10/08/2014 BBC Weekend News

The United States carries out more air strikes against Islamic

We report from the frontline, as Iraqi Kurd soldiers try to halt

They are digging in over there for what looks like a fight

because behand that ridge is now controlled by the Islamic State.

As the fighting continues, Britain drops its first humanitarian

aid packages to tens of thousands of people trapped in mountains.

Another 72 hour cease-fire comes into force between Israel and

Hamas. Baroness Warsi,

who resigned over Gaza, warns the Conservatives won't win

the next election unless they appeal The Australian couple accused

of abandoning a surrogate baby with US forces have carried out further

air strikes in Iraq, against militants from the Islamic

State, the group formerly known as Isis, which has taken control of

much of the north of the country. The air strikes came as Britain

delivered its first airdrop of humanitarian aid to

the thousands of people trapped US air strikes were concentrated

around the Kurdish controlled city of Irbil, where thousands of

Christians have taken refuge from Our World Affairs Correspondent

Caroline Wyatt has travelled beyond Kalak, west of Irbil,

where Kurdish peshmerga fighters have been digging in, to try to halt

the militants' advance on the city. Kurdish soldiers say they are now

determined to fight back against the militants who've sown

terror in their wake. Kurdish bulldozers are creating

a defensive line to stop the Something these soldiers have

been unable Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have

brought us to what is the final They are digging in over there

for what looks like a fight because behind that ridge is now

controlled by the Islamic State. The men here want more ammunition

and more air support from the US. The Brigadier in charge

of this outpost blames the West for letting the Islamic State

gain territory so fast. What are the international

community, the UN Security Council and Europe there for, if

not to defend peace, humanity and Of course we want the Americans

and others to be serious The families who had sought refuge

at the camp just across It emptied as they fled again,

many to the town Men, women and children driven

out of their homes a week ago. The Sunni fighters told them to

convert to Islam or die. This three-month-old and his sister

are too young to understand what is Their mother breaks down

as she tells me she had to leave her She does not know now

if she is alive or dead. The husband says

the men took everything, first looting their houses then

destroying their churches. We need an intervention

and an immediate intervention to help these people because they are

sleeping outside on the streets, They are just a fraction

of the hundreds of thousands of In what people here are calling

a humanitarian disaster that The Iraqi government has said

hundreds of members of the Yazidi community have been killed

by the Islamic State. Thousands of displaced civilians

have taken refuge in the Sinjar mountains in the north and, while

aid is on its way, the international community is sending a clear message

to Iraqi politicians that they must show unity in order to fight

the extremist threat. From Washington,

David Willis reports. Unverified pictures

from Mount Sinjar paint a truly Children hurt and hungry, their

parents in constant fear of attack. There are thought to be tens

of thousands of members of the minority Yazidi community

stuck here after being driven Aid is starting to get through,

an RAF Hercules delivered water supplies overnight and American

transport planes have been doing France has pledged humanitarian

support but the French Foreign Minister on a visit to Iraq

said the fate of the country rests It is particularly important

at this moment that Iraq has Together they can lead

the battle against terrorism. The rapid advance of the Islamist

fighters caught the White House off-guard and there have already

been calls here for the president to The president's policy for

now at least is one of containment, limiting the advance of the

Islamist militants, but his critics argue that without a timetable he

lacks a coherent strategy for The US continues to mount air

strikes in the north of the country and America's presence in the skies

above Iraq may be a feature of life Let's return to Irbil now

and speak to our World Affairs Do you have any sense of whether the

humanitarian aid is making a difference on the ground? I think

that is making some impact, perhaps most of all in terms of a boost to

morale. People had begun to feel nobody in the outside world was

listening. They have had proof that there is some help, but it is a

long, slow process and this is the beginning. It has been a boost to

morale to the fighters who have reached eight in two villages they

had lost. They have suffered ten deaths in a suicide bomb north-east

of Baghdad. The Islamic state voters have continued to make gains. They

have taken another town to the north-east of Baghdad, spurred on by

what they see as being part of a holy war. A lot more remains to be

done. They are drugs are perhaps a drop in the ocean. -- air drops. A

quarter of a million displaced from their homes with long-term needs and

the government is struggling to cope and needs all the help it can get.

Another 72 hour ceasefire has just come into effect in Gaza, following

Its foreign minister has urged both sides to use the lull to reach a

More than 1,900 Palestinians and 67 Israelis have been killed

The tower blocks of Gaza and visible in the distance, smog in Israel.

This is an intimate conflict, the enemy always on the horizon. The

sandbanks mark the border between the two sides. Once again both have

agreed to a short-term cease-fire. TRANSLATION: This man says that even

if a lasting truce can be put in place Gaza will never be the same.

