James Foley: Journalist's Family Pay Emotional Tribute to Courageous Son

The family of US journalist James Foley's pay tribute to their "courageous son."Nicole Tung/Free James Foley

The father of James Foley has paid an emotional tribute to his son.

John Foley said that he is "proud of his son," who was beheaded by militants and " knows he is in heaven."

The grieving father made a statement just hours after a video emerged of an Islamic State (IS) militant brutally murdering the journalist.

John Foley said: "He thought this was his job, his passion. He wasn't crazy. He was motivated by what he thought was doing the right thing."

"He was always a listener and just couldn't detach from other people's lives. It's difficult to find solace at this point in time, but Jim is free. We know he's in God's hands and ... we know he's in heaven.

“We thank Jim for all the joy he gave us. He was an extraordinary son, brother, journalist and person. We're very proud of Jim. He was a courageous, fearless journalist. A very compassionate American.”

- John Foley

"We're so proud of him. We have to be happy for him. We need the courage and the prayers to continue without him, because he was an inspiration for us and for so many others.

"We miss his courage and his love and his determination. His laugh. His smile."

Fighting back tears, he said he was certain James would have courageously offered to be executed first to save his colleague and fellow hostage Steven Joel Sotloff.

Jim was "was a martyr for freedom. His brother Michael and I are both sure he volunteered to go first. I am sure he wouldn't shrink from the situation and said someone has got to go first. That is who he was."

Revealing that the family had not watched the beheading video, he said that the brutality of his son's death was too difficult to contemplate.

"He met the most horrific end and it haunts me how much pain he must have been in and how cruel this method of execution is as opposed to so many others. He was courageous to the end and he accepted his situation and he gathered his faith."

Speaking from the family home in Rochester, New Hampshire, his mother Diane added: "Jim was a fun loving, daring kid. Every time we got despondent in the last two years, we thought of Jim and his suffering. He was helping the other prisoners. There were some much younger in his cell. He would some times hold them, we're told, who were struggling. "

The video appears to show US journalist James Foley being beheadedYouTube

Condemning the brutality of the militant regime she added: "There is no reason for this slaughter. Jim was just a symbol for our country. Jim was there to hear the truth and bear witness to the love and suffering...and they (ISIS) knew that."

"Jim would never want us to hate or be bitter. We're praying for the strength to love like he did.

"We thank Jim for all the joy he gave us. He was an extraordinary son, brother, journalist and person. We're very proud of Jim. He was a courageous, fearless journalist. A very compassionate American."

Foley, a journalist who has covered conflicts in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, has been missing after being taken hostage at gunpoint by Sunni rebel fighters. from the group Jabhat al Nusra in Syria in 2012 while reporting from Taftanaz, northern Syria, for the GlobalPost.

The video titled A Message to America said that Mr Foley was being killed because Barack Obama had ordered airstrikes against IS positions in northern Iraq.

The National Security Council (NSC) has confirmed that the video is authentic.

“I wish I had more time, I wish I could have the hope of freedom and seeing my family once again, but that ship has sailed.”

- James Foley

During the video, Islamic State also threatened to kill another US journalist, Steven Sotloff, who they claim to be holding.

James Foley's younger brother Michael criticised the US government, saying he thought it could have done more to save Mr Foley and now needed to act to rescue Mr Sotloff.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama paid his tribute to James Foley and pledged to protect US citizens in the face of injustice.

"Today the American people will all say a prayer for those who loved Jim. Jim was taken from us in an act that shocks the conscience of the entire world. Jim Foley's life stands in stark contrast to his killers."

"No faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just god would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day. (Islamic State) has no ideology of any value to human beings.

"The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to protect our people. When people harm Americans anywhere, we do what is necessary to see that justice is done."

Just before he was murdered, Mr Foley was given a chance to make a statement.

He said: "I wish I had more time, I wish I could have the hope of freedom and seeing my family once again, but that ship has sailed."

