Makeshift white flags have been placed to mark where some of the 298 bodies lay in corn fields and among the debris of the doomed Malaysian Airlines, which was blasted out of the sky over the Ukraine by a missile. an eyewitness described how one of the victims, a woman, crashed through the roof of a terrace. Some of the bodies, stripped naked by the force of the crash, had been covered by polythene sheeting weighed down by stones.

An expert believes that MH17 was downed by a missile fired from Toez in eastern Ukraine - and a BUK launcher has been pictured rumbling into the town (top) after covertly creeping along country paths (bottom left) and across the border (bottom right). Earlier Ukrainian security services claim to have intercepted two phone conversations in which pro-Russian separatists appear to admit to shooting down Flight MH17, railing, 'They shouldn’t be f*****g flying. There is a war going on.'

Emily Shaw (pictured, main, and in her childhood), 23, went to £15,000-a-year Hurst Lodge in Ascot, Berks, before becoming the first British woman in a decade to be a Playboy Playmate. Having flown to Los Angeles at the personal invitation of Playboy magnate Hugh Hefner, she spent a month living at the notorious Playboy Mansion.

Although the Royal Family believe there is no point in throwing a big party for infants as they won't remember it, lucky Prince George has the Middletons, who make it their business - literally - to throw a good party. Today, a full three days before his actual birthday, George was due to be taken by his parents to the Middletons’ home outside Bucklebury in Berkshire (bottom right). There, his doting grandmother Carole has arranged a Peter Rabbit-themed party that brands him a very middle-class little prince. Prince George and friends, including Zara Phillips' daughter Mia Grace, will be seated, apparently, on bean bags printed with animal faces, one of which has ‘George’ embroidered on it. Kate, like Carole, loves anything personalised. Pride of place will go to George’s ‘first birthday book’, which has been meticulously compiled by Kate, who used to take photographs for the Party Pieces website.

In the past few years, there have been a number of deaths and life-changing health problems linked to the £1 billion worth of illegal alcohol now flooding Britain each year. Liz Goldsborough (right) blacked out after drinking vodka from an illicit bottle, and Sheffield University student Lauren Platts (left) was bed-bound for two days after also drinking what she believed to be vodka. In fact, they were victims of the widespread market selling counterfeit products, such as this mis-spelt box of 'seuvignon blanc' (inset).

To the outside world, Conservative MP David Atkinson and his wife Sue (left) seemed the perfect political team - supportive, sociable and glamorous. The charismatic member for Bournemouth East appeared to epitomise the values his party held dear. But the image Atkinson so assiduously cultivated was, in fact, a cynically calculated charade. For in Westminster the MP (pictured right with his family in 1987) pursued a sordid, secret life remote from the wholesome family one he espoused in Bournemouth. And Sue, his wife of 25 years, had no inkling that her husband had a darker alter ego, until October 1990, when, by chance, she picked up a newspaper in a dentist’s waiting room.

William, 32, suffers from male pattern baldness and pictures of him emerging from a pool with the little hair he has left plastered to his head served to highlight the problem. Hopefully, he won’t be tempted to use Prince Charles’s solution — the comb-over. Not only does it fail to disguise the royal bald spot, it has a habit of blowing around in high winds to create an alarming spiky halo. If William wants to tackle his baldness there are many remedies on offer, from homespun to high-tech, including an iGrow laser helmet (left). Here, the country’s leading hair loss experts explain which might work for William...

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israel is prepared to 'significantly widen' its ground offensive in Gaza. It comes after the bodies of the four children, including three from the Shuhaiber family, were pictured at the morgue at Al Shiga Hospital in Gaza City as Israeli troops pushed deeper into the region today to destroy rocket launching sites and tunnels in a bid to weaken the enclave's Hamas rulers.

Wine expert Oz Clarke and food writers and plonk enthusiasts Rose Prince and Tessa Cunningham test supermarket clarets against some seriously expensive bottles from fine wine merchants.

The Met Office has issued an amber warning for heavy rain today with fears that flash flooding could hit some parts of the country, bringing an end to sunbathing. It comes after it was confirmed that yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures reaching 31C at London City Airport yesterday lunchtime. In London last night ominous clouds were a suggestion of the rain to come.

Due to his blood ties, King George V held honorary ranks in the German military and was accordingly fitted with uniforms that have rarely been displayed, (left and right), despite being held in immaculate condition by the Royal Collection. The king started the war as a Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, but ended it a Windsor. He reacted angrily to suggestions early in the war that his German relatives be stripped of their British titles, but eventually public revulsion at German bombing campaigns forced him to repudiate his links to the Germany.

Emma Egan (pictured left) leapt behind the wheel when Liam Dent drove off after dumping her, but the 26-year-old lost control as she tailgated him at 69mph in a 40mph limit. She smashed into father-of-two Eric Codling (pictured right with wife Karen and their daughters Grace, 12, and Eve, nine) catapulting him from his bicycle and killing him instantly. Egan, whose sister had been killed by a drink-driver eight years previously, wept as she was jailed for four years at Sheffield Crown Court.

