World

Sky News' Nation Divided series aims to look at whether Britain is more divided following the vote to leave the European Union six months ago.

Senior Correspondent Michelle Clifford visited two areas either side of the Brexit divide - Glasgow, where two thirds voted to stay in the EU, and Burnley where two thirds voted to leave. She asked the people of both areas about the direction the country is taking as a result of the Brexit vote.

The Syrian government and the armed opposition yesterday agreed to a nationwide ceasefire starting at midnight last night, in a breakthrough truce aimed at ending the bloody five-year conflict.

The deal follows talks between Turkey and Russia and could potentially pave the way for a lasting political agreement.

If the truce lasts, regime and opposition groups will sit down for peace talks in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan next month. Moscow and Ankara, which support opposing sides in the conflict, promised to act as guarantors.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in Moscow that three documents had been signed: an agreement between the Syrian government and the rebels on a ceasefire, measures for overseeing the truce and an agreement to start peace talks.

"The agreements reached are, of course, fragile, need a special attention and involvement... But after all, this is a notable result of our joint work, efforts by the defence and foreign ministries, our partners in the regions," Mr Putin said.

Mr Putin also declared he would reduce Moscow's military contingent in Syria, which has been flying a bombing campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad since last year.

The decision was likely prompted by Mr Assad’s victory in Aleppo, where most of the Russian troops on the ground in Syria had been tied up.

The fall of Syria’s second city, dubbed a key strategic prize in the conflict, has handed Mr Putin a victory and the leverage to position Moscow as a Middle East power broker.

Sergei Shoigu, the Russian defence minister, said the truce will include 62,000 opposition fighters from seven groups across Syria but will exclude Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (Isil) and the formerly al-Qaeda-linked Islamist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS).

Those who do not observe the ceasefire “will be treated as terrorists,” Mr Shoigu said.

The agreement also excludes the YPG, the Kurdish militia that has carved out de-facto autonomous areas in the north of the country. Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization.

Spokesmen for the Free Syrian Army, an alliance of rebel groups, said they would abide by the ceasefire.

Leaders from the opposition told the Telegraph all rebel-held areas of Syria would be covered.

However, uncertainty remains about the province of Idlib, which is now the opposition’s largest stronghold and home to thousands of fighters and civilians forcefully evacuated from Aleppo.

The area is largely under the control of JFS and more extreme Islamist groups such as Ahrar al-Sham. Ahrar al-Sham is one of the seven groups the Russian ministry of defence said had signed the ceasefire deal, although Moscow has previously described it as a terrorist group.  

The government has escalated its aerial campaign against Idlib since the fall of Aleppo and will likely use the pretext of combating terrorism to continue its strikes on the city in spite of a truce.

In a sweeping response to election hacking and other meddlesome behavior, President Barack Obama on Thursday sanctioned Russian intelligence services and their top officials, kicked out 35 Russian officials and closed down two Russian-owned compounds in the U.S. It was the strongest action the Obama administration has taken to date to retaliate for a cyberattack.

"All Americans should be alarmed by Russia's actions," Obama said. He added: "Such activities have consequences."

In a bid to expose Moscow's cyber aggression, the U.S. also released a detailed report about Russia's hacking infrastructure that it said was designed to help computer specialists prevent more hacking. And Obama said more action was coming.

"These actions are not the sum total of our response to Russia's aggressive activities," Obama said in a statement released while he was vacationing in Hawaii. The U.S. has previously left open the possibility it could mount a retaliatory strike.

The spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said the new sanctions were a sign of Obama's "unpredictable and, if I may say, aggressive foreign policy" and were aimed at undermining President-elect Donald Trump.

"We think that such steps by a U.S. administration that has three weeks left to work are aimed at two things: to further harm Russian-American ties, which are at a low point as it is, as well as, obviously, to deal a blow to the foreign policy plans of the incoming administration of the president-elect," Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Ahead of the announcement, Russia's foreign ministry had threatened to retaliate against American diplomats if the U.S. took action against Russian officials.

