India: Tourist Gang-Raped And Husband Beaten

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

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.

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.

Local police superintendent C S Solanki told the Press Trust of India the couple were beaten and had their belongings stolen, and that the woman was gang-raped.

Mr Solanki said police were questioning 13 men in connection with the attack.

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.

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.

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."

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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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Pope Francis Wants 'Church For The Poor'

Pope Francis has called for "a poor Church for the poor", saying he chose his papal name because St Francis of Assisi was "a man of poverty and a man of peace".

The pontiff was hosting an audience with the world's media in the Vatican as part of a greater openness that has characterised his first days in office.

The 76-year-old has displayed an informal style that contrasts sharply with that of his more academic predecessor Benedict XVI.

Francis described to hundreds of journalists the emotional moments immediately after his election in a secret conclave in the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday.

The Argentinian, formerly Jorge Mario Bergoglio, said he had been sitting next to Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the archbishop emeritus of Sao Paulo.

"He hugged me and kissed me and told me not to forget the poor. And that word went in here," he said, pointing to his head.

"I immediately thought of Francis of Assisi," he said.

"Francis of Assisi for me is a man of poverty, a man of peace, a man who loved and protected creation. Right now our relations with Creation are not going very well," he added.

Next Saturday, March 23, Pope Francis will visit his predecessor at the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo in an historic encounter that brings together the new pope and the first pope to resign in six centuries.

The new Pope's inauguration mass will take place on Tuesday - the Feast of St Joseph, the patron saint of the universal church.

He has urged the faithful in his native Argentina not to travel to Italy for the mass but rather to give the money the trip would have cost to charity.

Nonetheless, heads of state from all over the world are expected to be present, while more than a million people are expected to throng the streets of Rome.

On the eve of his installation Pope Francis will hold talks with the president of Argentina.

The pope has sharply criticised Christina Fernandez over her support for liberal measures such as gay marriage and free contraceptives.

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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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Syria Anniversary: EU Pressed On 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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Xi Jinping Confirmed As New Chinese President

China: The Key Challenges Ahead

Updated: 3:47am UK, Thursday 14 March 2013

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

What are China's key challenges and how will incoming President Xi Jinping tackle them?

:: The Environment

Even from behind the walls of Zhongnanhai,  the vast Presidential compound in the heart of Beijing, it will be impossible to escape what's become known as "airmaggedon" - the sight of a city shrouded in smog. January and February were two of the worst months on record. Levels of pollution reached more than 30 times the safe limit.

Shanghai's 23 million residents have spent the past week wondering if their water is safe to drink after the discovery of 6000 dead pigs floating down the river. The term "Cancer Village" is now part of the Chinese vocabulary, referring to villages where toxic soil is killing people. There are scores of other jaw-dropping food scandals.

China's record on waste disposal - both sewage and household waste - is abysmal. A recent study claimed that one third of the industrial waste water and more than 90 percent of household sewage in China is released into rivers and lakes without being treated.

:: The Economy

In his farewell speech, outgoing president Hu Jintao made the point (several times) that his government had successfully avoided a direct hit by the global economic crisis. There was no Chinese "hard-landing" last year as many had predicted.

However, the knock-on effects of the problems in the Eurozone and America are impacting in China. The country still relies heavily on being the world's factory floor. But if the world isn't buying, then China has a problem.

The challenge for the incoming government is to broaden its domestic consumer base so that it can rely less on the rest of the world. But to achieve that it must pull more people out of poverty and that, in turn, requires workers, in factories, making and selling to the world.

Now add one other dimension to that: south-east Asia is quickly overtaking China as the preferable factory floor for western manufacturers: labour is significantly cheaper than in China.

It all presents a tricky conundrum.

:: Foreign Policy

President Xi said recently that the "great renewal of the Chinese nation is the Chinese nation's greatest dream in modern history." The location he chose to speak those words is seen as significant: a military base.

There is no doubt China has been flexing its military muscle recently. It is engaged in territorial disputes with Japan, Vietnam, The Philippines and of course, Taiwan. A military clash with Japan over a tiny set of islands in the East China Sea is conceivable.

China's footprint now spreads across much of the world. It's presence across Africa and South America is causing unease in some western capitals.

China is now used to being accused of hacking into the world's computers. It angrily denies the charge, pointing out that it too is the victim of cyber-crime. Still, tit-for-tat cyber strikes present both a military and commercial threat and therefore a big diplomatic challenge.

