Family and friends have paid their last respects to Peaches Geldof, at her funeral in Kent.
Mourners included Sarah Ferguson, Nick Grimshaw, Bill Wyman and Kate Moss.
Peaches Geldof’s father, Sir Bob Geldof, was due to give a eulogy during the service, in the church where she was married two years ago.
It is also where the funeral was held for her mother Paula Yates in 2000.
Peaches Geldof, 25, died suddenly two weeks ago at her home.
Flowers were laid outside the St Mary Magdalene and St Lawrence Church in Davington, near Faversham, on Monday morning.
Located next to Bob Geldof’s Davington Priory country estate, where Peaches grew up, the streets were lined with well-wishers and photographers ahead of the service.
A hearse carrying her sky blue coffin drew into the estate shortly before 13:00 BST. It was adorned with a painted picture of Peaches Geldof, her husband Thomas Cohen, their two young sons and pet dogs.
Peaches Geldof’s blue coffin was adorned with a painted picture of herself, her husband, their two young sons and pet dogs
The funeral, at which Peaches Geldof’s younger sister Pixie had also been expected to speak, was private.
Peaches Geldof’s ashes are expected to be scattered in the estate’s garden.
Her body was found on April 7 at the home she shared with her husband, musician Thomas Cohen and their sons, Astala, 23 months, and 11-month-old Phaedra, in Wrotham, Kent.
Peaches Geldof’s cause of death is not yet known as a post-mortem test was inconclusive.
The results of toxicology tests are expected in the coming weeks, after which an inquest is expected to be opened.
Police have said the death is being treated as a “non-suspicious, unexplained sudden death”.
Bob Geldof, the former frontman of The Boomtown Rats, previously described his daughter as the “wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us”.
St Mary Magdalene and St Lawrence Church is also where Bob Geldof and television presenter Paula Yates married in 1986.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier has topped the US box office for a third week.
Starring Chris Evans, Robert Redford and Scarlett Johansson, Captain America: The Winter Soldier made $26.2 million, beating avian animation Rio 2 into second place.
Heaven is for Real, the story of a young boy who claims to have visited heaven during a near-death experience, was number three over Easter weekend.
But Johnny Depp’s new sci-fi thriller Transcendence fared poorly.
Directed by Batman cinematographer Wally Pfister, Transcendence sees Johnny Depp playing a dying computer genius, who uploads his consciousness to a supercomputer and achieves a problematic digital afterlife.
After suffering poor reviews, the movie opened in fourth place, taking $11 million, a fraction of its $100 million production budget.
It is Johnny Depp’s third movie in a row to stumble at the box office, following last summer’s The Lone Ranger and Tim Burton’s comedy misfire Dark Shadows.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier has topped the US box office for a third week
“As we approach the summer movie season, box-office drawing power becomes more about the concept of the movie rather than its star,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak.
“It may not have been so much (about) Johnny Depp, but audiences right now like brands that they know.”
The US top 10 also contained three movies with a religious theme. Following Heaven is for Real came biblical epic Noah at 9, and God’s Not Dead at 10.
God’s Not Dead, about a religious freshman college student who debates with his professor on the existence of God, has made $48 million over the last five weeks, even though it is playing in far fewer venues than the blockbuster fare at the top of the chart.
North American box office Top 10:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($26.6 million)
Rio 2 ($22.5 million)
Heaven is for Real ($21.5 million)
Transcendence ($11.2 million)
A Haunted House 2 ($9.1 million)
Draft Day ($5.9 million)
Divergent ($5.75 million)
Oculus ($5.2 million)
Noah ($5 million)
God’s Not Dead ($4.8 million) Source: Rentrak [youtube 7SlILk2WMTI 650]
Former White Stripes frontman Jack White has recorded, cut and sold a seven-inch single in four hours, as part of the celebrations for Record Store Day.
Jack White took to the stage at his Third Man Records’ store in Nashville at 10:00 on Saturday and played two songs.
They were cut directly to an acetate disc, which was rushed to a pressing plant. The finished records were on sale within three hours and 55 minutes.
Jack White claimed to have set a world record as a result.
Guinness World Records says Swiss polka trio Vollgas Kompanie currently hold the title for “fastest album release”, having issued their album Live on August 16, 2008, the day after it was recorded.
Jack White has recorded, cut and sold a seven-inch single in four hours, as part of the celebrations for Record Store Day
Marillion has the record for “fastest music DVD release”, taking just 10 hours to film, edit and press copies of their concert movie Clocks Already Ticking.
However, there is no current record for fastest single release – possibly because the iTunes era allows songs to go on sale within minutes of being completed.
Paul McCartney and U2 are believed to have set a record in 2005, when their Live 8 performance of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was purchased 45 minutes after being performed on stage in London’s Hyde Park.
“I never even looked into who has the fastest record,” Jack White admitted to reporters during a press conference on Saturday afternoon.
