BEIRUT: Islamic State group jihadists have released hundreds of civilians used as human shields while fleeing a crumbling stronghold in northern Syria, but the fate of others remained unknown Saturday.

The last remaining IS fighters abandoned Manbij near the Turkish border on Friday after a rout that the Pentagon said showed the extremists were "on the ropes".

The retreat from the city, which IS captured in 2014, marked the jihadists' worst defeat yet at the hands of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an Arab-Kurdish alliance supported by US air strikes.

Fleeing jihadists took around 2,000 civilians, including women and children, on Friday to ward off air strikes as they headed to the IS-held frontier town of Jarabulus, according to the SDF.

At least some of the civilians were later released or escaped, the alliance said on Saturday, but the whereabouts of the rest was unknown.

"There are no more IS fighters" left in Manbij, an SDF member said.

Kurdish television showed footage of jubilant civilians in Manbij, including smiling mothers who had shed their veils and women embracing Kurdish fighters.

A woman burned a black robe that the jihadists had forced residents to wear, while men who had lived for weeks under a shaving ban cut their beards with scissors.

Philip Hammond is to guarantee billions of pounds of UK government investment after Brexit for projects currently funded by the EU, including science grants and agricultural subsidies.

The chancellor’s funding commitment is designed to give a boost to the economy in what he expects to be a difficult period after the surprise result of the EU referendum in June.

The Treasury is expected to continue its funding beyond the UK’s departure from the EU for all structural and investment fund projects, as long as they are agreed before the autumn statement. If a project obtains EU funding after that, an assessment process by the Treasury will determine whether funding should be guaranteed by the UK government post-Brexit.

Current levels of agriculture funding will also be guaranteed until 2020, when the Treasury says there will be a “transition to new domestic arrangements”.

Universities and researchers will have funds guaranteed for research bids made directly to the European commission, including bids to the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, an €80bn (£69bn) pot for science and innovation. The Treasury says it will underwrite the funding awards, even when projects continue post-Brexit.

Hammond said the government recognised the need to assuage fears in industry and in the science and research sectors that funding would be dramatically reduced post-Brexit.

“We recognise that many organisations across the UK which are in receipt of EU funding, or expect to start receiving funding, want reassurance about the flow of funding they will receive,” he said. “The government will also match the current level of agricultural funding until 2020, providing certainty to our agricultural community, who play a vital role in our country.”

The chancellor added: “We are determined to ensure that people have stability and certainty in the period leading up to our departure from the EU and that we use the opportunities that departure presents to determine our own priorities.”

One key funding pot that it had been claimed was at risk was the EU Peace programme in Northern Ireland, a community development project to help victims of the conflict.

The pledge to fund EU programmes in the UK until 2020 was made during the referendum campaign by senior figures in the leave camp, including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove. However, academics have said that EU programmes for research have benefits that go beyond funding, including international collaboration opportunities and mobility for researchers.

According to the Treasury, EU funding for a range of projects amounted to more than £4.5bn in 2014-15, with businesses and universities winning a further £1.5bn through competitive bids.

During the referendum campaign, concerns were raised that the government would be unable or unwilling to compensate bodies for the loss of money from Brussels when Britain eventually leaves the EU. Hammond’s spending pledge is an attempt to allay those fears and at the same time head off the threat of recession.

Hammond’s commitment comes after Liam Fox’s Department for International Trade was forced to delete a confusing statement posted on its website, which appeared to announce that the UK would continue to trade with the EU under World Trade Organisation rules post-Brexit “until any new trade deals are negotiated”.

Businesses have previously warned that trading under WTO rules would be disastrous, meaning the imposition of steep tariffs on goods exported to the EU, including 10% on cars and 12% on clothing.

Chuka Umunna, the Labour MP who chairs the Vote Leave Watch campaign group, said being forced to trade under WTO rules would be “a hammer blow for the British economy, and would demonstrate once and for all the hollow nature of Vote Leave’s promises”. The department said the post had been issued in error.

