Oscar Pistorius Set To Take Witness Stand

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent, in Pretoria

South African paralympian Oscar Pistorius is expected to take the witness stand later this week - in connection with the death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day last year.

It is understood he will not be the first witness for the defence. Instead, pathologist Theo Botha will be first up - due to undisclosed "personal reasons".

When Pistorius takes the stand, it will be the first time he speaks publicly about what happened that night.

His testimony may take several days and he can expect a gruelling cross-examination from state prosecutor Gerrie Nel.

The athlete insists he shot his girlfriend by accident after mistaking her for an intruder. It is a defence which is not without precedent in South Africa.

Former South African Springbok rugby player Rudi Visagie shot and killed his 19-year-old daughter Marle.

Pistorius is accused of murdering Reeva Steenkamp

He was never prosecuted after a court ruled he had "suffered enough" from what Visagie said was a terrible accident.

And although it happened about 10 years ago, the Pistorius case has brought back lots of traumatic memories for the Visagie family.

The walls of the Visagie house are full of pictures of their teenage daughter.

Marle had got up early to drive to her boyfriend but after a violent burglary nearby just a week earlier, her parents panicked.

Visagie was woken by his wife Freda who heard a noise and assumed people were trying to steal their car.

Rudi Visagie and his wife Freda

"I ran to the window and the shot went off, just one shot, a shot in a million and penetrated through the heart of the car's body into her neck and she actually instantly died," he said.

Freda, who was sitting next to him as we spoke, sobbed as she told Sky News: "I realised I'm not cross with myself. I'm cross with her (Marle) because she never told me she was going to go."

Visagie's voice broke as he described the support he had had from his wife and son Gary.

"Gary was only 16 or 17 at the time and he was the first person with me at the car and he said: 'Pa, it was only an accident.'

"Now coming from a person … um … especially from him, was great."

The couple are deeply religious and say their faith is what helped them get through it.

Their tragedy is strikingly similar to the version that Pistorius has given to police over the death of his girlfriend.

The paralympian says he shot his girlfriend in the early hours of Valentine Day after mistaking HER for an intruder.

The prosecution, however, believes otherwise. They say the athlete deliberately targeted the model after a jealous row. He is being tried for premeditated murder.

Visagie's experience has meant he, perhaps unsurprising, has some sympathy for the athlete's version of events.

"The first thing I thought was that it was an accident," he told us. "It happened. This is the circumstances (in South Africa), that's what happens ..."

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Missing Plane: HMS Echo Joins Black Box Hunt

The Royal Navy vessel HMS Echo has joined a refocussed search effort to find out if signals detected in the Indian Ocean are from missing flight MH370.

Authorities are trying to determine whether the three acoustic signals picked up in the southern Indian Ocean are from the plane's missing black box.

Chinese and Australian ships picked up the signals in different parts of the search zone.

Officials are urging caution while they verify where the "pings" have come from.

HMS Echo has joined the search for the plane's black box

Sky's Alistair Bunkall said HMS Echo has joined in the effort to find out whether the "pings" belong to the black box.

He said the vessel would begin its search after carrying out preliminary environmental tests tonight.

"Before she starts listening for the black box, HMS Echo must basically work out what other sounds are out there to calibrate her systems," he said.

It comes after Retired Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the international search, revealed a Chinese patrol vessel, Haixun 01, picked up two "acoustic events" around 1,000 miles (1,600km) northwest of Perth.

The first was a faint signal on Friday, while the second was picked up on Saturday around 1.2 miles (2km) away and lasted for 90 seconds.

They had a "ping" of 37.5kHz frequency - the same emitted by black box flight recorders.

Australia's ADV Ocean Shield, which is carrying sophisticated equipment designed to pick up signals, has reported a separate "acoustic event" some 345 miles (555km) away.

However, marine salvage expert Captain John Noble has told Sky News this is "almost certain" to not be linked to the Chinese detection.

The location of the three signals detected in the Indian Ocean

Time is running out to locate the black boxes, which are likely to hold the key to the mystery of the jet, which left Malaysia for China on March 8.

They have a battery life of 30 days, although Mr Houston said the black boxes can continue transmitting for "several days beyond that".

More planes and ships have been sent to the area, including the British vessel HMS Echo, to try and verify the potential breakthrough.