Jack White said he was more concerned with making sure the record got made at all.
“I woke up at about four in the morning last night, and I thought, <<Wow. I think there’s about 12 or 13 things that could really go wrong tomorrow>>,” he told The Tennessean.
“I just thought how difficult it was going to be to explain to people if we didn’t pull it off, so thank God we did.”
The single comprised Lazaretto, the title track to Jack White’s forthcoming album, and a cover of Elvis Presley’s 1969 song Power of My Love.
“Originally, we were just gonna do this record and go back to sleep,” Jack White told the audience.
Instead, Jack White played an hour-long set, including a mix of new songs and White Stripes favorites such as Hotel Yorba and Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground.
Filming on The Green Destiny – a prequel to Oscar-winning martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – will start in July.
The Green Destiny will see Michelle Yeoh reprise her role as female warrior Yu Shu Lien.
Pre-production is believed to have begun. Filming is due to start in Auckland, New Zealand, with two further weeks of shooting in China.
Yuen Woo-ping, who co-ordinated the action scenes in the original, will step behind the camera for the prequel.
The Green Destiny will see Michelle Yeoh reprise her role as female warrior Yu Shu Lien
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon remains the most successful Chinese-language film of all time, making $213.5 million on its release in 2000.
The movie won the best foreign-language Oscar the following year, with three more awards in the technical categories.
Part of the reason for the film’s success was that it operated on many different levels. It was a love story, a martial arts fantasy with a feminist twist and an historical epic set against a backdrop of spectacular locations in China.
Director Ang Lee also employed sophisticated technology that enabled the characters to perform gravity-defying stunts, drawing in fans of the previous year’s box office hit, The Matrix.
But plans for a prequel were delayed by a row over the film rights to Wang Du Lu’s novels, on which the film was based.
Columbia Pictures claimed it had struck a deal with the late writer’s son in 2005. He denied this, and said he had signed an agreement with The Weinstein Company, another US studio.
With the case resolved, The Weinstein Company is pushing ahead with the prequel, choosing New Zealand as a location thanks to a generous production incentive that offers filmmakers a 20% rebate on money spent in the country.
The Green Destiny draws on the fifth book in Wang Du Lu’s series, Silver Vase, Iron Night.
“This introduces a new generation of star-crossed lovers, and a new series of antagonists in a battle of good and evil,” screenwriter John Fusco told movie website Deadline last year.
Although John Fusco is known for US blockbusters such as Young Guns I and II, he also penned The Forbidden Kingdom for Jet Li and Jackie Chan in 2008.
Bob Geldof will pay tribute to his daughter Peaches later at her funeral.
Peaches Geldof funeral takes place at the same church where she married.
It is also the same church, in Davington, near Faversham, in Kent, where the funeral was held for Peaches Geldof’s mother Paula Yates in 2000.
The 25-year-old television presenter, model and socialite, died suddenly two weeks ago at her home.
Peaches Geldof funeral takes place at the same church where she married (photo Getty Images)
Peaches Geldof’s cause of death is not yet known as a post-mortem test was inconclusive.
The results of toxicology tests are expected in the coming weeks, after which, an inquest is expected to be opened.
Peaches Geldof’s body was found at the home she shared with her husband, musician Thomas Cohen and their sons, Astala, 23 months, and 11-month-old Phaedra, in Wrotham, Kent.
Police have said the death is being treated as a “non-suspicious, unexplained sudden death”.
The Geldof family said the service would be private.
Sir Bob Geldof, the former Boomtown Rats singer, has described his daughter as the “wildest, funniest, cleverest, wittiest and the most bonkers of all of us”.
The church is also where Bob Geldof and television presenter Paul Yates married in 1986.
Peaches Geldof’s mother died in 2000 from a heroin overdose.
A 16-year-old boy has survived an extraordinary journey hidden in the wheel well of a five-hour flight from California to Hawaii, FBI officials say.
The boy is “lucky to be alive” and unharmed after flying for more than 5 hours in the plane’s wheel well, surviving cold temperatures at 38,000 feet and a lack of oxygen.
“Doesn’t even remember the flight,” FBI spokesman Tom Simon in Honolulu told The Associated Press on Sunday night.
“It’s amazing he survived that.”
The boy was questioned by the FBI after being discovered on the tarmac at the Maui airport Sunday morning with no identification, Tom Simon said.
“Kid’s lucky to be alive,” Tom Simon said.
A 16-year-old boy has survived an extraordinary journey hidden in the wheel well of a five-hour flight from California to Hawaii
The FBI spokesman said security footage from the San Jose airport verified that the boy from Santa Clara, California, hopped a fence to get to Hawaiian Airlines Flight 45 on Sunday morning. The child had run away from his family after an argument, Tom Simon said.
Tom Simon said when the Boeing 767 landed in Maui, the boy hopped down from the wheel well and started wandering around the airport grounds.
“He was unconscious for the lion’s share of the flight,” he said.
