Motor Racing On UK's Streets A Big Step Closer

Councils are to be given powers to stage motor races on public roads, it has been revealed.

Downing Street said legislation would be introduced this year to allow speed limits to be lifted and competitive events held.

Such races - including the Birmingham Superprix between 1986 and 1990 - have previously required specific permission from parliament.

David Cameron hailed the decision as he opened the new Williams F1 engineering facility in Oxfordshire.

"We're going to change the rules so that local councils are able to make decisions, so you don't have to have a private member's bill through parliament," he said.

The Birmingham Superprix in 1988

"We think (this will be) great news British motorsport. More races, more events, more money coming into our country and more success for this extraordinary industry."

The change, which follows a consultation earlier this year, brings the prospect of a Monaco-style Grand Prix on the streets of London closer.

Legislation will be added to the Deregulation Bill in the autumn, and could be in force before the general election next year.

The Prime Minister's spokesman said local authorities would have to consult with local people and ensure all necessary safety precautions were in place.

Thousands of people turned up watch the second city's street-circuit race

"We have seen in recent years a great number of successful sporting events here in the UK, of various sizes," the spokesman said.

"Alongside that I think this country has a long tradition ... of engineering excellence, particularly in motor sport."

It comes after the country hosted the first three stages of the Tour de France this month, which attracted around six million spectators and is estimated to contributed more than £100m to the economy,

Martin Hone, the organiser of the original Birmingham Superprix, had previously called on the city's leaders to show "political will" to secure the event's return.

"I still have the energy and vitality and would love to do it," he told the Birmingham Mail.

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Cocaine Worth £25m Hidden In Fake Bananas

A £25m cocaine haul has been found hidden inside fake plastic bananas brought to the UK from Colombia.

Four men have been arrested in Lambeth and Kent after a surveillance operation followed the drugs, which weighed 150kg (23st), to a warehouse.

Metropolitan Police said the illicit stash arrived at Dover at 6am on Thursday and was delivered by lorry to a trading estate in Hartlip, Kent.

A man was seen unloading the shipment and locking up the warehouse.

Detectives kept watch over the warehouse while others followed three Colombian men to an internet cafe in Stockwell, south London, where they are believed to have picked up email instructions relating to the drugs.

The men were arrested as they left the cafe.

Police from the MPS Special Projects Team forced their way into the warehouse on Thursday night and found the cocaine compressed and hidden in boxes alongside real bananas.

Officers say the drugs have a wholesale value of around £7m but would be worth more than £25m on the street.

The four men - aged 48, 46, 39 and 36 - remain in custody. Police say the lorry driver who delivered the shipment was not part of the gang.

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Terror Police 'Failed To Act' Over Twin Sisters

By Mike McCarthy, North of England Correspondent

Anti-terrorist officers have been accused of an intelligence failure following the disappearance from home of two Manchester sisters.

Police confirmed yesterday that twins Salma and Zahra Halane are believed to have fled to Syria after initially travelling in secret from Manchester airport to Istanbul.

Mohammed Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation told Sky News that he believed the Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) had not acted on intelligence and that the girls had been "left to their own devices".

The sisters' family home in Chorlton, Manchester

The North West CTU today refused to answer questions about the girls' disappearance and specifically whether they had any knowledge that one of their brothers has reportedly joined up with the militant extremist group ISIS in Syria.

In a written statement, the head of the North West CTU said the 16-year-old twins posed a threat to themselves and potentially their community.

But they have refused to say whether or not they had received any intelligence concerning the girls' family prior to their disappearance.

Mohammed Shafiq said the police were generally doing a good job in helping to prevent the radicalisation of young British Muslims but he said they did not appear to have acted on warnings regarding travel routes to Syria.

He said: "There are a lot of question marks concerning this issue and the CTU's conduct. We have been warning for sometime of the route from the UK to Istanbul and then by road to Syria.