A Chinese air force plane has also spotted a number of white floating objects in the area, said Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

An Australian Air Force Orion plane takes off in the hunt for MH370

Mr Houston stressed investigators are still a "long way" from concluding the signals are from the Boeing 777, which was carrying 239 people.

He said they are "an important and encouraging lead" and show "some promise and require a full investigation".

Mr Houston added there has been a correction to satellite data that is being used to calculate the plane's likely flight path. Starting on Monday, the southern part of the current search zone will be a higher priority than the northern section.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the hunt as "the most difficult search in human history" as he cautioned against "coming to hard and fast conclusions too soon".

People take part in a special prayer for passengers

Anish Patel, president of Dukane Seacom, the company that made the black box locator, told Reuters: "The 37.5kHz is the specific frequency that these locator pingers operate on.

"It's a very unique frequency, typically not found in background ocean noise," such as whales or other marine mammals, he added.

A dozen planes and 13 ships are scouring three areas around 1,240 miles (2,000 km) northwest of Perth.

In the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, more than 2,000 people, including family members of the 227 passengers, held an emotional mass prayer on Sunday.

The emotional ceremony comes almost a month after the plane disappeared

"This is not a prayer for the dead because we have not found bodies," said Liow Tiong Lai, president of the governing coalition party that organised the two-hour event.

"This is a prayer for blessings and that the plane will be found."

More than a dozen Chinese relatives have signed a petition calling on the Malaysian authorities to offer a reward for the first team to find the jet, which was carrying more than 150 passengers from China.

They also want the team that found the Air France plane that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 to assist with the hunt for flight MH370.

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Xbox Security Flaw Discovered By Boy, Five

A five-year-old boy has been praised by Microsoft after he found a flaw in the Xbox security system.

Kristoffer Von Hassel, from San Diego, managed to hack into his father's Xbox Live account without having to put in the correct password.

When the login screen appeared, all Kristoffer had to do was press the space button several times.

By doing so, he managed to get in by the back door without needing to use the password.

The child's father, Robert Davies, who works in computer security, was so proud he recorded a video of the process which he sent to Microsoft.

Xbox has listed the child on its website as a "security researcher"

The security team at Microsoft quickly fixed the bug and put Kristoffer's name on the Xbox website, listing him as a "security researcher".

When he saw his name online, Kristoffer said: "I'm gonna be famous!"

It is not the first time he has outwitted technology.

When he was a one-year-old, he figured out how to unlock his father's phone by holding down the 'Home' button.

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Mafia Boss 'The Professor' In Custody In UK

An alleged Italian mafia boss has been remanded in custody following his arrest on a fresh international warrant over his connections to a criminal gang.

During an appearance at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, Domenico Rancadore, 65, was told he would remain in custody until a hearing next week.

Last month he was told by a judge he could remain in his home in Uxbridge, west London, after prosecutors withdrew their appeal against a ruling that blocked his extradition to Italy.

But he was arrested in Uxbridge on Friday night on a European arrest warrant by officers from Scotland Yard's extradition unit.

Adam Harbinson, representing the Italian authorities, told the court he was "one of the heads of one of the most powerful mafia associations in Italy."

He said the latest arrest warrant is identical to the previous one, except that it provided assurances about the prison conditions he would be faced with in Italy.

Scotland Yard had earlier said in a statement: "(The warrant) alleges that he has an outstanding sentence of seven years' imprisonment to serve for participation in Mafia association between December 17, 1987 and April 13, 1995 in Palermo, Italy."

The house in Uxbridge where Rancadore was arrested

The warrant was issued in Italy and certified by the UK's National Crime Agency.

Rancadore wore a beige sweater, blue shirt and black trousers and waved to his wife, Anne, in the public gallery.

Known as "The Professor", Rancadore was arrested in Britain last August after 20 years on the run.

He had won his legal fight against extradition on March 17 on the basis that returning to Italy's overcrowded prisons would breach his human rights.

At a hearing last week, the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed they had lodged an appeal, but said it was not served within the statutory time limit and was therefore being withdrawn.

Rancadore fled to England in 1994 with his wife and two children, and lived under the false name of Marc Skinner.

Italian authorities claim he was a leading figure in the Cosa Nostra, a Sicilian mafia group controlling Trabia near Palermo.

He is one of Italy's most wanted criminals and was sentenced to seven years in prison in his absence.

Italian police claim he was involved in extortion, racketeering and drug trafficking.

