Former Nanny Praises 'Brave' Peaches Geldof

Peaches Geldof's childhood nanny has written a moving tribute to the mother of two, calling her a "brave, beautiful girl" who "almost made it".

Anita Debney was employed by the 25-year-old's parents Bob Geldof and Paula Yates when she was a toddler.

In a message posted on Instagram alongside a photo of Ms Geldof, Ms Debney said she had been the "greatest joy, the most tender part of my heart and soul".

The nanny became something of a surrogate mother following Yates' death in 2000 and Ms Geldof's nickname for her was "Nee Naw".

The pair were still in close contact right up until Ms Geldof's death.

Ms Geldof was found dead at her home in Wrotham

Police were called to the home she shared with her husband Tom Cohen and their two young sons in Wrotham, Kent, on Monday.

Her death is being treated as "non-suspicious but unexplained".

A post-mortem examination on Wednesday was inconclusive and toxicology tests are being carried out to establish a cause of death.

Ms Debney, who has photos of Ms Geldof's sons Astala, two, and 11-month-old Phaedra, on her Instagram page wrote: "I loved her through the good times and the bad. We struggled and survived the darkest of times.

"I never lost faith in her spirit and strength. Always held out my hand to help her when she struggled and fell.

"She overcame so much and my love and appreciation of her indomitable spirit never wavered.

"The joy we shared in her beautiful babies was so deep and meaningful and filled both of our hearts with love and devotion.

"She blossomed in motherhood and excelled at raising the sweetest, happiest babies in the world.

"She was passionate in her zeal to speak up for the needs of babies everywhere and lives have been changed because of that.

"What a wonderful legacy she has left to the world. My darling girl. You almost made it."

Ms Geldof's body was released to her family on Thursday and it is understood plans for a funeral are under way.

Her elder sister Fifi Honeyblossom Geldof also used Instagram to say goodbye, writing: "My beautiful baby sister ... Gone but never forgotten. I love you, Peaches x"

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Cyclone Ita Bears Down On Northern Australia

Tens of thousands of people have been told to leave their homes as Cyclone Ita bears down on coastal towns along Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

The country's Bureau of Meteorology said the cyclone made landfall at Cape Flattery in northern Queensland on Friday.

It said: "(Ita) is crossing the coast near Cape Flattery with very destructive winds to 230kph (143mph) near the core and gales extending out to 185km (112 miles) from the centre."

The bureau said the storm was predicted to move further south over the coming hours, hitting the coastal resort of Cooktown with winds up to 78mph (125kph).

Despite being downgraded from a maximum level five to a weaker level three storm, Cooktown residents in particular are being told to batten down the hatches.

The northern town of Cooktown is in the eye of the storm. Pic: bom.gov.au

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said: "It's still a destructive cyclone which has very strong winds."

He said the region was "staring down quite a destructive cyclonic event".

He urged residents in the area to head to local storm shelters, adding that homes built before 1985, when new building regulations were put in place, may not withstand the winds.

A total of 30,000 people have been told to evacuate and a warning zone has been extended beyond Cooktown to Port Douglas and Cairns, the main transit hubs further south.

Shopkeepers have taped up their premises in preparation

Cook Shire mayor Peter Scott told Australian broadcaster ABC: "Anything over 80kph (50mph) is dangerous.

"Anything over 80K will put a piece of tin through you and chop your head off, it will lift roofs off, it will make severe damage so the best place to be is staying inside."

He added that one senior police officer in the area had warned: "the Cooktown you see today won't be here tomorrow".

Authorities said that, alongside strong winds, the storm could bring heavy rain leading to flash flooding. Power failures are also likely.

Residents are warned of winds, rain and power failures. Pic: bom.gov.au

Mr Newman said: "I want people to know the government has done everything it possibly can and after the event, we're mobilising to get in and help the affected communities."

He added that telephone and electricity lines could be down temporarily after the storm passes.

Category three storms are defined as carrying destructive winds of 102.5-139mph.

