Thai Murders: British Backpacker 'Was Raped'

A British backpacker in Thailand was raped by both her killers before she was murdered, police have said.

They believe three people were involved in the attacks on 23-year-old Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, 24, whose semi-naked bodies were found on a beach on the island of Koh Tao earlier this month.

Lieutenant General Panya Mamen told the Bangkok Post: "Two of the suspects raped and killed Witheridge while another one witnessed the murder.

"We're confident we have a very high chance of finding the suspects."

David Miller, 24, died from drowning and a blow to the head

Two different semen samples were collected from Ms Witheridge's body, he added.

Mr Miller, from Jersey, died from drowning and a blow to the head, while Miss Witheridge, from Great Yarmouth, died from head wounds on Sairee beach in the early hours of September 15.

A blood-stained garden hoe, which is thought to be the murder weapon, was discovered nearby.

Officers have collected 200 DNA samples from people on the island - including more than eight Thai footballers - and the results are expected at some point this week.

Almost three weeks after the murders police are no closer to an arrest

The group of Thai footballers, who reportedly threw a late-night party at the nightclub where the victims spent their final hours, are the latest to be questioned by officers investigating the murders.

Almost three weeks after the deaths police are no closer to making an arrest and are offering a reward of more than £13,000 (700,000 baht) in an effort to catch the killers.

The latest development in the probe comes as it emerged tourists in Thailand may be issued with wristbands in the wake of the murders to help identify those who run into trouble.

Party curfews and restrictions on where they can be held are also being considered, as well as the idea of introducing a "buddy system" - pairing tourists with a local minder.

Tourists in Koh Tao where the bodies of two British backpackers were found

Thailand's tourism minister, Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, said: "When tourists check in to a hotel they will be given a wristband with a serial number that matches their ID and shows the contact details of the resort they are staying in so that if they're out partying late and, for example, get drunk or lost, they can be easily assisted.

"The next step would be some sort of electronic tracking device, but this has not yet been discussed in detail."

Having consulted hotels over the identity wristband idea, she admitted it had already been met with some resistance.

"Most people welcome the idea but some hotels are concerned that tourists may not want to wear the wristbands," she said.

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White House Intruder Ran Through Main Floor

The man who breached White House security this month burst through the front door and raced through several rooms before he was finally tackled, reports and officials say.

The new details show Omar Gonzales, who was armed with a small knife, penetrated farther into the building than previously disclosed, running through much of the presidential mansion's main floor.

The new account of the September 19 incident is in stark contrast with the original Secret Service statement that the man was "physically apprehended after entering the White House North Portico doors".

The First Family had just left the White House

Gonzalez jumped over the fence and sprinted toward the front door. Then, under the newly disclosed details:

:: He ran past the guard at the front door

:: Ran across the main hall

:: Turned a corner to pass a staircase leading up to the Obamas' living quarters

:: Entered the East Room, which is about halfway across the first floor

:: Reached the other side of the room, up to the door to the Green Room, at which point he was tackled by a counter-assault agent.

The East Room is a vast ceremonial space sometimes used for presidential addresses. It was there, for example, that the President announced Osama bin Laden had been killed.

The Green Room is often used for receptions.

The Washington Post, which first reported on the new details, said an alarm box near the front entrance had been muted, leaving interior personnel unaware of the intrusion before the suspect burst through the open front door.

The security breach is expected to dominate questioning when Secret Service Director Julia Pierson appears before a House committee today.

She has ordered an investigation into the incident and a review of security measures in and around the White House.

Gonzalez was arrested two months ago by state troopers

Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz, who chairs a House subcommittee on national security oversight, said he had received the details on the breach by whistleblowers.

President Barack Obama and his family had just left the White House, but the incident raised questions over the level of security of a building that should be among the best protected in the world.

It also rekindled questions over the Secret Service, which has been plagued by embarrassing incidents over the past few years.

"I'm worried that over the last several years, security has gotten worse - not better," Mr Chaffetz said.

Gonzalez, 42, a decorated Iraqi war veteran, was charged with unlawfully entering a restricted building or grounds while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon.  

He had hundreds of rounds of ammunition in his car.

It has emerged Gonzalez was on the Secret Service radar as early as July when state troopers arrested him in Virginia.

