Kneeling in the sand: The footage, released on social media by purported Islamic State militants.

Stephen: The only surprise for me here is that this is now running across the mainstream media. Truth is not taking long to surface these days, it seems… Also note the use of the word ‘may’… cos it ‘may’ not have taken place at all.

From Fairfax Media, August 25, 2014- http://tinyurl.com/qej38jh

A film purporting to show the beheading of James Foley was probably staged, according to a forensic science company, which suggests the American journalist’s execution may have been carried out off-camera.

A blip in the footage, released on social media last week by Islamic State militants, indicated that Foley may have had to repeat a line as he read a script to camera while kneeling in the sand with his hands tied.

The footage was most likely edited later using “slick post-production techniques”, according to the analysis for The Times in London by an unnamed international forensic science company that has worked for police forces across Britain, the news organisation claimed.

There was also no blood on Foley’s neck as the masked militant appeared to drew a knife across his neck.

The analysis suggested that the militant, who speaks with a London accent and is believed to be British rapper Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, may have been a frontman for the execution, and not necessarily the killer.

“I think it has been staged,” one of the forensic experts told the news organisation.

“My feeling is that the execution may have happened after the camera was stopped.”

The Times said that the company did not question that Foley had been beheaded, but rather pointed out that camera trickery appeared to have been used.

Foley’s words, which ran for one minute and 26 seconds, appeared to have been scripted, according to the analysis.

The militant was wearing a full-face mask, but the analysis concluded he was speaking the words in the footage.

The company also analysed the start of the supposed beheading.

“After enhancements, the knife can be seen to be drawn across the upper neck at least six times, with no blood evidence to the point the picture fades to black,” the analysis said, noting that sounds allegedly made by Foley did not appear consistent with what would be expected.

The next shot is of Foley’s decapitated body, with his severed and blood-covered head resting on his body.

The clip was released on YouTube last week as a “warning” to the US to stop its military involvement in Iraq.

The US recently began a bombing campaign in the north of Iraq to help turn back an advance of Islamic State fighters who had made advances against Kurdish-controlled areas and threatened to massacre religious minorities.

Sign the petition to “The World’s Leaders: Tell Us the Truth in 2014″ today at:https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/the-world-s-leaders-tell-us-the-truth-in-2014. –and keep sharing it everywhere! Facebook, Google+,Twitter, email, blogs etc.

Gen. Martin Dempsey says Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant rebels will "soon" pose a threat to the U.S. and Europe.
His strategy

Associated Press Videos
Raw: Israeli Drone Allegedly Shot Down in Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A crash scene aired on Iranian state television Monday purported to show the wreckage of an Israeli drone shot down near an Iranian nuclear site, prompting questions about how a plane with limited range could have penetrated so deeply and whether it is indeed what Tehran says it is.

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The brief video showed what the channel described as parts of the battleship-gray drone scattered in an unidentified desert area. The channel identified the unmanned vehicle as a Hermes 450, a known Israeli model.

There were no visible Israeli markings on the aircraft in the footage. Israel's military has refused to comment on the matter.

The claim comes as Iran negotiates with world powers over its contested nuclear program and Iranian hard-liners press moderate President Hassan Rouhani to demand more concessions before limiting the country's atomic capabilities.

The West suspects Iran's nuclear program is geared toward building a nuclear weapon. Iran denies the charge, saying its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes only, such as power generation and medical research. Israel has not ruled out taking unilateral military action against Iran's nuclear facilities.

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said in a statement Sunday its forces fired a missile as the drone neared Iran's uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, some 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of the capital, Tehran, without elaborating. Guard spokesman Gen. Ramazan Sharif also said Sunday that Iran allowed the drone to continue its path to find out more about its mission.

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In this undated image taken from the Iranian state TV's Arabic-language channel Al-Alam, shows w …

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Guard's airspace division, insisted Monday that the drone was Israeli, though he said its last flight originated elsewhere.

"The operational range of the drone indicates it did not start its flight in Israel but departed from a country in the region," he said. He added cryptically: "We have some clues."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham condemned the drone's presence as a violation of Iranian territorial integrity and said "pursuing the case in legal and international bodies is our right," the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Hajizadeh said the drone's range was about 800 kilometers (500 miles) and that it had two front and side cameras capable of providing high-resolution panoramic imaging.

The manufacturer of the Hermes 450, Israel-based Elbit Systems, lists its base range as only 300 kilometers (200 miles), however.

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This photo released Monday, Aug. 25, 2014 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, claims to show the wr …

Israel is about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) away from Iran's westernmost boundary and Natanz is about 600 kilometers (370 miles) inland from the closest border point in Iran.

Calls by The Associated Press to Iranian officials for details on the drone were not immediately returned. The aircraft was not shown to foreign media.

Other countries also operate Hermes 450 drones, including Britain, the United States and Azerbaijan, Iran's neighbor to the north.

Iranian state-linked media previously touted Iranian-made drones that bore some resemblance to the Israeli model. That is perhaps what was being shown in the footage, British aviation expert Paul E. Eden said.