The White House has promised to release a report before Obama leaves office detailing Russia's cyber interference in U.S. elections, a move that could address Russia's complaints that the U.S. hasn't shown proof of its involvement. But the U.S. moved forward with the response Thursday even as the report has yet to be released.

Still, Obama administration officials said the list of entities Obama was sanctioning made clear who exactly the U.S. believes was behind hacking of Democratic groups and the theft of emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman.

Obama ordered sanctions against two Russian intelligence services, the GRU and the FSB, plus companies which the U.S. says support the GRU. The cybersecurity firm hired by the Democratic National Committee to investigate theft of its emails determined earlier this year the hacking came from the Fancy Bear group, believed to be affiliated with the GRU.

The sanctions freeze any assets the entities or individuals have in the United States, and also block Americans from doing business with them. It wasn't immediately clear what impact they would have on the intelligence services' operations.

The FSB is Russia's main domestic and counter-terrorism intelligence agency. It was formed following the Soviet collapse when the KGB was split into the FSB and the foreign intelligence agency SVR. The GRU is the Russian military intelligence agency.

The president also sanctioned Lt. Gen. Korobov, the head of the GRU, and three of his deputies. Other individuals sanctioned include Alexei Belan and Yevgeny Bogachev, two Russian nationals who have been wanted by the FBI for cyber crimes for years.

Obama's move puts Trump in the position of having to decide whether to roll back the measures once in office, and U.S. officials acknowledged that Trump could use his executive authorities to do so.

U.S. allegations of hacking during the campaign have ignited a heated debate over Trump's approach to Russia and his refusal to accept the assessment of U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia's government was responsible and wanted to help him win. Though U.S. lawmakers have long called for Obama to be tougher on Russia, some Republicans have found that position less tenable now that Trump is floating the possibility of closer ties to Moscow.

"While today's action by the administration is overdue, it is an appropriate way to end eight years of failed policy with Russia," said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

Obama said the hacking "could only have been directed by the highest levels of the Russian government," a contention the U.S. has used to suggest Putin was personally involved.

Although the White House announced at the same time it was kicking out Russian officials and closing facilities, it said those were responses to other troubling Russian behavior: harassment of U.S. diplomats by Russian personnel and police.

The 35 Russian diplomats being kicked out are intelligence operatives, Obama said. They were declared "persona non grata," and they were given 72 hours to leave the country. The State Department declined to identify them.

The two compounds being closed down are recreational facilities owned by Russia's government, one in Maryland and one in New York, the U.S. said. The White House said Russia had been notified that Russia would be denied access to the sites starting noon on Friday.

Russian officials have denied the Obama administration's accusation that the Russian government was involved at the highest levels in trying to influence the U.S. presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Russia's goal was to help Trump win - an assessment Trump has dismissed as ridiculous.

Romania's president has rejected the Social Democratic Party's candidate to be prime minister, Sevil Shhaideh, who would have been the country's first Muslim and first female in the office.

Klaus Iohannis gave no reason on December 27 for refusing to accept Shhaideh, a little-known politician who had previously served for six months as Romania's regional development minister.

"I have properly analyzed the arguments for and against (Shhaideh) and I have decided not to accept this proposal," Iohannis said in a televised statement.

He called on the Social Democrats, who won the December 11 parliamentary elections, to make another nomination.

Liviu Dragnea, chairman of the Social Democrats, is ineligible to become prime minister because he was convicted of election fraud earlier this year and is on probation.

Dragnea's close friendship with Shhaideh - he served as a witness to her 2011 marriage - led the opposition to claim she would act as the party leader's puppet.

A Russian military plane enroute to Syria has crashed off Sochi coast. There were 92 people on board the Tupolev Tu-154 plane. Russia's Defense Ministry said that the Russian military plane crashed in the Black Sea, killing 92 passengers. The plane was going to Syria.

Search and recovery operations are under way after a Russian military plane - carrying members of a prominent armed forces song-and-dance ensemble to Syria for a New Year’s concert - crashed in the Black Sea killing all 92 people on board.

Russia’s Defense Ministry says "no survivors have been seen" at the crash site and President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia will observe a national day of mourning on December 26.

