Pope Francis Wants 'Church For The Poor'

Profile: The Chemist Who Became A Pope

Updated: 1:17pm UK, Thursday 14 March 2013

Francis is the first ever pope from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernised Argentina's conservative Roman Catholic Church.

Known until Wednesday as Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis is respected as a humble man who denied himself the luxuries that previous Buenos Aires cardinals enjoyed.

In the past, the 76-year-old pontiff often rode the bus to work, cooked his own meals and regularly visited the slums that ring Argentina's capital.

He accused fellow church leaders of hypocrisy, and forgetting that Jesus Christ bathed lepers and ate with prostitutes.

"Jesus teaches us another way. Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit," the then-Cardinal Bergoglio told Argentina's priests last year.

He was born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936, one of five children of an Italian railway worker and his wife.

His legacy as a cardinal includes his efforts to repair the reputation of a church that lost many followers by failing to openly challenge Argentina's murderous 1976-83 dictatorship.

He also worked to recover the church's traditional political influence in society, but his outspoken criticism of President Cristina Kirchner could not stop her from imposing socially liberal measures, from gay marriage and adoption to free contraceptives.

He came close to becoming pope in 2005, reportedly gaining the second-highest total in several rounds of voting before bowing out in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Initially trained as a chemist, Bergoglio taught literature, psychology, philosophy and theology before taking over as Buenos Aires archbishop in 1998.

He became cardinal in 2001, when the economy was collapsing, and won respect for blaming unrestrained capitalism for impoverishing millions of Argentines.

Sergio Rubin, Bergoglio's authorised biographer, said the new pope felt most comfortable taking a very low profile, and his personal style was the antithesis of Vatican splendour.

"It's a very curious thing. When bishops meet, he always wants to sit in the back rows. This sense of humility is very well seen in Rome," Mr Rubin said before the 2013 conclave to choose Benedict's successor.

Bergoglio has stood out for his austerity. Even after he became Argentina's top church official in 2001, he never lived in the ornate church mansion where Pope John Paul II stayed when visiting the country.

He almost never granted media interviews, limiting himself to speeches from the pulpit, and was reluctant to contradict his critics, even when he knew their allegations against him were false, said Mr Rubin.

That attitude was burnished as human rights activists tried to force him to answer uncomfortable questions about what church officials knew and did about the dictatorship's abuses after the 1976 coup.

Many Argentines remain angry over the church's acknowledged failure to openly confront a regime that was kidnapping and killing thousands of people as it sought to eliminate "subversive elements" in society.

It's one reason why more than two-thirds of Argentines describe themselves as Catholic, but fewer than 10% regularly attend mass.

Under Bergoglio's leadership, Argentina's bishops issued a collective apology in October 2012 for the church's failures to protect its flock. But the statement blamed the era's violence in roughly equal measure on both the junta and its enemies.

"Bergoglio has been very critical of human rights violations during the dictatorship, but he has always also criticised the leftist guerrillas; he doesn't forget that side," Mr Rubin said.

The bishops also said "we exhort those who have information about the location of stolen babies, or who know where bodies were secretly buried, that they realise they are morally obligated to inform the pertinent authorities".

But that statement came far too late for some activists, who accused Bergoglio of being more concerned about the church's image than about aiding the many human rights investigations.

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Soyuz Space Capsule Lands In Kazakhstan Fog

A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three crew from the International Space Station has safely returned to Earth after an "energetic and exciting" landing in thick fog.

The vessel was upright and almost hit its "bull's eye" target in Kazakhstan, a day after its originally scheduled touchdown was delayed by bad weather.

Nasa astronaut Kevin Ford and Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin, as Expedition 34, had manned the $100bn (£66bn) orbital outpost since October. They had spent 144 days on the station.

The space capsule landed at 7:06am (local time) northeast of the town of Arkalyk.

Due to reduced visibility, it took a few minutes before helicopters with Russian search and recovery teams could locate the vessel after it came down.

The trio are wrapped up amid freezing temperatures

Russian television showed footage of rescue workers opening the hatch of the capsule.

The crew were helped down a special slide and Mr Tarelkin pumped his fists as he sat on the edge of the craft.

The three smiling astronauts were then seated on special chairs and given blue thermal blankets.

A Nasa TV commentator said only two of 12 search and rescue helicopters were allowed to land at the touchdown site because of heavy cloud and fog.

The trio later gave the thumbs up

So instead of being placed in an inflatable medical tent for checks, the trio were then taken to one of the helicopters for a two-hour trip to the staging site. The temperature at the time was well below freezing.

From there, Mr Ford would board a plane for Houston, Texas, and the Russians would be flown to Moscow.

"The landing was energetic and exciting," Russian TV showed Mr Novitskiy as saying.

And Nasa TV said: "Oleg Novitskiy reported to search and recovery teams that the crew is feeling good. Everything seems to be in order."

In preparation for their departure from the ISS, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield took the helm of the station on Wednesday.

Canadian Chris Hadfield took the helm of the ISS earlier in the week

He became the first Canadian to do so and only the second in the ISS's 12-year history who was not American or Russian.

Mr Hadfield will be part of a three-man skeleton crew until Nasa astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin arrive later this month.

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Hugo Chavez Taken To Final Resting Place

Chavez: 'A Master Of The Spotlight'

Updated: 6:50am UK, Wednesday 06 March 2013

By Rachel Younger, Sky News Correspondent

Hugo Chavez was one of the most charismatic and controversial leaders of our time.

A master of the spotlight, his military fatigues and synthetic red tracksuits underlining his socialist credentials made him a photographer's dream.

Best of all were the shots that captured him with his pet parrot Simon Bolivar, named after a Venezuelan general, and sometimes sporting a tiny red beret to match his own.

No wonder he caught the imagination of Hollywood film stars and directors - one day attending premieres with Oliver Stone, the next sharing jokes with Naomi Campbell.

Mr Chavez was a former soldier who was elected president in 1998, after being imprisoned for a failed coup seven years earlier.

His nineties brand of revolutionary socialism won him plenty of affection among the poor, with many of his supporters viewing him with almost religious reverence.

It was an emotional connection he was happy to milk on his weekly television show, Alo Presidente. The masses tuning in for his rambling poetry recitals and even stranger song and dance routines.

His country's vast oil reserves gave the president the money to tackle poverty, boosting spending on health and education. But corruption and mismanagement left the economy struggling and democracy withered under his rule.

An increasingly autocratic Mr Chavez changed the constitution to allow unlimited presidential terms, stamped hard on press freedom and nationalised many of the country's industries.

A natural firebrand, he didn't confine himself to Latin American politics. Instead he took on the West by courting fellow controversial figures like Cuba's Fidel Castro and  Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, forging a close alliance with Iran and offering Argentina support on the Falklands.

But Mr Chavez saved most of his wrath for the Americans, regularly referring to George W Bush as Mr Danger, and accusing Washington of "fighting terror with terror" in Afghanistan.

In one particularly bellicose statement in 2006 he appeared at the UN a day after the former American president and stated: "The Devil came here yesterday. It smells of sulphur still."

Even after four operations and intensive chemotherapy for his cancer, Mr Chavez maintained his grip on the country, anointing Vice President Nicholas Maduro as his preferred successor.

Too ill in January to travel back from Cuba for his inauguration, he managed to hang on to the presidency despite the constitution forbidding it.

For the three months before he died Mr Chavez wasn't seen or heard of publicly, yet the cult of his personality was enough to keep his leadership alive.

Without it, Venezuela may emerge a very different country.

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Cyprus Bailout: Savers Lose Money In EU Deal

Anyone with savings in a Cyprus bank will lose some of their money under a ground-breaking bailout deal agreed by European finance ministers.

Bank customers will pay a levy of up to 9.9% on their savings, a charge which will raise nearly 6bn euros (£5.1bn).

Cyprus is the fifth country to seek a bailout following Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain but the terms of the deal are a radical departure from previous schemes.

Finance ministers have agreed to lend the indebted island 10bn euros but in return the public will be forced to forfeit part of their savings.

Savers with more than 100,000 euros (£86,500) in the bank will be charged a one-off levy of 9.9%. Those with less will be charged 6.7%.

It will apply to everyone from pensioners to Russian oligarchs, who are alleged to have billions stashed away in what officials say is a bloated Cypriot banking sector.

Private investors will also face a second hit under a "withholding tax" imposed on interest on bank deposits

Banks have stopped electronic transfers but cash machines are working

More than a third - 37% - of cash held in the Cypriot banking system belongs to non-residents and the country has a large British ex-pat community.