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Mum Killed Baby 'With Morphine Breast Milk'

A mother has been jailed for 20 years for killing her six-week-old daughter allegedly with a morphine overdose delivered through her breast milk.

Stephanie Greene, 39, was found guilty of homicide by child abuse, involuntary manslaughter and unlawful conduct toward a child after a trial in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Greene will have to serve 16 years before she is eligible for parole. She said nothing in court and quietly shuffled out of the courtroom, her hands and feet shackled, after she was sentenced.

Prosecutors said Greene, a nurse, knew the dangers of taking painkillers while pregnant and breast feeding.

But she chose to hide her pregnancy from doctors so she could keep getting her prescriptions, they claimed.

Greene's lawyer Rauch Wise said she was trying to stop a pain she suffered from a car crash years before and relied on her own judgment and internet medical research instead of medics' advice.

Greene, who lost her nursing licence in 2004 for trying to get drugs illegally, is still overwhelmed with grief from the loss of her child, he added.

A toxicology report from the baby's post-mortem examination found a level of morphine in the child's body that a pathologist testified could have been lethal for an adult, prosecutor Barry Barnette said.

Mr Wise said she will appeal and the case is likely to continue for several years.

Greene was accused of killing her daughter, Alexis, with a morphine overdose from breast milk after the child was found dead in her parents' bed in 2010.

Mr Wise said both he and the prosecutor agree no mother has ever been prosecuted in the US for killing her child through a substance transmitted in breast milk.

Also, prosecutors did not prove how the baby got the morphine and there is little scientific evidence that enough morphine can gather in breast milk to kill an infant, Mr Wise went on.

"The court can't punish her any more than she already has been by losing a child," Mr Wise said.

Mr Barnette said he does not want his prosecution to stop women from breastfeeding.

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Peru Drugs Mule May Be Returning To UK

Drug mule Melissa Reid may be sent back to Scotland to serve her sentence for trying to smuggle £1.5m of cocaine out of Peru.

She and Michaella McCollum Connolly were sentenced to six years and eight months in jail in December after being arrested at Lima's airport carrying 11kg (24lb) of cocaine hidden in food packets in their luggage.

The Peruvian government has written to the Scottish authorities seeking clearance to let the 20-year-old from Glasgow complete her jail term in her home country.

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) confirmed to Sky News they have received a "repatriation application" from Peru.

Reid and McCollum Connolly in court

It is understood that most prisoner transfer applications are accepted.

Her father Billy Reid, 54, has also met with Scotland's justice secretary Kenny MacAskill. He told the Mail on Sunday Mr MacAskill had reassured him Scotland "has no issue" with accepting Melissa to serve her sentence back home. 

He said: "We understand the Scottish Government can't promise to magic her back home and they won't pull any strings, but it was very comforting to hear that they are not against any move."

Reid, who has no previous convictions, would be regarded as a low-risk prisoner - meaning she could qualify for home leave or even be released wearing an electronic tag, according to reports.

She and McCollum Connolly - who became known as the Peru Two - are sharing a cell at Virgen de Fatima prison, a jail notorious for overcrowding and disease.

Reid's father talks to the media in December

Reid has written to her parents Billy and Debbie, saying she hopes to be back on "home turf" before her 21st birthday in August, according to the Scottish Mail on Sunday.

She reportedly wrote: "Although I won't exactly be going right home and will be going to a prison, at least I will get to speak my own language 24/7 and be around people similar to me.

"I am so surprised that my request is being dealt with so quickly and urgently and although I know it has not yet been accepted, I feel confident about the process now after having some news so quickly.

"Who knows, I could be out of this place before my 21st birthday and that would really be a dream."

Reid is likely to be housed at HMP Cornton Vale near Stirling, some 25 miles from her parents in Lenzie, Dunbartonshire, the paper said.

It is understood McCollum Connolly, also 20, has not yet started the transfer process.

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Spanish Police Hunt Ex-Lover After Brit Killed

Police are hunting for a woman suspected of shooting dead a British businessman at his home on Spain's Costa del Sol.

The wealthy jeweller, named locally as Andrew Bush, was found lying in a pool of blood with two gunshot wounds to his head at around 3am on Saturday morning.

Firefighters and police discovered the businessman's body after forcing their way into the beachside villa where he lived.

The businessman's girlfriend alerted police with an emergency call after the attack, which happened in a village between the resorts of Estepona and Marbella.