Nearly 40 years ago, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger made a secret trip to Beijing. It was the first step in an effort to establish diplomatic relations between communist China and capitalist America. It eventually led to an historic meeting between President Carter and Chairman Mao.

On his visit Kissinger called China "'a land of mystery". Decades on, little seems to have changed.

President Xi said last month: "China needs to know more about the world, and the world needs to know more about China."

And so, despite the country's remarkable growth, reforms and indisputable position of global strength, China is to many still a mystery.

Perhaps that represents the biggest barrier between China and the rest of the world, because a mysterious country is, correctly or not, seen as a threatening one.

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Pope Francis Slips Out Of Vatican For Prayers

Pope Francis started his new life as leader of the Roman Catholic Church by praying at one of Rome's oldest basilicas, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

The 76-year-old, who has become the first Jesuit pope and the first pope to be named Francis, opened his pontificate quietly leaving the Vatican with a visit to Santa Maria Maggiore 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."

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".

Huge crowds welcomed the announcement of Pope Francis

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.

A trip to see his predecessor Benedict XVI at the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo on Friday 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.

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 new pope is revealed on Wednesday night

The somewhat mild and shy new pope, who has a busy few days ahead of him, is expected to speak to the media for the first time 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.

Many were quick to congratulate Francis - the first non-European pope in more than 1,000 years.

And the reactions to his election continued on Thursday with Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, Al Azhar, calling 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.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio becomes the first Jesuit pope

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.

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.

He has spent nearly his entire career in Argentina, and becomes the first ever pope from Latin America.

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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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.

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.

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

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.

For years, he took public transportation around the city.

Bergoglio 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.

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

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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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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Libya: Toxic Hooch Kills 60 And Makes 700 Ill

At least 60 people have been killed and 700 made ill in the Libyan capital by a batch of poisonous homemade liquor.

The scale of the alcohol poisoning is so great that hospitals in Tripoli have been overstretched with patients and some of the victims have had to be sent to clinics in other parts of the country for treatment.

The homemade brew, known locally as Boukha, has been laced with methanol, according to the country's Health Minister Nurideen Doghman.

He said that at least 60 people had died. On Monday, the Health Ministry said that it had registered 51 deaths and 378 cases of poisoning, mainly in the capital.

Colonel Mahmoud Sharif said there had been more than 700 cases of alcohol poisoning.

"This includes 10 women - both Libyan and from other Arab states," he said.

"Six people have been arrested and an investigation is under way. Two others are believed to be on the run and their names have been given to border officials."

The consumption and sale of alcohol is banned in the North African country but it is available on the black market.

Libya has seen a significant increase in drug and alcohol trafficking since the dictator Muammar Gaddafi was ousted from power in 2011.

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

He said that several fighters had already returned to the Netherlands.

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.

It follows the abdication of Queen Beatrix last month.

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

In addition, a number of Dutch citizens who had gone abroad to fight for Jihadist causes could also present problems for internal security.

It said the two factors were the key reasons for lifting its threat level to substantial, the second-highest level on the four-step scale, just below "critical."

More follows...

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Jay-Z And Beyonce In Celebrity Finances Leak

A website has posted what appears to be private financial information about stars, including rapper Jay-Z and his wife Beyonce, and government officials.

Mel Gibson, Ashton Kutcher, Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton were among the 11 well-known names whose financial details were released.

The officials who were targeted included FBI Director Robert Mueller and Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, whose social security numbers and credit reports were published.

Pages posted on US Vice President Joe Biden and the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not include credit reports, but did reveal addresses and other sensitive information.

Mel Gibson also had private details disclosed on the site

While government officials often have to disclose details on their finances - and celebrity divorces sometimes feature public financial data - the information posted online exceeds those disclosures.

Social security numbers are rarely included in public records anymore because they can be used for identity theft.

Los Angeles police said they had launched an investigation into the website, which had an internet suffix originally assigned to Russia.

The site did not state how the information had been obtained or why the 11 people targeted were chosen, describing the records only as "secret files".

Kim Kardashian was one of the 11 targeted

Several of the purported credit reports appear to have been generated last week.

Representatives for each person targeted either declined to comment on the accuracy of the information that was posted, or they did not return messages seeking comment.