Queues of people gathered at cash machines on the island on Saturday as they tried to withdraw their money ahead of the move.

And the country's cooperative banks had to shut their doors after seeing a rush of savers keen to protect their money.

Savers could apparently withdraw money but were not able to carry out electronic transfers.

British ex-pat David Symonds, who lives in Limasol, told Sky News: "Everybody was surprised. We were assured only a few days ago that the haircut on the deposits was a red line for the government.

"When we learned that it might become a possiblity we were told it would only be on deposits above 100,000 euros. Now of course we know it affects everybody."

British Cypriot Andy Georgiou, 54, moved his life savings to Cyprus last year after selling his home in London.     

"I am extremely angry. I worked years and years to get it together and now I am losing it on the say-so of the Dutch and the Germans," he said.

Andri Menelaou, 25, had thought anything below 100,000 euros was protected by the state and said: "I don't have much but I don't see why I should pay for bank mistakes."

The move is expected to generate 5.8bn euros (£5bn) for Cyprus, which first applied for a bailout in June 2012.

Banks have already taken steps to freeze the required amount in deposit accounts and parliament is due to vote on the levy on Sunday.

Nicholas Papadopoulos, head of parliament's Financial Affairs Committee, said: "My initial reaction is one of shock.

"This decision is much worse than what we expected and contrary to what the government was assuring us, right up until last night."

Angela Merkel and Cyprus's president Nicos Anastasiades in Brussels

Mr Papadopoulos, Vice-Chairman of the Democratic Party, which is a coalition partner in government, said he did not want to predict how parliament would vote.

"If we go ahead with this, there is a great risk it is not the end. The banking system will still face instability because it will face a significant capital flight," he said.

Cyprus was badly hit by the Greek financial crisis because of its close links to the country.

Its two largest banks saw combined losses of 4.5bn (£4bn) euros - equal to a quarter of the island's gross domestic product.

The rescue package was agreed after 10 hours of talks in Brussels and was significantly less than the 17bn euros (£14.7bn) asked for.

As part of the deal, the government will also have to hike corporate tax to 12.5% from 10% and sell off state assets to help balance the public finances.

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said: "As it is a contribution to the financial stability of Cyprus, it seems 'just' to ask a contribution of all deposit-holders."

He added: "The challenges we were facing in Cyprus were of an exceptional nature."

French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said: "We did what we had to."

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India: Tourist Gang-Raped And Husband Beaten

A Swiss tourist has been gang-raped in India and she and her husband were beaten before being robbed, police said.

The pair were on a cycling trip in the impoverished Madhya Pradesh state, when they were attacked by seven to eight men.

The perpetrators tied up the man and raped the woman in his presence, police official S M Afzal said.

He added they stole 10,000 rupees (£122) and a mobile phone from the woman.

The attack comes just a few days after the man accused of leading the fatal gang rape of a student on a New Delhi bus was found hanged in his prison cell.

Police say Ram Singh took his own life in the high-security Tihar jail where he had been on suicide watch in an isolated cell.

The case made headlines around the world and raised the issue of sexual violence against women in India.

The student's internal injuries were so horrific she died two weeks later in a hospital in Singapore despite surgery to try to save her.

A security official at the scene of the attack

The latest attack happened at a village near Datia where the 39-year-old woman and her husband were camping.

They had stopped there while on their way from Orchha to the tourist destination of Agra, home to the iconic Taj Mahal monument.

Police said 13 men were detained in connection with the attack. Six of them were later released.

According to the woman's husband, a group of seven men with lathis (wooden sticks) in their hands overpowered him.

He said four of them gang-raped his wife and then beat him up.

The woman was taken to a hospital in Gwalior where a medical examination confirmed that she was gang-raped.

The couple will be asked to try to identify the accused, NDTV reported. Police said the pair apparently did not suffer any major injuries.

Swiss foreign ministry spokesman Tilman Renz described the case as "deeply disturbing" and said Swiss diplomats were assisting the couple.

The chairman of India's national commission for women, Mamata Sharma, slammed the provincial government of Madhya Pradesh over its failure to curb violence against women.

The couple, who were travelling to Agra, were attacked near Datia

She said: "The government should pay attention towards what is happening with the foreigners.

"I have said this for the past few days that the crime against women in Madhya Pradesh is increasing and the government should take stringent action to put an end to such incidents.

"Many incidents of violence against women have come into the limelight in Madhya Pradesh but the government is completely insensitive towards them.

"The accused should be punished and we should see what kind of image of India we are presenting to the outside world. The government should take strict action."

Sky's Alex Rossi, reporting from Delhi, said of the gang rape: "This is another shocking case of violence against women, highlighting the very real problems that women face in this country on a day-to-day basis.

He added: "Foreign tourists, especially single women, face problems of unwanted sexual harassment in this country.

"This area of Madhya Pradesh in central India is known for its banditry. It is fairly lawless and it is also very poor."

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China Confirms Li Keqiang As Premier

China's parliament has confirmed Communist bureaucrat Li Keqiang to the post of premier.

The role involves running day-to-day government in the world's second-largest economy.

"I announce that comrade Li Keqiang has been chosen as premier of the People's Republic of China," said Yan Junqi, a vice-chairwoman of the National People's Congress, China's rubberstamp parliament.

As delegates in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing applauded, Li stood up, bowed and shook hands with Xi Jinping, who was named as China's new president on Thursday.

He also shook hands with his predecessor as premier, Wen Jiabao.

Li received 2,940 votes out of 2,949 cast, a 99.69% vote share, slightly lower than Xi's.

An English-speaking career bureaucrat, Li, 57, will oversee a sprawling portfolio of domestic and economic affairs.

However, the real decision-making takes place in the top committee of the Communist Party, on which he also sits.

Zhou Qiang, a former Communist party secretary of Hunan province who is seen as an associate of former leader Hu Jintao, was named president of China's supreme court.

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Syria's Health System In Critical Condition

By Dr Natalie Roberts, Doctors Without Borders

I'm part of an MSF team based in the Aleppo region in the north of Syria. This area continues to see an enormous amount of conflict, and the health needs are massive.

Before I was in Aleppo I worked in Idlib region, where MSF runs a surgical trauma hospital with an operating theatre, an emergency department and a small in-patient department.

There are a number of expats there, including a surgeon and an anaesthetist along with about fifty Syrian staff. It's a small hospital, but it's actually very full and busy. We're currently providing support to other hospitals and health facilities in Aleppo.

Much of the healthcare infrastructure in this part of Syria has essentially collapsed, and although there are dedicated people working hard to keep facilities going, sometimes they don't have the training, the experience or the equipment to provide the medical care that people need. That's where we can help.

Not long after I arrived, I was working at an MSF hospital and a six-year-old girl was brought to us. She'd been with her family on the roof of her house, when a plane had flown over to bomb the village.

Understandably, children in Syria are now very scared of planes, so when this girl had seen the plane she ran across the roof. The family had a diesel heater because of the cold, and as the girl ran she knocked it over and splashed the burning fuel all over her legs.

She suffered serious burn injuries to her legs, and was rushed to a local health centre, but they really didn't have the equipment or even the proper pain relief to treat her.

This is a problem that we see a lot. Even when facilities are still open, often they don't have the medicines or the equipment to properly treat patients. Or if they do have the equipment, it's been damaged by bombing or by lack of maintenance. Hospitals are a target and many have been bombed.

Rebels control much of Aleppo but the fighting has battered the city

And then there's the lack of electricity, which is a huge problem. Equipment in hospitals is dependent on electricity but most places now don't have a supply so everything is run from generators, but that requires diesel which is very expensive and not always available. Vaccines and blood need to be kept in fridges, but if you don't have power, those things are useless.

At one of the emergency rooms I go to, they don't have a means of sterilising equipment. So when they get patients from a bomb blast, they'll do procedures like suturing, but they can't really sterilise the equipment so they just have to reuse. And that obviously causes problems down the line.

By the time the girl came to us, she was really traumatised and even walking into the hospital left her screaming and in tears. It took a long time for her to trust us, but eventually we were able to change her dressings and give her the beginnings of the care that she needed.

For me, that really summed up the horror of the situation in Syria. Yes, there are acute injuries from the bombings and from the violence, but there is also the psychological trauma caused by the whole situation. This poor girl has seen and experienced things that nobody - let alone a six-year-old girl - should have to experience.

When I visit different hospitals in Syria, often the casualties are children. Bombings will hit residential areas and whole families are injured or killed.

Alongside the acute injuries, children are suffering from a range of medical problems. Vaccination has essentially stopped in some areas. Whole families are living in tents or in houses with no heating or clean water, often all together in one room. Infectious diseases are starting to spread. I've seen a lot of children with basic disease like pneumonia and Hepatitis A.

