Apple iWatch To Be Unveiled At iPhone 6 Launch

Apple is set to reveal its next big thing later - tipped to be a smartwatch equipped to monitor health, help manage homes and even buy merchandise.

The smartwatch, which analysts have already dubbed the iWatch, will be Apple's first new product since the iPad almost four and a half years ago.

The computer and software giant is also expected to confirm an updated iPhone model, running the new iOS 8 operating system.

The unveiling will take place at 6pm (BST) at the Flint Centre in Cupertino, California, where Steve Jobs launched the first Mac computer in 1984.

Tents outside the Apple store in London's Regent Street. Pic: Patrick Law

Some 2,500 people have been invited to watch CEO Tim Cook - Steve Job's successor - take to the stage to unveil Apple's latest offerings.

Excited tech fans have already started queuing outside Apple stores to buy the iPhone 6.

The device expected to have a 4.7-inch (12cm) screen feature, compared with a 4-inch (10cm) display on the models released in the past two years.

The new iPhone will be 'bigger and better', it is rumoured

There has been speculation that Apple may also offer an iPhone model with a 5.5-inch (14cm) screen.

As well as a bigger screen, the latest iPhone will reportedly include a mobile wallet feature that will allow users to pay for goods in shops and stores - similar to a contactless payment card.

The iOS 8 operating system will also include two features called HealthKit and HomeKit that are designed to turn Apple's products into a suite of digital servants.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is under pressure to keep innovating

They will do everything from monitoring a person's eating habits and exercise routines to turning on the coffee maker in the morning and turning off the lights at night.

Apple has sold more than 500 million iPhones since the device was first launched in 2007, making it one of its biggest earners.

However, competition from Android devices such as Google, Samsung and HTC has seen the company's market share fall in recent years

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UK To Send Machine Guns And Ammo To Iraq

Britain is sending £1.6m of military kit, including heavy machine guns, to Iraq to help fight Islamic State militants.

Announcing the decision in a written statement, Michael Fallon, the Secretary of State for Defence, said the equipment would be used for "alleviating the humanitarian suffering of those Iraqis" targeted by IS terrorists, also known as ISIL and ISIS.

Mr Fallon said the move followed a request from the Iraq government and would include the Kurdish regional government.

"The Kurdish forces remain significantly less well equipped than ISIL and we are responding to help them defend themselves, protect citizens and push back ISIL advances," he said.

PKK fighters in Turkey last year

However, there have been concerns that the weaponry could end up in the hands of the paramilitary group the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought a 30-year insurgency in neighbouring Turkey in an attempt to establish a separate Kurdish state.

The PKK is on the UK Government's proscribed list and is also considered a terrorist organisation by the US, the European Union and Nato.

Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cvusolglu, said: "The weapons sent (to Iraq) should not end up in the hands of terrorist organisations. They should not end up in the hands of the PKK."

He added that Turkey had voiced its concerns during the Nato summit in Wales last week and said: "It may not be possible to control where these weapons will go."

The decades-long insurgency in the southeast of Turkey has cost 40,000 lives. 

Iraq's new Prime Minister Haider al Abadi

There had been speculation Britain could join US-led airstrikes against IS fighters in Iraq, however, David Cameron has promised a House of Commons vote before direct military intervention.

On Monday Barack Obama held talks with Iraq's new Prime Minister Haider al Abadi to discuss the fight against Islamic State militants.

Iraq's parliament has now officially named Mr al Abadi as the country's Prime Minister and approved most of his proposed candidates for cabinet roles, including members of the country's minority Sunni and Kurdish communities.

The West has been pushing Iraq for a more representative government that will ease anger among Sunnis who felt marginalised by former prime minister Nouri al Maliki and his administration.

The anger among Sunnis has helped to fuel the seizure of territory by the IS across much of north and western Iraq since June.

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Flight MH17 Downed By 'High-Energy Objects'

Crash investigators say flight MH17 was probably downed by "a large number of high-energy objects".