British jihadists recently appeared in an insurgent promotional video

"The word on the street is that the girls' brother had been in Syria for a year."

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said that their "watchword" on publicity surrounding the investigations concerning Salma and Zahra Halane had been "low-key".

The girls reportedly slipped away from their house on the night of June 26 and were reported missing only when their parents found their bedrooms empty the following morning. 

The sisters have called home from Syria to say they are safe but have reportedly insisted that they will not be returning to the UK.

Meanwhile the Manchester mosque where members of the girls' family are believed to have worshipped have issued a statement condemning their actions.

The Al-Furqan Islamic Centre said: "The Somali community here at the centre is shocked and appalled by the recent news of the missing twins of Somali origin and we hope they are found and return safely to their distressed family.

"We have a firm policy in supporting community cohesion and oppose any criminal or extreme ideologies that contradict the peaceful teachings of Islam."

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Obese Diabetes Sufferers Could Get NHS Ops

Hundreds of thousands of obese people with type 2 diabetes could get weight-loss surgery on the NHS.

Draft guidance from the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) says people who fit the criteria should be assessed for bariatric surgery.

This could include having a gastric band fitted to reduce the size of the stomach or a gastric bypass, where the digestive system is re-routed past most of the stomach.

"Obesity rates have nearly doubled over the last 10 years and continue to rise, making obesity and overweight a major issue for the health service in the UK," said  Professor Mark Baker, director of the Centre for Clinical Practice at Nice.

"Updated evidence suggests people who are obese and have been recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes may benefit from weight loss surgery.

"More than half of people who undergo surgery have more control over their diabetes following surgery and are less likely to have diabetes related illness; in some cases surgery can even reverse the diagnosis."

However, Simon O'Neill, of Diabetes UK, said: "Bariatric surgery can lead to dramatic weight loss, which in turn may result in a reduction in people taking their type 2 diabetes medication and even in

some people needing no medication at all.

"This does not mean, however, that type 2 diabetes has been cured.

"These people will still need to eat a healthy balanced diet and be physically active to manage their diabetes."

Currently weight loss surgery is given to patients on the NHS to those who are morbidly obese with a body mass index (BMI) score of over 40 or to those who have a BMI over 35 and who have another serious health condition.

But now Nice is suggesting people with a BMI score of 30 to 35 should be considered for an assessment for weight-loss operations on the NHS if they have been diagnosed within the last 10 years.

This could mean that as many as 800,000 could be considered for this type of surgery on the NHS.

The draft guideline has been issued for consultation.

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Public Sector Strike Threatens Huge Disruption

Unions: Workers Can't Feed Their Families

Updated: 1:33am UK, Thursday 10 July 2014

Unions say they are angry at 'abysmal pay', working conditions and pensions. Here is a snapshot of each union's main complaints.

:: Unite

Members: 70,000 from various sectors, ranging from industry and manufacturing to education and agriculture.

Unite national officer for local government Fiona Farmer said: "Our members have endured four years of pay cuts in real terms and they voted overwhelmingly to strike on July 10 to drive home the message to ministers that poverty pay in local government must end.

"The depth of feeling on the pay issue is reinforced by the fact that local government unions, GMB and Unison, and members of the National Union of Teachers are all taking action on tomorrow.

"Poverty pay is widespread across local councils. Household bills continue to soar, but our members' buying power is constantly being eroded. The national minimum wage will soon overtake local government pay scales; members are choosing between heating and eating."

:: NUT

Members: 300,000 qualified teachers

Christine Blower, General Secretary National Union of Teachers, said: "Despite months in talks with Government officials, the real issues of our dispute have not been addressed. Teacher morale is at a low ebb.

"Changes to pay, pensions and a workload of 60 hours are unacceptable and unsustainable. Thousands of good, experienced teachers are leaving or considering leaving their job and a teacher shortage crisis is looming.

"The fact that teachers are prepared to take strike action is an indication of the strength of feeling and anger about the Government's imposed changes. Strike action is a last resort but, due to the intransigence of the coalition Government, it is one which we cannot avoid."