There's no school. They're coping, but that doesn't mean they're behaving normally.

Rubble is cleared from in front of a hospital in Aleppo

Sometimes the children will be playing on the streets when planes fly over, and they just accept it and keep playing, even when the plane is bombing their town.

There's a man I know who has a four-year-old son, and sometimes this man helps in a local field hospital. One night he was going to help after a bombing and his four-year-old son asked him not to go, saying that if a bomb hits the house, he wanted the family to all be together so none of them would feel lonely. That's not a normal thing for a four year old to say.

You know, MSF is very good at being efficient, at knowing how to provide a good medical service with not many facilities. We're used to working in these types of conflict areas and we're one of the rare aid organisations I've seen working in the region.

The health system in Syria was very sophisticated before, and now that the infrastructure has broken down, they're struggling to optimise how they work. That's how we can help. But building that trust takes time. These people have been doing this for two years and doing an amazing job, and it does take time to build up trust. I have to tell them what I've seen and done before, and tell them what MSF does.

I remember I was visiting an emergency department at one hospital in Aleppo. It was the first time I'd been there, and we were discussing with the staff how we could help them when news came that a mortar bomb had hit a nearby market. Very quickly we started to receive casualties, brought to us in private cars, the back of pick-up trucks and on motorbikes. Ten fatalities arrived almost immediately, then four more, two who had sustained massive head injuries.

In situations like that, it's vital you triage and prioritise patients that can be helped, and it was very clear that these two patients were beyond help. But it was equally clear that there were other patients - particularly two eight-year-old girls with shrapnel wounds - who could be saved.

My role in the midst of all the panic and crisis was to point out that these girls were our priority and that we needed to focus our attention on them. Pointing that out, though, requires that the team trust me.

Fighting for Syria's largest city has been brutal

I think one of my main roles at the moment in these hospitals is to use my experience to train people and demonstrate what should be done in terms of prioritising patients during a mass casualty event. To that end, I've been delivering a training programme in different hospitals.

We teach them about triage, about managing war wounded patients, about blood transfusion, and how to do all that with reduced facilities and equipment.

It's a scary situation in Syria. This is the second period of time I've spent there, and over the last weeks I've really noticed the escalation of violence. But you do get used to it. Incidents that initially made me very frightened, I now take for granted.

The first time I was really scared was when a very large missile landed not too far away where we were staying. We could feel the windows of our house shaking. There were two of us in the house and we were both afraid.

But within a month, we  were getting missiles every night - some very near - and we'd get out of bed and go to our safe room but be complaining that it was cold and our sleep was being interrupted. You even start making jokes about it, but it's just a way of coping. In reality, you never really lose the fear.

People are grateful that we're there. But we can't do everything. We can help with what we can, but the needs are huge. We set up a blood bank. We provide vaccinations. We helped with supplies for dialysis machines.

We need to set up more MSF clinics and structures. There is a need for more acute trauma surgery, but there's also a need to continue basic healthcare, treating chronic diseases and providing outpatient services. We need to continue helping with equipment and advice and support.

Take our blood bank. We've set one up in the Aleppo region in a secret location which supplies all hospitals in that area. People have been coming from 50km (30 miles) away to access it. It required a bit of work, a lot of training and equipment, but it's now up and running.

Before people were getting unsafe blood, blood that hadn't been tested and stored correctly, but now they are. Something like that is really easy to do, but it's cost effective and it saves lives.

But this is just a drop in the ocean. The suffering that people are experiencing in that country is incredible and it's frustrating and upsetting to see so many problems and know that because of security or for other reasons you can't solve it all.

But as MSF we do what we can, and it's vital we continue to help. This is a massive humanitarian emergency and the Syrian people need our help. It's as simple as that.

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Shark Dies During Kmart Advert Filming In US

A white tip shark shipped from New York and placed into an outdoor pool in Los Angeles for a Kmart advertisement has died after showing signs of distress.

The American Humane Association (AHA), which monitored the production, said everything was done to try to save the 5ft-long shark but it died after being moved to an aquatic compound for care on March 6.

The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta), which said it received details of the shark's death from two on-set whistleblowers, criticised the AHA.

In a letter to the group, Peta said: "Sharks are sensitive animals who, in captivity, require a highly specialised and controlled environment.

"Given the delicate nature of this species, why would the AHA approve the transport and use of this animal?"

Karen Rosa of the AHA said the shark was placed into a 60,000-gallon (272,765-litre) outdoor tank, adding that it was a good amount of water for the animal.

"We honestly don't know why the animal died. It was not being mistreated. It was not being harmed," Ms Rosa said.

Once the shark showed distress signs, oxygen was pumped into the tank and the shark was given a shot of adrenaline to try to stabilise it, Ms Rosa said.

"We take this matter seriously and safety is always our paramount concern," Howard Riefs, a spokesman for Kmart owner Sears Holdings, said in a statement.

The death follows longstanding criticism of the use of animals in Hollywood productions.

Last year, the horse-racing show Luck on HBO was axed after the deaths of three horses used in the drama series.

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Syria Anniversary: EU Rethinks Arms Embargo

Health Needs Critical In Aleppo

Updated: 9:04am UK, Friday 15 March 2013

By Dr Natalie Roberts, Doctors Without Borders

I'm part of an MSF team based in the Aleppo region in the north of Syria. This area continues to see an enormous amount of conflict, and the health needs are massive.

Before I was in Aleppo I worked in Idlib region, where MSF runs a surgical trauma hospital with an operating theatre, an emergency department and a small in-patient department.

There are a number of expats there, including a surgeon and an anaesthetist along with about fifty Syrian staff. It's a small hospital, but it's actually very full and busy. We're currently providing support to other hospitals and health facilities in Aleppo.

Much of the healthcare infrastructure in this part of Syria has essentially collapsed, and although there are dedicated people working hard to keep facilities going, sometimes they don't have the training, the experience or the equipment to provide the medical care that people need. That's where we can help.

Not long after I arrived, I was working at an MSF hospital and a six-year-old girl was brought to us. She'd been with her family on the roof of her house, when a plane had flown over to bomb the village.

Understandably, children in Syria are now very scared of planes, so when this girl had seen the plane she ran across the roof. The family had a diesel heater because of the cold, and as the girl ran she knocked it over and splashed the burning fuel all over her legs.

She suffered serious burn injuries to her legs, and was rushed to a local health centre, but they really didn't have the equipment or even the proper pain relief to treat her.

This is a problem that we see a lot. Even when facilities are still open, often they don't have the medicines or the equipment to properly treat patients. Or if they do have the equipment, it's been damaged by bombing or by lack of maintenance. Hospitals are a target and many have been bombed.

And then there's the lack of electricity, which is a huge problem. Equipment in hospitals is dependent on electricity but most places now don't have a supply so everything is run from generators, but that requires diesel which is very expensive and not always available. Vaccines and blood need to be kept in fridges, but if you don't have power, those things are useless.

At one of the emergency rooms I go to, they don't have a means of sterilising equipment. So when they get patients from a bomb blast, they'll do procedures like suturing, but they can't really sterilise the equipment so they just have to reuse. And that obviously causes problems down the line.

By the time the girl came to us, she was really traumatised and even walking into the hospital left her screaming and in tears. It took a long time for her to trust us, but eventually we were able to change her dressings and give her the beginnings of the care that she needed.

For me, that really summed up the horror of the situation in Syria. Yes, there are acute injuries from the bombings and from the violence, but there is also the psychological trauma caused by the whole situation. This poor girl has seen and experienced things that nobody - let alone a six-year-old girl - should have to experience.

When I visit different hospitals in Syria, often the casualties are children. Bombings will hit residential areas and whole families are injured or killed.

Alongside the acute injuries, children are suffering from a range of medical problems. Vaccination has essentially stopped in some areas. Whole families are living in tents or in houses with no heating or clean water, often all together in one room. Infectious diseases are starting to spread. I've seen a lot of children with basic disease like pneumonia and Hepatitis A.

There's no school. They're coping, but that doesn't mean they're behaving normally.

Sometimes the children will be playing on the streets when planes fly over, and they just accept it and keep playing, even when the plane is bombing their town.

There's a man I know who has a four-year-old son, and sometimes this man helps in a local field hospital. One night he was going to help after a bombing and his four-year-old son asked him not to go, saying that if a bomb hits the house, he wanted the family to all be together so none of them would feel lonely. That's not a normal thing for a four year old to say.

