Question: Terrorists are taking out student loans and cheating the welfare system to bankroll jihad overseas, a senior police officer warned last night. Terri Nicholson, of the Met’s counter-terrorism command, said charity scams were also being used to fund Islamic State fanatics in Syria. ‘We are seeing diverse fraud including substantial fraud online, abuse of the benefits system, abuse of student loans, in order to fund terrorism,’ she said. Terrorists are also turning to online fraud and are using some forms of internet currency to transfer money abroad to fund jihadist groups, according to police. ‘We have had a number of cases in recent times where student loans have been abused to fund both crime and terrorism. ‘We have seen some cases where virtual currency is being considered and used by both criminals and terrorists. And so we are increasing our understanding of the abuse of those methods.’ The Detective Chief Superintendent said women were increasingly being deployed to take the money overseas because they arouse less suspicion. ‘It is far better in many cases to use somebody who is not known to law enforcement, and females absolutely are used by both criminals and terrorists alike to move funds,’ she said. She urged the public to be careful when donating to charities to ensure their money is not diverted by ‘undesirable individuals’. In the past 18 months, police in London have seized £2.5million of donations destined for criminal and terrorist gangs. Miss Nicholson’s intervention came amid continued fallout from the Intelligence and Security Committee’s report into the Lee Rigby atrocity. His sister, Sara McLure, said she ‘blamed’ Facebook for the fact MI5 failed to prevent his appalling murder at the hands of Michael Adebowale and Michael Adebolajo at Woolwich Barracks. As the Mail reported yesterday, the social networking site hosted ‘graphic and emotive’ messages by Adebowale in which he revealed his grotesque wish to ‘kill a soldier’. The new warning comes amid fallout from the report into the killing of Lee Rigby (left) after it emerged that Facebook failed to report messages from Michael Adebowale (right) about wanting to 'kill a soldier' In ‘substantial’ online exchanges with an Al Qaeda extremist codenamed FOXTROT, the Muslim convert received advice on how to carry out an assault and was instructed to use a knife – one of the weapons used to hack Fusilier Rigby to death in May last year. But Facebook did not alert MI5 to the messages, which were not detected by its automated software and only emerged after the murder in May last year. It also failed to tell the security services it had already disabled seven of Adebowale’s accounts – five for links to terrorism. The ISC report also criticised MI5 and MI6 for blunders made while tracking Adebowale and Adebolajo.
What are the important parts of this article?
Important parts: Online fraud and internet currency being used to funnel money abroad. Students loans and government benefits being handed to Syrian terrorists. Women are being used to smuggle cash as they arouse less suspicion.

Question: By. David Kent. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has cast doubt over the possibility of a Premier League player being able to reveal they are gay during their playing career. Former Aston Villa, West Ham and Everton midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger revealed he was gay in January but he waited until the end of his playing career before going public with the news. Coming out: Thomas Hitzlsperger (right) waited until the end of his playing career before revealing he was gay. Wenger says the inevitable scrutiny that would be put on an active player if they came out might discourage them from doing so. 'Because of media interest, maybe no-one will come out,' Wenger told Arsenal magazine. 'He (Hitzlsperger) could not come out during his career which means we still have some progress to make in our game. 'Hitzlsperger should not have had to wait until the end. Debate: Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says football still has progress to make on the issue. 'But overall he should not have to come out at all because it should just be considered like anything else. 'It would be good if four, five, six people come out and after that nobody speaks about it anymore because they just think it is people who live their life like they want to live it. 'I think football is there to provoke moments of happiness, excitement and positive experiences in people, no matter where they come from, what colour skin they have, what religion they are or what their preferred sexuality is. 'It's very sad that some people think that this sport should only be reserved for those who have certain characteristics.'
What are the important parts of this article?
Important parts:
Thomas Hitzlsperger waited until the end of his playing career before revealing he was gay. Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says the inevitable scrutiny might discourage footballers from coming out.