The plane had vanished from radar screens shortly after taking off at 5:40 a.m. local time on December 25 from the southern city of Sochi. It was flying to Russia's Hmeimim airbase outside the coastal Syrian city of Latakia.

The cause of the crash isn't immediately known. Putin "has ordered Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to form and head a state commission to investigative the crash of the Tu-154 plane," the Kremlin said in a statement on December 25.

The Defense Ministry said rescuers have recovered at least 10 bodies off the coast of Sochi, where dozens of ships, drones, and divers are searching for more.

Earlier, the ministry said that "fragments … of the plane were found 1.5 kilometers from the Black Sea coast of the city of Sochi at a depth of 50 to 70 meters."

The plane crashed shortly after taking off from Sochi on the Black Sea where it had stopped for refuelling.

The Defense Ministry has released a list of the passengers. They include 64 members of the Aleksandrov Ensemble, the official army choir of the Russian armed forces. The ensemble’s leader Valery Khalilov was among the passengers.

Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the ensemble members had been flying to Latakia for a New Year's performance for Russian troops deployed in Syria.

Nine Russian reporters were also been on board as well as military servicemen. The state-run TV stations First Channel, NTV, and Zvezda said they each had three staff onboard the flight.

The passenger list also includes Elizaveta Glinka, known as Doctor Liza, a prominent activist and member of Putin's advisory human rights council.

The ministry said 84 people aboard the aircraft were passengers and eight were crew members. The flight originated in the capital, Moscow, and had a stopover in Sochi for refueling.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters it was too early to say what had caused the crash.

Officials said a probe has been launched to determine if any violations of air transport safety regulations had taken place.

Deputy Defense Minister Pavel Popov had flown to Sochi along with a team tasked with clarifying the circumstances surrounding the crash, spokesman Konashenkov said.

Transportation Minister Maxim Sokolov, the head of a state commission probing the crash, is also on his way to the region, the government said in a statement.

Viktor Ozerov, head of the defense affairs committee at the upper house of the Russian parliament, said he "totally excludes" terrorism as a possible cause of the crash.

In remarks carried by the state news agency RIA Novosti, Ozerov - without citing any source - said the crash could have been caused by a technical malfunction or a crew error, but he believes it could not have been terrorism because the plane was operated by the military.

According to the Defense Ministry, the aircraft had been in service since 1983 and had flown some 7,000 hours since. The plane last underwent repairs in December 2014 and was serviced in September, the ministry said.

The Interfax news agency cited an unnamed source as saying the plane had not sent an SOS signal.

Two suspected female militants surrender as Bangladeshi security forces raid a hideout of a banned Islamist group Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) on Saturday after Intel there was a cache of explosives hidden.

Two suspected female militants have surrendered as Bangladeshi security forces raided a hideout of a banned Islamist group in Dhaka’s Ashkona neighbourhood, police said on Saturday News Next reports.

Three more suspected militants are staying inside the home despite the law enforcement calling them to surrender, said Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia.

''We are informed that the militants had stockpiled huge explosives inside the hideout. We are trying to make them surrender,'' the city police boss said. The raid began in the early hours of the day.

One of the female militants surrendered is identified as Shila, wife of retired major Jahid who was killed in an earlier raid, while the other is wife of another terrorist Musa.

Musa is on the run.

They surrendered along with two children. The female suspects also deposited a pistol, six bullets and explosives.

''The suspects were taken to detective branch office in Dhaka and the process for interrogation has been started,'' Mia said adding that the law enforcement agencies have been trying to negotiate a surrender of the militants staying inside the den.

Acting on tip-off, the lawmen cordoned off ,Surya Villa’ ,a three-storied building near Hajicamp at city’s Ashkona neighbourhood, said Monirul Islam, head of Bangladesh’s counter terrorism unit of police.

Members of Counter Terrorism and Transnational unit, elite force Rapid Action Battalion, Special Weapons and Tactics, and police launched the operation inside the den where the suspects had been holed up for months.

The officer said that the lawmen, using megaphone, asked the militants to surrender after they cordoned off the home. But, the militants fired their guns stead, prompting the cops to retaliate with bullets.

Ambulances and fire services officials were seen on the scene.