Tropical storms are fairly frequent in north eastern Australia. The biggest in recent years was the category five storm, cyclone Yasi.

It devastated large swathes of Queensland in 2011 after hitting the state with winds of up to 170mph.

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Man Who Incinerated Wife's Body Jailed For Life

A bank worker who murdered his wife and burned her body after she threatened to expose his homosexuality has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years.

Jasvir Ginday stared down at the floor as he was told his decision to throttle Varkha Rani and set fire to her remains in a home incinerator in his back garden was "unbelievably casual and callous".

He carried out the crime just months after they tied the knot to cover up his homosexuality, which his 24-year-old bride had been threatening to reveal to friends and family.

A jury of seven women and five men took around 17 hours to find him guilty of murder after a three-week trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Ginday initially told police that his Indian wife had packed her bags and walked out on him following a row at their home in Victory Lane, Walsall, West Midlands.

Jasvir Ginday and Varkha Rani on their wedding day

The 29-year-old claimed throughout his trial that he had accidentally killed Ms Rani while restraining her with a vacuum cleaner hose. 

But the jury believed the prosecution's case that the Royal Bank of Scotland employee had planned the killing of his wife, who had only been in the country for about a month.

In 2008, Ginday had confided in a friend that he was attracted to men but could not tell his family as his mother was very strict.

It later emerged that he was frequenting gay bars and having relationships with men around the time of his engagement to Ms Rani in 2012.

The following year, after his new wife arrived from India, the pair moved into a house with his parents.

The court heard that on the morning of the crime, on September 12, he was caught on camera filling a two litre bottle with petrol at a service station.

Later that day, while the rest of the family were out, Ginday claimed that his wife had attacked him and run off with £500.

The family told police who, the following day, carried out a full search of the house and garden where they found the incinerator which was still emitting smoke.

A police officer lifted the lid off the metal bin to discover the gruesome remains of a human skull.

Ginday's back garden and the incinerator in which Ms Rani's body was burnt

An unburned black plastic bin liner was found partially covering her body. A ring was also found in the incinerator which bore the inscription "V and G 2013" - Ms Rani's wedding band.

Her cousin Sunil Kumar said: "No words can truly express the sadness and hurt my family and I are experiencing at the loss of Varkha, she was loved dearly by all, she had a great passion for life and doted on her family.

"Varkha attained a masters degree and was driven to make her life a success, unfortunately she fell prey to Ginday who had ulterior motives which Varkha would not have appreciated."

Senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Sarbjit Johal said: "Ginday got married as a matter of convenience - he tricked a poor innocent girl into marriage but was living a lie.

"When she uncovered the truth he could not live with it and killed her quickly then tried to dispose of her body and her possessions by burning them.

"Had another day passed before police attended, Ginday may well have successfully removed all traces of Varkha.

"I hope that this verdict brings some comfort to Varkha's family who have travelled from India to see justice is brought for their daughter."

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Clinton Dodges Shoe During Las Vegas Speech

Hillary Clinton has dodged a shoe thrown at her at a Las Vegas convention - before cracking a couple of jokes and continuing with her speech.

The former secretary of state was speaking to some 1,000 people attending a metal recycling conference when the shoe was hurled at her.

"Is that somebody throwing something at me?" Mrs Clinton said after the object flew past her.

"Is that part of Cirque de Soleil?"

Mrs Clinton drew applause for her quick response

She then quipped: "My goodness, I didn't know that solid waste management was so controversial.

"Thank goodness she didn't play softball like I did."

A woman was taken into federal custody after the incident. She faces criminal charges.

While still on stage, Mrs Clinton reflected on what she called "an atmosphere and attitude in politics" that she said rewards inflexibility and extremism.

"That is not the way democracy works," she said.

"People bring their beliefs and their concerns to the table, and work them through."

George W Bush had to dodge two shoes thrown at him in Iraq in 2008

The former first lady and Democratic senator from New York has been travelling the country giving paid speeches to industry organisations and appearing before key Democratic Party constituents.