"We need credible information, and so far we don't have credible information," said Theodore Karasik, a security and political affairs analyst at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.

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In this undated image taken from the Iranian state TV's Arabic-language channel Al-Alam, shows w …

He noted the timing of the announcement, given that hard-line elements within Iran want to see nuclear talks with world powers fail and could try to score additional points by embarrassing Israel. He also questioned where the plane could have taken off given its range.

Eden said it is possible that the Israeli drone could operate beyond its official range, but he too was skeptical given how far into Iranian airspace the drone would have penetrated.

"If this seems to be posing a threat, you don't let it fly for hundreds of miles," Eden said. "It doesn't ring true."

Israel considers Iran's nuclear program to be a grave threat, and Israeli intelligence closely monitors the program.

Iran's nuclear program has targeted by espionage and sabotage efforts in the past. In 2010, the so-called Stuxnet virus temporarily disrupted operation of thousands of centrifuges, key components in nuclear fuel production, at Natanz.

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This undated photo released Monday, Aug. 25, 2014 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, claims to sho …

Iran says it and other computer virus attacks are part of a concerted effort by Israel, the U.S. and their allies to undermine its nuclear program through covert operations. Israel has never commented on the allegations but is widely believed to have been involved in the Stuxnet attack.

Iran has also said that it discovered tiny timed explosives planted on centrifuges but disabled them before they could go off.

On Monday, Asghar Zarean, the deputy head of Iran's atomic department, told the semi-official ISNA news agency that malware discovered over the past month had targeted a nuclear facility that went online over the weekend.

He likely was referring to the plant in the central city of Isfahan inaugurated Saturday. Under an interim nuclear deal with the world powers, the facility will convert a type of uranium into a material that cannot be used to make nuclear weapons.

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Schreck reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

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Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at www.twitter.com/adamschreck .

A video of a purported aircraft that was reportedly shot down near a nuke facility may elicit even more questions.
Israel silent

The leaders of Russia and Ukraine held key talks Tuesday on the brutal conflict between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels after the Kremlin admitted for the first time its troops had entered Ukrainian territory.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko shook hands with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, but there were few hopes of a breakthrough to defuse fighting some fear could trigger all-out war between Kiev and its former Soviet master.

Fears the conflict could intensify mounted when Ukraine on Monday released footage purporting to show 10 Russian soldiers it had captured on its territory.

A Moscow military source claimed the soldiers had crossed into Ukraine "by accident".

"In Minsk at this meeting the fate of the world and Europe is being decided," Poroshenko said in Russian as the roundtable with Putin kicked off alongside top EU officials and the leaders of Kazakhstan and Belarus.

Putin, however, barely mentioned the brutal fighting that has killed some 2,200 people in the east of Ukraine in his opening remarks, focusing instead on the damage Kiev's recent agreement with the EU could have on Russia's economy.

On the ground, battled raged in east Ukraine, with local authorities in the main rebel bastion of Donetsk said three civilians were killed in shelling overnight as the army pummels insurgent fighters.

But in Minsk, Kremlin strongman Putin strode confidently into the marble-lined meeting room ahead of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and a grim-faced Poroshenko.

Ashton called for the talks to be held in "the best possible spirit" but, in a sign of how high tensions are, it remained unclear if Poroshenko would meet one-on-one with Putin.

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New volunteers of the Ukrainian interior ministry's special battalion "Sich" stand dur …

Kazakhstan leader Nursultan Nazarbayev urged both men to speak directly to each other or risk threatening the stability of the "entire world."

- Soldiers captured -

Pressure soared after Kiev's security service said on Sunday that paratroopers from Russia's 98th airborne division had been captured by Ukrainian forces about 50 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk.

Ukrainian media on Tuesday aired footage purporting to show captured Russian soldiers telling an interrogator that they crossed into Ukraine in armoured convoys.

A Russian defence ministry source on Tuesday said soldiers had been "taking part in patrolling a section of the Russian-Ukrainian border".

"They crossed it most likely by accident, on an unequipped, unmarked section", Russian news agencies quoted the source as saying.

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Ukraine's President-elect Petro Poroshenko (L) walks past Russian President Vladimir Putin during in …

It was impossible to verify the footage or what condition the men were held in.

Kiev has long accused Moscow of stoking the separatist insurgency raging in its east -- charges the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.

"Officially, they are at exercises in various corners of Russia. In reality, they are participating in military aggression against Ukraine", Defence Minister Valeriy Geletey said on his Facebook page.

But on the ground there appeared no end in sight to the four months of conflict that has plunged relations between Russia and the West to levels not seen since the end of the Cold War in 1991.

- Peace talks? -

Ukraine's forces accused Russian troops of trying to open a "new front" after an armoured convoy crossed onto government-held territory Monday in the south of Donetsk region.

AFP journalists reported shelling in Novoazovsk, a town on the coast of the Azov sea, and had to briefly take shelter in the basement of the City Hall together with the mayor.