The militants are believed to be belonged to the banned militant group Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

Residents of the other apartments of the building have been evacuated to run the drive safely, said Islam adding that the suspects declared initially that they would resist any raid with the powerful grenades as they were carrying them with their bodies.

The female militants and the children surrendered about at 9:30 am after the lawmen told them to come out from the building using megaphones.

The militant group was banned in 2005 after it carried out a number of attacks on public offices. The group was blamed for the deadly July 1 attack on a restaurant in Dhaka that left 20 civilians, mostly foreign nationals, dead.

Two security personnel and six militants were also killed when army commandos stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka’s Gulshan diplomatic area to rescue the hostages.

Police have killed at least 40 suspected militants, including a Bangladeshi-born Canadian man, in the last five months as part of counter-terrorism raids launched after the cafe attack.

In an unprecedented diplomatic rebuke of Israel, the United States abstained Friday on a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlements, allowing the highly charged measure to pass.

The resolution was approved 14-0 with the one abstention. The vote was greeted with loud applause in the packed Security Council chamber.

The measure demands Israel "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem." It declares the establishment of settlements by Israel has "no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law."

In abstaining, the U.S. brushed aside calls for a veto by president-elect Donald Trump who, in an unprecedented move, managed to delay the vote a day by weighing in with Egypt, the initial sponsor of the resolution.

In a tweet after the vote, Trump offered his reaction to the outcome: "As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th."

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, in remarks to the council after the vote, said the U.S. position on the settlements has remained unchanged for five decades, and quoted a 1982 statement by then-President Ronald Reagan, which declared Washington ''will not support the use of any additional land for the purpose of settlements.''

"The U.S. has been sending the message that the settlements must stop, privately and publicly, for five decades," Power said.

Settlement activity, she added, ''harms the viability of a negotiated two-state outcome and erodes prospects for peace and stability in the region.''

At the same time, she said, "Our vote does not in any way diminish our steadfast and unparalleled commitment to the security of Israel." Israel, she noted, "faces very serious threats in a very tough neighborhood."

In a statement issued by his office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Israel rejects this shameful anti-Israel resolution at the U.N. and will not abide by its terms."

"At a time when the Security Council does nothing to stop the slaughter of half a million people in Syria, it disgracefully gangs up on the one true democracy in the Middle East, Israel, and calls the Western Wall 'occupied territory.'"

Netanyahu, whose relations with President Obama have been decidedly strained over the past eight years, said the U.S. administration "not only failed to protect Israel against this gang-up at the U.N., it colluded with it behind the scenes."

"Israel looks forward to working with President-elect Trump and with all our friends in Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, to negate the harmful effects of this absurd resolution," the statement said.

The American Jewish Congress also expressed dismay with the move.

"In the strongest terms possible, the American Jewish Congress is deeply disappointed with the Obama administration for shamefully abstaining on today's anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution," the group said in a statement. "By the U.S. abstaining, President Obama abandoned long standing American foreign policy of vetoing one-sided resolutions against Israel at the United Nations, and in doing so, he steps away from his presidency, turning his back on the unbreakable bond with our great ally Israel."

At the U.N., Israeli ambassador Danny Danon criticized the U.S. abstention, saying he has "no doubt" the Trump administration will usher in a new era. In remarks to the council, he said Jews have conquered many obstacles in the past, and "we will overcome this evil decree, too."

Pro-Israel lobby AIPAC said it was "deeply disturbed" the Obama Administration declined to veto what it called a "destructive, one-sided, anti-Israel resolution."

"By adopting this resolution, the United Nations has once again served as an open forum to isolate and delegitimize Israel — America’s lone stable, democratic ally in the Middle East," AIPAC said in a statement.

Read an equally bristling statement from the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the rabbinic arm of the United States reform movement, "The CCAR has frequently criticized the current Israeli settlement policy as an obstacle to peace.  At the same time, the United Nations is not the arena in which to address these complex issues. Peace negotiations belong between the two parties involved.  Further, the UN's obsessive and relentless criticism of Israel, while ignoring the unspeakable repression committed by illegitimate regimes and terrorist organizations worldwide, falsely and maliciously labels Israel uniquely as a pariah state."

