Amnesty International have provided photographic and witness evidence that between 2011 and 2015 Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, 51, authorised the torture and execution by hanging of up to 13,000 civilian political prisoners.

Torture condoned by Assad to punish opponents and crush dissent included beatings, burnings with acid and electricity and starvation, before victims were taken to a basement and hanged in batches of 50. Bodies were then taken to hospitals where doctors were forced, under threat of death, to issue death certificates stating the victims had died of natural causes.

Britain’s foreign secretary Boris Johnson said he was sickened by the Amnesty evidence, and that Assad “has no future” as the leader of Syria.

Another one hundred football clubs have been named in Operation Hydrant, the police investigation looking at cases of sex abuse in football, an increase of nearly 60%.on the December 21 2016 figure of 148 clubs. Also up is the number of victims, from 429 on December 21 to 526 on Jan 13, an increase of nearly 23%, and the number of suspects, up from 155 to 184. According to the NSPCC the figures span all tiers of football.

Although some of the abuses took place in other sports the majority were connected with football clubs, with such as Queens Park Rangers, Leyton Orient, Charlton and Millwall being named, along with London Premier League club Chelsea.

Ex-England football captain David Beckham has been accused of using his work for charity as part of a campaign to win a knighthood after emails between himself and his PR advisor were hacked by Football Leaks, via European media.

Emails between the two also suggest that Beckham’s appearance on the Jonathan Ross Show, where Ross opined that Beckham should get a knighthood, was staged with the agreement of Ross. And also revealed is that the reason Beckham was passed over for his expected knighthood was his participation in aggressive tax avoidance schemes, similar to those profitable for fellow footballer Gary Lineker.

Extreme internet pornography is being blamed for the doubling of criminal convictions for rape by those aged under 17 in the last four years.

Recent cases include a 12 year-old boy who repeatedly raped his younger sister after becoming fascinated by internet pornography related to incest, and an 11 year-old boy who admitted seven counts of rape and sexual assault on boys aged under 13, attacks fuelled by viewing explicit images.

Last year a report from the NSPCC and the Children’s Commission for England revealed that 94% of children had viewed pornographic images by the time they were 14, and that more than 50% of boys aged 11 to 16 believed they were realistic depictions of sex.

The married head of the Care4Calais charity set up to help migrants had an affair with one, despite preaching that her charity’s strict policy was “no relationships with migrants”.

Claire Moseley, 46, had a year-long affair at the Jungle camp with Tunisian Mohamed Baijjar, 27, which ended when he allegedly threatened to send photographs of them together to her husband. Continue reading →

Shelter has revealed that two London families an hour are made homeless.

The charity has predicted that 1260 families in the capital will lose their home in the next month, underlining the case for more affordable homes to be built. Westminster council, which currently houses 3% of its homeless families outside London has said that, due to welfare cuts and the lack of cheaper housing in the capital it is considering housing as far away as Coventry.

An opera singer is donating some of the profits from the sales of her CD to the Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis charity after her 78 year-old father was diagnosed with the incurable lung disease, which kills 5,000 people a year, and with sufferers only expected to live for three years.

Mezzo-soprano Emily Estelle is sending out copies of her crossover album of classical and popular songs sung in an operatic style, Rise Above, with leaflets about the disease.

The donations website JustGiving has been accused of greed as figures reveal that it makes £20 million a year and pays one of its founders a package of nearly £200,000 a year from donor’s generosity. (Daily Mail)

Its cut of around 6% compares badly with that taken by other similar donation websites, with only £11.74 reaching the charity from a £10 donation (including added Gift Aid) compared with £12.15 from Virgin Money Giving and £12.37 from My Donate from BT.

Given that millions of donors value the convenience of giving through a website isn’t it time for the charity sector to set one up itself, on a not-for -profit basis?

Just a thought…