07/04/2014 BBC News at Six

Oscar Pistorius apologises in court to his girlfriend's family as he

takes the stand for the first time at his murder trial. The athlete

broke down in tears as he told Reeva Steenkamp's parents he'd been trying

to protect their daughter. I wake up every morning and you are the first

people I think of, the first people I pray for. I can't imagine the

pain, the sorrow and emptiness I have caused you and your family.

Also on the programme: Two British mothers drown on holiday in the

Canary Islands as they try to save their children who'd been swept into

the sea. It's being called the most promising lead so far - an

Australian ship has picked up signals from what could be the

missing Malaysian plane's black box. The supermarket giant Asda plans to

create up to 12,000 new jobs by opening hundreds of new stores. And

Baby George's big adventure, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge take

the prince down under on his first foreign tour. On BBC London: three

female tourists are seriously injured after a hammer attack in

their hotel room. And thanked at Downing Street, the flood hit

victims that worked tirelessly to help with the clean-up.

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six. Oscar Pistorius has

apologised to the family of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, for

killing her. Giving evidence for the first time at his trial he broke

down, saying he couldn't imagine the pain, sorrow and emptiness he had

caused Reeva's family. The athlete denies murdering his girlfriend last

year and insists he mistook her for an intruder. Andrew Harding is

outside the court in Pretoria Two British women have

We are at a crucial moment in this trial. For the first time since he

shot those four bullets last year, Oscar Pistorius has been talking at

length, in public. The focus is on his character and his emotional

state. The athlete, seeking to show that the prosecution has been wrong

to call him jealous, aggressive, gun crazy. Finally, his turn to talk.

Oscar Pistorius makes his way from the dock this morning, heading to

the witness box. Past his own toilet door, the one he shot through, now

an exhibit in this courtroom. And then we lose sight of him. Only his

voice is allowed to be broadcast. He turns to the public and launches

into an emotional speech to the family of the woman he killed, Reeva

Steenkamp. I'd like to apologise and say that there's not a moment, there

hasn't been a moment, since this tragedy happened that I haven't

thought about her family. I wake up every morning, you are the first

people I think of, the first people I pray for. I can't imagine the

pain, the sorrow and the emptiness that I have caused you and your

family. I was simply trying to protect Reeva. I can promise that

when she went to bed that night, she felt loved. Reeva's mother shows no

emotion. The Pistorius family, quite the opposite. His sister and an aunt

here. At one point he sobs and wretches. Then he describes his own

frail state, on antidepressants, struggling to sleep. I have terrible

nightmares about... About things that happened that night. I wake up

and I smell, I can smell... I can smell blood. I wake up to being

terrified. The state has sought to show Pistorius as reckless and

aggressive, killing Reeva Steenkamp in a flash of anger. Today he

expressed his own vulnerability, disabled and fearful of crime. When

I grew up, we were exposed to crime, house break-ins, family members

being assaulted, hijacked... He was allowed to finish early after his

lawyer pleaded he had not slept last night. The real core of his evidence

is expected tomorrow. And that is when Oscar Pistorius is expected to

explain how and why he shot Reeva Steenkamp. He insists it was a

terrible accident, that he thought she was an intruder. This trial

could well hinge on what he says tomorrow and how convincing the

judge finds his version. Two British women have drowned on

holiday in the Canary Islands after trying to save their children from

the sea. It's thought they went into the water to help their ten and

14-year-olds who'd been swept away by a wave. The children both

survived. One of the women who died was a GP in Lincoln, the other a

42-year-old obstetrician from Cheshire.

Uma Ramalingam was, say her friends, a fantastic doctor who gave hope to

patients. Tonight, they are mourning the loss after news broke that she

had been killed while trying to save her son from drowning. The doctor

from Cheshire had flown to Tenerife to spend Easter and Playa Paraiso,

with two relatives and another child. The family spent the day at

the beach. By sunset, rescuers were at the scene after a flurry of calls

from eyewitnesses said that both children had been swept out to sea

from the rocks. The three women jumped in after them, and a Briton

staying at the resort rushed to help. The rocky outcrop, waves were

pounding into the rock. White waves everywhere. I saw this girl and I

had to try and help her. I managed to get into the water and eventually

get hold of her, pulled her away from the rocks. She was in a

terrible state. Although both children survived their ideal,

neither Uma Ramalingam or her relative, Barathi Ruvikumar, could

be saved. The third woman has been treated in hospital.