:: Unison

Members: 1.3 million workers from a range of roles within all public service areas, including people employed by public service authorities, private companies and community organisations.

Dave Prentis, Unison General Secretary, said: "Unison's local government and school members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland hold their first one day strike over an abysmal 1% pay offer. Faced with soaring food, fuel and housing costs, they have had to put up with three years of frozen pay, and now yet another below inflation offer.

"They have seen the value of their pay fall by nearly 20% since the coalition came to power and many struggle to make ends meet, to feed their families and pay their bills. Our charity is seeing more and more people asking for help and we know that many have had to resort to food banks to put food on the table.

"This is a national disgrace that these workers, who keep vital services running for their communities should be paid so badly, that they can't pay all their bills. And the lowest paid are still waiting for £250 promised by the Chancellor for two years' running. They have now voted to take strike action; that is not something they do lightly. But they are saying enough is enough. Work should pay enough for people to be able to live on."

:: GMB

Members: 617,000 workers, including school meal servers, street cleaners, binmen and carers.

GMB National Secretary, Brian Strutton, said: "We have tried sensible discussions, we've sought to negotiate reasonably, we've said we are willing to accept ACAS arbitration rather than go on strike - but to everything we've tried the employers have said 'no'. So we have no choice.

"GMB members serving school meals, cleaning streets, emptying bins, looking after the elderly, helping children in classrooms and in all the other vital roles serving our communities are fed up with being ignored and undervalued.

"Their pay has gone up only 1% since 2010 and in October even the national minimum wage will overtake local authority pay scales. Their case is reasonable, the employers won't listen and don't care, no wonder they have turned to strike action as the only way of making their voices heard."

:: PCS

Members: 270,000 civil servants.

A PCS spokesman said: "We're striking because, as well as tens of thousands of job being cut from the civil service since 2010 and the ongoing threat of more of the civil service being privatised, wages have been frozen and capped to such an extent that by next year incomes for many civil servants will be 20% lower than they would have been if they'd kept pace with increases in the cost of living. That is a huge hit in salary to take.

"There are other endemic issues, such as unequal pay. For example, staff in the Passport Office - in the eye of the storm at the moment - can be paid £3,000 less than their colleagues doing similar work elsewhere in the Home Office.

"Across the civil service, women are paid 10% less than men, 14% less for part-time workers. We've tried to negotiate but the Government refuses. Faced with this, it's inevitable that people will want to take industrial action."

:: RMT

Members: 80,000, of whom 361 TfL (Transport for London) backroom staff will be on strike.

RMT's Acting general secretary Mick Cash said: "While the political class, the bankers and the idle rich have all got their snouts in the trough, of course we are right to stand up and fight for the millions of workers told to take a hit despite the fact that they had no part in creating the financial crisis.

"We would be foolish not to maximise the unity of the trade union movement in the face of an aggressive, anti-union government that is mired in its own cesspit of scandal. We will take no lectures in morality from them.

"The front line of defence against cuts and austerity is the organised working class and that is why the Tories and big business want to tighten the legal noose around our necks. They will have a fight on their hands."

:: FBU

Members: 44,000 firefighters

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: "The government must realise that firefighters cannot accept proposals that would have such devastating consequences for their futures, their families' futures  - and the future of the fire and rescue service itself.

"We have tried every route available to us to make the government see sense over their attacks.

"Three years of negotiations have come to nothing because the government is simply unwilling to compromise or even listen to reason despite a huge amount of evidence showing their planned scheme is unworkable."

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Unions: 'Workers Can't Feed Their Families'

Unions say they are angry at 'abysmal pay', working conditions and pensions. Here is a snapshot of each union's main complaints.

:: Unite

Members: 70,000 from various sectors, ranging from industry and manufacturing to education and agriculture.

