1 Islamic State ‘beheads’ US hostage (Frank Gardner
on BBC) An Islamic State video has appeared which purports to show the
beheading of Steven Sotloff, a US journalist being held hostage by the
militants. Mr Sotloff, 31, was abducted in Syria in 2013. He appeared at the end
of a video last month which showed fellow US journalist James Foley being
killed. A militant in the latest video also threatens to kill a British
hostage.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said US officials
were checking the reports. The US has recently carried out dozens of air
strikes against IS targets in Iraq. President Barack Obama has ordered the
deployment of another 350 troops to Baghdad to protect US diplomatic
facilities, the White House has said.
This second execution video from IS is significant,
even though it was largely expected and dreaded. It shows that the recent US
air strikes which have halted IS's lightning advance across northern Iraq are
causing the organisation real damage, upsetting its plans to extend by force
its rule into Kurdistan.
Unable to hit back militarily against America's
jets, Islamic State has responded with a form of information warfare that it
knows will horrify most people in the West. Secondly, by threatening to murder
a British hostage, IS shows it makes little or no distinction between the US
and Britain as its enemy. This is despite Britain so far restricting itself to
dropping aid to refugees and flying in supplies to the Kurdish military,
leaving air strikes to the Americans.
2 US backs democracy for Hong Kong (Straits Times) Hong
Kong pro-democracy activists have admitted that they are powerless to overturn
Beijing's refusal to grant them full voting rights, but the US threw its weight
behind the protesters, courting China's wrath.
Activist leaders had promised a new "era of
civil disobedience" after Beijing crushed hopes for full democracy on
Sunday, ruling that only pre-vetted candidates will be able to run for
leadership of the semi-autonomous city in 2017.
But organisers from the pro-democracy group Occupy
Central, who have vowed to take over the city streets, acceded defeat on
Tuesday - even though they said the protest would still go ahead. "We have
to admit the fact that up to this point it is quite unrealistic to think that
our action will change the decision made by Beijing," Occupy Central
co-founder Chan Kin-Man said.
3 Online shopping on mobiles in UK overtakes desktop
(The Guardian) Visits to retail websites via mobile devices have overtaken
desktop traffic for the first time. Some 52% of visits were made via a mobile,
while 36% of UK online sales are now completed on a smartphone or tablet device
– rising to 40% for clothing sellers, the latest IMRG Capgemini Quarterly
Benchmarking Report has revealed.
Of sales completed on a mobile device, smartphones
account for around 18% and tablets 82%. IMRG chief information officer Tina
Spooner said: "With over half of all e-retail traffic now coming via
smartphones and tablet devices, the latest results reveal a huge landmark in
the growth of mobile commerce. "Considering that as recently as 2010
mobile visits to e-retail sites accounted for less than 3% of traffic, this
latest milestone represents staggering growth of 2,000% over the past four
years."
Capgemini digital services leader and vice president
Alex Smith-Bingham said: "As retailers further develop their m-commerce
platforms and as the technology becomes increasingly more sophisticated, we'll
see the role of the desktop in our day-to-day shopping cycle diminish.
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