Manchester attack: Chloe Rutherford and Liam Curry confirmed dead

Image copyrightTWITTER

Image captionRelatives described Chloe Rutherford and Liam Curry as a devoted couple who enjoyed travelling

A teenage couple killed in the Manchester Arena explosion "adored each other", their families have said.

"Inseparable" Chloe Rutherford, 17, and Liam Curry, 19, from South Shields were among 22 victims killed in Monday's suicide bomb attack.

The pair were described as "perfect in every way for each other" by their relatives in a joint family tribute released through police.

"They wanted to be together forever and now they are", it added.

Keep up to date with this and other developments on our Local Live page.

The statement, posted on Facebook, said the couple "lived to go to new places together and explore different cities".

Chloe described herself as "ditzy", her family said, while Liam "would do anything for [her], including dealing with Chloe's demands for chocolate".

Mr Curry's father Andrew died suddenly in March.

The Union flag above the town hall in South Shields is flying at half mast as a mark of respect for the pair and the other 20 victims of Monday's attack.

The leader of South Tyneside Council, Iain Malcolm, said the whole area was "feeling the loss and sharing the pain" with the families of the couple.

Image copyrightFAMILY PHOTO

Image captionThe couple had "so much to look forward to"

He said: "Liam not so long ago undertook a 260 mile cycle ride to Paris for the Bobby Robson Foundation. Chloe was a talented actress who appeared on the stage at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle.

"This was a young couple who were doing nothing but enjoying their life and enjoying each other's company and it's just desperately, desperately sad for South Tyneside and particularly for their families.

"Chloe and Liam had so much to look forward to and were simply enjoying life at a pop concert.

"We are absolutely devastated by the tragic injuries and loss of innocent young lives in such a callous and cowardly attack."

Mr Curry, a former pupil of Gateshead College, was studying for a degree in sport and exercise science at Northumbria University.

The university, college and Mr Curry's former school, St Wilfred's RC college in South Shields, separately paid tribute to him as a conscientious student and a "fine young man".

He was very well liked and would be missed, they said.

Marsden Cricket Club, where Mr Curry was a member, said: "Liam has been part of the club from the age of just six and we have all seen him develop into an incredibly strong and mature young man, supporting his family through the loss of his father Andy earlier this year.

"He was developing into a fine cricketer and coach and was undoubtedly going to be part of our first team for many years to come.

"Chloe, like Liam, was an incredibly strong person. Quiet but not shy, she was a pleasure to be with around the club."

Image copyrightWESTOE TRAVEL

Image captionChloe Rutherford was training to be a travel adviser

Miss Rutherford's employer, Westoe Travel in South Shields, described her as "part of the family"

A spokesman said: "This is something we will never be able to understand. When you watch these events on television you never expect them to impact on those around you.

"As a small family business, Chloe was part of our family, working part-time as she completed her college studies before starting full-time with us on 26 June to begin her travel apprenticeship.

"We loved her friendly happy personality and she was a great asset and had a great future ahead in the travel industry, which she was really looking forward to.

"Liam would meet her from work and they were a perfect loving couple.

"The families have lost two beautiful young people who were a credit to them and our thoughts and prayers go to both families at this terrible time."

Image copyrightSIR BOBBY ROBSON FOUNDATION

Image captionLiam Curry, shown here in 2012 with his grandfather, Jack Allen, and Lady Elsie Robson, fundraised for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation

Staff at cancer charity the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, for whom Liam Curry had fundraised, said they were "devastated".

"Liam was an outstanding young man and a great credit to his family," a statement said.

"At 14, he began fundraising for us after his granddad, Jack Allen, was diagnosed with cancer and he proudly completed a Coast to Coast cycle ride.

"Cruelly, his dad, Andrew Curry, was also diagnosed with cancer and died in March this year."

Image copyrightSIR BOBBY ROBSON FOUNDATION

Image captionLiam Curry ran the Great North Run for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation

The foundation's statement said Liam had continued to fundraise during his father's illness, doing a 260 mile sponsored cycle ride from Calais to Paris and a Great North Run.

"No words can adequately convey feelings at a time like this," it said.

Northumberland County Council has opened a book of condolence for all victims of the attack.

SOURCE :- BBC

Wedge-tailed eagle captured swooping on drone

Image copyrightLEIGH NAIRN

Image captionThe drone crashed to the ground and needed to be repaired

A farmer in Western Australia has described the moment a wedge-tailed eagle attacked his drone and sent it crashing to the ground.

Leigh Nairn said his drone was badly damaged in the incident at Binnu, 550km (340 miles) north of Perth.

The drone, used to monitor barley-seeding equipment on his property, was sent off to be repaired.

He said he was "100% lucky" that the drone managed to capture an image of the bird as it swooped.

"That's the only photo I have of it," he said.

"I'm not sure where it came from, but I was obviously in the wrong spot and [it] wanted to let me know that."