The pair are said to have been ambushed by a woman, who police suspect may be the man's ex-girlfriend.

She is thought to have been lying in wait for them inside the five-bedroom house.

Mr Bush, originally from Bristol, and his current girlfriend were returning to their home from a trip abroad together at the time.

The house is a village between the resorts of Estepona and Marbella

The unnamed girlfriend, who is said to be British, told investigators she saw the attacker flee and then called the emergency services after becoming locked out.

Early on Sunday, the killer was still on the run after escaping from the scene in her alleged victim's Hummer car.

Police are yet to officially name the victim, but he was identified locally as 48-year-old company director Mr Bush.

An Audi car believed to have been used by the attacker was taken away, along with a Porsche and Ferrari thought to be owned by the victim.

A gun found nearby was also taken away.

It has emerged Mr Bush's killer may have been inside the house for several days after letting herself into the villa with a set of keys she had kept.

Estepona is on the Costa del Sol

Detectives sealed off the villa, owned by a Spanish couple, on Saturday ahead of its examination by police forensic experts on Monday.

A source close to the investigation said: "It is being treated as murder and police are hunting the dead man's ex on suspicion of committing this crime.

"They are probing the possibility she may have let herself into the property while the occupant was away and waited for several days for him to return."

The businessman's body has been taken to Malaga for a post-mortem examination.

A family relative is believed to be en route to southern Spain.

The victim's terracotta-coloured villa lies in a quiet residential street in an area called Cancelada, between San Pedro and Estepona.

A National Police spokesman confirmed an investigation was underway but said he was not authorised to give out any more information.

A spokesman for the local emergency services said: "We received a call at 2.10am on Saturday morning from the partner of the dead man because she could not gain access to the property.

"Firefighters managed to get in and found the man lying dead inside with a gunshot wound to his head. Police are now investigating."

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We are aware of the death of a British national in Estepona, Malaga, on 5 April.

"We are in touch with local authorities and are providing consular assistance to the family."

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Afghan Election: Obama Hails 'Critical' Vote

The Front Runners In Afghanistan's Elections

Updated: 1:29pm UK, Saturday 05 April 2014

Here is a guide to the leading contenders in the Afghan elections.

Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai

Known in Afghanistan as Doctor Ashraf Ghani, the American-trained anthropologist returned to his home country after the Taliban were ousted.

He had previously spent more than 25 years abroad during the turbulent years when Afghanistan came under Soviet control, descended into civil war and then was taken over by the Taliban.

During that period he worked for the United Nations and World Bank in the US, Denmark and in south and east Asia.

On his return he held various government posts, including finance minister.

He went on to take part in the disputed 2009 presidential election campaign when he won 4% of the vote, but was beaten by Hamid Karzai.

Mr Ghani is among the strongest backers of a disputed security deal which will keep US troops in Afghanistan beyond 2014.

But he has provoked controversy by picking ethnic Uzbek former warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum as a running mate.

Zalmai Rassoul

A relative of Afghanistan's former royal family, Zalmai Rassoul is seen as an establishment figure.

Although originally a doctor, he became involved in politics when representing the deposed king in 1998 on a body that played a key role in the future transition of the country after the end of the Soviet period.

He held roles in national security before being made Hamid Karzai's foreign minister, often accompanying the president on trips abroad.

Critics say that, if elected, Mr Rassoul would lack the strength and independence to make a break from the old administration, which many have accused of corruption.

But a number of foreign correspondents have said that despite serving for more than a decade in government, he remains untainted by the allegations that have dogged Mr Karzai's tenure in power.

He is comfortable dealing with those at home and abroad, speaking Dari, Pashto, English, French and Italian, among other languages.

He is also the only leading candidate with a woman as one of his vice-presidential running mates. 

Abdullah Abdullah

A former ophthalmologist-turned-fighter against Soviet forces in the 1980s, Mr Abdullah dropped out of a run-off against Mr Karzai in the 2009 election, saying he was concerned about electoral fraud.

He rose to take roles in government in the post-Taliban period having previously been an adviser to Ahmad Shah Masood, a leader in the Northern Alliance.

But he was abruptly dismissed from his role as Afghanistan's foreign minister in 2006 - a role he had previously held in the Northern Alliance when it fought alongside the American-led invasion of the country following the 9/11 attacks.