Search teams, looking for the missing Malaysian airliner say two

underwater sounds picked up by an Australian ship are consistent with

signals from an aircraft's black box recorders. Officials say it's the

most promising lead they've had so far. The plane, with 239 people

board, was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March the 8th when it

disappeared. Jon Donnison is in Perth in Australia. This report

contains some flash photography. Could this Australian Navy ship

finally have found MH370? Using a device called a towed pinger

locator, a sort of underwater microphone, it picked up signals -

once for more than two hours, and once for around 13 minutes. And,

crucially, two distinct pings were detected. This would be consistent

with transmissions from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit

voice recorder. The black box contains two set of recorders. The

first, the cockpit voice recorder, registers what the crew say and also

any other sounds in the cockpit. But it only stores the last two hours

before a crash. As the Malaysian jet apparently flew for seven hours

after changing course, the possibly crucial moments soon after take-off

will have been overwritten. The other recorder is for flight data.

This monitors the plane's functions, including time, altitude,

speed and direction. It holds 25 hours worth of data, so could

potentially be more useful. Good afternoon. And in Kuala Lumpur, the

Malaysian government, which has faced such criticism in recent

weeks, welcomed the news. I urge all nations and the international

community to unite in their prayers and not give up hope. We will

continue with all our efforts to find MH370. And the search by air

and by sea is far from over. Still no wreckage has been found.

Investigators are warning it could take several days to confirm whether

the signals detected are indeed from the black box. After weeks of

scouring one of the most remote corners of the world, investigators

clearly feel they're onto something. Detecting possible signals from the

black box is one thing. Finding it and recovering it is another. And

one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries is far from solved.

The chairman and the general secretary of the Police Federation

of England and Wales have announced they are to leave the organisation

next month. The Federation, which represents more than 120 thousand

rank and file officers, has been mired in controversy since the

plebgate affair in 2012. There've also been accusations of bullying.

Tom Symonds reports. At the headquarters of the Police

Federation of England and Wales, tonight our camera caught a brief

glimpse of chairman Steve Williams, the point his resignation was

announced. A confidant said he now felt he couldn't trust the officials

at his own office. It wasn't long before the shutters went down.

Earlier this year, the organisation was accused in an independent review

of not being open enough, especially about finances. Mr Williams,

ironically, regarded himself as the moderniser, intent on changing all

of that. I think if we don't bring around the reforms that are

necessary, reform will be done to others. We have an opportunity to

shape our own destiny. Sources say he has been unable to persuade the

senior Federation officials, who are less keen on change. His former

communications director, herself sacked, told MPs recently he had

been under enormous pressure. He had personally been criticised,

ridiculed, verbally attacked and bullied. The chairman? The chairman.

That's in the space of 12 months since he instigated the review.

Earlier this year, more than 90% of Federation members said they wanted

it to change, its procedures, its standards, it ethics. How far those

changes go are causing enormous divisions here. Elections next month

will be crucial. We are getting some breaking news.

The journalist and presenter Peaches Geldof, the daughter of Sir Bob held

off and the late Paul Yates, has died. She was just 25 years old. The

circumstances of her death are not clear at the moment. She was very

young, she had very young sons. What more do we know? Police were called

to a property in Kent at 1:35 this afternoon. A woman believed to be

Peaches Geldof was pronounced dead by Southeast Coast Ambulance

Service. The only thing they can say at the moment is that it is being

treated as a sudden and unexplained death. We know no more than that. Of

course, it is a life that takes you back to her own mother, 13 years

ago, who died tragically young, aged 41. An extraordinary shock, there.

We have no idea of the cause of death or circumstances leading to it

at the moment. The supermarket giant ASDA is to

create up to 12,000 jobs over the next five years. It's hoping to open

40 large superstores, 100 supermarkets and 150 new shops on

petrol forecourts. The move comes at a time when the supermarket sector

is Going through an intense price war.

Knocked about, unsure, worried. Written's retailers have been left

struggling as gruesomely sophisticated customers demand ever

better value and discounters eat into their market share. Now, ASDA

has decided that expansion is the best form of defence. 50% of the UK

population can't get to a ASDA store. We will open 300 stores,

predominantly in the south, where we are not that well represented. A lot

of competitors say this is not time to expand, what would you say? We

are a nation of shopkeepers. We are a company that is growing, we are

being invested in by Walmart, that is great news for the British

public. Like once untouchable heavyweight boxers, Britain's

retailers have been shocked by the imports from Germany, Aldi and Lidl.