An initial report by the Dutch Safety Board, which is leading the investigation into the July 17 disaster, found it likely the Malaysia Airlines plane broke up in the air as a result of "structural damage", caused by the items which "penetrated the aircraft from outside".

The fuselage of the passenger plane had numerous puncture holes

Available images showed pieces of the aircraft fuselage were pierced in numerous places, while the pattern of wreckage on the ground, scattered over a large area, indicated it had broken up in flight.

This would also explain the abrupt end to the recording of flight data on the plane's black boxes, the loss of contact with air traffic control, and the plane's disappearance from radar.

Penetration marks on the MH17 fuselage

The report said: "There are no indications that the MH17 crash was caused by a technical fault or by actions of the crew."

All 298 passengers and crew on board the plane were killed when the aircraft, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur over an area in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

Following the publication of the report, the rebels denied they had the military equipment capable of bringing down a passenger plane.

Wreckage was scattered over a large area indicating it broke up in flight

But the preliminary findings are consistent with the claims it had been hit by a ground-to-air missile.

Tjibbe Joustra, chairman of the Dutch Safety Board, said: "The MH17 crash has shocked the world and raised many questions.

"The Dutch Safety Board wishes to determine the cause of the crash, for the sake of the loved ones of the victims and for society at large.

Newcastle fans Liam Sweeney and John Alder were among the victims

"The initial results of the investigation point towards an external cause of the MH17 crash.

"More research will be necessary to determine the cause with greater precision.

"The Safety Board believes that additional evidence will become available for investigation in the period ahead."

The body aims to publish its final report into the crash by next July.

Only 193 of those on board the Malaysia Airlines jet have been positively identified, including Newcastle United fans Liam Sweeney, 28, and John Alder, 63, who were travelling to New Zealand to watch their team play.

A memorial in Kuala Lumpur to the victims of both MH17 and MH370

Forensic teams are still trying to identify remains found in the wreckage of the aircraft.

Most of those on board were Dutch, but there were also people from Malaysia, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, New Zealand, the Philippines and the UK.

The crash occurred just months after the still-unexplained disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in March.

The airliner disappeared with 239 people aboard - 153 of them Chinese - after flying far off course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

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Cigarette DNA Frees Woman Over 1976 Killing

A woman who has spent 30 years in custody for a killing will be released from prison and granted a new trial based on recently discovered DNA evidence.

Cathy Woods, 64, was convicted of the 1976 killing 19-year-old Michelle Mitchell on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno.

The victim was found with her throat slashed in a garage across from the university car park.

Her lawyer says new genetic evidence on a cigarette butt ties the killing to a man currently serving time for an unrelated case.

Victim Michelle Mitchell was found with her throat slashed

The cigarette butt was collected in the car park, and the lawyer says it matches that of the inmate, Rodney L Halbower, 66.

Washoe District Judge Patrick Flanagan ordered a retrial and set the date for July 13, 2015.

The judge also ordered Woods to be released.

Rodney L Halbower is being held in Oregon over an unrelated case

"We are delighted that Cathy gets to go home and we get to try to prove to the rest of the world she was innocent all along," lawyer Maizie Pusich said after the hearing.

"No DNA found at the Michelle Mitchell crime scene belongs to Cathy Woods."

The genetic material has also linked Halbower to at least two of five unsolved killings in the San Francisco Bay Area known as the Gypsy Hill murders, which are currently being probed by an FBI task force.

While under psychiatric care at Louisiana State University Medical Center, Woods acknowledged killing Mitchell but later recanted.

Her final conviction in the case was in 1985.

Her lawyer said Woods does not remember acknowledging the killing after she was committed to the mental hospital by her mother for reasons unrelated to any crime.

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Oscar Pistorius Trial: Verdict Due This Week

By Paul Harrison, Sky News Correspondent

The judge in the trial of Oscar Pistorius will this week deliver her verdicts in a case that has captivated the world.

For six months a Pretoria court has sought the truth behind what happened on the night the athlete shot his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, through the locked toilet door at his home.

The state claims the couple had rowed in the early hours of Valentine's Day last year and that Pistorius shot his girlfriend deliberately.