You know, MSF is very good at being efficient, at knowing how to provide a good medical service with not many facilities. We're used to working in these types of conflict areas and we're one of the rare aid organisations I've seen working in the region.

The health system in Syria was very sophisticated before, and now that the infrastructure has broken down, they're struggling to optimise how they work. That's how we can help. But building that trust takes time. These people have been doing this for two years and doing an amazing job, and it does take time to build up trust. I have to tell them what I've seen and done before, and tell them what MSF does.

I remember I was visiting an emergency department at one hospital in Aleppo. It was the first time I'd been there, and we were discussing with the staff how we could help them when news came that a mortar bomb had hit a nearby market. Very quickly we started to receive casualties, brought to us in private cars, the back of pick-up trucks and on motorbikes. Ten fatalities arrived almost immediately, then four more, two who had sustained massive head injuries.

In situations like that, it's vital you triage and prioritise patients that can be helped, and it was very clear that these two patients were beyond help. But it was equally clear that there were other patients - particularly two eight-year-old girls with shrapnel wounds - who could be saved.

My role in the midst of all the panic and crisis was to point out that these girls were our priority and that we needed to focus our attention on them. Pointing that out, though, requires that the team trust me.

I think one of my main roles at the moment in these hospitals is to use my experience to train people and demonstrate what should be done in terms of prioritising patients during a mass casualty event. To that end, I've been delivering a training programme in different hospitals.

We teach them about triage, about managing war wounded patients, about blood transfusion, and how to do all that with reduced facilities and equipment.

It's a scary situation in Syria. This is the second period of time I've spent there, and over the last weeks I've really noticed the escalation of violence. But you do get used to it. Incidents that initially made me very frightened, I now take for granted.

The first time I was really scared was when a very large missile landed not too far away where we were staying. We could feel the windows of our house shaking. There were two of us in the house and we were both afraid.

But within a month, we  were getting missiles every night - some very near - and we'd get out of bed and go to our safe room but be complaining that it was cold and our sleep was being interrupted. You even start making jokes about it, but it's just a way of coping. In reality, you never really lose the fear.

People are grateful that we're there. But we can't do everything. We can help with what we can, but the needs are huge. We set up a blood bank. We provide vaccinations. We helped with supplies for dialysis machines.

We need to set up more MSF clinics and structures. There is a need for more acute trauma surgery, but there's also a need to continue basic healthcare, treating chronic diseases and providing outpatient services. We need to continue helping with equipment and advice and support.

Take our blood bank. We've set one up in the Aleppo region in a secret location which supplies all hospitals in that area. People have been coming from 50km (30 miles) away to access it. It required a bit of work, a lot of training and equipment, but it's now up and running.

Before people were getting unsafe blood, blood that hadn't been tested and stored correctly, but now they are. Something like that is really easy to do, but it's cost effective and it saves lives.

But this is just a drop in the ocean. The suffering that people are experiencing in that country is incredible and it's frustrating and upsetting to see so many problems and know that because of security or for other reasons you can't solve it all.

But as MSF we do what we can, and it's vital we continue to help. This is a massive humanitarian emergency and the Syrian people need our help. It's as simple as that.

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Dreamliner 'Safe' Despite Battery Mystery

Aircraft maker Boeing has insisted its grounded Dreamliner is "absolutely" safe, despite the exact cause behind a series of battery faults apparently still a mystery.

The company said it expected the hi-tech 787 plane to be back in the air within weeks, as it sought to reassure airlines and passengers about the aircraft.

The 50 planes grounded around the world in mid-January since two lithium-ion battery malfunctions will undergo fixes to their systems and be operational again soon, senior executives said.

A burnt out battery power pack taken from a Boeing 787

The company said despite the efforts of a 500-strong team of engineers from different disciplines, the fundamental problem has still eluded them.

But teams identified 80 potential scenarios that could cause a battery failure and worked to provide solutions and preventative measures.

These included boosting insulation inside the battery pack and adding vent lines so any escaping vapour is discharged outside the aircraft.

"I get often asked if I think the airplane is still safe. My answer is simple: absolutely," Mike Sinnett, the chief project engineer on the 787, said at a news conference in Tokyo.

Transport official in the US examines battery cell plates

Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) are the main operators of Dreamliners and a third of the composite construction componentry is sourced from the Asian country.

"We design so that no single failure can place flight landing at risk," Mr Sinnett said.

"Every critical system on an airplane has multiple layers of redundancy."

Mr Sinnett said the probe into the two incidents had proved that the aircraft's safety measures had worked.

Ray Connor, president of Boeing's commercial division, said measures the company had put in place and which were now undergoing flight testing would put the aircraft back in the skies.

"We are going to be dependent upon (moving) through the certification process. We will determine when we actually get back in the air in terms of flights," Mr Connor said.

An air safety inspector examined an ANA plane's damaged fuselage in Japan

"Previously as I have been anticipating that in months, we are talking more along the line of weeks," he said.

The Dreamliner has been lauded for its use of next-generation materials that have cut weight and slashed fuel costs.

Boeing opted to use lithium-ion batteries for the plane, which engineers say are lighter than other batteries, provide a higher power output and retain their charge when not in use.

But the batteries have come under scrutiny after a small fire on a parked 787 at Boston's Logan Airport in January. Days later, what appeared to be smoke from a battery on an ANA flight forced an emergency landing in Japan.

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Pope Francis: Profile Of New Catholic Leader

Francis is the first ever pope from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernised Argentina's conservative Roman Catholic Church.

Known until Wednesday as Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis is respected as a humble man who denied himself the luxuries that previous Buenos Aires cardinals enjoyed.

In the past, the 76-year-old pontiff often rode the bus to work, cooked his own meals and regularly visited the slums that ring Argentina's capital.

He accused fellow church leaders of hypocrisy, and forgetting that Jesus Christ bathed lepers and ate with prostitutes.

The Archbishop of Buenos Aires kissing the hand of late Pope John Paul II

"Jesus teaches us another way. Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit," the then-Cardinal Bergoglio told Argentina's priests last year.

He was born in Buenos Aires on December 17, 1936, one of five children of an Italian railway worker and his wife.

His legacy as a cardinal includes his efforts to repair the reputation of a church that lost many followers by failing to openly challenge Argentina's murderous 1976-83 dictatorship.

The new pope on the streets of Buenos Aires earlier this month

He also worked to recover the church's traditional political influence in society, but his outspoken criticism of President Cristina Kirchner could not stop her from imposing socially liberal measures, from gay marriage and adoption to free contraceptives.

He came close to becoming pope in 2005, reportedly gaining the second-highest total in several rounds of voting before bowing out in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

Initially trained as a chemist, Bergoglio taught literature, psychology, philosophy and theology before taking over as Buenos Aires archbishop in 1998.

He became cardinal in 2001, when the economy was collapsing, and won respect for blaming unrestrained capitalism for impoverishing millions of Argentines.

Bergoglio talks with a man as he rides the subway in Buenos Aires

Sergio Rubin, Bergoglio's authorised biographer, said the new pope felt most comfortable taking a very low profile, and his personal style was the antithesis of Vatican splendour.

"It's a very curious thing. When bishops meet, he always wants to sit in the back rows. This sense of humility is very well seen in Rome," Mr Rubin said before the 2013 conclave to choose Benedict's successor.

Bergoglio has stood out for his austerity. Even after he became Argentina's top church official in 2001, he never lived in the ornate church mansion where Pope John Paul II stayed when visiting the country.

He almost never granted media interviews, limiting himself to speeches from the pulpit, and was reluctant to contradict his critics, even when he knew their allegations against him were false, said Mr Rubin.

Cardinal Bergoglio with his family members

That attitude was burnished as human rights activists tried to force him to answer uncomfortable questions about what church officials knew and did about the dictatorship's abuses after the 1976 coup.

Many Argentines remain angry over the church's acknowledged failure to openly confront a regime that was kidnapping and killing thousands of people as it sought to eliminate "subversive elements" in society.

It's one reason why more than two-thirds of Argentines describe themselves as Catholic, but fewer than 10% regularly attend mass.

Under Bergoglio's leadership, Argentina's bishops issued a collective apology in October 2012 for the church's failures to protect its flock. But the statement blamed the era's violence in roughly equal measure on both the junta and its enemies.

"Bergoglio has been very critical of human rights violations during the dictatorship, but he has always also criticised the leftist guerrillas; he doesn't forget that side," Mr Rubin said.

The bishops also said "we exhort those who have information about the location of stolen babies, or who know where bodies were secretly buried, that they realise they are morally obligated to inform the pertinent authorities".

