Bec McDonald, 20, from Geelong in Victoria was on a month-long Contiki tour through Europe that ended in Amsterdam last week. The Deakin University psychology student was booked to return to Melbourne on Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was believed to have been blown out of the sky last Thursday by a surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 passengers and crew. Days before the flight, Ms McDonald's brother, who is a travel agent, suggested she take the free connecting flight offered by Contiki to London, from where she could get a cheaper flight to Melbourne. Ms McDonald flew home from London on Thursday at the same time MH17 was believed to be shot down over Ukraine. She learnt of the tragedy during her stopover in Kuala Lumpur.

A new book by Weekly Standard editor Daniel Halper exposes some of the Clintons' dirtiest secrets. Among the claims: Investigators for Monica Lewinsky compiled a dossier of hundreds of pages of documents on Clinton's dalliances and misdeeds; young Bill 'assaulted' a date in a wooded area of a San Francisco park and decades later had the audacity to call her and ask for her support in his presidential campaign; he set his sights on Barbra Streisand (below left), Elizabeth Hurley (above left) and the first African-American Miss Arkansas Lencola Sullivan. 'Everybody you think he f*****, he did,' said one insider.

The Queen (centre) joined Carole Middleton (bottom right) and Zara Tindall (top right) for Prince George's first birthday party in London. Waiting inside were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, all of whom live at Kensington Palace, and a Peter Rabbit themed party organised by the Middleton clan.

A father who was brutally bashed by four young adults after an evening out at a nightclub in Rockhampton, Queensland, has told A Current Affair he thinks his attackers were let off too lightly. Shocking footage showed Jason Wivell being kicked and punched unconscious by two women and two men, and he suffered a broken arm and head injuries as a result of the bashing. He described the assailants as 'scum' and dubbed their sentence 'a joke'.

Damion St Patrick Baston lured beautiful women into his sex trafficking empire from the Gold Coast, telling girls they were better off being selling their bodies than giving sex 'away for free' to boyfriends. Photographs obtained from the Florida District Court show Baston toting high-powered semi-automatic weapons, lying in bed covered in Australian bank notes, posing in a fox fur with a fistful of $100 bills, and wearing a bizarre pair of gold fangs.

Calvin Conger, 18, helped a stingray give birth to two pups on board his boat in Port Charlotte, Florida, after catching the pregnant animal while out fishing. Calvin was going to cut the fish up for shark bait when he noticed a second stinger sticking out of its rear end. His father, Terry, pushed gently on the animal's stomach and it gave birth to one baby ray, shortly followed by another.

Elissa Alvarez (left and inset), 20, a waitress from Bradenton, and 39-year-old Jose 'Ben' Caballero (right and inset), a personal trainer and convicted drug trafficker, were taken into police custody on Cortez Beach Sunday on charges of felony lewd and lascivious exhibition. An outraged beach-goer even filmed the oversexed couple engaging in intercourse in full view of families with children.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: The harrowing footage was captured by an activist from the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement in the Shijaiyah neighbourhood of Gaza City. As the group tried to make their way across a heavily damaged area, shots suddenly rang out. The first sent the group scrambling for cover, but did not hit anyone, but the second hits the man in the green t-shirt. Then, the Palestinian was hit a second time as he lay on the ground. 'And that bullet, I guess it was in his heart or like or almost there, because he was like going and dying in front of our eyes,' said an activist.

A unique terrace at 52 Kellett Street in the heart of Sydney's King Cross has just been listed for sale with a price guide of more than $1.8 million. The 171 square metre property is being marketed as a 'grand terrace zoned for residential and commercial' use and is currently occupied by a brothel known as Secret Desire. There is no mention of the brothel in advertising for the sale of the property but the 'iconic address' has 'boundless scope and future promise'. The terrace is complete with soaring ornate ceilings, arched hallways and original fixtures.

The bodies were found hanging from trees in woodland next to Zmeevo village on the outskirts of the western Russian town of Tver after the pair had vanished. The girl's mother said that they had discovered she was three months’ pregnant the same day, and that they had tried to stop her seeing her boyfriend because of the age difference.

The self-described peace actionist will stand as an independent for Unley council in November, saying she is keen to make a difference to her community. The affluent area in Adelaide's inner south has a population of almost 40,000 people

Warren Smith, who works as a fishing guide on the Tiwi Islands north of Darwin, took the amazing photographs during a fishing tour on Saturday. 'We were just out fishing, as we do, we were out the back of Snake Bay and we came across that big crocodile... and what was left of the other crocodile in his mouth,' said Mr Smith.

Lasting for between 14 months and two years, and costing in the region of $700-$1,000; the process involves filling in the brows with micro-fine 'hairs' that are inked - somewhat painfully! - onto the skin. I enlisted the services of a New York-based salon called Browhaus to do me the honors.

The woman's desperate actions were stopped when passers-by saw her walking into the water in the city of Wuhan in central China's Hubei province. Now, after the publicity the case attracted, mother Wei Chung, 32, has been given a place in sheltered accommodation and the promise that the local hospital will attempt once again to look at her baby daughter's health issues.

Photographer Rebecca Litchfield , 32, from south-east London, travelled to nine countries that were part of Soviet Union or accepted as satellite states for her book 'Soviet Ghosts'. She risked radiation exposure and was even arrested and interrogated in her bid to photograph army barracks, laboratories, graveyards for old fighter jets, silos and gyms.

Lacy Lund's nose was so badly broken in the attack at the hands of Dean Campbell, 22 (pictured with Miss Lund, left), that the 19-year-old from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, needed rhinoplasty to rebuild her face. Miss Lund's relationship ended soon after the attack, while her new look gave her so much confidence she has rebuilt herself as a beauty queen - and she hopes her story will help other domestic violence victims.

Gabriella Gillespie, now 50, from Bristol, was born and raised in Wales but was sold to a violent husband in Yemen by her father (circled bottom right). Her elder sisters suffered the same fate, although one, determined not to marry the 60-year-old chosen for her, killed herself on her wedding day. Now back in the UK for good, Ms Gillespie is determined to tell the world about what happened to her in the hopes that her story won't be repeated.

In the video, a baby is seen sleeping on a cot as four cobras take a defensive stance all around the child, who appears to be only a few months old. Some believe the animals have had their fangs ripped out and their mouths sewn shut. Each of the snakes has their hoods open as they would before striking, but they never seem to go after the child, who at one point even appears to grab onto one of the deadly snakes.

US Researchers have returned to the area known as the 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' - and say it is getting worse. Researchers are spending 30 days living on a boat in the area, and have even taken a drone to capture images from the sky.

On a trip to the remote Bare Sand Island south west of the Darwin coast, a Belgian backpacker photographed the incredible moments mother flatback turtles emerged from the sea. From top left, Johan Lolos saw the turtles digging nests and then laying their eggs. The photographer was also lucky enough to spot some just hatched babies heading to the ocean for the first time and his images show, the babies were smaller than a adult human sized hand.