She is considering a presidential bid.

In December 2008 former President George W Bush dodged two shoes thrown by an Iraqi journalist during a news conference in Baghdad.

Shoe-throwing is considered an insult in Arab cultures.

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Inmate 'Orchestrated Kidnapping From Cell'

A prison inmate used a smuggled mobile phone to orchestrate the kidnapping of the father of a prosecutor who put him away for life, authorities said.

The hostage, Frank Arthur Janssen, was held for five days until he was rescued on Wednesday by an FBI elite squad in an Atlanta apartment. Five people were arrested.

Authorities believe that Mr Janssen's kidnapping was related to his daughter's prosecution of Kelvin Melton, who is serving a life sentence for ordering the shooting of a man in 2011.

Authorities say Melton exchanged at least 123 calls and text messages with the alleged kidnappers in the past week.

The phone had been smuggled inside his cell at Polk Correctional Institution in Butner, North Carolina.

Melton is believed to be a high-ranking member of the Bloods street gang from New York City.

In 2012, he was convicted of ordering a subordinate member of his gang to kill his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. The intended victim survived the attack.

The admitted hit man, Jamil Herring Gressett, testified during the trial that he had followed Melton's orders for fear he or his loved ones would be killed if he did not.

At the trial, Melton protested that the prosecutor, Wake County Assistant District Attorney Colleen Janssen, had not followed proper legal procedure.

FBI Special Agent John Strong said Mr Janssen was targeted as "part of an elaborate kidnapping plot".

During the abduction, the kidnappers took a picture of Mr Janssen tied up in a chair and sent it to his wife, threatening to torture and dismember him if she went to police, the FBI said in court documents.

Authorities are now investigating how the phone Melton used was smuggled inside his cell.

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Sarah Payne's Mother Praises Rebekah Brooks

Sara Payne, whose daughter Sarah was murdered in 2000, has praised ex-newspaper editor Rebekah Brooks and said the News Of The World had been a "force for good".

Mrs Payne gave her support to Brooks and retired managing director Stuart Kuttner as a witness at the phone hacking trial at the Old Bailey, saying the pair had provided personal support during the search for her daughter and the Sarah's Law campaign.

"It's easy to forget in these dark times the NOTW has often been a force for good and it has something to do with the people who worked on it," Mrs Payne said.

"I do not pretend they are perfect or always got things right."

Brooks was "always in the foreground" of the campaign, Mrs Payne said, going on to explain: "I did not sleep. I could call at two o'clock in the morning and she would pick up the phone."

Mrs Payne, called by Kuttner's legal team as a character witness, said he was a "gentleman".

"He is everything my parents taught me about being a gentleman and having manners. He is a good guy. He has always been there to listen," she added.

Sarah Payne's murder led to the creation of Sarah's Law to protect children

Mrs Payne, who wrote an article for the last edition of the NOTW, described being in the newsroom during the last week in 2011.

She said: "I spent some time in the newsroom and they were very, very down about stories going on in the media around the world. I felt they were almost mourning something."

She had a big picture of Sarah Payne brought in to remind them of "what they had achieved". Sarah's Law allows anyone to formally ask police if someone with access to a child has a record for child sex offences.

Brooks, 45 and Kuttner, 74, deny conspiring with others to hack phones between 2000 and 2009.

Kuttner's legal team also called former director of the Press Complaints Commission Guy Black as a character witness.

Lord Black told the court how Kuttner was a man he turned to for help during his time in the role between 1993 and 2003 and he "never did let me down".

After the Omagh bombing, he said Kuttner and the NOTW "led the way" for the media to leave the scene, allowing the community to "grieve and to heal" and he acted the same after the Dunblane tragedy.

He also helped "deliver real change" in the media in the wake of the Princess of Wales's death in 1997, Lord Black said.

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Pope Asks For Forgiveness For Abuse Scandal

Pope Francis has asked for forgiveness for the damage done by Roman Catholic priests who abused children.