Pistorius admits shooting Ms Steenkamp, but insists he mistook her for an intruder and fired in self-defence.

In a first for South Africa the entire case has been televised. While the audio of the testimony was broadcast, witnesses were given the option not to appear on camera.

Pistorius, once South Africa's golden boy, spent seven days on the witness stand giving his version of events.

Pistorius says he mistook Ms Steenkamp for an intruder

Under the guiding hand of his lawyer Barry Roux, an emotional Pistorius explained his fear of intruders had been entrenched from an early age.

"Everyone in South Africa has been exposed to crime at some point and we had many house break-ins," he told Judge Masipa.

"My home had been broken into in 2005, and a TV and laptop had been stolen. I've been followed home late at night and I've been shot at on the highway."

A double amputee since the age of one, Pistorius told the court he heard a noise and, fearing it was an intruder, armed himself and moved towards the bathroom.

"I perceived it as someone coming out of the toilet and before I knew it I'd fired four shots at the door," he told the court.

"I walked up to the bathroom door, it was locked. I ran back to the bedroom and shouted 'help, help, help' from the balcony."

"I then ran straight up to the (toilet) door and began hitting it. All I wanted to do was look inside and see if it was Reeva.

"I sat over Reeva and cried, I don't know how long I was there for … She wasn't breathing."

While a degree of Pistorius' defence centres around their belief the police contaminated the scene, tainting much of the evidence, the state argues the athlete's version of events is implausible and littered with inconsistencies.

Pistorius speaks in court with his lawyer Barry Roux

During a five-day cross examination at the hands of prosecutor Gerrie Nel, Pistorius was asked how it was possible not to have seen Ms Steenkamp walk towards the bathroom.

Pistorius had begun with an apology to Ms Steenkamp's family.

"I don't know how she got up out of bed, I was in close proximity to her, but I didn't see her get out of bed … It was pitch black and she was behind me so it's not strange at all."

During the trial the court was shown exclusive Sky News footage of Pistorius at a shooting range firing at a watermelon.

The prosecution appeared to be painting the Paralympian as not only someone comfortable using guns, but who was obsessed by them.

Other footage obtained by Sky News showed the couple on a shop's CCTV flirting and kissing 10 days before Pistorius brought the relationship to an abrupt and bloody end.

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Woman In Cage Said To Be Abductors' Sex Slave

The woman kept in a cage for two months was raped so that the couple holding her captive could force her to have a baby, says the man who rescued her.

The possible motive for Joelle Lockwood's capture emerged as the two suspects were charged with rape, criminal confinement, kidnapping and other felonies in an Indiana court.

They have been identified as Kendra Tooley, 44, and her boyfriend, Ricky Roy House Jr, 37.  

Joelle Lockwood was captured on July 9. Pic: Facebook/Find Joelle Lockwood

"The whole time they were talking about a baby," said Ron Higgs, who is Tooley's ex-husband and was shocked to find the captive when he paid a visit to the couple last week.

He freed her on Saturday and police moved in to arrest the couple at the weekend.

Mr Higgs quoted the couple as telling him: "She's not leaving here until she has the baby. I'm not selling her. You're not taking her. You're not doing nothing."

According to Mr Higgs, Ms Lockwood told him she was being raped.

Mr Higgs said his ex-wife can no longer have children and House does not have any.

"So I figured -  I hate to say this to the public or even her even hearing it - but I think they were just going to have a baby and just … We'd never see her again," Higgs said.

Posey County chief deputy sheriff Tom Latham said Ms Lockwood was also forced to cook and clean, and she was given little food and water.

"It was pretty much modernised slavery in my eyes," he told the AP news agency.

Kendra Tooley, (L) and her boyfriend, Ricky Roy House Jr

New details have emerged of Ms Lockwood's capture.

Her ordeal began on July 9 when House, an acquaintance, saw her walking and picked her up.

She agreed to go to the home he shared with Tooley in Stewartsville, in rural Indiana, but when she got up to leave, House used chloroform to knock her unconscious, the affidavit states.