The flight lasted about 5½ hours.
Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman Alison Croyle said airline personnel noticed the boy on the ramp after the flight arrived and immediately notified airport security.
“Our primary concern now is for the well-being of the boy, who is exceptionally lucky to have survived,” Alison Croyle said.
[youtube YTQFS4N5cr8 650]
Tom Simon said the boy was medically screened and found to be unharmed.
His misadventure immediately raised security questions. A Congressman who serves on the Homeland Security committee wondered how the teen could have snuck onto the airfield at San Jose unnoticed.
“I have long been concerned about security at our airport perimeters. #Stowaway teen demonstrates vulnerabilities that need to be addressed,” tweeted Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who represents the San Francisco Bay Area’s eastern cities and suburbs.
A Mineta San Jose International Airport spokeswoman said airport police were working with the FBI and the Transportation Security Agency to review security at the facility as part of an investigation.
“Our concern is with this young boy and his family. Thank God he survived and we hope his health is OK,” spokeswoman Rosemary Barnes said.
Officials at Kahului Airport referred questions to the State Department of Transportation, which did not return a phone call seeking comment. A Transportation Security Agency spokesman who declined to be named referred questions to the FBI and airport authorities.
The boy was released to child protective services and not charged with a crime, Tom Simon said.
South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye has condemned the conduct of some of the crew of the Sewol ferry that sank last week, calling it “akin to murder”.
Park Geun-hye said that those to blame would have to take “criminal and civil” responsibility for their actions.
Divers are continuing to recover bodies from the ferry, as they gain access to more of the submerged hull.
The death toll now stands at 64, with 238 people still missing, most of them students from a school near Seoul.
Bodies are being brought two or three at a time back to Jindo, a southern island close to where the ferry sank.
Police, meanwhile, have been given access to hundreds of messages sent by passengers and crew so they can construct a detailed chronology of the ferry’s last hour.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye met the families of the Sewol ferry missing passengers
Park Geun-hye, whose government has faced criticism over its initial response to the disaster, told aides that the actions of the captain and some of the crew “were utterly incomprehensible, unacceptable and tantamount to murder”, the presidential office said.
A total of 174 passengers were rescued from the Sewol, which capsized as it sailed from Incheon in the north-west to the southern island of Jeju.
But there were 476 people on board – including 339 children and teachers on a school trip. Many were trapped inside the ship as it listed to one side and then sank.
Investigations are focusing on whether the vessel took too sharp a turn – perhaps destabilizing the vessel – before it started listing and whether an earlier evacuation order could have saved lives.
Details of the panic and indecision on the bridge emerged on Sunday, when the coastguard released a transcript of the last communications between the crew and controllers.
In the transcript, a crew member repeatedly asks if vessels are on hand to rescue passengers if evacuation is ordered.
Sewol captain, Lee Joon-seok, has said he delayed the move for fear people would drift away.
Lee Joon-seok, 69, was not on the bridge when the ferry began listing. It was steered by a third mate who had never navigated the waters where the accident occurred, prosecutors said on Saturday.
Sewol captain and two other crew members have been charged with negligence of duty and violation of maritime law.
Four more crew members were reported to have been detained on Monday over allegations they failed to protect passengers.
It has since emerged that Lee Joon-seok appeared in a promotional video for the journey four years ago describing the ferry journey as safe as long as the passengers followed the crew’s instructions.
Over the weekend, there were angry confrontations between relatives of those on board and police, after a group began a protest march.
The relatives say they want more information both about what happened and about how soon the remains of their loved ones can be recovered.
Thousands of participants are preparing to take part at this year’s Boston Marathon amid tight security following last year’s bombings.
In last year’s race two bombs exploded near the finish line, killing three people and wounding more than 260.
But the attack has not deterred runners from Monday’s event. More than 36,000 will start – 9,000 more than normal.
Half a million spectators are expected to turn out. They will pass through checkpoints and will not be allowed to bring rucksacks – only clear bags.
Never before has the marathon been run amid so many layers of security.
Thousands of participants are preparing to take part at this year’s Boston Marathon amid tight security following last year’s bombings
Protecting the 26.2 mile route has involved a massive mobilization of law enforcement agencies, including police units, bomb squads and Swat teams from other states.
The Boston police department has erected 8,000 steel barricades, 1,200 more than last year.
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick told CBS television on Sunday that the added security measures would assure a “very safe” atmosphere.
Runners and their families posed at the finish line on Sunday, determined to take part in the event.
Many people in the city have been wearing “Boston Strong” T-shirts.
Last year’s winner, Lelisa Desisa, returns to compete again. He has met several victims of the blast, calling them “an inspiration”.
The event will begin with a moment’s silence at the start line at 08:45.
Bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, is due to stand trial in November. He has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges, including 17 that carry the death penalty.
Prosecutors allege that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev set off two pressure cooker bombs with his older brother Tamerlan, 26, who later died in a police shoot-out.