But that statement came far too late for some activists, who accused Bergoglio of being more concerned about the church's image than about aiding the many human rights investigations.

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Higgs Boson: Experts Sure Of 'God Particle'

Physicists are now confident they have discovered a long-sought sub-atomic particle known as a Higgs boson, or the 'God particle'.

Scientists at the Cern research centre in Switzerland said data from 2012 confirms the Higgs-like particle they found last July was a version of Higgs boson - which explains why matter has mass and holds the universe together.

Cern physicist Joe Incandela said in a statement: "It is clear that we are dealing with a Higgs boson, though we still have a long way to go to know what kind of Higgs boson it is."

The Higgs boson theory was proposed by British physicist Peter Higgs in the 1960s and suggests the existence of an invisible force field and associated sub-atomic particle that permeates all things, working like glue to give form to stars, planets and even humans.

The Higgs particle is considered a missing cornerstone of physics and without it, the universe would have remained like a soup, the theory says.

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Pope Francis Settles Hotel Bill After Prayers

Pope Francis has started his new life as leader of the Roman Catholic Church by praying at one of Rome's oldest basilicas - before checking out of his hotel.

The 76-year-old, who has become the first ever pope from Latin America and the first Jesuit pope, opened his pontificate quietly leaving the Vatican with a visit to Santa Maria Maggiore - dedicated to the Virgin Mary - for private prayers via a side entrance.

"He spoke to us cordially like a Father," said Father Ludovico Melo, a priest who joined in the prayers. "We were given 10 minutes' notice that the Pope was coming."

the new Pope lays flowers on the basilica altar during his visit

Shortly after his election, Pope Francis had told a 100,000-strong crowd packed in a rain-soaked St Peter's Square that he intended to pray to the Madonna "that she may watch over all of Rome".

Choosing not to use the official papal car, but another with a Vatican plate, the pontiff then left the basilica and instructed the driver to take him to his hotel so that he could collect his belongings.

And despite now effectively being in charge of the Domus Internationalis Paulus VI - a Church-run residence - he insisted on paying the bill.

He has a reputation for frugality, and is the first pope to take the name of St Francis of Assisi, a gesture of solidarity with the poor.

Francis leaves the basilica following his morning prayers

Later, he will attend a mass with cardinals in the Sistine Chapel - where they elected him leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics - to officially close the conclave.

He will also receive the keys to his papal apartments, which were sealed after Benedict's departure, but Francis will not be moving in until their renovation is complete.

A planned trip to see his predecessor Benedict XVI at the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo at some point during the next few days is significant.

Benedict's resignation has raised concerns about potential power conflicts emerging from the peculiar situation of having a reigning pope and a retired one alive at the same time.

Huge crowds welcomed the announcement of Pope Francis

Francis, who faces many challenges to put the Church in order, has already spoken by phone with Benedict, who has been living at the papal summer residence, south of Rome, since the end of his papacy.

Prior to that, his second day in the job will begin with an audience with the College of Cardinals in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace, where Benedict said his farewell to them last month.

The somewhat mild and media-shy new Pope, who has a busy few days ahead of him, is expected to speak to some 4,000 accredited journalists for the first time at a press conference on Saturday.

Francis will recite the Angelus at noon on Sunday from a window of the papal apartments, with tens of thousands of followers expected to gather in St Peter's Square below.

World leaders will descend on Rome on Tuesday for his inauguration mass - preparations for which are already under way.

The new pope is revealed on Wednesday night

Many were quick to congratulate Francis - the first non-European pope in more than 1,000 years - with US President Barack Obama describing him as "a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us".

And the reactions to his election continued on Thursday with Israeli President Shimon Peres saying he represented "holy modesty", as he invited him to visit the Holy Land.

Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, Al Azhar, called for "better relations" with the Vatican under Pope Francis - as did China. Beijing has long had strained ties with the Vatican in a dispute about authority over China's Catholics.

The Dalai Lama expressed his "sense of joy" in a letter to the new pontiff, while the Syrian National Council called on Francis to "make a special gesture for Syria" where more than 70,000 people have been killed in two years of conflict.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio becomes the first Jesuit pope

Known for his humility and simplicity, his decision to slip out the Vatican earlier was seen as another example of his modesty.

Francis shunned the papal limousine last night for a shuttle bus with other cardinals to go back to a residence inside the Vatican for a meal.

That showed his humble side, according to prominent US cardinal Timothy Dolan, who also revealed that the new pontiff told the cardinals he would be visiting Benedict.

Speaking at the North American College, the US seminary in Rome said Francis was expected to arrive in the limousine.

"And as the last bus pulls up, guess who gets off? It's Pope Francis. I guess he told the driver, 'that's ok, I'll just go with the boys'."

During the dinner, Cardinal Dolan said the new pope also showed his humorous side.

As Francis toasted the cardinals, he said to them: "May God forgive you." It brought the house down, said Cardinal Dolan.

Known until Wednesday as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Argentine Pope Francis became a cardinal in 2001.

His election has pleased Latin Americans, who number 40% of the world's Catholics but have long been underrepresented in the church leadership.

Francis is certain to bring the church closer to the poverty-wracked region, while also introducing the world to a very different type of pope, whose first words to the faithful were a simple, "Brothers and sisters, good evening".

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Xi Jinping Confirmed As New Chinese President

By Mark Stone, China Correspondent

Xi Jinping has been declared the new leader of China's 1.3 billion people at a meeting of the National People's Congress in Beijing.

Mr Xi's appointment marks the end of a leadership transition which began last November when he was appointed General Secretary of China's Communist Party.

From that moment, his position as President was a certainty.

However, in keeping with Chinese Communist Party rules, the National People's Congress (NPC) "voted" on his position.

The 2,956 members of the NPC, who are said to represent every corner of China, gathered in the Great Hall of the People on the western flank of Tiananmen Square to cast their votes.

Of all the votes cast, just one was against Mr Xi.

The NPC is the world's largest parliament but is widely seen simply as a rubber-stamp body which gives a pre-agreed nod to decisions already made by the ruling Communist Party.

Xi Jinping is set to lead China for 10 years

The 59-year-old stuck to tradition in not making an acceptance speech. Instead, he sat centre stage and offered a bow to close proceedings.

He will rule over one fifth of the world's population for the next ten years, if all goes to the Communist Party's plan. 

His challenges are numerous: a strong but slowing economy with growing resentment over corruption, an urban-rural wealth gap, continued calls for wholesale political reform and countrywide worries stemming from countless environmental scandals.

These are all challenges which must be balanced against the his overriding objective: to ensure continuity of Communist rule, five generations after the revolution which brought Chairman Mao to power.

Xi has spent the past three months preparing for his presidency.

Televised appearances have provided clues of his priorities and hints at a more relaxed style of leadership.

With Chinese state television cameras in tow, he has visited military barracks, impoverished mountain villages and the Shenzhen Economic Zone in southern China where the country's economic reforms were first introduced two decades ago.

Tackling corruption has also been a key theme.

Xi has promised to bring down the "tigers" and the "flies", a reference to bureaucratic corruption at all levels of society.

He also called for traditionally extravagant official banquets to be toned down.

"We must uphold the fighting of tigers and flies at the same time, resolutely investigating law-breaking cases of leading officials and also earnestly resolving the unhealthy tendencies and corruption problems which happen all around people," Xi said in a January speech to senior Communist Party delegates.

"The style in which you work is no small matter, and if we don't redress unhealthy tendencies and allow them to develop, it will be like putting up a wall between our party and the people, and we will lose our roots, our lifeblood and our strength," he said.

The anti-corruption drive has been widely welcomed among China's vast population. There are daily protests online and on street corners across the country against corruption.

However, he risks a backlash from hard liners within the top political circles if they are forced to give up their perks of power too quickly.

Mr Xi also faces criticism over his own personal wealth. Many question whether the "back-room" dealings he now wants to stamp out helped to put him where he is now.

As a so-called "princeling", he comes from a thoroughbred Communist background.

His father, Xi Zhongxun, was a Communist revolutionary and former Vice-Premier.

However, political direction and possible reform in China is judged as much on what the leaders look like as it is on what they do or do not say.

And by appearance, Xi is markedly different from his predecessor Hu Jintao.

President Hu was stiff, impenetrable and unreadable. In contrast, President Xi appears to be relaxed, self-assured and, trivial as it may seem, smiley.

In Chinese politics, a smile is rare.

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Kim Jong-Un Oversees Live Artillery Drill

Kim Jong-Un has supervised a live artillery drill close to a disputed sea border with South Korea, a state news agency has reported.