She awoke to find herself bound to a bed in the trailer and her clothing cut off.

House sexually assaulted her several times, made her wear a dog collar with a rope and eventually built a small wooden cage where she was kept.

Tooley, who is also accused of raping the woman and preventing her from leaving the trailer, told police House was trying to impregnate the woman because Tooley "was old and unable to have children of her own".

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Bribes Of Cash And Guns To Tackle IS Jihadis

Washington is on the move.

From dither to decision to deliberation and even direction, it's been a frustrating process to behold.

But it may, in the end, provide a map through the minefield of the Middle East that is at least navigable.

Past failures are no excuse for inaction.

The disaster of the invasion of Iraq, and the debacle of Afghanistan, have meant that Western public opinion is not disposed for more adventures in the Muslim world.

John Kerry will underline the IS threat on a trip to the Middle East

Politicians have taken refuge from addressing whether Islamic State is the threat they claim it is using the backward argument that there's no public support for action.

Now Barack Obama has been briefing his nation via the media, Congress, and in a landmark speech, of the need to take action to stop the IS spread.

His Secretary of State John Kerry is simultaneously en route to the Middle East with a very simple message: "The IS is a much bigger threat to you all than it is to us - so you'll be expected to do the heavy lifting here."

That doesn't just mean 'boots on the ground'.

Of course the US will be looking at a Yemen or Libyan-type operation in which local or regional forces provide troops, while allies do the bombing from a safe height.

The US has been carrying out airstrikes in support of Iraqi forces

But the campaign against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has been slow and is far from over - mainly because while AQAP has lost many leaders it has not lost the political struggle.

Similarly, Mr Kerry's trip to Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with his hosts, Jordan, Egypt, the Lebanon and six Gulf states, will focus on the military option and a much more complex political strategy to undermine IS in the Sunni world.

Jordan is ahead of the game on this, having organised a regional gathering of Sunni tribal leaders a few weeks back.

Key will be the role of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which have been rivals for Sunni dominance.

Qatar has favoured the radical non-violence of the Muslim Brotherhood, while all other regional powers and the Gulf States see the Brotherhood as a threat to their autocracies.

There are signs IS is vulnerable amid rivalries, clashes, and power grabs

This need not get in the way, though, of reaching out to Sunni tribal leaders in Syria and Iraq to persuade them their future lies not with trying to win power on the back of IS and then turning against it.

Rather that it lies in turning against IS now and quickly ending an even more drawn out conflict.

They will need bribing with money and guns - which Arab states will be expected to come up with.

There are signs that IS is already vulnerable.

Former members of Saddam Hussein's armed forces who are inside IS are already showing signs they want more power, according to intelligence sources.

Meanwhile, the IS leadership for much of Iraq has been switched to Syria, and vice versa, to offset frictions between rival groups.

And inside Syria, sources say, several IS 'emirs' have clashed with local tribal chieftains who despise all outside attempts to rule over them, but would welcome support from fellow Arab Sunni governments.

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Russia Denies Jets Buzzed Canada Navy Ship

Ukraine Conflict 'Impossible' To Win Militarily

Updated: 9:25pm UK, Monday 08 September 2014

By Katie Stallard, Moscow Correspondent

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has told Sky News the conflict in his country cannot be solved by military means alone.

Speaking in the southern city of Mariupol, close to the frontline between his forces and pro-Russian rebels, he said foreign troops must be withdrawn for peace to be achieved.

"We should understand that it is impossible to win the conflict only by military means," he said.

"The more we increase the pressure, the more Russian troops come into our territory.

"If you ask me the quickest way to make stability and peace here it's very simple: withdraw foreign troops and close the border."

The president met activists and civil defence volunteers during a surprise visit to Mariupol, leading workers at the city's vast metal factory in a rendition of the national anthem.

"This city was, is, and will be Ukrainian," Mr Poroshenko told the crowd, from a stage decorated with the blue and yellow colours of his country's flag.