Tanker Used to Transport Iraqi Kurdistan Crude Oil Appears Off Israel Coast

A member of Kurdish security forces takes up position with his weapon, as he guards an oil refinery on the outskirts of Mosul.(Reuters)

A tanker that had been used to transport crude oil from Iraqi Kurdistan appeared unladen around 30km off the Israeli coast on 19 August, according to Reuters news agency.

Citing ship tracking data, Reuters said the Kamari tanker had been spotted, with a partial load on 17 August, to the north of Egypt's Sinai, where it turned off its satellite transponder, before reappearing empty off Israel's coast two days later.

The tanker was first loaded at the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan in early August, before making a delivery to Croatia via another ship.

Hungary's MOL Group, which has assets in Iraqi Kurdistan, said it had purchased around 600,000 barrels of Kurdish crude that was unloaded at the Croatian port of Omisalj.

Vanishing tanker

A tanker first unloaded Kurdish crude at the Israeli port of Ashkelon in late June, and Israel has been a vocal supporters of Kurdistan's right to self-determination.

The SCF Altai tanker unloading Kurdish crude oil at Israel's Ashkelon port, in June.(Reuters)

For its part, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has previously denied selling oil to Israel "directly or indirectly".

The semi-autonomous region in northern Iraq has enraged Baghdad by exporting oil independently in recent months.

Iraq's central government has said the constitution gives it the sole rights to sell oil on international markets, while Arbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous region, has said it is permitted to sell oil without Baghdad's approval.

The KRG began transporting major volumes of oil via a new pipeline to Turkey early in 2014, but the oil was only loaded on to a tanker for export in May.

Oil dispute

Baghdad and Arbil have been involved in a long-running dispute over revenues from oil sales, as well as a long-running budget dispute that has seen the northern region lose its share of the national budget.

Baghdad has launched legal challenges against sales of Kurdish oil, blocking one sale to in Morocco and another in the US, but the Kurds have persisted with efforts to sell oil as they seek to boost their state coffers at a time of heightened insecurity in the region.

Fighters from the Islamic State seized vast swathes of territory in northern Iraq in June, which they have consolidated in recent weeks. The Kurds believe the jihadist militants could use their newly seized territory to launch attacks on Kurdish controlled positions.

Ebola Outbreak Photos: Fear and Panic as Liberian Forces Seal West Point Slum to Contain Disease

Liberian security forces have sealed off a seaside slum in the capital in the latest effort to stop the spread of Ebola, setting off protests by angry residents.

Fear and tension have been building in Monrovia for days and West Point has been one of the flash points. Many residents feel the government has not done enough to protect them from the spread of Ebola.

Getty Images photographer John Moore's powerful photographs document the plight of the residents of West Point.

A Liberian Army soldier, part of the Ebola Task Force, beats a local resident while enforcing a quarantine on the West Point slum. The government ordered the quarantine of West Point, a congested seaside slum of 75,000, in an effort to stop the spread of the virus in the capital(John Moore/Getty Images)

A Liberian Army soldier chases a resident while enforcing a quarantine on the West Point slum in an effort to contain the virus(John Moore/Getty Images)

An Ebola Task Force officer walks into the West Point slum as the military began enforcing a quarantine on the congested favela of 75,000(John Moore/Getty Images)

West Point residents raided an Ebola screening centre over the weekend, accusing officials of bringing sick people from all over Monrovia into their neighbourhood. In many areas of the capital, meanwhile, dead bodies have lain in the streets for hours, sometimes days, even though residents asked that the corpses be picked up by Health Ministry workers wearing protective gear.

Mattresses thought to be looted from an Ebola isolation centre float in a seaside dump in the West Point slum in Monrovia. The mattresses, contaminated with blood and faeces, were looted from the facility after it was overrun by a mob on Saturday(John Moore/Getty Images)

The Ebola outbreak, which began in December, has killed at least 1,229 people in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Liberia has the highest death toll, and its number of cases is rising the fastest. In response, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf ordered West Point sealed off and imposed a nighttime curfew, saying authorities have not been able to curtail the spread of Ebola in the face of defiance of their recommendations.