Sadie Robertson, daughter of Duck Dynasty’s Willie and Korie Robertson, attended the Madison Academy Junior/Senior Banquet at Burritt on the Mountain with Madison Academy student Blake Coward.
Sadie Robertson tweeted a photo of herself and Blake Coward at the Alabama banquet.
Sadie Robertson and Blake Coward attended the Madison Academy Junior Senior Banquet
“I got the privilege to take Sadie to Jr/Sr last night,” said Blake Coward via Facebook message.
Blake Coward is a junior, and plays football and baseball for the Madison Academy Mustangs.
Sadie Robertson, 16, has cousins who attend Madison Academy, and she met Blake Coward while attending one of their softball games.
“I asked her on a date later,” said Blake Coward.
“It went great and then I visited her in Louisiana about a month later and we have been dating for three months now.”
Chelsea Chanel Dudley, aka Chanel West Coast, rose to celebrity as the rapping secretary on Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory.
Chelsea Chanel Dudley, aka Chanel West Coast, rose to celebrity as the rapping secretary on Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory
Since then, Chanel West Coast did some modeling for Maxim as well as Rob Dyrdek’s “Reckless” clothing brand.
Chanel West Coast, 25, has also become a co-host on Rob Dyrdek’s internet video spoof show Ridiculousness and has begun a musical career rapping on tracks with various artists.
Chanel West Coast unlikely popularity has stemmed largely from the reality show juggernaut that Rob Dyrdek has somehow become.
Two Kuwaiti newspapers have been temporary suspended for breaking a news blackout about an alleged coup plot, a judge has ruled today.
The independent newspapers, Al Watan and Alam Al Yawm, published details of a videotape said to show former senior officials planning the overthrow of the Gulf state’s leadership.
Both papers have been ordered to stop printing for two weeks.
The editor of Al Watan said it would appeal against the suspension.
Kuwaiti independent newspapers, Al Watan and Alam Al Yawm, published details of a videotape said to show former senior officials planning the overthrow of the Gulf state’s leadership
He told Reuters news agency: “I do not think we talked about the tape more than any other newspaper.”
The videotape purportedly contains allegations of a plot to topple the government of the Western-backed emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah.
Reports about the tape have featured extensively in local media since the start of the year, prompting a recent call from the emir’s office to stop discussing the topic.
Earlier this month the Kuwaiti prosecutor’s office ordered a media blackout of the investigation. Last week Kuwait’s lawmakers discussed the tape behind closed doors.
Kuwait’s parliament is one of the few elected bodies in the Gulf.
Kuwait is home to about a dozen daily newspapers, which often include criticism of government ministers including some ruling family members.
The transcript of the last communications between South Korean ferry that sank on Wednesday and traffic services reveal panic and indecision by the crew.
In the newly released transcript, a crew member repeatedly asks if there were vessels on hand to rescue passengers if evacuation was ordered.
The captain has said he delayed the move for fear people would drift away.
After three days, divers have now entered the ferry and retrieved 26 bodies, bringing the death toll to 58.
However, another 244 people are still missing. Some 174 passengers were rescued.
The Sewol capsized during a journey from Incheon in the north-west to the southern island of Jeju. There were 476 people on board – including 339 children and teachers on a school trip,
Investigations are focusing on whether the vessel took too sharp a turn before it started listing and whether an earlier evacuation order could have saved lives.
Some experts believe the turn could have dislodged heavy cargo and destabilized the vessel.
Messages and phone calls from those inside paint a picture of people trapped in crowded corridors, unable to escape the sharply-listing ferry.
Sewol ferry capsized during a journey from Incheon in the north-west to the southern island of Jeju
Details of the panic on the bridge emerged on Sunday, when the coastguard released a transcript of the last communications between the crew and controllers.
At 09:24 – 29 minutes after the Sewol issued its first distress call – a controller says: “Please go out and let the passengers wear life jackets and put on more clothing.”
The unidentified crew member says: “If this ferry evacuates passengers, will you be able to rescue them?”
“At least make them wear life rings and make them escape,” the controller from the Jindo Vessel Traffic Services Centre replies.
As he continues to urge the crew to prepare for evacuation, the crew member twice asks if passengers would be “rescued straight away”.
It was not until 09:37 – a few seconds before the last communication – that it became clear to controllers that evacuation had been ordered.
On Saturday the captain, Lee Joon-seok, appeared on TV saying: “I bow my head in apology to the families of the victims.
“The current was very strong, the temperature of the ocean water was cold, and I thought that if people left the ferry without proper judgement, if they were not wearing a life jacket, and even if they were, they would drift away and face many other difficulties.”
Lee Joon-seok, 69, was not on the bridge when the ferry began listing. It was steered inexperienced by a third mate who had never navigated the waters where the accident occurred, prosecutors said on Saturday.
The captain and two other crew members have been charged with negligence of duty and violation of maritime law.