Unite national officer for local government Fiona Farmer said: "Our members have endured four years of pay cuts in real terms and they voted overwhelmingly to strike on July 10 to drive home the message to ministers that poverty pay in local government must end.

"The depth of feeling on the pay issue is reinforced by the fact that local government unions, GMB and Unison, and members of the National Union of Teachers are all taking action on tomorrow.

"Poverty pay is widespread across local councils. Household bills continue to soar, but our members' buying power is constantly being eroded. The national minimum wage will soon overtake local government pay scales; members are choosing between heating and eating."

:: NUT

Members: 300,000 qualified teachers

Christine Blower, General Secretary National Union of Teachers, said: "Despite months in talks with Government officials, the real issues of our dispute have not been addressed. Teacher morale is at a low ebb.

"Changes to pay, pensions and a workload of 60 hours are unacceptable and unsustainable. Thousands of good, experienced teachers are leaving or considering leaving their job and a teacher shortage crisis is looming.

"The fact that teachers are prepared to take strike action is an indication of the strength of feeling and anger about the Government's imposed changes. Strike action is a last resort but, due to the intransigence of the coalition Government, it is one which we cannot avoid."

:: Unison

Members: 1.3 million workers from a range of roles within all public service areas, including people employed by public service authorities, private companies and community organisations.

Dave Prentis, Unison General Secretary, said: "Unison's local government and school members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland hold their first one day strike over an abysmal 1% pay offer. Faced with soaring food, fuel and housing costs, they have had to put up with three years of frozen pay, and now yet another below inflation offer.

"They have seen the value of their pay fall by nearly 20% since the coalition came to power and many struggle to make ends meet, to feed their families and pay their bills. Our charity is seeing more and more people asking for help and we know that many have had to resort to food banks to put food on the table.

"This is a national disgrace that these workers, who keep vital services running for their communities should be paid so badly, that they can't pay all their bills. And the lowest paid are still waiting for £250 promised by the Chancellor for two years' running. They have now voted to take strike action; that is not something they do lightly. But they are saying enough is enough. Work should pay enough for people to be able to live on."

:: GMB

Members: 617,000 workers, including school meal servers, street cleaners, binmen and carers.

GMB National Secretary, Brian Strutton, said: "We have tried sensible discussions, we've sought to negotiate reasonably, we've said we are willing to accept ACAS arbitration rather than go on strike - but to everything we've tried the employers have said 'no'. So we have no choice.

"GMB members serving school meals, cleaning streets, emptying bins, looking after the elderly, helping children in classrooms and in all the other vital roles serving our communities are fed up with being ignored and undervalued.

"Their pay has gone up only 1% since 2010 and in October even the national minimum wage will overtake local authority pay scales. Their case is reasonable, the employers won't listen and don't care, no wonder they have turned to strike action as the only way of making their voices heard."

:: PCS

Members: 270,000 civil servants.

A PCS spokesman said: "We're striking because, as well as tens of thousands of job being cut from the civil service since 2010 and the ongoing threat of more of the civil service being privatised, wages have been frozen and capped to such an extent that by next year incomes for many civil servants will be 20% lower than they would have been if they'd kept pace with increases in the cost of living. That is a huge hit in salary to take.

"There are other endemic issues, such as unequal pay. For example, staff in the Passport Office - in the eye of the storm at the moment - can be paid £3,000 less than their colleagues doing similar work elsewhere in the Home Office.

"Across the civil service, women are paid 10% less than men, 14% less for part-time workers. We've tried to negotiate but the Government refuses. Faced with this, it's inevitable that people will want to take industrial action."

:: RMT

Members: 80,000, of whom 361 TfL (Transport for London) backroom staff will be on strike.

RMT's Acting general secretary Mick Cash said: "While the political class, the bankers and the idle rich have all got their snouts in the trough, of course we are right to stand up and fight for the millions of workers told to take a hit despite the fact that they had no part in creating the financial crisis.

