trades.

Currently, quotes are set twice a day by representatives of selected banks, and the global reference price is known as the "fix".

Although a number of market participants view the current system favourably, other elements must be reformed if it is to meet compliance of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

The title of the round table debate was "Modernising the London Gold Fix: IOSCO and beyond".

It included sessions on what participants want in reform, alternative models and if reform should be modernised beyond the price-benchmark process.

Introductory remarks were delivered by the former chief manager of reserves at the Bank of England, John Nugee.

Following the debate, WGC managing director for central banks and public policy Natalie Dempster said: "We are at the start of a process that will lead to a reformed and modernised gold benchmark which attracts a broader range of market participants.

Industrial mining is not used in some areas, such as in central Africa

"There was strong support for the World Gold Council's key principles for reform.

"We believe it should be based on executed trades and a tradable price, it should have highly transparent input data, should be calculated from a deep and liquid market, and represent a physically deliverable price."

WGC members including mining companies, central banks, refiners and bullion banks.

Research group Fideres founder Alberto Thomas, who gave evidence to the Treasury Select Committee last week, told Sky News the benchmark requires greater confidence for investor trust.

It's a very anachronistic way of setting the price for gold," Mr Thomas told Sky News.

"It might have been all right in 1919 when it was first introduced but now the market is very deep."

IOSCO was founded in 1983 and pushed for global standards and regulatory reform with the G20, and the Financial Stability Board - chaired by Bank of England governor Mark Carney.

Earlier this month the WGC suffered a blow when two of South Africa's miners, Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti, said they would not renew their membership.

Their decision to leave, citing the structure of membership fees, comes as the price of gold has dropped by more than a fifth since the beginning of last year until the end of March 2014.

Membership fees for miners is based on the volume of the precious metal processed.

Global gold demand has weakened slightly between Q1 in 2013 and Q1 this year, down to 1,074 tonnes compared to 1,077 tones previously.

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Two Held Over Illegal Bitcoin Site In France

An illegal bitcoin exchange has been broken up by French police, in the first such operation in Europe.

Prosecutors said they seized 388 virtual currency units, worth around €200,000 (£160,000), in the planned action.

Two people were apprehended in the Mediterranean towns of Nice and Cannes and were placed under formal investigation.

They were held on suspicion of operating a website which illegally sold and lent bitcoins to registered users.

The home of one suspect was raided last week and a portfolio of bitcoins, valued at around €9,000 (£7,100) each, were seized.

Credit cards and computer hardware were also seized in the raid.

"It's the first time in Europe that a judicial action has resulted in the closure of an illegal exchange for virtual currency," Olivier Caracotch, prosecutor in the southwestern town of Foix, said.

"It's also the first time in France that bitcoins have been seized as part of a judicial procedure."

Sources said officers received information about the website from a retired policeman who bought bitcoins and then alerted financial investigators.

It is understood the two suspects were also being investigated on potential charges of illegal banking, money laundering and operating an illegal gambling website.

Earlier on Monday a new blog associated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) said that bitcoin could "enable jihad on a large scale" by sending "millions of dollars" to fighters.

In a post called "Bitcoin and the Charity of Violent Physical Struggle", the author argued such donations would be "untrackable" by Western governments.

Bitcoin exchanges have come under increased scrutiny recently, with the Mt Gox exchange in Japan being liquidated.

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