Since the capsize, many of the relatives of those on board have been on Jindo island, near the site of the accident. Some have protested over the rescue operation.
Boats carrying 13 of the recently retrieved bodies arrived at Paengmok Port on Jindo on Sunday.
About 200 ships, 34 aircraft and 600 divers have been taking part in the search operation. Fishing boats with powerful lights have been brought in to help the divers operate at night.
But the currents are still strong and the visibility remains challenging.
Sewol communications excerpt:
Controller: “Please go out and let the passengers wear life jackets and put on more clothing.”
Crew member: “If this ferry evacuates passengers, will you be able to rescue them?”
Controller: “At least make them wear life rings and make them escape.”
Crew member: “If this ferry evacuates passengers, will they be rescued right away?”
Controller: “Don’t let them go bare. At least make them wear life rings and make them escape… We don’t know the situation very well. The captain should make the final decision and decide whether you’re going to evacuate passengers or not.”
Crew member: “I’m not talking about that. I asked, if they evacuate now, can they be rescued right away?”
Quentin Tarantino was joined by Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Dern and Michael Madsen in Los Angeles for a reading of his leaked script, Hateful Eight.
Once due to be the follow-up to Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino cancelled the film in January after the script spread around Hollywood and film websites.
At the time, the director said he was “very, very depressed” by the leak.
However, Quentin Tarantino, 51, was in better spirits for the one-off live reading and hinted his movie may yet see the light of day.
“I’m working on a second draft and I will do a third draft but we’re reading from the first draft,” he told the audience at Los Angeles’ Theatre at the Ace Hotel.
He also suggested the script would be changed substantially in future drafts – in particular the final act, which he described as the “fifth chapter”.
“The chapter five here will not be the chapter five later so this will be the only time it is seen, ever,” he said.
Quentin Tarantino was joined by Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Dern and Michael Madsen in Los Angeles for a reading of his leaked script, Hateful Eight
Set in post-civil war Wyoming, the Western drama takes place after a blizzard diverts a stagecoach from its route, stranding a mismatched group of outlaws in a “haberdashery”.
Among their number are a competing pair of bounty hunters, a renegade Confederate soldier and a female prisoner.
Four of the five “chapters” take place almost entirely within one room, said the Hollywood Reporter, which described the plot as an Agatha Christie-style whodunnit, albeit with added violence.
Several of Quentin Tarantino’s old cast-members took part in the reading, with Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction), Kurt Russell (Death Proof) and Amber Tamblyn (Django Unchained) all on stage.
“We’ve been rehearsing this for the last 3 days and we’re not bad,” said Quentin Tarantino.
Samuel L. Jackson and Kurt Russell played the dueling bounty hunters, while Michael Madsen played cowboy John Gage and Quentin Tarantino narrated.
“Guys, you are starting to drift away from the dialogue on the page,” he told the ensemble at one point.
“No more co-writing!”
About 1,200 people attended the show, with tickets priced between $150 and $200.
Among the audience were film mogul Harvey Weinstein, who has distributed several of Quentin Tarantino’s movies, and X-Men writer David Hayder.
Mobile phones were banned, and there was no live stream of the event.
Meanwhile, Quentin Tarantino is suing gossip website Gawker for contributory copyright infringement after it posted a link to the leaked screenplay.
Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, whose wrongful conviction for murder caused an international outcry, has died at the age of 76.
Rubin Carter died on Sunday at his home in Toronto, Canada, his friend and former co-defendant John Artis, confirmed.
The former boxer spent 19 years in prison for three murders in New Jersey in 1966.
The alleged racial motivations behind the incarceration became well-known in Bob Dylan’s song Hurricane, several books and a film.
John Artis said Rubin Carter had died in his sleep, following a battle with prostate cancer, AP news agency reported.
Rubin Hurricane Carter spent 19 years in prison for three murders in New Jersey in 1966
Rubin Carter was charged with the murder of three white people in New Jersey in 1966.
He was convicted on the evidence of two white prosecution witnesses, who were attempting to commit a burglary near the location of the murders.
The witnesses recanted their statements in 1974, and Rubin Carter was briefly freed in 1976 after the guilty verdicts were overturned.
The case made Rubin Carter a high-profile figure in the civil-rights movement, and famous campaigners including Bob Dylan and Muhammad Ali expressed their support for him.
However, he was retried and convicted again in 1976. One of the prosecution witnesses withdrew his recantation, the New York Times reported.
Rubin Hurricane Carter was freed for good in 1985, after a federal judge overturned his convictions.
Judge H Lee Sarokin said Rubin Carter’s convictions had been “predicated on an appeal to racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure”.
Following his release, Rubin Hurricane Carter moved to Toronto, and campaigned for the rights of those wrongfully convicted.
In an opinion piece for the New York Daily News in February this year, Rubin Carter thanked Judge H Lee Sarokin for freeing him.
