Woman who found abandoned baby in Perth makes emotional plea, & more in News in 5.

-With AAP.

1. “I know you are deeply broken.” Woman who found abandoned baby in Perth makes emotional plea.

A Perth woman who found a newborn baby boy abandoned outside a medical centre last week has made a plea to the child’s mother, urging her to come forward.

The woman found the infant, believed to be about 24-hours-old, wrapped in a blanket in a box at a Booragoon medical centre on Wednesday.

The boy, named Raheel, was taken to Perth Children’s Hospital.

The mother also left behind a handwritten note asking he be cared for.

The woman who discovered the baby has shared a message to the mother of the child with 9News.

“The tears I’ve cried, I’ve cried for you. Some in public and some alone. I know you are deeply broken… I’m truly sorry that you have been pushed so far over the edge having to let go of your baby,” her message said.

She said the mother might feel condemned for her decision to leave her baby, but “I believe you wanted to make sure your baby will be in good hands”.

Authorities have also appealed for the mother to come forward but she is yet to be found.

On Thursday, West Australian Premier Mark McGowan said the government wanted to help her and urged her to come forward to get treatment.

Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said she could contact police anonymously or the Department of Communities.

“We do want to locate the mother, not for police reasons in terms of pursuing criminal conduct or anything, it’s about her health and welfare,” he told 6PR radio.

“Clearly she wanted to leave the child in a place to be cared for. We want to also care for mum.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he hoped the mother would be identified and the issue would be handled sensitively.

“My first thoughts are, frankly, with the young child, the infant, and that they are placed in the best of care,” he said.

“The WA government has the processes and systems in place to provide that care.”

Department of Communities assistant director general of service delivery Jackie Tang said Raheel had been brought into the provisional care of the Department and further decisions regarding his future would be made “in due course”.

2. Inquest into the disappearance of toddler William Tyrell begins.

An inquest into the disappearance of toddler William Tyrrell is set to begin today which police hope will unlock new clues into his whereabouts. #9Today pic.twitter.com/rwKiPS3CTY

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) March 24, 2019

The NSW coroner will examine William Tyrrell’s family situation and the initial response to his disappearance when the inquest begins sitting almost five years after the toddler vanished.

William vanished from his foster grandmother’s home on the NSW mid north coast on September 12 2014 while wearing a now infamous Spiderman costume.

The state’s top detectives have worked tirelessly to track down the missing boy since his foster mother’s frantic call to police that morning – but his fate remains a mystery.

A massive brief of evidence, containing at least 15,000 items, will go before Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame at the launch of the inquest on Monday morning.

The first of two weeks of hearings will explore William’s foster and biological families, the period of time around the disappearance and early parts of the investigation.

Throughout the investigation, William was referred to “a little boy lost” but police soon came to suspect something more sinister happened and zeroed in on known paedophiles and criminals from nearby holiday towns.

But no one has been charged for the suspected abduction.

AAP understands investigators hope the first week of hearings will show William did not wander into nearby bushland but was, instead, snatched by a predator.

In mid-2018 they conducted a large-scale search of bushland near the Kendall home to rule out misadventure and firm up their theory.

The closely-guarded persons of interest list, which ballooned to include hundreds of names over the years, has been whittled down for the inquest’s second sitting in August.

Some names on that list have been previously released by police but sources say one so-far unidentified person will be watched closely when they are called in front of the inquest.

Counsel assisting Gerard Craddock SC will deliver his opening address at 10am on Monday.

Listen to The Quicky debrief on the truth about William Tyrrell’s parents, and what happened after the three-year-old’s disappearance. Post continues below.

3. 1300 passengers evacuated from luxury cruise ship off the coast of Norway.

#VikingSky : Norway airlifts more than one thousand passengers off #SOS cruise ship. A dramatic airlift is underway to rescue 1300 passengers in extreme weather from a powerless cruise ship that has been battered to within 100m of the #Norwegian coasthttps://t.co/iPPvsy4gn3 pic.twitter.com/DbFrYXR8kY

— ABC Mundial (@ABCMundial) March 24, 2019

Evacuation from a luxury cruise liner with engine trouble off the coast of Norway has continued for a second day, with 397 people airlifted off the vessel, while rescue services prepared to tow the ship to a nearby port.

The Viking Sky, with 1,373 passengers and crew on board, sent out a mayday signal on Saturday as it drifted towards land in the Norwegian Sea.

“The evacuation continues at the request of the vessel … they need tugboats to get to port,” rescue service spokesman Per Fjeld said, adding that the plan was to bring the Viking Sky to the town of Molde.

Rescue services have begun to attach lines to the ship from tugboats to begin towing it towards the port.

The ship has been able to restart three of its four engines but was still requesting assistance.

Stormy weather conditions had improved in the early hours of Sunday, with winds blowing at 14 metres per second, down from 24 metres per second previously, according to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.