Security guards outside the White House

They said he had an illegal sawn-off shotgun and a map of Washington tucked inside a Bible with a circle around the White House and other monuments.

Gonzalez was interviewed by the Secret Service but they were unable to hold him and he was released on bail.

He was stopped and questioned again on 25 August while walking along the south fence of the White House.

He had a hatchet but no firearms, and he was not arrested on that occasion.

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PayPal To Split From eBay In 2015 Flotation

PayPal is to be spun off from online auction site eBay, to become a separate publicly traded company.

The spin-off is to take place in the second half of 2015.

Pre-market shares in eBay surged by 11% on news of the announcement on Tuesday.

The board of eBay said a decision had been made to separate as a strategic move to help maximise growth and shareholder value for both the payment and retail entities.

"Ebay and PayPal are two great businesses with leading global positions in commerce and payments," eBay president and CEO John Donahoe said.

"For more than a decade eBay and PayPal have mutually benefited from being part of one company, creating substantial shareholder value.

"However, a thorough strategic review with our board shows that keeping eBay and PayPal together beyond 2015 clearly becomes less advantageous to each business strategically and competitively.

"The industry landscape is changing, and each business faces different competitive opportunities and challenges."

Mr Donahoe will not have a management role in either company, but will oversee the separation.

The move comes nine months after investor activist Carl Icahn demanded a split of the two divisions.

Mobile payment technology is becoming an ultra-competitive sector and Apple recently announced an entry into the domain.

PayPal is currently available in 203 markets worldwide and expects to process one billion mobile payments this year.

Meanwhile, eBay relaunched itself some 18 months ago in an attempt to move away from being an online auction site for private sellers.

It has sought a rebranding as a global market place primarily for businesses using the 'Buy It Now' function.

But some UK users have complained of search results being swamped, with many items from foreign sellers with higher postage charges.

In May, a newly-appointed senior executive at PayPal left the company after a late-night Twitter rant at his colleagues.

And in April, Sky News revealed that PayPal was changing its terms and conditions for UK users.

The new clause, which came into effect in June, said registered users must agree not to share their computers, smartphones and tablets with anyone else - even family members.

The move was seen as a way to try and stop children using their parents' accounts to buy goods or services online without authorisation.

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US Secret Service: Seven Recent Blunders

The Secret Service has long been heralded for its job protecting US presidents over decades.

But it has been plagued by embarrassing scandals and allegations of misconduct in recent years. Sky News looks at some recent examples.

:: GATECRASHERS AT WHITE HOUSE PARTY

In 2009, a couple gatecrashed a state dinner party at the White House and managed to greet President Barack Obama.

The head of the Secret Service admitted his staff had failed to verify whether the couple were on the guest list.

Michaele and Tareq Salahi got to shake hand with the President

:: WHITE HOUSE SHOT

In 2011 a lone gunman fired shots that hit the White House while one of the Obama daughters was at home.

According to The New York Times, the Secret Service took four days to realise that the White House had been hit, when a housekeeper found broken glass on the Truman Balcony. The Obamas were reportedly "furious".

Security in front the White House. File pic

:: PROSTITUTION SCANDAL

In 2012, 13 agents and officers were implicated in a prostitution scandal during preparations for Mr Obama's trip Cartagena, Colombia.

The agents were accused of hiring prostitutes and repeatedly getting drunk.

The Cartagena hotel where the misconduct took place

The scandal resulted in a dozen suspensions, and was arguably the biggest embarrassment in the Secret Service's history.

:: TRUCK LOADED WITH METAL DETECTORS STOLEN

In September 2012, prior to a Labor Day visit to Detroit by Vice President Joe Biden, a van the Secret Service had rented was stolen from a hotel parking lot.

Metal detectors inside the vehicle were recovered the following day.

:: DRUNK IN AMSTERDAM

In March 2013, an agent was found drunk by staff at a Dutch hotel the day before Mr Obama was set to arrive in the Netherlands.

Barack Obama also visited the Netherlands this year

:: LEAVING BULLET BEHIND

In November 2013, news emerged that a senior supervisor responsible for about two dozen agents in the presidential security detail went to a woman's room after having drinks with her at the bar of the hotel.

The woman reportedly became upset when she found out the man, Ignacio Zamora Jr, was carrying a gun, and asked him to leave.

He did, but he accidentally left the bullet behind.