The Treasury is keen to support the Bank of England in its attempts to stimulate activity and the chancellor has already said he will “reset” fiscal policy – taxation and public spending – in his autumn statement if he deems it necessary.

Hammond hopes that the guarantee to continue funding EU-backed projects will ensure a flurry of activity over the coming months, thus providing a boost to both demand and confidence. The government is also aware that much of the EU money spent in Britain goes to help poorer parts of the country, which voted for Brexit in the referendum.

Treasury policy has shifted markedly since the period before the referendum, when then chancellor George Osborne warned that leaving the EU would lead to a recession that would force him to impose savings of £30bn in an emergency budget.

Since 23 June, the emergency budget has been ditched, plans to put the public finances into the black by the end of this parliament have been scrapped, and hints have been dropped of higher spending on infrastructure to be announced in the autumn statement.

British scientists receive around £1bn annually from the EU, including through Horizon 2020. In leaving the EU, British access to those funds will be a matter for debate.

Already the ramifications of the Brexit vote have been felt. Jo Johnson, minister of state for universities and science, told scientists in June that “the referendum result has no immediate effect on those applying to or participating in Horizon 2020. UK researchers and businesses can continue to apply to the programme in the usual way.”

However, those in British academic institutions paint a very different picture. Since Britain voted to leave the EU, a number of scientists have revealed that they have been asked to leave existing collaborations for fear that the British share of project funding was at risk, while others say they have been excluded from taking part in new bids.

Andrew Graham, co-founder of OC Robotics in Bristol, said the news would be a huge reassurance to European colleagues and partners in consortia bidding for European commission funding that having a UK partner in those projects would not be a risk to the project.

“I and my colleagues have been campaigning hard for an assurance like that,” he said. “There have been some instances of clear reluctance on the part of some partners in those consortia – this should do a great deal to allay any fears they have about what having a UK partner means for the project. It’s fantastic news for a great many small and medium-sized enterprises and academic institutions across the country.”

Alistair Jarvis, deputy chief executive of Universities UK, said the pledge would offer “much-needed stability for British universities during the transition period as the UK exits the EU, and provide an important signal to European researchers that they can continue to collaborate with their UK colleagues as they have before”.

Jarvis added that the next stage would be to address the uncertainty faced by EU students considering applying to British universities. He said the government needed to “confirm that those beginning courses before we exit the EU will be subject to current fees levels and financial support arrangements for the duration of their course”.

Dashcam footage and audio recordings showing a police officer allegedly shooting a man three times from point blank range, and then planting a knife on his body, have been put to a Melbourne court.

Leading Senior Constable Timothy Howard Baker, 44, is accused of murdering Vlado Micetic, 46, on August 25, 2013, after pulling him over for a routine traffic stop on Union Street in Windsor.

The Crown alleges Mr Baker killed Mr Micetic before taking a small flick-knife from his own pocket and putting it near the body.

The video was shown on the first day of Mr Baker's committal hearing at the Melbourne Magistrates Court, during which a magistrate must decide whether Mr Baker will stand trial for murder.

From his unmarked police car, Mr Baker saw Mr Micetic and a female passenger driving in a car with stolen plates. He flicked on the lights and sirens, and Mr Micetic pulled over and got out.

The police dashcam footage is grainy, and the figures are illuminated only by the police car's headlights. It was played to a full court including many supporters of Mr Micetic.

What goes on in the dark and grainy footage will be key to the hearing.

Mr Baker appears to struggle to restrain and handcuff Mr Micetic, before Mr Micetic falls to the ground.

Mr Micetic then gets up, and the two men go out of view of the camera before three shots are heard.

Audio from Mr Baker's voice recorder during the attempted arrest was also played. The officer tells Mr Micetic "Do as you're told. I don't want to use force... Do it until I figure out what's going on".

"Put your hands behind your back. You've done this before,"

Mr Micetic later says "What are you doing this for? You're going to get in trouble. You're going to lose your job."

The court heard Mr Baker later told police he had wrestled with Mr Micetic, who was resisting arrest.