The wind speeds are expected to fall further during Sunday.

The stretch of water known as Hustadvika and surrounding areas are known for fierce weather and shallow waters dotted with reefs.

Viking Cruises, which owns the ship, on Saturday said the safety of passengers was its top priority. The company was not immediately available for further comment on Sunday.

4. Jacinda Ardern has announced a national memorial service for Christchurch attack victims.

A national memorial service will be held for victims of New Zealand’s mosque attacks, but the country’s opposition party has called for a Royal Commission too.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced a service will be held in Christchurch on Friday, two weeks after 50 people lost their lives at the city’s Masjid al Noor and Linwood Masjid.

"In the week since the unprecedented terror attack there has been an outpouring of grief and love in our country," she said.

"The service will be a chance to once again show that New Zealanders are compassionate, inclusive and diverse, and that we will protect those values."

The service will be broadcast live to events in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin.

It's expected to be followed by worshippers returning to Friday prayers inside the two mosques for the first time since the March 15 attacks.

Foreign dignitaries have already attended to pay their respects, including delegations from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan's Crown Prince El Hassan bin Talal, who prayed at al Noor on Saturday.

More are expected at the service, including a representative of the British royal family - rumoured to be Prince William - who has visited the city several times, including after the 2011 earthquake.

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel said the attack wouldn't define the city but the aftermath would.

"We will not be divided by hatred, we will be united by love."

National Party leader Simon Bridges on Sunday called for a Royal Commission into the attacks, suggesting an independent inquiry was the only way to know if they could have been prevented.

"It will need to ask hard questions about whether our security and intelligence agencies had their focus in the right places," he said.

ACT leader David Seymour agrees and believes an inquiry should look at why authorities hadn't detected the alleged gunman before the attack and the adequacy of intelligence resourcing.

Mr Seymour has accused the Labour government of rushing the response and could thwart the prime minister's hope for unanimous support for gun law changes.

Interim measures have banned semi-automatic firearms like those used in the attack until legislation is introduced, likely around April 11.

At a vigil for the victims in Christchurch on Sunday night the call was for continued unity.

"When you see hatred you say love, when you see anger you say peace," Cashmere High School head boy Okirano Tilaia told a crowd of thousands.

His fellow students Sayyad Milne, 14, and Hamza Mustafa, 15, and former student Tariq Rashid Omar, 24, were among those killed.

Linwood Masjid imam Alabi Lateef Zirullah opened the vigil with a prayer and the names of the victims were read.

There was also a standing ovation for emergency services who responded to the attack.

The alleged gunman, a 28-year-old Australian man, has been transferred from Christchurch and is now believed to be held in a maximum security prison in Auckland.

He has no access to television, radio or newspapers and no approved visitors.

He is charged with one count of murder but is expected to face more charges. He's due to return to court on April 5.

5. British PM Teresa May could be ousted by ministers "within days", thrusting Brexit into doubt.

Front page of tomorrow’s Sunday Times pic.twitter.com/dDUskXmN9J

— Lord Kennedy (@LordRoyKennedy) March 23, 2019

British Prime Minister Theresa May's top ministers are moving to oust her within days, The Sunday Times reports, as her Brexit strategy lies in tatters just weeks before the United Kingdom was due to leave the European Union.

If May is toppled, Brexit would be thrust into doubt. It is unclear how, when and even if the United Kingdom will leave the EU.

May, who voted to stay in the EU and won the top job in the chaos following the 2016 referendum, had vowed to deliver Brexit but she undermined her premiership with a botched snap election in 2017 which cost her party its parliamentary majority.

The Brexit divorce deal she struck with the EU in November has been overwhelmingly rejected twice by British MPs.

The Sunday Times cited 11 unidentified senior ministers and said they had agreed that the prime minister should stand down, warning that she has become a toxic and erratic figure whose judgment has "gone haywire".

"The end is nigh. She will be gone in 10 days," the Sunday Times quoted an unidentified minister as saying.

"Her judgment has started to go haywire. You can't be a member of the cabinet who just puts your head in the sand," the newspaper cited a second unidentified minister as saying.

The Sunday Times reported that May's de-facto deputy, David Lidington, is one contender to be interim prime minister but others are pushing for Environment Secretary Michael Gove or Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The newspaper said cabinet ministers would confront May on Monday. If she refuses to go, ministers would threaten to resign.

May's office declined to comment on the reports.

Earlier a Downing Street source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that a Saturday Times report that there were discussions in May's office about her departure was incorrect.

Betting odds indicate there is now a 20 percent chance that May will be out of her job by the end of this month, Ladbrokes said on Saturday.

Brexit had been due to happen on March 29 before May secured a delay in talks with the European Union on Thursday.

Now a May 22 departure date will apply if parliament rallies behind the British prime minister next week and she is able to pass her deal. If she fails to do so, Britain will have until April 12 to offer a new plan or decide to leave the European Union without a treaty.