Mr Abdullah's base of support is the ethnic Tajik community whose rights and cause, although he is half-Pashtun, he has championed.

He spent some of the period during the Soviet-backed regime in Pakistan.

He took part in the 2009 election after registering as an independent candidate.

Other candidates are:

Abdul Rasul Sayyaf: A former warlord with ties to al Qaeda. An MP in the new parliament.

Mohammad Daud Sultanzoy: A former pilot and talk show host who is known for encouraging women to vote.

Qutbuddin Hilal: Former deputy prime minister with links to controversial mujahideen figure Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Gul Agha Sherzai: Another former mujahideen member but later governor of two Afghan provinces during Mr Karzai's time.

Hedayat Amin Arsala: A prominent economist and politician who has held several high-ranking government posts.

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MH370: Pings 'Must Be From A Plane Black Box'

Signals detected by teams scouring the Indian Ocean for wreckage from flight MH370 have to be from a plane, an expert has told Sky News.

Chris Bellamy, Professor of Maritime Security at the University of Greenwich, has said it is "very difficult" to think what else the pings picked up by a Chinese ship could be.

"That is the frequency of an aircraft black box. Ships have black boxes, but that's at 400kHz-15kHz, so quite a different range of frequencies. It's very difficult to think what else this could be," he said.

The vessel Haixun 01 picked up two "acoustic events" around 1,000 miles (1,600km) northwest of Perth. 

The two pings detected by the Chinese search team had a frequency of 37.5kHz, which Professor Bellamy said had been deliberately chosen for black boxes to stand out.

A Chinese search team in the Indian Ocean

"The ping has to be some sort of deliberate black box or some artificial source of energy," he said.

"I don't think it could be a natural phenomenon, but it could well be an echo," he added.

Australia's HMAS Ocean Shield has also reported a separate "acoustic event" some 345 miles (555km) away.

But marine salvage expert Captain John Noble said the pings detected by the Australian vessel were not likely linked to the Chinese detection.

"It's almost certain it cannot be the same source. They will be testing the reliability of the signals from the Australian ship and the Chinese ship," he said.

Despite what could be the breakthrough in the search for the Malaysia Airlines jet, Professor Bellamy stressed pinpointing the black box and wreckage from the Boeing 777 could still take some time as the ocean floor is "mountainous".

"The black box could be in a ravine or something like that which might cause refraction of the sound," he said.

If the pings detected are an echo, the source could be located further away then what they think.

"Things rebound, echoes happen under the water as they do in the air," Professor Bellamy said.

Progress is likely to be slow, as vessels must move slow to improve on these initial readings.

A device showing a reading of 37.5kHz - the same as from a black box

Australian Commodore Peter Leavy said: "The search using sub-surface equipment needs to be methodical and carefully executed in order to effectively detect the faint signal of the pinger."

Captain Noble sounded an optimistic note.

Discussing the basic nature of the equipment being used by the Chinese, he said: "If there is a signal and the microphone is out of interference it's actually quite encouraging. 

"If that sort of equipment is picking up the signal then the more sophisticated equipment that's on its way can help with the triangulation process."

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Fire Starts As 'Devastated' Newlyweds Tie Knot

A bride and groom are "devastated" after a large fire reportedly broke out as they walked down the aisle after tying the knot, destroying the 108-year-old venue.

Justice of the Peace Jerry Cibley said he had "literally pronounced them husband and wife and they proceeded down the aisle with the groomsmen and bridesmaids" when he saw smoke.

Mr Cibley said he initially thought it was from a fog machine.

There were around 140-150 people in the building in Foxborough, just outside Boston in Massachusetts, but all reportedly managed to get out safely.

Several onlookers reportedly said the blaze appeared to start in the mulch (material applied to soil) outside the building, which is surrounded by a lake and woods, but it quickly spread to the building itself.

Mr Cibley told the Sun Chronicle: "A couple of people went outside and saw a fire in the newly-applied mulch.

"They put it out with some water and a fire extinguisher and went back inside.

"Then, they discovered it was in the walls so everybody got out of the place."

It took firefighters several hours to bring it under control as flames roared through the roof of the historic venue that first opened in 1906.

He declined to name the newlyweds but said: "The bride and groom are devastated - this was their big day.

"I'm thankful everybody got out safely. It went up so quickly and could have been a lot worse with 140 to 150 people in there."

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