“I lived in hell for the first 49 years, and have been in heaven for the past 28 years. To live in a world where truth matters and justice, however late, really happens, that world would be heaven enough for us all.”
Pope Francis led his second Easter Mass and delivered the Urbi et Orbi message on Easter Sunday in front of tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
After leading the ceremony that marks the holiest day in the Christian calendar, Pope Francis delivered his traditional blessing and address.
The pontiff prayed for peace in Syria and Ukraine and “an end to all war and every conflict”.
And he also prayed for those people around the world suffering from hunger, poverty, disease and neglect.
This is the second Easter mass and “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message Pope Francis, 77, has delivered as Pope.
Pope Francis led his second Easter Mass in front of tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square
The avenue leading up to the Vatican was filled with 35,000 flowers donated by the Netherlands.
“Help us to overcome the scourge of hunger, aggravated by conflicts and by the immense wastefulness for which we are often responsible,” Pope Francis prayed.
He appealed for more medical attention for those suffering from the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa and also prayed for the protection of the most vulnerable members of society.
Pope Francis asked God to “enlighten and inspire the initiatives that promote peace in Ukraine so that all those involved… will make every effort to prevent violence and, in a spirit of unity and dialogue, chart a path for the country’s future”.
“We pray in a particular way for Syria,” he said, expressing the hope that the “defenseless civil population” will be protected from the violence and get the aid they need.
In reference to Syria, Pope Francis urged the international community to “boldly negotiate the peace long awaited and long overdue”.
Pope Francis’ message came as Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad marked Easter by visiting the ancient Christian town of Maalula.
The four French journalists released from captivity in Syria have been speaking about their ordeal at the hands of suspected Islamist rebels.
Didier Francois said the four men were chained to each other and kept in basements without natural light.
His colleague Nicolas Henin added that they were “not always well treated”.
Nicolas Henin and Didier Francois, along with Edouard Elias and Pierre Torres, were greeted by their families and President Francois Hollande on arrival in France.
They had been found by Turkish soldiers on the Syrian border late on Friday.
The jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) has been accused of kidnapping them.
Television footage after their reappearance showed the men looking unkempt, with beards and long hair, but in good health.
Nicolas Henin and Didier Francois, along with Edouard Elias and Pierre Torres, were greeted by their families and President Francois Hollande on arrival in France
Didier Francois, 53, said he was “very happy to be free… to see the sky, to be able to walk and to be able to speak freely”.
“We spent six whole months in basements without seeing daylight, and for two-and-a-half months we were chained to each other,” he told his own radio station, Europe 1.
“It was a long haul, but we never lost hope,” Didier Francois added.
“From time to time, we got snatches of information, we knew that the world was mobilized.”
The journalists were found blindfolded and handcuffed in a no-man’s land in Turkey’s border province of Sanliurfa and were taken by Turkish soldiers to a police station in the nearby town of Akcakale.
The men went missing in two separate incidents last June.
Didier Francois, a veteran war correspondent, and Edouard Elias, a photographer, were abducted in early June on their way to Aleppo.
Nicolas Henin, who was working for Le Point magazine, and Pierre Torres, reporting for French-German television channel Arte, were taken later that month near Raqqa.
Negotiations with their kidnappers had been going on for several weeks but it is not known if anything was offered to them in return for freeing the men.
Welcoming them at Villacoublay air base, south of Paris, President Francois Hollande called it a “day of great joy” both for the four journalists and for France.
“France is proud that these compatriots serve the freedom of the press and France is proud to have been able to secure their liberty,” he said.
Francois Hollande also denied that France had paid a ransom.
Syria has become one of the most dangerous places for journalists.
More than 60 journalists have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad three years ago.
Families of passengers on sunken South Korean ferry Sewol have protested angrily over the rescue operation.
Police stopped up to 100 people trying to leave Jindo island intending to march to Seoul.
After more than three days, divers have now finally entered the ferry, retrieving 22 bodies and bringing the death toll to 54.
However, another 248 people are still missing from the Sewol ferry, which sank on Wednesday.
Some 174 passengers were rescued.
Since the capsize, many of the relatives of those on board have been on Jindo, in the south-west of the country.
Hundreds have been camping at a gymnasium on the island, awaiting news from the rescue operation.
Scuffles broke out when some family members tried to cross a bridge to the mainland, reportedly to march on the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, some 260 miles to the north.
Relatives are anxious for the bodies to be retrieved before they decompose.
Families of passengers on sunken South Korean ferry Sewol have protested angrily over the rescue operation
Even the prime minister came down to try to dissuade the protesters from marching on Seoul, with officials worried that the controversy could turn into a national political issue and harm the government.
About 200 ships, 34 aircraft and 600 divers have been taking part in the search operation.
Squid fishing boats with powerful lights have been brought in to help the divers operate at night.
But the currents are still strong and the visibility remains challenging.
Coastguard official Koh Myung-seok told a briefing that divers had discovered a number of routes into the ferry, and found bodies in different locations.