"We would be foolish not to maximise the unity of the trade union movement in the face of an aggressive, anti-union government that is mired in its own cesspit of scandal. We will take no lectures in morality from them.

"The front line of defence against cuts and austerity is the organised working class and that is why the Tories and big business want to tighten the legal noose around our necks. They will have a fight on their hands."

:: FBU

Members: 44,000 firefighters

Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said: "The government must realise that firefighters cannot accept proposals that would have such devastating consequences for their futures, their families' futures  - and the future of the fire and rescue service itself.

"We have tried every route available to us to make the government see sense over their attacks.

"Three years of negotiations have come to nothing because the government is simply unwilling to compromise or even listen to reason despite a huge amount of evidence showing their planned scheme is unworkable."

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Mikaeel Kular 'Assaulted Over Four Days By Mum'

The mother of three-year-old Mikaeel Kular assaulted him over four days, wrapped his body in a duvet and shut it inside a suitcase, a court has heard.

Rosdeep Adekoya, 34, is accused of assaulting her son at their home in Ferry Gait Crescent, Edinburgh, before hiding his body in a wood more than 20 miles away.

It is claimed she murdered Mikaeel after punching him, causing his body to hit against a hard object and inflicting blunt force injuries on his head and body between January 12 and 15, 2014.

She is also charged with attempting to defeat the ends of justice by lying to police, having allegedly made a 999 call in which she claimed her son had gone missing after climbing onto a stool and unlocking the front door of his home.

Mikaeel's disappearance in January sparked a huge search involving police officers, firefighters, mountain rescue teams and the coastguard, as well as members of the public.

His body was eventually found hidden beneath a bush in woodland behind a house in Dunvegan Avenue, Fife.

Adekoya, who is being held at Cornton Vale prison in Stirlingshire and has not yet entered a plea, made a two-minute appearance at the High Court in Edinburgh.

The judge Lord Boyd continued the case until July 25 at the request of both the prosecution and the defence, who said the case had a "number of complexities".

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Bomb Fears Lead To More Airport Gadget Checks

Airlines To Scrutinise Smartphones Amid Threat

Updated: 8:12am UK, Friday 04 July 2014

Airlines with direct flights to the US have been told to tighten their screening of mobile phones amid fears terrorists could use them in bomb attacks.

US officials singled out Apple iPhones and Samsung Galaxy handsets for extra security checks.

They will apply to US-bound direct flights from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the officials said.

The new precautions come in response to requests from US authorities, who fear attacks on planes flying to America.

US security officials said they fear bomb makers from the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have worked out how to turn the phones into explosive devices which can avoid detection.

They also are concerned that hard-to-detect bombs could be built into shoes.

A US official said that other electronic devices carried by passengers also are likely to receive more intense scrutiny.

Airlines or airport operators that fail to strengthen security could face bans on flights entering the US.

On Thursday, the US Homeland Security Department announced on plans to step up general security checks, but offered few details on how airlines and airports will implement them.

An official familiar with the issues said the US believes that while it is possible there may be some additional delays at security checkpoints, at most major airports passengers will not be seriously inconvenienced.

The official said most passengers taking long-distance flights arrive well in advance of scheduled departures, leaving time for extra screening.

But he said the US could not rule out disruptions in countries where airport infrastructure and security procedures are less sophisticated.

In the UK, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the additional security was not expected to cause "significant" disruption to flights.

He told Sky News: "There will be extra security checks but they will be made in the course of events people already go through and I hope there will not be significant delays."

But British aviation security expert Philip Baum said heightened security will inevitably mean longer queues and increased waiting times to board flights at UK airports.

"It will mean (more) random searches, secondary searches and an increase in the number of passengers asked to remove shoes and possibly all passengers being asked to remove shoes if they're going on certain flights," he said.

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Briton Arrested In World Cup Touting Probe

A British director of a World Cup hospitality firm has been arrested as part of an investigation into illegal ticket sales.