"We wrestled and I saw the knife. I had the spray out, but it was too close to use. I had my gun out and yeah," Crown Prosecutor Andrew Tinney told the court Mr Baker had said to police.

He said there was "nothing to suggest" Mr Baker had ever reached for his canister of pepper spray, and described Mr Baker's story about the knife as a "fabrication".

"During the entire time Mr Micetic was in view [of the camera] ... There was nothing to indicate that [Mr Micetic] reached his hand into his pocket or any other part of clothing. At no time could he be seen to be in possession of a knife," the prosecutor told the court.

"At no time before shooting did the accused say anything about the deceased's possession of a knife."

Analysis had been carried out on Mr Baker's audio recorder, and a specialist had discovered a sound like a flick-knife being opened – a full 15 seconds after the first gunshot was fired, the prosecutor told the court.

The knife had a mixed DNA profile on it, but part of that profile likely included Mr Baker's DNA, the prosecutor said.

During cross-examination of witnesses, the court heard that Mr Micetic drank a large amount of whisky on the day he was killed, and was very intoxicated when he was arrested.

One of Mr Micetic's relatives also told the court he kept several knives at his property. He suffered from paranoia and schizophrenia, the relative told the court.

But the relative denied the suggestion by Mr Baker's counsel that Mr Micetic's nickname was "knifeman".

The European Commission’s budget and human resources chief said Wednesday she would order a “freeze” on the hiring of men in the institution unless some of its departments gave more top jobs to women.

Kristalina Georgieva, a Commission vice president who is sometimes referred to as the EU executive body’s chief operating officer, has sought to increase the number of women in senior positions in the institution to 40 percent by 2019. But after a meeting of commissioners Wednesday at which she presented a report on progress toward that goal, she said more needed to be done.

“My determination is that if it is necessary, I will freeze appointments,” Georgieva told POLITICO. “Some departments have to reach their targets, and if they don’t, sanctions are coming.”

Georgieva said that currently about 30 percent of Commission senior managers and 33 percent of middle managers are women. She said that many Commission departments, including for communication, home affairs, justice, research and innovation, had hit the 40 percent target. However, the Commission is far behind its targets in several powerful departments, including competition, environment, single market and the EU’s anti-fraud office.

Britain could borrow nearly 65 billion pounds more than planned in the next couple of years as new Chancellor Philip Hammond seeks to 'reset' government budget policy to ease the shock of last month's vote to leave the European Union.

Ratings agencies and economists widely expect borrowing to rise materially next year for the first time since 2010, as Hammond has to call time - temporarily - on the austerity which dominated his predecessor George Osborne's six years in office.

After taking office two weeks ago, Hammond said the darker post-Brexit outlook meant policies the Conservative government had pursued since 2010 needed to change - and economists are now starting to put numbers on what this might mean.

Hammond told reporters on Sunday the scale of any stimulus would hinge on how rapidly the economy was slowing by the time of the Autumn Statement, the half-yearly budget update that usually comes in late November or early December.

"There is going to need to be a rethink," said Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a non-partisan think-tank which scrutinises the public finances.

Just sticking with the plans Osborne set out in March means borrowing is likely to overshoot its target by tens of billions of pounds as tax revenues fall and spending on social security for the low-paid and unemployed rises, Johnson said.

Several economists - working partly off rules of thumb from Britain's budget watchdog - estimate on average that borrowing this tax year and next combined will be almost 65 billion pounds above forecast, even if the economy dodges recession. They did not forecast further out because of uncertainty over the economy and the government's budget plans.

Total public borrowing in 2015/16 was 75 billion pounds - a hefty 4 percent of GDP. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast in March it would drop to 55.5 billion pounds this year and 38.8 billion in 2017/18.

By contrast, Sam Hill, an economist at Royal Bank of Canada, expects weaker growth alone will stop borrowing falling this year, and see it rise to 85 billion pounds next year - double March's forecast.

"The numbers could get even bigger than that – and I think there's a good chance that they do," Hill said.