Palestinian authority ambassador to the U.N. Riyad Mansour thanked the council for the vote and said he believes it could contribute to prospects for peace talks. The resolution, he said, "may rightly be seen as a last attempt to preserve the two-state solution and revive the path for peace, to keep the hope alive."

Although Egypt withdrew the measure Thursday, co-sponsors New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal requested the vote take place Friday. To pass, it needed nine "aye" votes and no veto from a permanent council member — the United States, France, Russia, Britain or China.

In the past, the U.S. has vetoed a similar resolution, which Israel strongly opposes.

White House officials said the administration's decision not to veto is consistent with its long-standing opposition to Israeli settlements, calling them an incitement to violence and an impediment to peace.

The United Nations resolution "makes clear that both Israel and the Palestinians have to take steps to preserve the two-state solution," said Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications.

Rhodes said the U.S. had nothing to do with the U.N. resolution, and that the Obama administration has been warning Israel for years that settlements were increasing its international "isolation."

As for Trump's tweet, Rhodes said Obama remains in charge until Jan. 20. "There is one president at a time," he said.

While the resolution does not call for sanctions on Israel, it amounts to a high-profile rebuke of the Israeli government and could hamper Israel's negotiating position in future peace talks. Palestinians argue that the expansion of settlements on the disputed land makes a peace deal even less likely.

Under international law, Israeli settlements — built on Palestinian land occupied by Israel — are considered to be illegal. Some 600,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem and on the West Bank, which the Palestinians seek as part of a future independent state. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel argues the final status of the territories should be determined in any future talks on Palestinian statehood.

Trump slams UN resolution on Israeli settlements

Trump, who does not take office until Jan. 20, had issued a statement Thursday calling for a U.S. veto only hours before the initially scheduled vote.

Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said the Republican president-elect spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi about the proposed Security Council action Thursday.

On Friday, Sisi's spokesman said the two leaders agreed to allow Trump's incoming administration a chance to take up the issue.

"During the call, they discussed regional affairs and developments in the Middle East, and in that context the draft resolution in front of the Security Council on Israeli settlement," said spokesman Alaa Yousef.

"The presidents agreed on the importance of affording the new U.S. administration the full chance to deal with all dimensions of the Palestinian case with a view of achieving a full and final settlement.

A senior Palestinian official, speaking anonymously according to protocol, said Egypt didn’t consult with the Palestinians about delaying the vote and it was a “complete shock” for them, AP reports. Egypt represents Arab states on the security council.

Egypt is the first Arab country to make peace with Israel, with whom it shares close security ties in a joint struggle against Islamic militants.

The Berlin truck attack suspect was shot dead by police in Milan this morning.

Anis Amri, 24, pulled out a gun after being stopped by cops at 3am local time and was killed in a shootout, officials say.

The Tunisian national was suspected of driving a truck into a packed Christmas market on Monday, killing 12 people and injuring 48.

There is 'absolutely no doubt' that the man gunned down by officers today was Amri, Italian interior minister Marco Minniti said at a news conference.

A police source said earlier the suspect was identified by his fingerprints.

The Islamic State has acknowledged death of the Berlin Christmas market attacker, according to a posting by its Amaq news agency.

''The executor of the Berlin attacks carries out another attack on Italian police in Milan and is killed in a shoot-out,'' the statement said.

It comes as the German Federal Police Office has released a new picture of Amri.

After hours of tense negotiations, two Libyans who hijacked a plane from Libya to Malta and threatened to blow it up surrendered peacefully Friday, allowing 118 passengers and crew to leave the plane before walking out themselves with the last of the crew.

The hijacked Airbus A320 flight, operated by Afriqiyah Airways, was traveling from the Libyan oasis city of Sabha to Tripoli when it was diverted to Malta midmorning on Friday.

Malta state television TVM said the two hijackers had hand grenades and had threatened to explode them. All flights to Malta International Airport were immediately diverted and emergency teams including negotiators were sent to the airport tarmac.

Malta’s prime minister, Joseph Muscat, announced that the hijacking of the Libyan plane was over in a tweet at 3:44 p.m. local time.