Captain Lee Joon-seok and two other crew members are in custody and have been charged with negligence of duty and violation of maritime law.
Officials said on Saturday that the ferry was being steered by an inexperienced third mate in unfamiliar waters when it sank.
Lee Joon-seok, 69, was not initially on the bridge when the ship ran into trouble.
The Sewol, carrying 476 passengers and crew, capsized during a journey from the port of Incheon in the north-west to the southern holiday island of Jeju.
Investigations are focusing on a sharp turn the vessel took before it started listing and whether an evacuation order could have saved lives.
Some experts believe the ship’s tight turn could have dislodged heavy cargo and destabilized the vessel, while others suggest the sinking could have been caused by a collision with a rock.
Messages and phone calls from those inside painted a picture of people trapped in crowded corridors, unable to escape the sharply-listing ferry.
Footage from the ship appeared to show instructions from crew members for passengers to remain on board even as it tilted dramatically to one side.
Some 350 of those on board were students from Danwon High School in Ansan, a suburb of Seoul, who were on a school outing when the ferry sank.
Orthodox Church patriarchs in Kiev and Moscow have highlighted during their Easter messages the deep division in Ukraine, where a tense stand-off is continuing in the east.
The head of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church Patriarch Filaret accused Russia of “aggression” and “evil”.
Russian Church Patriarch Kirill asked God to end the designs of those who wanted to rip apart Russia and Ukraine.
Pro-Russian activists in the east continue to occupy government offices.
Meanwhile Russia media are reporting several deaths in a gun battle near the eastern town of Sloviansk.
Reports of fatalities in the region have appeared before but have not been independently confirmed.
A mediator from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is scheduled to hold talks with them on Sunday.
Russian Church Patriarch Kirill asked God to end the designs of those who wanted to rip apart Russia and Ukraine
Ertogrul Apakan, who heads the special OSCE mission in Kiev, said his deputy would be in Donetsk to try to get them to comply with an agreement reached on Thursday to ease the crisis.
In his Easter message, Patriarch Filaret said: “Against our peace-loving nation, which voluntarily gave up nuclear weapons, there has been aggression, there has been injustice.
“A country which guaranteed the integrity and inviolability of our territory has committed aggression. God cannot be on the side of evil, so the enemy of the Ukrainian people is condemned to defeat.
“Lord, help us resurrect Ukraine.”
In Moscow, Patriarch Kirill appealed for peace, saying it “should reign in the hearts and minds of our brothers and sisters by blood and by faith”.
But he also said Ukraine was “spiritually and historically” at one with Russia, and he prayed for it to have authorities that were “legitimately elected”.
“We are a single people before God,” he said.
Ukraine’s acting President, Oleksandr Turchynov, said in his Easter message: “We are living in a fateful time when the Ukrainian people have decisively affirmed their striving for freedom and justice.”
In an interview to be aired in full later on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, Ukraine’s interim PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to “restore the Soviet Union”.
If Vladimir Putin succeeded, Arseniy Yatsenyuk says, it would be “the biggest disaster of this century”.
Ukraine has been in crisis since President Viktor Yanukovych was toppled in February.
Russia then annexed the Crimean peninsula – part of Ukraine but with a Russian-speaking majority – in a move that provoked international outrage.
The annexation followed a referendum in Crimea that backed a move to join the Russian Federation.
Pro-Russian activists then occupied buildings in several eastern Ukrainian cities, many calling on Moscow to support them.
Russia, Ukraine, the EU and US agreed during talks in Geneva on Thursday that illegal military groups in Ukraine must be dissolved, and that those occupying government premises must be disarmed and leave.
But the separatists’ spokesman in the city of Donetsk said that the Kiev government was “illegal”, and vowed they would not go until it stepped down.
Prince George has met Bilby George at Taronga Zoo in Sydney during his first official engagement in Australia.
The two came face-to-face on Sunday at Taronga Zoo’s enclosure, where it was officially named the Prince George Bilby Exhibit as part of Australia’s gift following the prince’s birth on July 22 last year.
It had been anticipated that Prince George would make his only public appearance at the zoo, but it wasn’t confirmed until he was filmed being put into the car by his mother Kate Middleton.
Kate Middleton carried Prince George – dressed in dark blue shorts, a striped lighter blue-colored shirt, dark blue socks and shoes – as they entered the zoo.
Eight-month-old Prince George looked inquisitive, and was chuckling and looking at the cameras.
Prince George has met Bilby George at Taronga Zoo in Sydney during his first official engagement in Australia
Kate Middleton had changed out the dove-grey Alexander McQueen outfit she wore to church during Easter Sunday service, into a lemon cream broderie anglaise dress by a designer who did not want to be named. The dress had a fitted bodice and flared out to the knee.
After a quick photo op, the family headed into the enclosure where the meeting took place.