Kim Jong-Un watches a live shell firing drill

The drill is the latest sign of increased tensions between the two Koreas and the Yellow Sea border is seen as the prime location for a clash.

It was not immediately clear when Mr Kim oversaw the drill. He made an inspection tour of the same artillery units last week that was widely covered by state TV and the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korea has threatened a second Korean war

During the latest drill, "shells intensively hit the imaginary targets of the enemy while the roar of the artillery pieces rocked heaven and earth", KCNA said.

"A modern war is an artillery war," Mr Kim was quoted as saying.

'Modern war is an artillery war,' Mr Kim said

North Korea has threatened to unleash a second Korean War - backed by nuclear weapons - in response to UN sanctions imposed after its third atomic test in February and joint South Korea-US military manoeuvres.

North Korea's claims to be able to stage a nuclear strike on the US have been derided by most observers of its missile programme, but it shelled a South Korean island in 2010, causing civilian casualties.

North Korea has stepped up its rhetoric against the US and South Korea

So far, there are few signs beyond Pyongyang's rhetoric that it is preparing for a major conflict.

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Syria Crisis: Two Million Child Victims of War

Two million children have become the "forgotten victims" of the bloody conflict in Syria, according to Save the Children.

As the conflict enters its third year, children are increasingly being used by fighters as human shields, runners and porters, putting them on the frontline. Others are suffering malnutrition, disease and homelessness.

According to the Childhood Under Fire report by the charity, one in three children has been hit, kicked or shot at, while three in four have lost a loved one.

A boy digs a cave to be used as a shelter from fighting

Justin Forsyth, Save the Children's chief executive, said: "For millions of Syrian children, the innocence of childhood has been replaced by the cruel realities of trying to survive this vicious war.

"Many are now living rough, struggling to find enough to eat, without the right medicine if they become sick or injured.

A rebel fighter with her daughter at their Aleppo home

"As society has broken down, in the worst cases, hunger, homelessness and terror have replaced school for some of these young people.

"We cannot allow this to continue unchecked; the lives of too many children are at stake."

Childhood Under Fire, launched to mark two years of fighting in the Middle Eastern country that has claimed 70,000 lives, says many children are struggling to find enough to eat.

A father with his daughters who were injured in the fighting

Thousands are living in barns, parks and caves and are unable to go to school because teachers have fled and schools have been attacked.

Young boys are also being used by armed groups as porters, runners and human shields, bringing them dangerously close to the frontline, it warns.

Girls are being married off early to ensure that they have someone who can protect them from sex attacks.

Parents and their children flee across the border to Turkey

The report is released ahead of talks in London between Foreign Secretary William Hague and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, which are likely to be dominated by the conflict.

The charity urged the international community to push for an end to the violence that has torn Syria apart.

It is planning to hold vigils in 21 countries on Thursday to mark the second anniversary of the start of fighting in the country.

A boy watches as graves are dug for future victims of the conflict

The prospects for peace currently look dim. Last week Mr Lavrov said there was "absolutely" no prospect of Moscow urging Syrian president Bashar Assad to stand down.

Mr Hague announced that Britain would send armoured vehicles and body armour to Syrian opposition forces as it steps up efforts to end a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic proportions.

Save the Children said that $1.5bn (£1bn) pledged in aid needs to be delivered to those suffering in the country and in refugee camps in neighbouring countries, with some areas still not having received any foreign aid.

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Prince Charles Visits Syrian Refugee Camp

By Sam Kiley, in King Abdullah Camp, Jordan

The Prince of Wales' timing could not have been better, or his message more clear. Jordan is coping - but only just.

The tiny desert kingdom risks being overwhelmed by the strain of handling close to half a million Syrian refugees.

And it is rapidly becoming a covert pipeline for military supplies to Syrian rebels while hosting secret teams of western military advisers training their commanders.

So Jordan is adding to its vulnerability by taking sides against the government of its powerful neighbour.

Prince Charles asked Naim Sabr, a father-of-four from Deraa, why and how he had come to be living as a refugee in this small camp on the edge of the border town of Ramtha.

Mr Sabr began his answer. Then his eyes filled with tears.

He told the prince of how he'd been a poet and had written verses which attacked the regime of Bashar al Assad, and had been detained and tortured.

The Prince and Duchess are invited into a container home

"I was crying because I felt so hopeless. In Syria children are being killed, we are being tortured and we can do nothing - nothing," he told Sky News after the prince had left.

That the future monarch of the United Kingdom came to a location within range of Syrian artillery to listen to the stories of the refugees, reinforces the already deep personal, political and military ties between Britain and Jordan.

To drive that home Prince Charles issued an appeal for help on behalf of his hosts.

"The great thing to have come out of this is just how unbelievably generous the Jordanian people have been - they have been truly remarkable … there's something like 430,000 refugees here," he said.

"But they worry terribly that by the end of the year there may be one million - two million or three million people coming in.

"Of course it's putting more and more strain on the water supply, the food, the whole thing, and hospital services because of course the refugees, as you can imagine, need a lot of hospital and medical attention.

"So clearly the Jordanians need more assistance and help from outside to be able to cope with this immense challenge," he added

Children look on at the royal guests at the King Abdullah refugee camp

The Duchess of Cornwall agreed.

"I found it just a humbling experience seeing all those children, some of them without parents, who have lost their parents and who have obviously been adopted by others - I found it quite heart breaking," she said.

So far the £1bn UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appeal for funding for Syria's refugees has been met. But this does not account for the huge budgetary strains that the Jordanian economy endures coping with the 300,000 refugees that are not housed in camps paid for by foreign donors.

"We are a resource-poor nation. We can't go on like this," said a senior Jordanian government official, as an aside to Sky News.

The contagion of Syria's civil war threatens the stability of Jordan, of Lebanon, and of the tenuous peace that prevails between Israel and her northern neighbours.

David Cameron has been hinting that he may abandon a European Union arms embargo which precludes arming Syria's rebels when the embargo is reviewed in May.

Whitehall sources say that the Prime Minister is not convinced that arming Syrian rebels is probably the best way of ending the prolonged conflict - and of securing influence over non-Islamist groups who are dominated by extremist ideology.

So far muscular support has been largely secret and limited.

If it grows, so Jordan's importance will grow with it - and in a region where alliances between families count above all else, the connection between the Windsors and the Hashemite rulers of Jordan will be critical.

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Dutch Raise Terror Threat Over Syria Fighters

The Dutch government has raised its terror threat level over fears Dutch citizens are fighting in Syria and returning radicalised.

They fear citizens who have been fighting in the war-torn Middle Eastern country will be traumatised and may be more likely to commit domestic terror acts.

The Netherlands' National Co-ordinator for Security and Counter-terrorism said in a statement: "The chance of an attack in the Netherlands or against Dutch interests abroad has risen.

"From Europe as a whole, hundreds have made the journey, many of whom are joining local armed groups.

"These Jihadist travellers can return to the Netherlands highly radicalised, traumatised and with a strong desire to commit violence, thus posing a significant threat to this country."

Counter-terrorism chief Dick Schoof said that nearly 100 people had travelled from the Netherlands to Africa and the Middle East, mainly to Syria.

Many who have fought in Syria will have been traumatised, officials say

He said that several fighters had already returned to the Netherlands and were "being monitored".

The warning comes just two months before hundreds of thousands of people are expected to descend on Amsterdam for mass celebrations for the investiture of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, as the country's new king.

The threat level is now rated as substantial, the second-highest level on the four-step scale, just below "critical".

The government said there were also signs of increasing radicalisation among Dutch youth at home.

Experts have said that political upheavals in North Africa and the Middle East are giving terror networks room to grow.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague recently warned Syria has become the 'number one' destination for British extremists wanting to train in guns and explosives.

He has said that there is a danger that fanatics would then return home and carry out terror attacks on UK soil.

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North Korea Threatens 'Merciless' Retaliation

North Korea has confirmed it has pulled out of an armistice with its "enemies" and added the next step was an act of "merciless" military retaliation.

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, the armed forces ministry argued that the real "warmongering" was coming from the US and its "puppets" in South Korea.

"They would be well advised to keep in mind that the armistice agreement is no longer valid and (North Korea) is not restrained by the North-South declaration on non-aggression," it said.

"What is left to be done now is an action of justice and merciless retaliation of the army and people."

The announcement added to the tide of threats that have been flowing from Pyongyang in recent days, raising military tensions on the Korean peninsula to their highest level for years.

The latest announcment also criticised the South's Park Geun-Hye

The armistice was agreed in 1953 after the Korean War ended. However, the two sides remained technically at war because no peace deal was ever struck.