Image copyrightLEIGH NAIRN

Image captionMr Nairn uses the drone to get a birds-eye view of the farm

The eagle flew off unscathed, he said.

He said the species, Australia's largest bird of prey, sometimes attacked lambs on the 7,500-acre (3,000-hectare) farm.

Despite being a nuisance the birds were "fantastic to look at", he said.

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"They are protected, as they should be, but they do give you a lot of trouble during lambing season," Mr Nairn told the BBC.

It is not uncommon for the species to take down drones. In November, an Australian mining company lost nine surveying drones to bird attacks at a total cost of more than A$100,000 (£60,000; $75,000

But in "a low-tech solution to a high-tech problem", Dutch police have trained eagles to take down unauthorised drones.

SOURCE :- BBC

    Is heroin being smuggled on Pakistani       planes into Heathrow?

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

Image captionHeroin was found on two PIA flights to London (File photo)

Pakistan's national carrier says it is taking measures to ensure its planes are not used to carry drugs after heroin was found on two of its London-bound aircraft.

Aviation authorities are also investigating how the drugs might be making their way on to the planes of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

What happened?

On 15 May, UK's Border Force officials impounded a PIA flight from Islamabadon arrival at London Heathrow airport and searched it for several hours.

The National Crime Agency later said that a quantity of heroin had been found hidden in different panels of the plane.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Image captionIncidents happened on flights headed to London's Heathrow airport

There were suggestions that the British authorities had acted on a tip-off from Pakistan.

No-one was charged. The pilot was allowed to return to Pakistan the next day, while the crew members were given their passports back a day later.

The episode caused considerable embarrassment to PIA, which was already reeling from a plane crash in that killed dozens of people in December and a number of near-misses subsequently, sparking allegations of corruption and mismanagement.

Then on 22 May, Pakistani officials at Islamabad airport seized more than 20kg (44lb) of heroin from another aircraft headed to Heathrow.

An investigation is continuing.

• The mysterious case of the drug-smuggling fishermen
• Why I bought my daughter heroin

What is Pakistan doing about it?

Investigations were launched to identify suspects within the PIA and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) with possible links to a drug trafficking ring that may have been using PIA to smuggle the drug abroad, Mashhood Tajwar, a PIA spokesman, told the BBC.

The investigation is being conducted by a team of officials from airport security, customs and the anti-narcotics force (ANF).

Mr Tajwar said pre-flight searches of aircrafts had been a part of standard operating procedures in the past, but surveillance had been stepped up since the May incident at Heathrow.

On Friday, a high-level meeting presided by the prime minister's adviser on aviation, Mehtab Ahmad Khan, finalised new security measures and a Central Operational Committee headed by the CAA chief was constituted to oversee their implementation.

On Monday, four aircraft expected to fly to foreign destinations were scheduled for checking, one of which - as mentioned above - was carrying drugs.

How surprising is this?

This is not the first time drugs have been found on PIA planes.

Last December, 17kg (37lb) of heroin was seized by officials at Karachi airport from a plane being readied for a flight to Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia. The flight was delayed for over 11 hours as a result.

• WATCH: 'Cold turkey' only option for Karachi's addicts

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionPoppy crops are still found in large parts of Afghanistan

Pre-flight checks are part of routine procedure and sniffer dogs are regularly used to clear aircraft for operations, PIA officials say.

But the presence of heroin on some aircraft shows that officials responsible for such checks may either have been complacent or linked to drug mules among employees.

While poppy crops across Pakistan have largely been eliminated, it is still grown in large parts of southern Afghanistan where insurgent groups wield influence and officials have little power.

Analysts say poppy and heroin are among the main sources of income for these groups.

And since some of them are said to have the tacit support of Pakistani authorities, they are said to be able to enter the country and smuggle heroin into Pakistan for onward shipment to the West.

Such smuggling is further helped by large-scale movement of Afghan refugees across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, experts say.

How damaging is this for PIA?

Pakistan International Airlines has also courted controversy recently for other reasons.

In February its management was accused of trying to cover up an air safety breach when it boarded seven extra passengers on a flight from Karachi to Medina, Saudi Arabia. They were allowed to stand in the aisle during the flight.

In April, a passengers photographed the chief pilot of a London-bound flight taking a nap in the passenger compartment, leaving the controls in the hands of a first officer and a trainee pilot.

The pilot denied he had breached safety rules, but the PIA management said they were investigating the incident.

In early May, another pilot on a flight from Tokyo was accused of allowing an unauthorised foreign national into the cockpit. The passenger, a Chinese woman, remained there for two hours during the Tokyo-Beijing leg of the flight.

The incident was filmed by a journalist who was traveling on the same flight.

In 2013 a PIA pilot who admitted being over the legal alcohol limit to fly after being arrested in the cockpit was jailed for nine months in the UK.
SOURCE :- BBC

             The sex slaves of al-Shabab

When Salama Ali started investigating the disappearance of two younger brothers last year she made an awful discovery - not only were radicalised young Kenyan men leaving to join the al-Shabab militants in neighbouring Somalia, but women were being seized and trafficked by the group as sex slaves.