Prince William helped break the ice, when he enticed the bilby – renamed George – over with some food.
Kate Middleton held Prince George close to the glass wall dividing the pair, and he started to show a keen interest in the endangered marsupial.
Despite being a royal, Prince George proved himself to be a normal baby – eagerly grabbing the stuffed bilby present before throwing it on the ground – and sticking a card straight in his mouth.
This was Prince George’s second official function.
During the New Zealand leg of the trip, Prince George “hosted” a play group event with other babies his age at Government House.
After the very short engagement, Prince George returned to Admiralty House, while Kate Middleton and Prince William continued through the zoo, feeding tree kangaroos, walking past giraffes, enjoying a bird show, and taking in the rhino conservation display.
On Good Friday, Prince William and Kate Middleton visited the Royal Easter Show at Sydney Olympic Park in Australia.
The Royal Easter Show is one of Australia’s largest events, attracting around 900,000 people over the course of two weeks.
Prince William and Kate Middleton watched a shearing demonstration, and the Duchess of Cambridge seized the opportunity to poke fun at her husband’s bald spot (photo Getty Images)
Kate Middleton, 32, opted to wear a local designer, Zimmerman. The Roamer Day dress, from the Summer/Swim 2014 collection, retails for $495 and arrives in stores this June; it’s previously been worn by Naomi Watts. She completed her look with $395 Stuart Weitzman Minx espadrille wedges.
Prince William and Kate Middleton watched a shearing demonstration, and the Duchess of Cambridge seized the opportunity to poke fun at her husband’s bald spot. Lyn Crejan, a farmer from Glenn Innes in New South Wales, showed them a tuft of alpaca wool that just so happened to be a similar shade to Prince William’s hair.
“The Prince was interested in the alpaca and as I showed it to them the Princess said he should put it on his head,” Lyn Crejan told reporters.
“She said, <<You need it more than me>>, and pointed to his head and he laughed.”
Prince William and Kate Middleton have marked Easter Sunday by attending a church service in Sydney.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were greeted by cheering crowds outside St Andrew’s Cathedral in the city centre.
While at the cathedral, they signed the First Fleet Bible, which was brought to Australia in 1788 and bears the names of other members of the royal family.
Prince William and Kate Middleton then moved onto Taronga Zoo, where Prince George was introduced to a bilby, a rabbit-like marsupial.
Dressed in a blue striped shirt, blue shorts and black shoes, the young prince looked excited to meet the native animal, which was named George in his honor.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were greeted by cheering crowds outside St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney
Prince William and Kate Middleton then unveiled a plaque at the bilby enclosure, which was paid for by the Australian government to celebrate Prince George’s birth.
Earlier, the private church service was also attended by Australian PM Tony Abbott.
Archbishop of Sydney the Most Reverend Dr. Glenn Davies and Dean of Sydney the Very Reverend Phillip Jensen met Prince William and Kate Middleton on the cathedral steps before the service began.
The bible had previously been signed by the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh as well as the Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales in 1983 on their visit to Australia with an infant Prince William.
Prince William and Kate Middleton also signed the prayer book of the First Fleet – the 11 ships that carried Europeans to Australia in the 1780s.
Kate Middleton wore a dove grey Alexander McQueen coat and Jane Taylor hat for the service, while her husband wore a suit.
After the service, they spent time speaking to members of the cathedral choir and children who had gathered nearby to see the royal couple.
Hamid Mir, one of Pakistan’s best known television presenters, has been shot and wounded by gunmen in the city of Karachi.
Police said the attackers opened fire on Hamid Mir’s car near the airport.
The presenter for Geo TV received three bullets, but was in a stable condition, the officials added.
There have been previous attempts on the life of Hamid Mir, the first journalist to interview Osama bin Laden after 9/11.
Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries for the media.
The attack has been strongly condemned by Pakistani politicians, including PM Nawaz Sharif.
Hamid Mir is one of Pakistan’s best known television presenters (photo Geo TV)
Last month, Nawaz Sharif pledged to do more to protect journalists in Pakistan.
Hamid Mir had just landed in Karachi and was on his way to the studios of Geo TV, a private Pakistani news channel, when unidentified gunmen in a car and on motorcycles reportedly tailed him before opening fire.
Police said he sustained three gunshot wounds, but that his life was not in danger.
Hamid Mir’s brother, a leading investigative journalist, has accused the country’s intelligence agency, the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence), of orchestrating the attack.
According to his brother, Hamid Mir had recently told family and colleagues that he had received threats from the ISI because of his political views.
In 2012, the Pakistani Taliban tried to kill Hamid Mir by planting 1lb of explosives under his car outside his home in the capital, Islamabad.
But the remote-controlled bomb failed to go off.
The Taliban had threatened Hamid Mir and other journalists for their coverage of the militants’ shooting of schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai.
Five journalists were killed in Pakistan in 2013 and more than 50 have died since the early 1990s. Most murders remain unresolved.