West Point Commissioner Miata Flowers is escorted out of the slum by members of Liberia's Ebola Task Force. The military was called in to extract the commissioner and her family from the seaside slum after residents blamed the government for planning a holding centre for suspected Ebola patients in their community(John Moore/Getty Images)

Family members of West Point district commissioner Miata Flowers flee the slum while being escorted by the Ebola Task Force(John Moore/Getty Images)

At least 50,000 people live on the half-mile-long point, which is one of the poorest and most densely populated neighbourhoods of the capital. Sanitation is poor even in the best of times, and defecation in the streets and beaches is a major problem.

A boy rakes faeces into a hole on the beach in the West Point slum in Monrovia. With a population of 75,000 people in a small area with poor sanitation, sickness is common in the township(John Moore/Getty Images)

Mistrust of authorities is rampant in this poorly served area, where many people live without electricity or access to clean water.

Authorities here have struggled to treat and isolate the sick, in part because of widespread fear that treatment centres are places where people go to die. Many sick people have hidden in their homes, relatives have sometimes taken their loved ones away from health centres, and mobs have occasionally attacked health workers.

Ten-year-old Saah Exco lies in a back alley of the West Point slum in Monrovia, Liberia. The boy was one of the patients pulled out of a holding centre for suspected Ebola patients when the facility was overrun by a mob on Saturday. A local clinic refused to treat the boy, according to residents, because of the danger of infection(John Moore/Getty Images)

Local residents gather around Saah Exco, 10, in the West Point slum. A local clinic refused to treat the boy, according to residents, because of the danger of infection, although the boy was never tested for Ebola(John Moore/Getty Images)

Residents dress Saah Exco, 10, after bathing him. According to a community organiser, Saah's mother died of suspected but untested Ebola in West Point before he was brought to the isolation centre with his brother, Tamba, 6, aunt Ma Hawa, and cousins. His brother died on August 15. Saah fled the centre with several other patients before it was overrun on August 16 by a mob. Once out in the neighbourhood, he was not sheltered, as he had suspected Ebola - so he has been sleeping outside. The whereabouts and condition of his aunt and cousins, who left the facility when it was overran by the crowd, is still unknown(John Moore/Getty Images)

At least 1,229 people have died of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria in the current outbreak, and more than 2,240 have fallen ill with the virus, according to the World Health Organisation. The fastest-rising number of cases has been reported in Liberia, with at least 466 dead.

A member of the Church of Aladura prays for God to rescue Liberia from Ebola, on the beach in Monrovia(John Moore/Getty Images)

Two men pray on the beach in Monrovia, calling for God to help Liberia during the current Ebola crisis(John Moore/Getty Images)

YOU MIGHT LIKE THISSponsored Content by Taboola

Mystery Illness With 'Ebola-Like Symptoms' Kills 10 in Democratic Republic of Congo

Health workers in protective gear wheel a stretcher into a hospital with one of two Spaniards who were repatriated from Liberia, shortly after their arrival in Madrid on August 7, 2014.(Reuters)

Around 10 people have died after developing Ebola-like symptoms in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials have said.

Experts have now been sent to a remote area on the northern Equateur province to establish what is causing the deaths.

According to Reuters, the DRC has sent its health minister to the area. It is not clear if the disease is related to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, where over 1,200 people have died from the virus in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria.

One local said around 10 people have died, including four health care workers. Their symptoms included fever, diarrhoea and bleeding from the ears and nostrils.

Government spokesman Michel Wangi told the news agency: "An illness is spreading in Boende but we don't know the origin. The government has sent a team of experts from the INRB (National Institute of Biomedical Research) this morning led by the health minister Felix Kabange Numbi and acting governor Sebastian Impeto."

The team will be looking to establish the "exact nature" of the disease causing the deaths.

The last outbreak of Ebola in the DRC was in 2012, when 77 cases, including 36 deaths were reported. Prior to this, there was another outbreak in 2007 in a remote area of Kasai Occidental Province. During this outbreak, there were 249 suspected cases and 183 deaths.

According to Uganda's New Vision news website, health experts were monitoring the DRC after suspected cases of Ebola were reported in July.