The Secret Service was originally established in 1865

In the subsequent probe, investigators came across sexually suggestive emails that Mr Zamora and another supervisor, Timothy Barraclough, had sent to a female subordinate.

The two officers were removed from the President's security detail.

:: RUNNING IN THE EAST ROOM

In the latest incident on 19 September, a man armed with a small knife jumped over a fence, ran through the front door and got close to the Obamas' living quarters before being tackled.

The President and his family were not home

Parts of the White House were evacuated after the security breach

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Japan Halts Rescue Mission Over Volcano Fears

A recovery operation to retrieve at least 24 bodies on Japan's second-highest volcano has been halted because of fears of another eruption.

Troops, firefighters and police were stood down for the day and helicopters grounded due to growing levels of toxic gas.

Climbers were stopped in their tracks when scientists noted increasing vehemence in the volcanic earthquakes on the 3,067m (10,121ft) Ontake, with steam and sulphurous gases continuing to billow from Ontake's ruptured crater.

Volcanic tremors have been detected constantly since Saturday's eruption, with underground water boiling into steam and breaking or moving rocks, a volcanologist at the meteorological agency said.

The volcano began erupting on Saturday

"The shakes became bigger, prompting worries over possible secondary casualties," he revealed.

In Tokyo, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged maximum efforts on rescue and disaster prevention.

"There are people still out of contact, although the police, firefighters and the self-defence forces have been conducting all-out rescue efforts despite the ongoing volcanic activity at Mount Ontake," he told MPs.

"The government will continue its utmost rescue efforts with the cooperation of all organisations concerned," he said.

"In light of experience from these disasters, the government is all united in taking disaster-prevention measures including development of necessary laws to protect people's life and property," Mr Abe said.

An injured person is lifted off the mountain by helicopter

Japan's second-highest active volcano erupted without warning during the weekend, spewing gas, rocks and ash high into the sky.

Thirty-six people are known to have died - with officials warning the death toll could be higher - as hundreds of hikers were caught on the slopes of the volcano, with dozens trapped on the peak by flying rocks and hot, toxic gases.

A Japanese army official who took part in the search has said rescuers have been wearing helmets, bullet-proof vests, goggles and masks to protect themselves from any fresh eruption.

Saturday's natural disaster came a month after more than 70 people were killed in huge landslides caused by heavy rainfall in the western city of Hiroshima.

The volcano straddles Nagano and Gifu prefectures

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Odd Text Real Estate Agent Is Found Dead

Real estate agent Beverly Carter, who had been missing since last week, has been found dead in Arkansas, police have said.

The 49-year-old's body was found in a shallow grave, the Pulaski County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Authorities had been searching for Mrs Carter since last Thursday, when she failed to return from an appointment to show a home to a potential buyer.

Beverly Carter, 49, had been missing since Thursday

On Monday, police arrested Arron Lewis, 33, on suspicion of kidnapping Mrs Carter.

Now authorities are planning to charge him with capital murder, the statement said.

According to the sheriff's office, Lewis was questioned for more than 12 hours on Monday.

He eventually admitted that he had abducted Mrs Carter, but did not divulge her whereabouts.

Police said they then received information leading them to the address where she was found.

Local residents joined in the search in the past days

Lewis told reporters as he was being taken from the jail to the sheriff's office that he did not kill Mrs Carter.

He described her as "a woman that worked alone - a rich broker".

Last Thursday, Mrs Carter told her husband she was going to meet the potential buyer at a repossessed property in the town of Scott, east of Little Rock.

Mr Carter said he later found his wife's car abandoned with her purse and wallet still inside.

He said he received three out-of-character text messages in a row from his wife's phone at about 1am on Friday.

The first read simply: "Yes."

The next said: "My phone's low. The battery's down, and I'll call you whenever I get signal."

The final message read: "Oh, I'm out drinking with some friends" - though Mr Carter said his wife was not a drinker.

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Porn Star Admits Killing And Chopping Up Lover

A Canadian porn actor has admitted in court to killing his Chinese lover and sending body parts to political parties.

But Luka Magnotta pleaded not guilty to murder as his trial opened in a Quebec court. According to his lawyer, the 32-year-old is schizophrenic and therefore not criminally responsible.

"A person is not responsible if he or she suffers from a mental disorder at the time of the act," defence lawyer Luc Leclair told the jury.