Kiev also accused Russian army helicopters of launching a ferocious missile attack on a Ukrainian border position further to the north, killing four border guards and bringing the death toll to 12 soldiers in the past 24 hours.

The rebels previously announced the launch of a counter-offensive after losing swathes of territory to a push by government forces.

Officials from the EU and Russian-led Customs Union were set to discuss the crisis and trade issues after Ukraine's new pro-Western leaders signed a landmark deal with the European Union in June that riled Russia.

The refusal by Kiev's former president Viktor Yanukovych to ink the EU deal last year in favour of Moscow's economic bloc sparked the protests that eventually led to his ouster and set off a chain of events that saw Russia annex Ukraine's Crimea region and the pro-Moscow insurgency.

As Ukraine's political transition continues, Poroshenko on Monday announced long-awaited early parliamentary elections for October 26.

The Kremlin also ratcheted up the pressure by announcing plans to send another aid convoy into eastern Ukraine "this week".

Russia unilaterally sent about 230 lorries carrying what it claimed was 1,800 tonnes of humanitarian aid to the rebel-held city of Lugansk on Friday after accusing Kiev of intentionally delaying the mission.

Kiev condemned the move as a "direct invasion".

Russia and Ukraine to hold key talks

The meeting between Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Putin comes shortly after Kiev captures 10 Russian paratroopers.
U.S. warns of 'escalation'

The Russian economy is nearing recession, officials said Tuesday, with punishing Western sanctions over the Ukraine conflict set to keep growth at ultra-low levels and drive up inflation.

"The economy is close to recession," said Oleg Zasov, the head of forecasting at the economy ministry, according to Russian news agencies.

The ministry held its forecast at growth of just 0.5 percent this year, compared with 1.3 percent in 2013.

A month ago, it had defiantly predicted growth of 1.0 percent when the West imposed its first sectoral sanctions over Moscow's support for pro-Russian rebels fighting in eastern Ukraine.

But it has now slashed its forceast for 2015 in half, also to 1.0 percent.

Russia's statistics office reported earlier this month that the economy grew by 0.8 percent in the second quarter on an annual comparison.

Seasonally-adjusted quarterly data has yet to be released, which could show that Russia entered a technical recession as the economy contracted by 0.5 percent in the first three months of the year.

Zasov said the seasonally-adjusted second quarter figure was "close to zero".

However, he added: "We estimate that the situation will improve a bit in the third quarter and we'll have a positive figure."

The head of the finance ministry's long-term planning unit said the economy ministry's annual forecast was too optimistic and that growth this year was likely to be close to zero.

- Flagging domestic demand -

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A customer shops for dairy products at a supermarket in Saint Petersburg on August 7, 2014 (AFP Phot …

The West last month imposed its toughest sanctions yet on Russia, including restricting access to Western financial markets, over Moscow's alleged attempts to destabilise Ukraine.

In response, Russia imposed sweeping bans on food from the United States, the European Union and a handful of other countries.

The borrowing restrictions crimp the ability of Russian banks to lend just as flagging domestic demand has choked off growth and the government wants domestic companies to step up investment to reduce their reliance on the West.

Officials have said that means the farm sector will need nearly $18 billion in additional investment to produce more of the country's food.

Zasov said the cut in the 2015 outlook was primarily due to reduced investment prospects in the face of continued geopolitical tensions.

"We had hoped that already next year investment would pick up significantly, above all in the private sector," he said.

"But we see now tougher loan conditions on foreign markets, the introduction of additional sanctions, which we hadn't counted on before."

The forecast for the flight of capital, which also deprives Russia of investment funds, was raised by $10 billion to $100 billion in 2015.

Exports are expected to tumble 8.0 percent this year against a previous forecast of a 4.0 percent slide.

Average Russians have been concerned the food bans will lead to rising prices, fears echoed in the economy ministry's latest inflation forecasts.

The forecast for this year was raised to 7.2 percent from 6.0, and for 2015 to 6.5 percent from 5.0 percent.

"The sanctions against Russia and our response played a certain role," acknowledged Zassov.

- Exposing weaknesses -

Russia enjoyed growth rates of 7-8 percent a decade ago during Vladimir Putin's first two terms as president, but the economy had already slowed before the Ukraine crisis erupted.

On Monday, Russia's economy minister urged an easing of budget rules to allow a bigger deficit to finance investments needed to overcome the West's punitive measures.

Some analysts believe the sanctions were useful in exposing weaknesses in the Russian economy and prodding the government to act.

"I think that the sanctions are playing a mobilising role for the growth of the economy," said Alexei Mukhin, director of the Centre for Political Information risk management company.

However others believe the Russian economy is in for a rough ride.

"The recession won't crash down like an avalanche, but gradually, and as is well known such crises hurt more," said Igor Nikolayev, head of the FBK Strategic Analysis Institute.

He forecast it will be worse than the previous crisis, when Russia's economy contracted by nearly 8.0 percent in 2009.