According to Vatican Radio, the Pope told members of a children's rights group he felt "compelled... to personally ask for forgiveness for the damage they have done for having sexually abused children".

He said that members of the clergy who had molested young children were "quite a few in number".

The Pope said: "The Church is aware of this damage."

He added: "It is personal, moral damage carried out by men of the Church and we will not take one step backward with regards to how we will deal with this problem and the sanctions that must be imposed.

"On the contrary, I think we must be even stronger. You don't play around with the lives of children."

The Vatican says the Church has begun enforcing prevention and detection measures to eradicate abuse, however the success of these measures is said to vary widely between countries.

Thousands of abuse claims, dating back decades, have come to light in recent years.

The Church's handling of the allegations has been a subject of controversy with frequent reports of cases being covered up.

Pope Francis has also faced personal criticism for not taking a tough enough stand on the issue.

In February a UN committee released the findings of a month-long investigation into clerics "involved in the abuse of tens of thousands of children worldwide".

It raised concerns that sexual abusers were moved from parish to parish or across borders and that there was a "code of silence" among the clergy.

The UN committee urged the Holy See to share information on all cases of abuse, amid reports the Vatican had declined to provide any data relating to the scandal.

The Pope's predecessor Benedict XVI also issued an apology for abuses.

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MH370: 'Confidence' Over Black Box Search

Searchers are "very confident" that signals detected in the hunt for missing flight MH370 are from the plane's black box, Australia's prime minister says.

Tony Abbott told reporters during a visit to China that authorities have "very much narrowed down the search area" in the southern Indian Ocean.

"We are very confident that the signals that we are detecting are from the black box," Mr Abbott said.

"Nevertheless, we're getting into the stage where the signal from what we are very confident is the black box is starting to fade.

"We are hoping to get as much information as we can before the signal finally expires."

The search is currently focused on an 18,000 square mile search area after a fifth ping was detected around 1,400 miles off Perth, in western Australia.

The signal was captured on Thursday by an Australian Air Force P-3C Orion surveillance plane, which has been dropping sonar buoys into the ocean.

Zhang Zhiliang looks at photos of his fiancee, who was on board the flight

However, Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) chief Angus Houston says an initial assessment of the latest signal indicates it is not related to an aircraft's black box.

Speaking from Perth, Sky's Nick Martin said there were "mixed messages" from Australia this morning as the hunt for the plane continued.

Mr Abbott was first quoted as saying he was confident the black box had been found, and then later said he was confident signals picked up by search teams were from a black box.

"Either he's been misquoted or he has slightly jumped the gun," said Martin.

And search teams said there had been no breakthrough yet, according to Martin.

Joint Agency Coordination Centre chief Angus Houston

Twelve military aircraft, three civil planes and 13 ships have joined the search today. The Royal Navy vessel HMS Echo is also part of the operation.

Authorities have been racing to locate the plane's data and cockpit recorders, as the ping-emitting beacons are expected to fade.

No floating debris from the Malaysia Airlines aircraft has yet been found, despite the major multinational air and sea operation.

The renewed search operation comes as Malaysia's acting transport minister admitted that mistakes were made in how authorities treated the victims' families.

Hishammuddin Hussein said the missing plane had posed an "unprecedented situation without benchmark".

The Malaysia Airlines plane went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board.

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Pistorius Accused Of 'Tailoring Evidence'

Oscar Pistorius has been accused of "tailoring his evidence" at his murder trial, where he denies murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel repeatedly challenged the Paralympian's "improbable" account of events while questioning him about the details of the night he shot Ms Steenkamp.

At one point the confrontation led an emotional Pistorius to admit he could be giving inconsistent answers because he was tired - prompting the judge to ask if he was able to continue with his evidence.

Pistorius told the court that his first intention when he heard a noise on February 14 was "to put myself between the intruder and Reeva" and that he reached for his gun under the bed and told Ms Steenkamp to call the police.

Mr Nel put it to him that a "reasonable person" would have done more to ensure that his partner "was okay or scared".