He has treated more than 124 when did children. This five-year-old is

his newest patient -- injured children. She has shrapnel in her

brain. This doctor has not left Gaza in more than a decade because Israel

controls the air, land and sea. We have to ask for freedom. This is our

right. We must ask for freedom. Just freedom. The ability to live like

other people in the world. This has to be finished. At sunset, the

warfare was continuing. Gaza pounded by another air strike. Israel says

it hit more than 40 targets today and that Palestinians fired two

dozen rockets. The target here was a factory which appeared to be empty

but it was beside an apartment block and in a residential area. This

happened within about a minute of our hotel. We heard the initial

impact from what Israel calls a knock on the roof, a warning to

leave the area. We heard a second massive boom which shook buildings

in the area and you can see the impact on this factory. These latest

strikes are a reminder of Israel's firepower. Many say they are ready

to endure more of this rather than keep living under siege.

correspondent Lyse Doucet is in Jerusalem.

Any prospect of this truce becoming anything more durable? It has just

started. There is about nine minutes into this truce. Israel says it is

going to watch very closely. It says it will send its delegation back to

the Egyptian capital if it holds by morning. The best that can be hoped

for is that both sides will continue to roll over these temporary

truces. Hamas is saying this is the last chance for a deal. It is widely

accepted that neither side wants this war to go on. Both sides have

lost heavily. Israel has lost 64 in this campaign and in Gaza the losses

are staggering sought a deal has to be done.

Baroness Warsi, who last week resigned as a Conservative minister

because of the government's stance on the Gaza conflict,

has said the Tories won't win the next election unless they do more to

But one backbench Conservative has said the Baroness has

"embarrassed herself" with what he described as a tirade.

Here's our political correspondent Vicky Young.

As the first Muslim woman to sit in cabinet, she was seen as a symbol of

how the Conservative Party had changed under David Cameron. Days

after accusing the government of a morally indefensible policy towards

Gaza she has widened her attack on the Prime Minister and lashed out at

what she calls but she colleagues. In her interview she contrasty to

her own background as a northern working-class women with the Prime

Minister'sinner circle of advisers. Her remarks have angered some in her

party. It is more of an embarrassment to herself that she

has moved from her principal resignation about which she believed

strongly to then start criticising the government in many other areas

which have not reflected in her resignation. She also told the

Sunday Times that the Conservatives would not win a general election out

great and tell they started attracting more of the ethnic vote.

Does that time with black and ethnic minority Tories? I would say

remember what you started and what you wanted to say, why people were

excited about you. That voice has been quieted by parts of the party

chasing getting pulled back from UKIP and the UKIP let Israel, but --

UKIP threat is real. It is disappointing that Baroness Warsi

has left. She was a bust character. I am sorry to see her go. -- robust.

She has always had a reputation as a woman who speaks her mind. It will

not be a surprise that she has not gone quietly. Downing Street are

refusing to be drawn on all of this, repeating that the Prime

Minister was disappointed that she left government, but will not thank

her for adding to the criticism often made that David Cameron and

the Tory party are out of touch and do not understand the lives of

ordinary British voters. Turkey's Prime Minister, Recep

Tayyip Erdogan, has become the Mr Erdogan won more than half

the vote, forcing Until now the post has been

chosen by parliament. In a victory speech delivered

from the balcony of his party's headquarters, the three-time

Prime Minister thanked everyone who An Australian couple deny abandoning

a surrogate twin baby with Down's syndrome and say they wanted to take

him home. Giving

their first television interview, David Farnell, who's a convicted

sex offender, and his wife Wendy claimed the surrogate mother in

Thailand refused to give up the baby It is yet another twist

in this already confused At the centre of it, seven-month-old

Gammy, born with Down's syndrome The Australian couple accused

of abandoning him first said they The surrogate claiming they left

the baby because of his condition. Now Wendy

and David Farnell claim they did want to take him along with his twin

sister but were not allowed. We wanted to bring him with us

but things were happening The surrogate mother

wanted to take our girl. We were getting scared that

we were going to lose her. The baby's surrogate has

also changed her story. She now claims she did not allow

the couple to take the boy. I have never said I wanted

to keep both babies. I did not allow Gammy to go back

with them because I feared they The Australian couple are

being looked into after revelations about

David Farnell's past convictions. I have been convicted

of child sex offences and I hang This has become a case

of who is telling the truth? The Farnells say they will

fight to get their son back. Gammy's future still

appears very much uncertain. Heavy rain and strong winds have

battered parts of Britain, as the remnants of the Caribbean hurricane

Bertha sweep across the country. In Hull,

a small tornado brought down trees and damaged cars, and this afternoon

huge hail stones fell in Hampshire. The storm struck the south coast

of England this morning, after nearly a month's worth of rain

fell in parts of Wales overnight. Heavy rain delayed the start

of the final round of golf at the US PGA Championship at Valhalla

where the world number one Rory McIlroy is attempting to win

his fourth major title. If yesterday brought a flood of

eagles and birdies, today it attracted other wildfowl. Extended

dramatically by a downpour that made watching golf tricky and playing it

impossible, even for Rory McIlroy. He had to head indoors while a mass

mopping up took place. Ernie Els felt everyone should come back

tomorrow but he carded four Street birdies when play restarted. It was

time for the championship leader. His first tee shot was a little

off-line and he will not be given much latitude by Ajay Singh pack. --

a chasing pack. He knows how to play final rounds. A sign that the

pressure could be affecting the Northern Irishman. This is as much a

test of nerve as it is of technique.