Magnotta faces five charges in connection with the 2012 killing of engineering student Jun Lin.

He is accused of murder, committing an indignity to a body, publishing obscene material, criminally harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members of Parliament, and mailing obscene and indecent material.

Jun Lin's father Diran Lin at the start of the trial in Montreal

Wearing a grey sweater, dark trousers and dark-rimmed glasses, he stood behind a metal-and-glass enclosure in the court in Montreal.

In May 2012, a package containing a severed foot was found at the headquarters of Canada's ruling Conservative Party.

The same day, a hand was discovered at a postal facility, in a package addressed to the Liberal Party of Canada.

Mr Lin's torso was found in a suitcase at a rubbish dump outside Magnotta's apartment building in Montreal.

About a week later, the missing foot and hand were received in the post at two schools in Vancouver.

Magnotta was eventually arrested in Berlin after an international manhunt.

In his opening address, prosecutor Louis Bouthillier warned the jury to expect "graphic" and "gruesome" evidence, including the video and photographs of Mr Lin's dismembered body.

"Indignities are then performed on Mr Lin's body," Mr Bouthillier said.

The prosecution's first witness, crime-scene technician Caroline Simoneau, presented the jury with photographs taken in and around Magnotta's apartment in 2012.

Magnotta was arrested in June 2012 in Germany

The images included one of a torso stuffed inside a suitcase and a portion of a human leg retrieved from a rubbish bag.

The gruesome case shocked Canadians and quickly gained international notoriety. A video appeared online that prosecutors say shows Magnotta stabbing and having sex with the dismembered corpse.

According to the prosecution, Magnotta planned the killing up to six months in advance and laid out those plans in an email to a London journalist who will testify during the trial.

Magnotta then allegedly planned to make a movie of the killing.

The trial is expected to last between six and eight weeks.

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Hong Kong Protesters Reject Call To Go Home

Demonstrators in Hong Kong have set a deadline of Wednesday for the government to respond to demands for reforms, as protests enter a fifth day.

But in his first public comments since police fired tear gas at demonstrators, Hong Kong's chief executive Leung Chun-Ying called on protest leaders to "immediately" withdraw their followers from the streets.

"Occupy Central founders had said repeatedly that if the movement is getting out of control, they would call for it to stop," he said.

"I'm now asking them to fulfil the promise they made to society, and stop this campaign immediately."

But Occupy, the main group behind the last two days of street protests, rejected Mr Leung's demands and renewed its calls for him to step down.                 

Protesters light up the street with their mobile phones

"If Leung Chun-Ying announces his resignation, this occupation will be at least temporarily stopped in a short period of time, and we will decide on the next move," co-founder Chan Kin-Man told reporters.

"This would be a very important signal, then at least we know the government has changed their attitude and wants to solve this crisis," he said.

Some demonstrators have worn masks and resorted to umbrellas or plastic capes to protect themselves - prompting the phrase "umbrella revolution" to trend on social media.

However, in a shift of tactics, uniformed police looked on from behind barricades and have so far not intervened in the peaceful protest.

The demonstrations have brought the centre of Hong Kong to a standstill

Sky's Asia Correspondent Mark Stone, on the scene, said the activists were "good natured but utterly driven".

On Sunday night, riot officers fire 87 rounds of tear gas after being charged by "violent protesters", with police saying 41 people had been injured.

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron has told Sky News that he is "deeply concerned" about the situation in the former colony and hopes it can be resolved.

China, meanwhile, has warned the international community not to "interfere".

Protesters run away from tear gas

Officials called on the activists to leave peacefully on Monday but thousands remained camped on a normally busy road near government headquarters.

Organisers estimate as many as 80,000 people have taken to the streets since Friday.

With no imminent end in sight, China appears to have blocked photo-sharing site Instagram, suggesting authorities are worried about inspiring similar protests on the mainland.

Many shared photos of the demo have been hashtagged "Occupy Central".

Police try to block a street leading to the financial district

The phrase was also blocked on Sunday on Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

The unrest began after it was ruled that in 2017 Hong Kong residents must choose their leader, or chief executive, from candidates picked by Beijing who must declare their "love" for China and its Communist system.

Under the agreement of the 1997 handover from Britain to China, Hong Kong was given an independent legal and political framework.