"Mariupol proved that we won't let anybody burn our city to the ground. This workers' Mariupol protected peace and calm in the city."

He called Mariupol a "hero city", evoking the title given to Soviet cities such as Leningrad and Stalingrad after the Second World War.

A ceasefire which came into force on Friday appeared to be largely holding, despite shelling on the eastern outskirts of Mariupol overnight on both Saturday and Sunday.

Mr Poroshenko denied that the ceasefire deal meant effectively ceding control of large areas in the east of his country.

"In all the documents we signed, it was especially mentioned that the question of territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of my country is not a matter of negotiation," he said.

Colonel Andriy Lysenko, Ukraine's National Security Council spokesman, said rebel forces had stopped using heavy artillery and were only using mortar and rifle fire.

He said no servicemen had been killed in the past 24 hours.

"That's a big achievement," he said.

The Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported that 15 Ukrainian soldiers had been released by rebel forces, as part of a prisoner exchange.

Mr Lysenko said the exchange of prisoners was "task number one" for the government during the ceasefire.

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Reports: Shark Attack Victim Was British

The Foreign Office has said it is investigating reports that a man killed in a shark attack in Australia was British.

The attack took place at the popular tourist destination of Byron Bay on the country's east coast.

Sky's Harriet Hadfield said the victim, named locally as 50-year-old Paul Wilcox, was reportedly originally from Warwickshire but moved to Australia with his wife some years ago.

This has yet to be confirmed by the Foreign Office, which said in a statement: "We are aware of reports of the death of a British national in Australia and are looking into them."

Mr Wilcox was reportedly from England originally. Pic: Refocused Learning

Hadfield said: "The most horrifying thing that we do know about this is that his wife was actually on the beach when it happened and so we understand she may have witnessed the attack.

"There are some really dramatic accounts coming out of Australia now from people who saw it happening, including one man who was paddle-boarding at the time and said it was an incredibly violent scene."

Police confirmed in a statement that the victim was "bitten on the right leg by what is believed to be a shark".

"He was seen floating in shallow water, close to the shore line, and dragged on to the beach," the statement said.

Police have yet to formally identify the man or establish what he had been doing in the water.

Byron Bay is a renowned surfing location near Cape Byron, the most easterly point of the Australian mainland 500 miles (800km) north of Sydney.

Paramedics declared the man dead at the scene

The death is the first blamed on a shark in Australia since April 3 when a 63-year-old woman was killed near the village of Tathra, 210 miles (340km) south of Sydney.

Although sharks are common off Australia's coast, the country has averaged fewer than two fatal attacks per year in recent decades.

Two men were killed in shark attacks off the east and west coasts in the space of a week in November last year. They were the only fatalities in 2013.

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Michael Schumacher Leaves Hospital For Home

Formula One legend Michael Schumacher has left hospital to recuperate at home, nearly nine months after the skiing accident that put him in a coma.

His manager, Sabine Kehm, said the seven-time champion has made "progress" since the accident last December.

But despite his improvement in recent weeks and months he still has "a long and difficult road ahead."

Schumacher has been in hospital in Lausanne since June, after six months at a hospital in France.

The 45-year-old German was injured whilst on a skiing holiday with his family in the resort of Meribel in the French Alps.

He hit his head on a rock and doctors operated to remove blood clots from his brain.

Some were left because they were so deeply embedded and he was placed in a medically-induced coma.

Schumacher skiing and his wife Corinna

Ms Kehm said in a statement: "Henceforth, Michael's rehabilitation will take place at his home.

"Considering the severe injuries he suffered, progress has been made in the past weeks and months.

"There is still, however, a long and difficult road ahead.

"We would like to extend our gratitude to the entire team at CHUV Lausanne for their thorough and competent work.

"We ask the privacy of Michael's family continue to be respected, and that speculation about his state of health is avoided."

A spokesman for the university hospital in Lausanne confirmed Schumacher was no longer in its care.

He was taken there after emerging from the coma to undergo treatment to stimulate his senses in a specialised outdoor unit.

He lives with his family in Gland, near Geneva.

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