Asuman Lukwago, secretary for the Ministry of Health said: "The suspected cases were in Aruu and other parts of northeastern Congo. We learnt Kinshasa was testing the samples."

"If Ebola is confirmed in Congo, we can send our team to work with the Congolese so that the disease is controlled from there."

Pregnant US Teen Heather Mack on "Suicide Watch" in Bali Over Mother's Suitcase Death

Pregnant Heather Mack on suicide watch after being accused of killing her mother in Bali(Getty)

A pregnant US teenager and her boyfriend have been put on suicide watch in an Indonesian prison after becoming suspects in the death of the teen's mother, whose bloodied body was discovered in a suitcase.

Heather Mack, 18, and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, were reportedly refusing to co-operate with police by refusing to answer detectives' questions in custody.

They have been made suspects in the death of Shelia von Wiese-Mack, 62, whose body was found in a suitcase on the paradise holiday island of Bali, last week. The corpse's condition suggested the deceased was attacked and had fought back.

Now daughter Heather and Schaefer have been placed under special conditions to prevent a suicide attempt in jail.

Mack and Schaefer in Bali(Instagram)

"Their mental state is checked every day, said police spokesman Hery Wiyanto. "Tommy seems better, but as they both continue to refuse to speak it is difficult. [He] is under close observation and has no access to materials he could use [for] suicide."

Mack and Schaefer were arrested after being spotted with a bloodied suitcase which contained the body of her mother, outside a luxury hotel in Bali. They were later arrested at a budget hotel after reportedly having sex.

If convicted of murdering Wiese-Mack, then daughter Mack and Schaefer could face the death penalty by firing squad in Indonesia.

Tests were carried out on Mack to confirm she was pregnant, amid fears it was a lie to escape justice in Indonesia. She was confirmed to be expecting, meaning her baby would be born behind bars.

"In Indonesia there are a lot of cases of pregnant prisoners, if they are already processed through the courts and they are jailed. So, if found guilty, the baby will be born in prison. The baby could grow up in prison with its mother," Wiyanto told Reuters.

Impala to Close Zimbabwe's Largest Platinum Mine After Underground Collapse

A worker drives a load of ore extracted from underground at Zimplats' Ngwarati Mine in Mhondoro-Ngez, Zimbabwe(Reuters)

Impala Platinum Holdings has announced the closure of its largest mine in Zimbabwe a month after an underground collapse at the facility.

Citing a deterioration in safety conditions, the world's second-biggest platinum producer said it would halt operations at the Bimha mine, which lies 93 miles southeast of Zimbabwe's capital, Harare.

Zimbabwe has the world's second-largest platinum reserves after South Africa. Its platinum supply has been marked as an alternative to South Africa, where production plummeted this year amid the country's longest mining strike.

The five-month walkout by more than 70,000 mine workers ended in June, after unions reached a deal to boost the pay of the lowest-earning mine workers.

Impala will lose around 70,000 platinum ounces in the year to June 2015, around 4.4% of output in the 2013 fiscal period, the company said in a statement.

Shares in the Johannesburg-based firm slumped as much as 5.6%, but bounced back to trade 2.5% down later in the morning.

"Production from the other three mines is not expected to be affected," the company said in a statement, while fleets from Bimha had been deployed to other assets "to mitigate production losses", it added.

Ebola: Nigerian Doctor Who Detected First Case in Country Dies

Nigeria's Minister of Interior Affairs Abba Moro attends a media briefing on updates about the Ebola outbreak in Nigeria in Abuja. Nigeria has confirmed 11 cases of Ebola, after a doctor who treated the Liberian man who brought the disease to Lagos fell ill, the health minister said on Thursday. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Ebola has claimed the life of a member of one of Nigeria's most illustrious families. Dr Ameyo Stella Adadevoh, 58, great granddaughter of Nigeria's Herbert Samuel Macaulay, succumbed to the disease late on Tuesday.

She had been in a coma for some days, according to ThisDayLive.

Adadevoh contracted the virus from the Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, who brought the disease into Nigeria. She was the person responsible for getting Sawyer tested after he denied he had Ebola symptoms.

Five others who contracted the disease from Sawyer have been discharged while two others remain in the isolation ward at a Lagos hospital.