They have reacted in different ways. The difference at the moment is that

Tesco is no longer interested in making these big stores. ASDA, still

underrepresented in many areas of the country, they can't get enough

of them. Politicians can't get enough of jobs announcements. David

Cameron was in a ASDA store today to meet some very young customers. The

battle now works on to Marks Spencer and Tesco, both about to

announce latest sales figures. Analysts expect they will reveal how

tough the market really is. Our top story this evening: Oscar

Pistorius apologies to Reeva Steenkamp's family as he takes the

stand for the first time to begin his defence at the murder trial.

Coming up: Tributes to the Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney, who has died

at the age of 93. Later on BBC London: Getting less

mobile swimmers into the pool. How the money you donate during the

London Marathon is being spent. And the designer who has been shaping

fashion for 40 years talks to us about the new exhibition celebrating

his couture. Commemorations have been taking

place across Rwanda to mark 20 years since the 1994 Genocide. Around

800,000 minority Tutsis were killed by the majority Hutu population. And

as the genocide played out the international community failed to

intervene. It left a country in total ruin, faced with the huge task

of bringing the Hutu killers to justice. George Alagiah - who

reported from Rwanda at the time - has returned to the country to see

how it's dealt with the legacy of the genocide.

A day to remember, a day to say never again, but for some in the

crowd the memory alone was too much. Rwandans were joined by

international dignitaries, including the UN Secretary General. Today he

acknowledged the organisation's failure to stop the genocide, the

fastest bout of mass murder in modern times. One of the most

infamous massacres took place here in the south of the country. Up to

50,000 people were killed at this half built school where they had

sought refuge. Now it is a memorial centre. First the genocidal mob cut

off the water and prevented any supplies getting in. Then they moved

in for the kill. The victims' clothing tells its own story. Women

and children, the elderly, no one was spared. How do you reconcile

victim and perpetrator? In every city and in every town and village

in Rwanda these are the challenges they are having to deal with.

This man led a group of the killers two decades ago. In a remarkable act

of generosity he has been allowed into the life of this woman, one of

the few who survived. She lost her husband and two What kind of man

attacks innocent people? We were like wild animals. If you have ever

seen a mad dog, that is us. Our plan was to make sure there were not

survivors. After the genocide he admitted killing nine people and

served seven years in jail. I wonder how can you sit next to the man who

may have been the killer of your husband and sons? TRANSLATION: I

never thought I could be close to a person who killed another, let alone

speak to him. But with the counselling we have had I have

learned to forgive. I also forgave him because he told the truth and

asked to be part of it. Over half the population was born after the

genocide. Among them are the 20,000 or so children conceived in hate and

born to women who were raped. Bertrand is one of them, but now

like the rest of his generation he wants to look forward. TRANSLATION:

Most Rwandans have moved on and the only reason we commemorate the

genocide is to make sure it never happens again. It is not fair to

just associate Rwanda with genocide. If people came here, they would

realise that. Today Rwandans are remembering their past, but in doing

so they highlight the extraordinary achievement of the last two

decades, a nation no longer divided between victims and perpetrators,

but united around a shared vision of the future.

A British businessman accused of arranging his wife's murder on their

honeymoon in Cape Town is due to be extradited to South Africa tonight

to face trial. Shrien Dewani has spent the last three years fighting

a legal battle to prevent him from being sent back there. 28-year-old

Anni Dewani was shot as she and her new husband travelled in a taxi on

the outskirts of Cape Town in November 2010.

Eight-month-old Prince George has been flown to the other side of the

world on his first overseas visit. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

landed this morning in New Zealand with their son on the first day of a

three-week tour down under. And it began with a traditional Maori

welcome. Our Royal Correspondent, Nicholas Witchell, sent this report

from Wellington. It was an arrival keenly awaited. The aircraft door

opened and there with his parents was George. Getting a final

reassuring touch from his mother before a marketing for his first

high-profile appearance outside the United Kingdom. Indeed, the first

time he has been seen properly since his christening in October. A

blustery first encounter with New Zealand at the start of a three-week

visit to both New Zealand and Australia. How had he coped with the

flight? Much like any eight-month old, probably. He certainly looked

composed at the end of it, if rather disinterested in the line of people

who were there to welcome his parents. But in amongst all the baby

topped the presence of this bouncing, third in line to the

throne invite serious discussion over the future, about whether New

Zealand was an identity of its own, no longer tied to the British Crown.

It is hard to read New Zealand's attitude to this baby and their son.

I Day greeting them as future kings of New Zealand, or is the enthusiasm

more the product of curiosity than it is loyalty? One former Deputy

Prime Minister of New Zealand said at the weekend it was inevitable the

country would eventually become a republic. And yet the potential

impact of the Crown represented by William, Catherine and George should

not be underestimated. One of the all time Hollywood

greats, Mickey Rooney, has died at the age of 93. His career began,

when he was just 18 months old. He was a prolific actor starring in

hundreds of films, his first more than 90 years ago. Mickey Rooney

worked with some of the greatest names in cinema during its golden

age. Nick Higham looks back at his life.