Hammond has said the Bank of England will be the first public body to offer stimulus if needed - possibly as soon as its meeting next week - but there will be greater pressure than before on the finance ministry to act too.

Unlike when Britain last entered recession in 2008, interest rates and government bond yields are already at a record low, limiting the BoE's scope to boost growth through rate cuts or quantitative easing.

Britain's situation now has some parallels with Japan, where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered his government to take advantage of ultra-low interest rates to unveil a large spending package by the end of the month to spur investment.

STIMULUS CHOICES

If Hammond does offer more stimulus, he will have to choose how to spend it.

Long-term public investment offers the biggest boost per pound spent, according to the OBR, giving three times the return of tax cuts, and 50 percent more than general public spending.

Its main downside is that effective projects take more time than tax cuts or public-sector pay rises, which immediately put more money in Britons' pockets.

But Johnson and Hill say the case for investment is stronger than in a normal short-lived downturn, as uncertainty about Britain's EU relations could weigh on the economy for years due to the likely length of exit negotiations.

Public investment has also been squeezed, dropping to 34 billion pounds last year from 51 billion in 2009/10.

In March, the government listed 425 billion pounds of investment projects which needed private involvement, ranging from offshore wind farms to high-speed rail links.

If a more immediate boost was needed, tax measures which rewarded business investment would be a better option than repeating 2009's temporary cut in value-added tax, as business spending appears weaker than consumer sentiment.

NEW RULE, OLD RULE

There is no sense that Hammond or the finance ministry have a fixed figure in mind for how much borrowing would be too much.

Earlier this month, he said the low cost of borrowing meant it had "great attractions" to fund investment, but that Britain needed to be careful about the signal it gave financial markets.

Last week he told parliament he wanted a clear framework to achieve "fiscal balance" in a reasonable time frame.

Hammond may be tempted to revert to the rule Osborne devised in 2010, which gave him a reputation as a fiscal hawk but in practice allowed lots of back-sliding when the recovery faltered in 2011 and 2012.

This rule was monitored by the OBR and required the government to target a budget surplus within five years. But this surplus did not include investment spending - an exemption Osborne made little use of - and also allowed adjustments for economic weakness annual extensions to the surplus deadline.

This could give Hammond upwards of 40 billion pounds a year of discretionary spending to play with - equivalent to an annual stimulus of 2 percent - and still allow Hammond to claim to be as prudent as his predecessor, RBC's Hill said.

"It's got the hallmarks of a political compromise which he might find appealing," Hill said.

Markets were unlikely to baulk at funding a large British budget deficit at a time when even record-low gilt yields were much higher than those for Japanese and German debt, he added.

Higher borrowing, however, could only be a temporary solution until the longer-run impact of leaving the EU became clear, the IFS's Johnson said.

"If you borrow more now, you have to pay it back in the end. That will inevitably extend austerity – but with a break in the middle," he said.

Donald Trump comes out of his convention ahead of Hillary Clinton in the race for the White House, topping her 44% to 39% in a four-way matchup including Gary Johnson (9%) and Jill Stein (3%) and by three points in a two-way head-to-head, 48% to 45%. That latter finding represents a 6-point convention bounce for Trump, which are traditionally measured in two-way matchups.

There hasn't been a significant post-convention bounce in CNN's polling since 2000. That year Al Gore and George W. Bush both boosted their numbers by an identical 8 points post-convention before ultimately battling all the way to the Supreme Court.

National polls don't have a large enough sample to accurately reflect the state of play in key battlegrounds, and there is little information thus far on how Trump's convention performance has affected the presidential race state-by-state.

The new findings mark Trump's best showing in a CNN/ORC Poll against Clinton since September 2015. Trump's new edge rests largely on increased support among independents, 43% of whom said that Trump's convention in Cleveland left them more likely to back him, while 41% were dissuaded. Pre-convention, independents split 34% Clinton to 31% Trump, with sizable numbers behind Johnson (22%) and Stein (10%). Now, 46% say they back Trump, 28% Clinton, 15% Johnson and 4% Stein.