Ray Whelan, who works for Fifa's exclusive official hospitality partner Match, was detained in Rio de Janeiro, police in the city confirmed.

Mr Whelan's arrest comes days after 11 people were arrested in Rio, suspected of being part of a multimillion-pound ticket touting operation.

Mr Whelan was arrested at the luxury Copacabana Palace Hotel

The arrests are part of Operation Jules Rimet, a probe by Brazilian police which has involved detectives tapping phones.

Authorities had been working on the theory that a senior official with links to Fifa was behind the scam, said Sky News Sports Correspondent Paul Kelso.

Mr Whelan was arrested at the luxury Copacabana Palace Hotel, a hotel also being used by senior Fifa officials, including its president, Sepp Blatter.

Kelso said: "It's embarrassing for Fifa. They don't want police crawling all over their hotel in the middle of Rio a few days before the final.

"Now they have more questions to answer about how tickets have apparently ended up on the black market.

Selling tickets for above face value is against Brazilian law

"According to local reports, he (Mr Whelan) was seized with up to 100 tickets in his possession."

Pedro Dantas, a spokesman for the Rio de Janeiro State Security Secretariat, said Mr Whelan would spend the night at a police station and would "answer to the charges of alleged crime committed on Brazilian soil".

Reselling tickets for more than their face value is illegal in Brazil.

A civil police officer outside the hotel after the arrest

According to Fifa's website, the Match hospitality programme "offers clients premium tickets bundled together with a wide range of services such as facilities at the stadiums (including private suites and lounges and marquee tents), gourmet catering, preferential parking, entertainment and gifts."

The arrest comes after the son of Fifa vice president Julio Grondona last week found himself facing accusations of selling on tickets at more than face value.

He denied the claims, but said he had given away some tickets to a friend.

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Alzheimer's Test Could Be Ready In Two Years

By Thomas Moore, Health and Science Correspondent

A blood test that identifies patients likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease could be available in two years, according to scientists.

The test, which works long before there are recognisable symptoms, is almost 90% accurate, new research shows.

And the inventors believe it would allow drugs to be tested in the early stages of the disease, in the hope of delaying or even stopping further deterioration.

Professor Simon Lovestone, who devised the test at King's College London, said: "A drug that worked in that preclinical phase would feel like prevention.

"You would go to your doctor take a drug and in effect you would have the clinical symptoms prevented - even if the clinical disease had started in your brain."

Doctors know that Alzheimer's starts to affect the brain at least 10 years before there are outward signs of the disease.

The new test identifies 10 key proteins in the blood of patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment who will go on to develop Alzheimer's in the next year.

Results of a major trial published in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia show the test is 87% accurate.

Vivienne Hill, whose mother had Alzheimer's, has welcomed the research

"Alzheimer's begins to affect the brain many years before patients are diagnosed," said Prof Lovestone.

"Many of our drug trials fail because by the time patients are given the drugs, the brain has already been too severely affected.

"A simple blood test could help us identify patients at a much earlier stage."

The test has been welcomed by Alzheimer's Research UK, which funded the study.

But Dr Eric Karran, the charity's science director, cautioned that it needs further refinement before being used by GPs to routinely diagnose the disease.

He told Sky News: "You have false positives, which is where the test says you are liable to get Alzheimer's disease but in fact the test is wrong.

"If this was some benign condition one wouldn't be bothered.

"But we know that Alzheimer's Disease is the most feared diagnosis. So it is very important to understand that point."

Vivienne Hill was devastated that doctors could do nothing to slow her mother Mary's symptoms. She welcomed the new research.

"We knew she was going to slowly deteriorate from a vibrant happy woman to someone who was bedridden for the last three years of her life who could not talk or do anything for herself," she said.

"It's horrible knowing that."

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Two Men Escape From Open Prison In Lancashire

Two inmates - one serving a sentence for firearms offences - are on the run after absconding from an open prison in Lancashire.