Young editor Don Hale (bottom left) was at his Bury Messenger office when police demanded he hand over sensitive files given to him by long-serving Labour politician Barbara Castle (bottom right). They included typewritten minutes of meetings that had been held at Westminster in support of the paedophile agenda, along with details of a host of Establishment figures who had apparently pledged support to their cause. No fewer than 16 MPs were on that list, several of them household names. Also mentioned multiple times was Tory minister Sir Rhodes Boyson (top left), a well-known enthusiast for corporal punishment, and Education Secretary Sir Keith Joseph (top right).

Victoria Evans, 28, from Gloucestershire, was tortured by her adoptive mother Eunice Spry (top right), who will soon be released from prison - and Victoria is scared her attacker will try to make contact. Choosing to waive her anonymity - in the hope that she can help secure better rights for victims of abuse - Victoria (pictured left now and bottom right at the time Eunice was jailed eight years ago) has described the horrific attacks she endured for years. If she upset her foster mother, she would have a broken stick pushed down her throat. 'I will never forget the taste of wood and blood and saliva,' she said.

Julie Evans (right), 45, from Drybrook, Gloucestershire, admitted grabbing the spread and rubbing it over husband James Evans, 40, (left) during a breakfast bust-up. She was cleared of actual bodily harm after his ear was split open in the attack but admitted pouring water over him while he slept the previous day. The couple are now divorced.

Sales manager Natalie Melmore, of Newton Abbott, Devon, is a law and criminology graduate who has worked as a waitress to support herself, and trains in her spare time. She hopes her presence on Team England this summer will inspire young women to take up a sport, which is traditionally played by people many decades older than herself.

On Saturday, 20-year-old Sierra Sandison was crowned Miss Idaho after winning over spectators when she wore her insulin pump attached to her bikini. Now, fans are praising her as a heroine to those suffering from the same disease. 'Every time I look at my Facebook, I start crying,' she told Magic Valley. 'I've been on a roller coaster all week.'

Kalila Momplé from Brighton, filmed her two-year-old daughter, Kyra, in a fit of tears as she helplessly searched for her nose that 'daddy stole'. 'I can't find it anymore . . . I lost it,' the blonde-haired infant wails to her mother, who asks where the face part went.

Nikola Bradford, of Leigh, Lancashire, left, problems with Nurofen began following a bad breakup in 2005 and after she fell down stairs in 2010 and hurt her back. She soon became addicted to the over-the-counter painkillers, inset, and asked her local chemists to stop selling them to her. An inquest into her death also heard her unsociable working hours left her feeling isolated from her friends, right, and that she felt 'very lonely'. The civilian police worker died from a fatal cocktail of illicit drugs.

A former Kingston University student began the clear-up in 2011 and it has become an annual event but the volunteers (main photograph and top right) were surprised by how much more junk had been dumped in the Thames. Last year, they pulled three tons from the same stretch but this year the figure had increased by 33 per cent.

The man, who has not been identified, told a 911 dispatcher that he had beaten Raymond Frolander (pictured), who he found abusing his son at their Florida home, into a 'bloody puddle'. Police arrived at the Daytona Beach home in Florida to find Frolander, 18, unconscious on the floor. The father added: 'He stood up and his pants were around his ankles and nothing else needed to be said. I did whatever I got a right to do except I didn’t kill him.'

Taking a leaf from the military, Land Rover’s engineers are looking at creating miniature drones that could be launched from their new 4x4. The drones would scan the road up to 20 yards ahead and send back live images to the driver via a mobile phone in-car wi-fi link. The images would be displayed either on a screen in the car or on the windscreen using jet-fighter style technology.

National Geographic trialed the separate pedestrian lanes on a busy Washington DC sidewalk, for a new science series called Mind Over Masses. According to a notice on the website of Washington's Office of Motion Picture and Television Development, which issued the film permit, the show planned to create 'fast and slow lanes' on the sidewalk, 'allowing participants to choose.'

The rather pointless contraption, seen in action at the Tour de Fat event in Illinois, Chicago, this month, features two pedals, a seat and three wheels arranged in peace sign-shape which causes it to spin on the spot. Reddit user, Ashavail, was filmed giving the stationary vehicle a quick ride with disastrous consequences, as, after a few beers ,he was left extremely dizzy and took a tumble into the mud.

A new Oscar de la Renta exhibit that opens Saturday at the Bush Library in Dallas, Texas, features ensembles worn by Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Reagan. Mrs Bush said the exhibit was the designer's idea. 'He called me and said, "May I do a show there? I'd love to." Of course I was thrilled, I'd always envisioned that we do a show of clothes,' she said.

The Berkshire home where Sir Edward Elgar (pictured) composed some of his finest pieces has been put up for sale as First Night of the Proms gears up to play his biblical oratorio The Kingdom. The English composer laboured played a piano in the music room, which has now been converted into a swimming pool. The riverside mansion was also home to another notable resident - Formula One driver Stirling Moss, who drove his first racing car around the grounds as a young boy.

The two animals, who live on a farm in Brussels, Belgium, were filmed sharing an intimate moment of affection together. The amorous tabby cat is seen sat on the wall of a stable enclosure rubbing up against the horse who peers over the barrier. Both seem happy and relaxed in each other's company.