She is the first doctor and the fourth Nigerian to have died from the Ebola virus.

Adadevoh comes from a family of Nigerian physicians and statesmen, with her grandmother being the daughter of Sir Herbert Samuel Macaulay, founder of Nigerian nationalism in the early 1940s.

Her death brings the total number of persons who have succumbed to the disease in Nigeria to five.

The outbreak has claimed 1,200 lives so far in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guniea and Nigeria.

Hot Shots Photos of the Day: Hamas Tunnel, Ferguson Protests, Beyonce Waxwork

A man is doused with milk and sprayed with mist after tear gas was fired by security forces trying to disperse demonstrators protesting against the shooting of unarmed black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri(Adrees Latif/Reuters)

A police officer bearing a "less lethal weapon" talks to a demonstrator protesting against the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri(Joshua Lott/Reuters)

Children gesture and chant, "Hands up, don't shoot" as their school bus drives past the scene where St Louis metropolitan police earlier shot and killed a man wielding a knife in the St Louis area(Lucas Jackson / Reuters)

John West, a resident of Ferguson, Missouri, hands a rose to a police officer, showing his appreciation with help in clean-up efforts(Mark Kauzlarich/Reuters)

A woman wearing a sign looks at her phone during a demonstration against police treatment of the predominantly African-American community in Ferguson(Lucas Jackson / Reuters)

A Palestinian fighter from the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, stands inside a tunnel. A rare tour that Hamas granted to a Reuters reporter, photographer and cameraman appeared to be an attempt to dispute Israel's claim that it had demolished all of the Islamist group's border infiltration tunnels(Reuters)

Palestinians flee their houses at the scene of what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike, in Gaza City(Reuters)

People stand inside a makeshift bomb shelter in the town of Makiyivka in eastern Ukraine(AFP)

Ten-year-old Saah Exco lies in a back alley of the West Point slum in Monrovia, Liberia. The boy was one of the patients pulled out of a holding centre for suspected Ebola patients when the facility was overrun by a mob on Saturday. A local clinic Tuesday refused to treat the boy, according to residents, because of the danger of infection(John Moore/Getty Images)

A month's worth of rain in one night triggered landslides that slammed into the outskirts of Hiroshima. Rain-sodden slopes collapsed in torrents of mud, rock and debris in least five valleys in the suburbs of the western Japanese city(Reuters)

Tracer bullets ricochet off their targets as Japanese Ground Self-Defence Force tanks fire their machine guns during a night session of an annual training exercise at Higashifuji training field near Mount Fuji in Gotemba, west of Tokyo(Reuters)

Competitors dive into the pool at the start of a women's 200m freestyle heat at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games(Reuters)

Cleaners abseil down one of the faces of Big Ben, to clean and polish the clock face. A week has been set aside for the cleaning of what is officially known as the Great Clock, which is set in the Elizabeth Tower above the Houses of Parliament in London(Reuters)

Workers begin demolishing one of Battersea Power Station's chimneys. The four iconic chimneys will be entirely rebuilt over the course of the next two years. The regeneration of the 42-acre Battersea Power Station site will see the construction of over 1,300 homes, a 160-room hotel and 350,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space(Getty)

Madame Tussauds unveil a new wax figure of Beyonce in Regent's Park, London(Getty)

Landslide Slams into Hiroshima, Western Japan After a Month's Rain Overnight

A month's worth of rain in one night triggered landslides that slammed into the outskirts of Hiroshima. Rain-sodden slopes collapsed in torrents of mud, rock and debris in least five valleys in the suburbs of the western Japanese city.

(Reuters)

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency, citing the local government, said 10 people were confirmed dead and another 22 were missing as of mid-afternoon. It said 19 people were injured, two seriously. Among those dug out of the debris were two brothers, aged 11 and two, whose house was struck as they slept.

"A few people were washed away and it is hard to know exactly how many are unaccounted for," said local government official Nakatoshi Okamoto, noting that the conditions in the disaster area were hindering efforts to account for all those affected.