The North had already announced last week that it would nullify the agreement and other peace pacts signed with Seoul in protest over joint South Korea-US military manoeuvres that began on Monday.

Although observers noted it was not the first time that North Korea had pulled out of the armistice.

The United Nations and South Korea criticised Pyongyang's unilateral withdrawal.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said: "The terms of the armistice agreement do not allow either side, unilaterally, to free themselves from it."

The North has previously threatened to launch nuclear strikes against the US and South Korea in response to fresh UN sanctions adopted after the North carried out its third nuclear test last month.

While the threats have been mostly dismissed as bluster, there are concerns that the North will attempt some form of military provocation in the coming weeks.

Wednesday's statement also carried the first official criticism of South Korea's new president, Park Geun-Hye, since she took office a little more than two weeks ago.

While the spokesman did not mention Ms Park by name, he said the "frenzy" stirred up the "warmongers" in South Korea was orchestrated by the "swish of the skirt made by the owner of Chongwadae (the Blue House)."

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Jill Meagher Killing: Accused Pleads Not Guilty

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

The man accused of murdering Irishwoman Jill Meagher in Australia calmly discussed the case while watching TV reports about it with his girlfriend - and suggested the victim's husband did it, a court has heard.

Adrian Bayley's partner said he also warned her against walking alone at night.

They lived close to the scene of the murder which happened last September.

Bayley, a father-of-four, has been committed to stand trial charged with murdering the 29-year-old who lived in Melbourne with her husband Tom and worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The 41-year-old is accused of dragging her into a lane in the Brunswick area of the city before raping her three times and strangling her.

Bayley has admitted one charge of raping Ms Meagher but denies murder.

Melbourne Magistrates Court heard a statement from Bayley's girlfriend which she had given to police.

Jill Meagher's husband Tom

In it she said Bayley had told her he did not want her walking alone at night.

"I said, 'Oh my God. Hope Street is just around the corner from here. It's so dangerous at night, you know,"' she said.

"I said, 'Oh she's pretty' and 'You know, she's you know, works for ABC'.

"He goes, 'Yeah that's why I'm saying that this place is not safe ... don't walk alone at night, go to the gym or anything like that. No, don't walk to the gym ... take the car ...' he goes, 'because you have to be safe and all that'."

The girlfriend said she and Bayley had discussions about the case after reports emerged that Ms Meagher's handbag could have been planted in the lane.

She said: "He goes, 'Maybe it's the husband'."

A police cordon at the crime scene in Melbourne last September

CCTV footage showing the last moments of Ms Meagher's life was also shown to the court as she was allegedly pursued by the accused.

The black and white video showed Ms Meagher walking home after a night drinking with friends. Then a man is seen in a hooded top running up behind her and then slowing down.

Also released for the first time were police photographs showing Miss Meagher's discarded handbag in the lane where she died, including her ABC security pass.

The court also saw pictures of the shovel which was allegedly used to dig a shallow grave for her body on the outskirts of the city, and her smashed mobile phone sim card which Bayley's girlfriend allegedly found in his clothes.

Other CCTV footage showed Bayley in a petrol station. He had run out of fuel and was given a lift to the service station by a passerby. The video was filmed in the hours after Ms Meagher died.

Bayley's girlfriend said she was approached by police at work on September 27 and shown CCTV footage of a man walking along Sydney Road. She identified that man as her boyfriend.

The woman told police Bayley had received a bruise to the bridge of his nose on the night of Ms Meagher's disappearance. He told her he had got into a fight with some men in the city.

Bayley is expected to stand trial later in the year.

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Pope: The Secret World Of The Conclave

By Michelle Clifford, Sky News Correspondent

The cardinals heading into the Conclave in Rome know they won't see the world outside the Vatican walls again until they have chosen a new Pontiff.

The highly secretive process has been experienced by few men over the last century. British Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor is one of them.

In 2005 he helped pick Pope Benedict XVI and the memory of that first day is still etched on to his psyche.

"I can still remember walking in and it looked absolutely magnificent in the Sistine Chapel. The wonderful frescoes of Michelangelo. The Last Judgement on the altar. And the wonderful images around the walls," he said.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor recalls the enormity of the task ahead of them. Knowing the choice they made would impact the lives of more than a billion Catholics. And in a blink the moment was upon them.

"And then suddenly the junior Cardinal says: 'Everybody out. Extra Omnes,' and so all the servers, the ministers, the people go.

"And he shuts the huge doors with a big thud. And so there's just 115 of us and we all look at each other and think, well one of us is going to come out not with a scarlet cassock but with a white one".

He remembers the process as a solemn and holy one.

Each cardinal felt the weight of responsibility to make the right choice. And the tension wasn't helped during each round of voting by the fact that every man knew there was a chance, however small, that he could be picked.

The elector cardinals go to the Sistine Chapel in 2005

"The cardinal sitting near me was going rather white. You could tell he was thinking 'gosh, I really don't want this'. And between you and me, I think every cardinal had a name up his sleeve just in case."

He himself had chosen Adrian after the only English Pope and Gregory. He also toyed with Benedict - the name the cardinal he picked for Pope took.

Such is the secrecy around the vote the cardinals go into lockdown inside the Vatican. They vote, eat and live together. And the debate about who should be leader goes on well after they leave the Sistine Chapel each day.

He remembers well the stoves erected in the Sistine Chapel to burn the ballot papers after each round.

Black smoke was sent up if no-one had been elected. But when white smoke emerged from the Sistine chapel chimney the outside world learned what the cardinals inside already knew - a Pope had been selected.

"You could have heard a pin drop as the last votes were counted. It was a very dramatic moment. It felt extraordinary," he said.

The then Cardinal Ratzinger announced the name he had chosen for himself and then disappeared out for a short moment to be transformed.

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor explained: "There is a tailor outside the door with three cassocks. Small, large and medium. And what is amazing is that he comes back wearing a white cassock and we gave him a great clap and we all went up one by one and kissed his ring.

"And it didn't matter whether you voted for him or not - he is Pope."

Some cardinals say it is a process they would not want to repeat - such is the burden of responsibility.

But Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor would be happy to oblige despite knowing that when he came out his family would ask the same two questions they did the last time.

He said: "My nephew asked what was the food like. I told him good. I then asked him what his other questions was. He said 'How many votes did you get?'"

On that point the Cardinal's lips are sealed.

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Ohio Crash Survivor: 'Driver Was Speeding'

The driver of a 4x4 that flipped into a pond, killing six teenagers in Ohio, was speeding, according to one of the two passengers who survived the crash.

The Honda Passport carrying eight people slammed into a crash barrier on a road in Warren, about 60 miles east of Cleveland, at about 7am on Sunday.

It ended up in a swampy pond and sank with five of the victims trapped inside. A sixth person thrown from the car during the crash was found underneath it.

Two boys escaped from the submerged vehicle after smashing out a rear window.

None of the eight occupants were wearing a seatbelt

Eighteen-year-old Brian Henry told WYTV that the group were being driven home by 19-year-old Alexis Cayson.

"She took it into her hands to speed up. I'd been telling her to slow down," he said.

"Before I turned around and looked at her, the car had jerked out of control. I don't know if she did it on purpose or how fast she was going."

He added that he was not sure what the group had been doing earlier because the others were already in the vehicle when he got in.

The State Highway Patrol says the sport utility vehicle's owner filed a theft report on Monday. The owner is not related to any of the teens involved in the accident, police said.

The authorities have confirmed the driver did not have a valid licence.

Friends of the dead teenagers console each other

None of the eight people were thought to have been wearing seatbelts. The car is designed to hold five occupants.

State police identified the other victims as Andrique Bennett, 14; Brandon Murray, 17; and Daylan Ray, Kirklan Behner and Ramone White who were all 15.

Brian Henry and 15-year-old Asher Lewis were treated for bruising and other injuries and later released.

Authorities have given little detail on where the group of friends had been and why they were out around daybreak on Sunday.

While the father of one of the dead boys said they were coming home from a sleepover at a friend's house, the mother of another boy said her son and his best friend had lied about staying over at each other's homes that evening.

She said she thinks they went to a party.

"If only he had listened," said Lisa Williamson, mother of 14-year-old Brandon Murray.

"I told him, 'Don't you go nowhere.' But they're kids."

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Kim Jong-Un Threatens To 'Wipe Out' Island

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has threatened to "wipe out" a South Korean island as diplomatic tensions between the neighbouring countries escalate.

The communist state has been making noises about nuclear war in response to UN sanctions imposed after its third atomic test last month.