Philip Stephenson, 33, and Gareth Robinson, 24, both from the Oldham area, fled together from HMP Kirkham on Saturday.

Robinson was in prison for burglary, Greater Manchester Police said.

Stephenson, according to the Oldham Chronicle, had been charged with selling or transferring an illegal firearm and possession of ammunition.

They are believed to have got into a silver Volkswagen Golf before heading in the direction of Oldham.

Anyone who offers the men help has been warned they may face action themselves.

Detective Chief Inspector John Mazzolai said: "Neither of these men has been seen since they escaped from prison on Saturday.

"They are not to be approached by members of the public, but if anyone sees them or knows of their whereabouts, please contact GMP on 101 immediately.

"If you would prefer to pass on information anonymously, then you can do this by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

"I would also like to remind people that if anyone is found to be assisting or harbouring these wanted men, they too will face being arrested and a possible prison sentence of their own. So please get in touch if you know where they are."

Open prisons have sparked controversy in recent months after a spate of incidents when inmates have gone on the run.

In the most high-profile case, Michael Wheatley, who is known as the "Skull Cracker", carried out a raid on a building society while on the run from HMP Standford Hill in Kent in May.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said swift action was being taken to try to stop future incidents,

"The Justice Secretary has been clear that keeping the public safe is our priority and has ordered immediate and major changes to tighten up temporary release processes and open prison eligibility.

"Absconds have reached record lows under this Government - down 80% over the last 10 years - but each and every incident is taken seriously, with the police contacted as a matter of urgency."

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Twin Girls Flee UK To 'Join Syria Militants'

By Nick Martin, Sky News Correspondent

Twin sisters have fled their home in the UK and travelled to Syria where it is feared they may have joined ISIS fighters.

The 16-year-old girls from Manchester crept out of their bedroom in the middle of the night and boarded a flight to Istanbul in Turkey.

Police say their parents found their beds empty at 8pm last Thursday. They later found out the pair were on their way to Syria.

Counter-terrorism officers were then alerted after the girls made contact with their family from Syria where their elder brother is believed to be a jihadi fighter.

The girls have been missing for more than ten days, but a spokesman for Greater Manchester police told Sky News there was now "a contact strategy" with the twins.

"The girls flew from Manchester International to Istanbul. They then appear to have phoned home.

"We don't know exactly where they are but their family are obviously very keen to have them returned home.

"We are attempting to locate them and secure the well-being of both girls."

The family, of Somali origin, are believed to have moved to the UK 10 years ago.

It is not clear how the two college students were able to afford to pay for the flights.

A spokesman added: "It's unlikely that two 16-year-old girls would be able to afford two expensive flights.

"So we are looking at the possibility that they had a contact there.

"It's definitely a line of enquiry that their trip could have been bankrolled by a third party - that it was pre-planned."

The girls' flight to Syria comes the day after video footage emerged of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi calling on all Muslims to obey him.

In what were thought to be the first images ever taken of the self-proclaimed caliph, al Baghdadi was shown issuing a sermon in a Syrian mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.

Former government minister and Conservative MP Liam Fox said there was a limited amount that could be done to stop people travelling abroad to fight.

He told Sky News: "The British Government is taking it very seriously ... and has frozen the assets of those found to be fighting with ISIS.

"It is also the responsibility of the entire Muslim community, particularly the clerics, to make clear that this sort of behaviour is deeply un-Islamic."

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Westminster Abuse Claims Probe: 114 Files Lost

The Home Office has admitted that more than 100 official files relating to allegations of historic child abuse by politicians have been lost or destroyed.

The department's permanent secretary, Mark Sedwill, said the documents - which related to a 20-year period between 1979 and 1999 - were "presumed destroyed, missing or not found".

The disclosure came as Mr Sedwill said he will appoint a senior legal figure to assess the Home Office's handling of a dossier alleging historical child abuse involving powerful and famous figures at Westminster in the 1980s.