(Reuters)

(Reuters)

(AFP)

(AFP)

(Reuters)

Houses had been pushed 100 metres by the force of the landslide in the worst-hit area, where thick, knee-high mud hampered rescue efforts.

Hillsides caved in or were swept down into residential areas after heavy rains left slopes unstable. "The rain was just pouring down and the street in front of my house turned into a river," a man in his 70s told national television NHK.

(Reuters)

(AFP)

(Reuters)

(AFP)

(AFP)

Landslides are a constant risk in mountainous, crowded Japan, where many homes are built on or near steep slopes. Cities in land-scarce Japan often expand into mountainous areas, leaving such development vulnerable to landslides.

Damage from land and mudslides has increased over the past few decades due to more frequent heavy rains, despite extensive work on stabilising slopes. In the past decade there have been nearly 1,200 landslides a year, according to the land ministry, up from an average of about 770 a year in the previous decade.

YOU MIGHT LIKE THISSponsored Content by Taboola

China Based Hacker Stole Crucial Data from MH370 Investigators a Day After Flight Went Missing

An expert hacker from China reportedly stole crucial data from MH370 investigators in Malaysia the day after the flight went missing.Samsul Said/Reuters

An expert hacker, allegedly from China, has stolen crucial data from the computers of the investigators probing the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370's disappearance the day after the airliner went missing.

The sophisticated hackers are believed to have sent malicious executable files morphed as news articles to several officials in various law enforcement agencies on 9 March, shortly after the jetliner went missing.

The hacked information was passed on to a computer in China before being detected by the authorities of the Cyber Security Malaysia, the cyber arm of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.

"We received reports from the administrators of the agencies telling us that their network was congested with e-mail going out of their servers," chief executive of the agency Amirudin Abdul Wahab told Malaysian daily the Star.

He said: "Those e-mail contained confidential data from the officials' computers, including the minutes of meetings and classified documents. Some of these were related to the MH370 investigation."

Malaysian law enforcement agencies are thought to be coordinating with the international police agency Interpol over the incident.

"This was well-crafted malware that antivirus programs couldn't detect. It was a very sophisticated attack," said the Malaysian official.

The fate of the vanished aircraft, with 239 people onboard, remains a mystery. The Kuala Lumpur-Beijing plane disappeared from all radars nearly 45 minutes after take-off. Various conspiracy theories have been swirling since then ranging from pilot suicide to terror attack to hijacking as the cause of the plane's loss.

Argentina Offers Voluntary Debt Swap to Pay Bond Holders Locally

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de KirchnerReuters

Argentina is looking to dodge a US court ruling that banned payments to its restructured debt holders by arranging a voluntary debt swap, as the country looks to emerge from its second default in 13 years.

President Cristina Fernández, said the country is aiming to service debt locally and allow bondholders to swap their debt issued under foreign law for bonds of the same value governed by local law.

The government would open an account at Banco de la Nación in Buenos Aires to make payments on its bonds, stopping services of its US intermediary bank, Bank of New York Mellon.

The proposed swap will be voluntary and the plan takes into account the holdout funds, who would get funds under the terms of the 2010 debt restructuring, according to Fernández.

"This is an option bondholders have. It's not an obligation because we can't impose obligations on them according to our contracts. Our contractual obligation is to always guarantee that they can collect," she said.

The government is seeking approval from the congress for the plans.

Already being in recession, Argentina has been looking to repair its economy attracting finances from the international capital market. In a major blow to its reputation, the country fell into a technical default as a result of a dispute with some holdout creditors.

The country has been engaged in a long legal battle with hedge funds led by Elliott Management and Aurelius, which refused to take part in the country's debt restructuring. About 92% of the country's creditors agreed to swap debts and accept less money.

The holdout funds later sued the government for full payment.

US Judge Thomas Griesa had earlier ruled in favour of the so-called vulture funds, barring Argentina from paying the holders of its restructured debt unless it pays the hedge funds. He has also blocked Argentina's coupon payment to restructured bondholders through Bank of New York Mellon.

The country's settlement talks with the holdout creditors failed and it ended up defaulting on its debt at the end of July.