It has also announced its unilateral shredding of the 60-year-old Korean War armistice and non-aggression pacts with Seoul in protest at an ongoing South Korean-US military exercise.

While most of these statements have been dismissed as rhetorical bluster, the latest threat to the border island of Baengnyeong, which has around 5,000 civilian residents, appears credible and carries the weight of precedent.

In 2010, the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan was sunk in the area of Baengnyeong with the loss of 46 lives, and later that year North Korea shelled the nearby island of Yeonpyeong, killing four people.

On a visit to frontline artillery units, Kim Jong-Un briefed officers on their mission "to strike and wipe out the enemies" on Baengnyeong and turn the island into a "sea of fire".

Kim waves to troops as he leaves flashpoint Baengnyeong island

"Once an order is issued, you should break the waists of the crazy enemies, totally cut their windpipes and thus clearly show them what a real war is like," Kim was quoted as saying by the Korean Central News Agency.

The leader toured military facilities with officers and was photographed holding a guitar during talks, before departing the Wolnae Islet defence unit in a wooden boat.

An administrative official on Baengnyeong, Kim Young-Gu, said civilian emergency shelters on the island had been fully stocked and all village councils put on high alert.

"It's not like there's a mass exodus of panicked islanders to the mainland. But to be honest with you, we're a bit scared," he told AFP.

The disputed sea border off the west coast was the scene of deadly naval clashes in 1999, 2002 and 2009.

Residents on a number of frontline islands have reportedly taken to sleeping in their clothes in preparation for a night-time alert.

South Korea's President faces a tricky diplomatic task

The crisis represents an early test for South Korea's new President Park Geun-Hye, who was sworn in only two weeks ago, with concerns about just how far the inexperienced Kim Jong-Un is willing to go.

Defence Ministry spokesman Kim Min-Seok said: "If the North provokes us, we will respond in ways that will cause them more harm."

The United States has risked further provoking Kim by slapping sanctions on North Korea's primary foreign exchange bank and four senior officials.

Past sanctions have failed to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programme, but the international community hopes measures targeting financial lifelines can slow down the process and curb proliferation.

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'Cannibal Cop' Convicted In Plot To Eat Women

By Sky News US Team, in New York

A New York City police officer has been convicted of plotting to kidnap, cook and eat women.

The jury reached the verdict at the kidnapping conspiracy trial of Officer Gilberto Valle, a 28-year-old father with an admitted fetish for talking on the Internet about cannibalism.

Valle's lawyers argued that he was just fantasising and noted that none of the women were ever harmed.

Prosecutors countered that an analysis of Valle's computer found he was taking concrete steps to abduct his wife and at least five other women he knew.

They said he looked up potential targets on a restricted law enforcement database, searched the Internet for how to knock someone out with chloroform, and showed up on the block of one woman after agreeing to kidnap her for $5,000 for a man, now awaiting trial.

Valle "left the world of fantasy and entered the world of reality", prosecutor Hadassa Waxman said during closing arguments.

She said the officer's arrest near Halloween last year interrupted a ghoulish plan to "kidnap, torture, rape and commit other horrific acts on young women".

The jury heard Valle's potential victims testify that they were trading innocent-sounding emails and texts with him, unaware he was supposedly scheming to make meals out of them.

The government also sought to drive home the point that Valle was more of a threat because he was a police officer.

The trial opened a window on strange online underworld where people share sick and twisted fantasies of torture, murder, dismemberment and cannibalism.

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Pope Election: Cardinal Conclave To Begin

Voting Cardinals Tweet Goodbyes

Updated: 8:42am UK, Tuesday 12 March 2013

Cardinals entering the Vatican on Tuesday ahead of a conclave to elect the next pope took to Twitter to say goodbye to their online flock before they are cut off from the outside world.

"Last tweet before conclave: May Our Father hear and answer with love and mercy all prayers and sacrifices offered for fruitful outcome. God bless!" South African cardinal Wilfrid Napier told his thousands of followers.

Cardinals will be completely isolated inside the Vatican walls for the duration of the conclave, which could last up to a few days.

Jamming devices in the Sistine Chapel block all communications and the Vatican has said anyone caught tweeting will be excommunicated.

Before moving to the Vatican residence where the 115 cardinal electors will eat and sleep during the conclave, US cardinal Roger Mahony wrote: "Last tweet before moving to Casa Santa Martha, and mass to elect a pope.

"First conclave meeting late Tuesday afternoon. Prayers needed," he said.

Pierre Durieux, spokesman for France's Philippe Barbarin, tweeted to say that the three French cardinals had entered the Vatican and now: "A big silence".

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, expressed concern on her account saying: "In this electronic age, I worry some cardinals may go into iPad and Twitter withdrawal."

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Kentucky House Fire Kills Five Children

Five children aged between 10 months and three have been identified as being among seven victims of a house fire in Kentucky.

A pregnant mother and her fiance also died in the Saturday morning blaze that engulfed the home in Gray, a close-knit community in the Appalachian foothills near the borders of Tennessee and Virginia.

Relatives raced to the house - owned by the Disney family in an area affectionately known as "Disneyland" because so many of them live in that part of town.

Despite their frantic rescue efforts, all seven people inside died.

Shannon Disney, a sister-in-law of one of the victims, described the couple as devoted to the children and excited about the arrival of their unborn baby.

Foul play is not suspected, say investigators

Gino Cima, the uncle of the man who died, said he suspected his nephew had been trying to save the children.

He said: "When I opened the screen door, she (the mother) was laying at the door with her head to the door and I pulled her out.

"And about two feet from her laying the other way was (my nephew). I went in and got him and pulled him out. But they were done, gone. There was nothing I could do."

Relatives said the nephew's partner was the mother of three of the children who died.

The other two children were siblings on a sleepover at the house.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, although foul play is not suspected.

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India Bus Gang Rape Suspect Found Hanged

The man accused of leading the gang rape of a student on a New Delhi bus been found hanged in his prison cell.

Police say Ram Singh took his own life in the high-security Tihar jail where he had been on suicide watch in an isolated cell.

But the 33-year-old suspect's family say he was killed and an investigation into the death is under way.

Singh's father, Mangelal Singh, said his son had been raped in prison by other inmates and had been repeatedly threatened by inmates and guards.

He said his son gave no hint of any despair that could drive him to take his own life when he visited him in jail four days ago.

Days of protests followed the attack

And he insisted his son also had a badly injured hand and would have been unable to hang himself.

"Somebody has killed him," he said.

Mangelal Singh said he feared for the safety of another son who is also on trial over the rape.

Vimla Mehra, the director general of the jail, refused to comment on the circumstances surrounding the death.

"The inquiry is being conducted and it would be premature to make any statement about the details of the incident," he said.

The death has angered the victim's family, who said the authorities had been negligent and they had been denied justice.

Her father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "We don't understand how could the police fail to protect Ram Singh?

Rallies grew violent and water cannon were turned on protesters

"They knew he was the prime accused in my daughter's case.

"How could they let him choose the way he wanted to die? The police have failed and I wonder what will happen to the case now."

Singh was accused of leading a gang of five others who subjected the 23-year-old physiotherapy student to a two-and-a-half hour sex attack in which she was gang raped.

Her internal injuries were so horrific she died two weeks later in a hospital in Singapore despite surgery to try to save her.

Singh's death comes in the middle of his trial. He and four others are accused of luring the woman and a male friend, who were on their way home from a trip to the cinema, on to the bus where they beat him before repeatedly raping her.

A senior police officer on the case said: "The case will continue. There is no reason for the case to suffer."

Lawyers for the men have previously accused police of beating confessions out of their clients.

Singh was the regular driver of the white private bus, usually used to carry school children, which is alleged to have been used in the December 16 attack.

Police say he had been out with friends and drinking heavily when they decided to take the bus out for a night-time joyride.

The men are facing charges of murder, rape, and kidnapping, and if found guilty are expected to be given the death penalty.

A sixth suspect aged 17 is being tried in a juveniles' court, where he faces a maximum three years imprisonment.

The attack caused worldwide revulsion and outrage in India. Days of protests followed in a country where a woman is raped every 20 minutes.

The woman's friend, who is still suffering from the injuries he sustained in the attack, has already given evidence at the trial. His account was said to be a crucial part of the case.

He had previously spoken of the attack in an interview in which he told how he begged the rapists to stop "the cruelty that should never be seen".

Protesters have called for all rape suspects to be hanged and want a better deal for women so the streets are safer and men who rape women are put on trial.

National crime records show that 228,650 of the total 256,329 violent crimes recorded in India last year were against women and rape cases more than doubled between 1990 and 2008.

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