It follows the Prime Minister's call for him to establish what happened to the file which was handed to the then home secretary Leon (now Lord) Brittan by Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens in 1983.

The Home Office disclosed that 114 files have vanished without a trace

Lord Brittan admitted he had received the dossier and passed it on to officials, but no action was ever taken.

In a letter to the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, Mr Sedwill revealed that while the original review had identified 527 potentially relevant files which had been retained, there were a further 114 files which could not be located.

He said that the investigation had not found a single dossier from Mr Dickens, but several sets of correspondence over a number of years to a number of home secretaries containing claims of sexual offences.

The Prime Minister is under pressure to launch a full public inquiry

However he said that the review had found no record of specific allegations by Mr Dickens of child sex abuse by senior figures.

"Like any other citizen, I am horrified by what we have learnt in the past couple of years about the systematic abuse of children and vulnerable adults by prominent public figures, and the state's failure to protect them," he wrote.

"Some have been brought to justice and I hope that the police investigations now under way across the country are equally successful. The Home Office has and will co-operate fully with any police inquiry."

Earlier, David Cameron faced criticism for an "inadequate" investigation into what happened to the dossier.

Labour MP Simon Danczuk, whose campaign raised the issue of what happened to the Dickens' file at a Commons Home Affairs Committee hearing, said there needed to be a public inquiry.

He told Sky News: "The public are very clearly concerned and they won't be satisfied with another review by Home Office officials.

"Reviews like this often prove to be whitewashes.

"The Prime Minister should establish an over-arching review led by child protection experts to draw together the results from all these different case, investigations and institutional inquiries."

Allegations of sex abuse have been made against the late Cyril Smith

Labour leader Ed Miliband has told Sky News that as well as a "thorough review" of what happened at the Home Office, there must also be a wider look at child protection.

The Met Police said in a statement: "We are currently assessing information and conducting a number of investigations under Operation Fairbank.

"Any material submitted to us, historic or current, is reviewed to establish if it is relevant to these."

Calls for more to be done about allegations of child sex abuse by politicians have increased since the 2010 death of Liberal Democrat MP Cyril Smith, who was subsequently said to have been a paedophile.

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New Airport Security Checks 'Unavoidable'

Airlines To Scrutinise Smartphones Amid Threat

Updated: 8:12am UK, Friday 04 July 2014

Airlines with direct flights to the US have been told to tighten their screening of mobile phones amid fears terrorists could use them in bomb attacks.

US officials singled out Apple iPhones and Samsung Galaxy handsets for extra security checks.

They will apply to US-bound direct flights from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the officials said.

The new precautions come in response to requests from US authorities, who fear attacks on planes flying to America.

US security officials said they fear bomb makers from the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have worked out how to turn the phones into explosive devices which can avoid detection.

They also are concerned that hard-to-detect bombs could be built into shoes.

A US official said that other electronic devices carried by passengers also are likely to receive more intense scrutiny.

Airlines or airport operators that fail to strengthen security could face bans on flights entering the US.

On Thursday, the US Homeland Security Department announced on plans to step up general security checks, but offered few details on how airlines and airports will implement them.

An official familiar with the issues said the US believes that while it is possible there may be some additional delays at security checkpoints, at most major airports passengers will not be seriously inconvenienced.

The official said most passengers taking long-distance flights arrive well in advance of scheduled departures, leaving time for extra screening.

But he said the US could not rule out disruptions in countries where airport infrastructure and security procedures are less sophisticated.

In the UK, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the additional security was not expected to cause "significant" disruption to flights.

He told Sky News: "There will be extra security checks but they will be made in the course of events people already go through and I hope there will not be significant delays."

But British aviation security expert Philip Baum said heightened security will inevitably mean longer queues and increased waiting times to board flights at UK airports.

"It will mean (more) random searches, secondary searches and an increase in the number of passengers asked to remove shoes and possibly all passengers being asked to remove shoes if they're going on certain flights," he said.

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