Unlike the mainland, protests are allowed - but the current demonstrations are potentially the biggest political challenge to Beijing since the Tiananmen Square crackdown 25 years ago.

The protests have affected Hong Kong's important commercial hub, forcing buses to be cancelled or diverted and some banks to close.

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EU Probe Slams Ireland Over Apple Tax Deals

The Lure Of Ireland For Tech Firms

Updated: 3:39pm UK, Tuesday 30 September 2014

By Pete Norman, Sky News Business

Although Apple has come under the EU microscope over its tax affairs, complex corporate structures have become a common accounting tool for savvy tech firms.

The European Commission's preliminary findings show it has doubts that two "sweetheart" tax deals agreed in 1991 and 2007 between Apple and Ireland are compatible with the "internal market" of the European Union.

The Californian tech giant has two subsidiaries; Apple Operations Europe and Apple Operations International, which have operated in Ireland since 1980.

And it created Apple Distribution International in 2009 and Apple Operations in 2010. It has at least three other subsidiaries, which are all based on a large industrial estate in Hollyhill, County Cork.

The site employs around 4,000 people and is the biggest employer in the city of Cork.

But the issue of so-called transfer pricing, or advance pricing arrangements used to shift tax liabilities to lower tax areas, has become a key issue for US politicians, the EU, the G20 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

Rather than maximising profit in each country, transfer pricing can give a financial incentive to record high profit in low tax areas and low profit in high tax jurisdictions.

A Congressional Research Service report last year found that US multinationals reported earning 43% of their overseas profits in 2008 from Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

This despite low levels of investment and domestic sales in those five locations.

It cited academic research indicating that the loss of tax to the US Treasury was between $30bn (£18bn) to $90bn (£55bn) annually.

But companies deny wrongdoing, and say they are simply working within existing legislation in the territories they operate in.

The issue has recently shot up the political agenda, and prompted campaigns from pressure groups such as UK Uncut.

Other US companies' tax structures have been highlighted by politicians, such as Westminster's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), including online retailers Amazon, Google and even coffee chain Starbucks.

Other tech companies also operate tax structures in Ireland - Google has at least three registered companies in Ireland. Microsoft has several more and first set up an Irish subsidiary in 1979.

Twitter UK has no UK-based directors and answers to Twitter International Company in Dublin.

Games firm King Digital Entertainment, maker of the Candy Crush Saga, is based in Ireland, listed in New York, but with its revenue-raising games websites based on the Mediterranean island of Malta.

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Iraqi Forces Retake Crucial Crossing From IS

Iraqi Kurdish forces have captured a strategic border crossing from Islamic State fighters in northern Iraq, as the militants were pounded by US-led air strikes.

Kurdish peshmerga fighters took control of several villages as well as of the Rabia border crossing with Syria in a battle that began before dawn.

There were a total of three fronts in northern Iraq where Kurdish forces were battling the IS Sunni militants.

The Rabia border crossing is considered crucial because the ability to cross the frontier freely has been a major tactical advantage for Islamic State fighters on both sides.

Iraqi forces and Kurdish peshmerga fighters have recaptured Sunni villages that had been under IS control south of the Kurdish-held oil city of Kirkuk. 

The US expanded its air campaign to Syria last week

IS fighters had used positions in the villages to fire mortars at neighbouring Daquq, a town populated mainly by ethnic Turkmen Shi'ite Muslims.

Meanwhile, airstrikes struck IS targets near a besieged Kurdish town along Syria's border with Turkey.

It was not immediately clear if Tuesday's airstrikes succeeded in halting the militants' advance on Kobani, also known as Ayn Arab.

Kobani has been under attack by the Islamic State group since mid-September. Despite the air campaign, the militants were able to advance toward the town over the past few days.

Syrian refugees crossing into the Syria border

US-led forces have been bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq since August.

They expanded the campaign to Syria last week in an effort to defeat the fighters, who have swept through Sunni areas of both countries, killing prisoners, chasing out Kurds and ordering Shi'ites and non-Muslims to convert or die.

Washington hopes the strikes, conducted with European allies in Iraq and with Arab air forces in Syria, will help government and Kurdish forces in Iraq and moderate Sunnis in Syria.

The head of the Free Syrian Army has told Sky News there has been no co-operation between his fighters and the coalition conducting the airstrikes.

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