Pistorius said that he started screaming at the intruder to "get out of my house" and at Ms Steenkamp to call the police as he rushed down the passage to the bathroom in his home.

Mr Nel said: "The safety was off and you wanted to shoot someone. If you saw someone you were ready to shoot."

Pistorius replied: "I never wanted to shoot anyone."

The athlete said he could not explain why he had rushed toward the danger instead of taking the opportunity to escape with Ms Steenkamp through the bedroom door.

He said he kept quiet as he reached the bathroom door, telling the court: "I wanted to peer around the corner. I wasn't sure if the person was waiting for me. I was kneeling down."

He said that after hearing the toilet door slam, he was "sure" that there was an intruder in his house.

He said: "I was fighting for my life, my lady. I was not sure who was in the bathroom."

Mr Nel told Pistorius his claim that Ms Steenkamp was in the toilet but did not respond to his shouts was "the most improbable part of your story".

He said: "She was talking to you, that is why she was standing there before you shot her in the head. She was scared of you, not an intruder. She was scared of you."

Pistorius has faced a gruelling week of questions in the Pretoria court

Pistorius became emotional again when asked: "Did she scream while you shot her four times?"

Mr Nel said it was not possible for Pistorius to say that there had been no screaming, when he admitted he could not hear properly because of the sound of the gunshots.

Mr Nel also claimed the athlete was lying about an incident when he claims he was shot at while driving on a highway in 2008 or 2009, because he could not remember who he had called for help that night.

He said: "It is so improbable that you can not remember - the only reason you can not remember is that it didn't happen."

Mr Nel cast doubt on the defence's assertion that a number of items in the couple's bedroom must have been moved in the hours after the shooting.

Pistorius was given flowers by a fan outside court

Proceedings were briefly adjourned after Pistorius broke down in the witness box.

Asked why he was getting emotional, he told the prosecutor: "Because this is the night that I lost the person that I cared about. I don't understand why you can't understand it."

Pistorius was asked about security measures at his house, as the lawyer known as the "Pit Bull" sought to undermine his claims that he was concerned about crime.

Pistorius told the court he had never been a victim of crime at his Silver Woods home, apart from an occasion when he said police stole his watches.

Reeva Steenkamp's mother watches Pistorius as he gives evidence

He said security measures in the area had been upgraded several times, but he had never attended meetings of a home owners association where those issues were raised.

Mr Nel again suggested the athlete was a selfish person, raising his previous statements that Ms Steenkamp had often prayed for him and his training.

At one point, the barrister's combative approach earned him a reprimand from judge Thokozile Masipa, who warned him, "mind your language" after he called Pistorius a liar.

Mr Nel has sought to dismantle the Paralympian's heroic life story and portray him as self-centred, short-tempered, gun-obsessed and eager to shirk responsibility for his actions.

Pistorius denies premeditated murder and illegally possessing ammunition in relation to Ms Steenkamp's death.

He also denies two further counts related to shooting a gun in public in separate incidents prior to the killing.

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Missing Three-Year-Old Girl Found Alive

A three-year-old girl who vanished from her bed overnight has been found alive and well.

Police feared Chloe Campbell had been snatched from her home in Childers, Queensland, after her father discovered her missing on Thursday morning.

But police say they discovered her "quite randomly" at the local showground at around 1am local time (4pm UK time). She was reunited with her parents and taken to a nearby hospital to undergo checks.

Inspector Kevin Guthridge told ABC: "It's one of those dreams that came true ... the greatest possible outcome for everyone."

Her father, Garth Campbell,  had said Chloe, who normally sleeps in the living room, had vanished along with her sleeping bag and stuffed, blue toy dog.

He had said a window was open and that there was an adult-sized footprint on the family's car outside.

"I don't think there's any possible way she's wandered off," he said.

"She wouldn't leave the yard by herself."

He added that the family would normally have closed the windows at night, but that one of the latches must have failed to lock properly.

"That's why we are blaming ourselves," he said.

More follows...

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