Salama's search for information about her brothers had to be carried out quietly and confidentially, as any hint of a connection with the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab can arouse the suspicion of the security forces.

So she met discreetly with other women in Mombasa and the surrounding area, sharing stories and seeking information about male relatives who had vanished.

"We discovered there were lots of us," Salama says.

But Salama also uncovered something very different - stories of women who had been taken to Somalia against their will.

The women were both young and old, from Christian and Muslim communities, from Mombasa and other parts of Kenya's coastal region. They were usually promised high-paid work in another town or abroad, and then kidnapped.

Last September Salama trained as a counsellor and set up a secret support group for returning women. Word spread and soon women began seeking her out and asking to join the group.

Some arrived with babies, she says, some with HIV, and some with mental illness caused by their experiences. All are terrified to speak openly, because of the risk of being mistakenly identified as an al-Shabab sympathiserIn a dark room with the curtains drawn, I meet this extraordinary group of women, who have a story that has never been told.

"Men used to come and have sex with me - I can't tell you the number," says one, shaking her head as she recounts her ordeal. "For those three years, every man was coming to sleep with me."

"They'd bring two or three men for each woman every night," says another. "We would be raped repeatedly."

Some women were forced to become the "wives" of al-Shabab militants, it appears, while others were held as slaves in a brothel.

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Find out more

• In the UK you can watch the Sex Slaves of al-Shabab on Our World, on the BBC News Channel at 21:30 on Sunday 28 May, or on the BBC iPlayer (UK only)
• Viewers overseas can watch it on BBC World News - click here for transmission times
• On radio the programme can be heard on Assignment, on the BBC World Service, from Thursday 25 May - click here for transmission times

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Al-Shabab is fighting to create a fundamentalist Islamic state in Somalia and has launched attacks on neighbouring countries, which have all sent troops to fight them as part of an African Union force.

Kenya has borne the brunt of al-Shabab's counter-attacks, and the Kenyan army is hunting fighters in the thick Boni Forest that straddles the border with Somalia.

Flying over it, you can see lines cut through it - narrow pathways that militants apparently use for transport. The BBC has spoken to more than 20 women and all talk of being held in a thick forest or transported through it. This is most likely to be Boni.One new member of Salama's group, Faith, has only recently escaped captivity.

She was 16 when she was approached by an elderly couple and offered a job in Malindi, further up the coast. Desperate for work, the next day she boarded a bus with 14 other passengers and all were given drugged water to drink."When we regained consciousness, there were two men inside the room," Faith says. "They blindfolded us with black scarves. They raped us in that room."

Drugged again, Faith woke up in a small clearing in a dark forest and was told she would be killed if she tried to escape.

Terrified, she spent the next three years alone cooking for a group of Somali men "with long long beards".

She had also become pregnant, as a result of being raped, and had to deliver her own child alone in the forest.

"My grandmother was a traditional midwife, so I had a little bit of knowledge," she says. "Everything I was doing in that forest was alone, so I just had to get out this baby alone."

Faith finally managed to escape with her daughter when a traditional healer foraging for medicinal roots in the forest came across her and showed her the way out. Her child, who grew up naked in the forest, now finds it hard to adapt to city life and struggles to fall asleep at night unless she is outside in her mother's arms.

Image captionFaith and her daughter

She grew accustomed to "living like we were animals in the forest", Faith says.

A number of the women who spoke to the BBC had given birth in captivity.

Sarah, the wife of a former al-Shabab fighter, says this is no coincidence. There is an organised programme to breed the next generation of fighters, she says, as it's hard to recruit people to live in camps in Somalia, and children are easy to indoctrinate.

"In my camp, there [were] women who are sent to come and recruit other women," Sarah says. "They want to multiply so they just want women to give birth."

Most of the 300 women in her camp were Kenyan, she says.

Salama also provides support to those who have lost family members, including Elizabeth, who last saw her sister two years ago, before she left for what she thought was a job in Saudi Arabia.

A month later, she called.

"She told us she was in a dangerous and bad place in Somalia, in an al-Shabab camp," says Elizabeth. The line broke - and her sister has not been heard from since.

The Kenyan government acknowledges there is a problem but Evans Achoki, the county commissioner in Mombasa, says it's hard to judge the scale of it, because the women won't come forward.

While there is an amnesty programme for fighters returning from Somalia, and some have been rehabilitated, there are also reports of men who have suddenly disappeared, or been shot dead.

"People fear the government," says Sureya Hersi of Sisters Without Borders, a network of Kenyan organisations working to counter radical extremism in Kenya's coastal region.

"Those who went there willingly and unwillingly are both looked at as guilty."

The names of all women in this story have been changed for their security

SOURCE :- BBC