# I said good morning # The sun is shining # Good morning # Hear the

birdies sing # It's great to stay up late # Good morning, good morning to

you. # Mickey Rooney was 19 when he made Babes In Arms with Judy

Garland. She was still learning to be a star. He was the real thing, a

veteran of 120 films. He was an irrepressible child start, playing

Mickey McGuire in one series of more than 60 comedy shorts then Andy

Hardy, the all-American boy nextdoor. He starred opposite

Spencer Tracy and Liz Taylor, another child star in National

Velvet. She made it! But he grew up too quickly and his private life was

a mess. He married eight times, his first wife was Ava Gardner, and he

went broke twice. He made endless comebacks, often in films for

children. Acting, he maintained, was not work. I am so fortunate being in

the business and being a grown-up kids and playing make-believe and

memorise in some lines and doing them before the camera. It is a walk

in the park. He lived a long life and made over 300 films, but never

quite matched the brilliance and charm of those early movies with

Judy Garland. The Hollywood actor, Mickey Rooney, who's died at the age

of 93. Now if someone asked to you to sum yourself up, what would you

say? And who do you most identify with? Your family, friends, work

colleagues? In many ways, our modern world is more inter-connected than

ever before thanks to things like the internet and social media. So

the BBC has commissioned research called Who Do We Think We Are?

Looking in detail at our own identity and who we feel most

connected to. Here's our Home Editor, Mark Easton. This is the

year when the people of these islands will be challenged on their

very identity. European elections, the Scottish independence election,

the Commonwealth Games and the football World Cup. Our relationship

with each other and the wider world will be tested. 2014 is when the

British will face this question. Who do we think we are? I am mixed race

and proud of it. I am a husband. I am someone trying to get by. The BBC

has conducted a major, face-to-face survey of people from all parts of

the United Kingdom. The questions delve deep into our sense of who we

are. Is the UK reaching out or hunkering down? We asked if people

felt more or less connected than a decade ago with others locally,

nationally and internationally. When it comes to local connections a

higher proportion said ties were stronger rather than weaker. With

people in the wider world the difference was even more pronounced.

But asked about others in that country and a greater proportion

said connections were weaker rather than stronger. The human brain is

wired to live in small, close-knit groups and those are the dynamics of

those groups. Those of recent with new technology and being able to

recreate, we are creating tribal, social dynamics on Facebook and

Twitter. When we think of identity it is often assumed information you

might have on your passport or ID card, nationality, age, gender,

ethnicity. But people's sense of who they are is not like that. People's

leisure activities are more important than people's values.

Being united in football and sport and even bird-watching brings people

together even more than whether or not they believe in God or whether

they are black or white, rich or poor. I am a fan of one direction. I

am a food lover. I am a bookworm. I am totally confused. Our sense of

identity is less about the things that we cannot change of ourselves,

than those that we can. In the next few years we may change our answer

to the question, who do we think we are?

Time now for a look at the weather. We have an active whether print out

there at the moment. Overnight many places will be dry

with just a few showers scattered around and it will be colder than it

has been over recent night. This is a narrow band of rain moving across

parts of England. If you are underneath that it will be a short,

sharp shock. The gusty winds will clear out into the North Sea and it

will be a bit drier. In between there will be some breaks in the

crowd that cloud. Tomorrow morning it will be round about five or seven

degrees. As we go through the morning it will be mostly bright and

breezy with a bit more clout in the West which could produce the odd

shower. Most places will stay dry as we head through the afternoon and we

picked up a bit more clout as we move through north-west England and

into Northern Ireland. A similar story in western Scotland, a bit

drier to the east of the Grampians and in the Lothians and the Borders.

Many showers in the North West, but for most they will stay awake and it

will be dry with brighter spells in the afternoon. Temperatures left to

roundabout about ten or 11 degrees, which is not far of average. High

pressure is building into the so with some weak France in the North

over the next couple of days. The greatest risk of brain is in the

north-west corner, but for many of us it will be dry and many settled.

Head to our website for more information.

The main news this evening: Oscar Pistorius apologise to Reeva

Steenkamp's family as he takes the stand for the first time to begin

his defence at his murder style that trial.

Peaches Geldof, the daughter of Sir Bob Geldof, has died. She was 25

years old and the mother of two spoiled children. Now it is time