Several of the website's pages featured unflattering pictures of the celebrities or government officials whose information was posted.

The site's page on Mr Beck includes a taunting reference to former officer Christopher Dorner, who was killed in a shootout after killing four people over several days last month.

Beck's page included the message "(hash)YouCantCornerTheDorner" and an image of a woman protesting police corruption.

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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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Cardinals Prepare To Choose A New Pope

By Nick Pisa, Vatican City

Cardinals are gathered for a ceremony steeped in tradition to elect a new pope to lead the Roman Catholic Church.

The so-called Princes of the Church will assemble in the Vatican's beautifully ornate Sistine Chapel to decide on a new pontiff.

It follows ex-pope Benedict XVI stepping down last month after eight years in office.

In all, 115 cardinal electors, those below the age of 80, are involved in the process.

The first the world will know a new pope has been chosen is when white smoke appears from a chimney on the chapel's roof.

But before that process begins, there were several key events due to take place.

The first took place on Monday when 90 people ranging from cleaning staff, drivers, priests and Swiss Guards swore an oath of secrecy.

They will be on hand as the cardinals gather and are not allowed to breathe a word of what they say or hear. If they do they will be excommunicated from the Roman Catholic faith.

Whilst the conclave is taking place the cardinals will be staying in a special residence inside the Vatican called the Domus Marthae. They will remain there until a pope has been chosen.

Today began with a Latin Mass in St Peter's for the cardinals and public and which is traditionally held before a conclave starts and is known as "pro eligendo Romano Pontifice".

It was led by the Dean of the College of Cardinals Angelo Sodano, who also gave a sermon in Italian which is expected to outline the spiritual significance of the task that faces them to elect the 266th pope.

After lunch they will then leave in a solemn procession from the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican to the Sistine Chapel.

They will be accompanied by Latin prayers and songs, as they ask the Holy Spirit for help in choosing the right man for the job.

Once inside the Sistine Chapel they will swear an oath, with their hand on a Gospel.

Next, all those cardinals who are not electors and other accompanying priests will be ordered to leave by the Master of Ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini.

He will say in Latin "extra omnes", which means "everybody out" and then the last pictures the world will see are the doors of the Sistine Chapel closing as the cardinals begin their deliberations.

The word conclave comes from the Latin "con clavum" or "with key" as cardinals in the past were kept locked in a room until they came up with a new leader.

As part of the selection process a jamming device has been installed in the chapel as the cardinals are not allowed to have any contact with the outside world.

It is feared that any contact could influence their vote and if they do break the vow of secrecy they also face excommunication.

The secret ballot will involve the cardinals writing the name of their preferred candidate on a slip of paper - trying to disguise their handwriting if possible - which they will then place on a tray with the ballot then sliding into an urn.

The cardinals, as they did in this picture from 2005, will wear red

Once all the votes are counted by the scrutineers they are pierced with a needle through the Latin word "Eligendo" (I elect) and a thread is fed through them. The key figure to look for is 77 votes, two thirds of the 115 elector cardinals plus one.

The voting papers are put into a 74-year-old stove, which has been specially installed in the Sistine Chapel, and burnt. Chemicals are added to produce white smoke to show a winner has emerged, and black if there is still no decision.

There will be one vote on Tuesday with smoke expected around 7pm (GMT) although Vatican officials have already said they do not expect a result straight away.

After final prayers and vespers the cardinals will then leave the Sistine Chapel and head back to their sealed overnight accommodation for dinner.

There will be two rounds of voting on Wednesday morning and two in the afternoon with smoke expected at around 11am and 6pm - with the eyes of the world watching the chimney on top of the Sistine Chapel.

Spotlights will be trained on the chimney in case darkness has fallen, and to ensure everyone knows a new pope has been elected the bells of St Peter's will also ring out and his first appearance will be on the balcony where he will give a blessing.

Favourites so far include Italian cardinal Angelo Sodano and Brazilian Odilo Pedro Scherer, but no really strong candidate has emerged with Vatican watchers saying this may lead to a longer conclave than usual.

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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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Japan Remembers Quake And Tsunami Disaster

People all over Japan bowed their heads in silence as they remembered thousands of victims killed in a devastating earthquake and tsunami exactly two years ago.

They marked the moment when the 9.0 magnitude quake struck off the northeastern coast, triggering waves as high as 30 metres (100ft) that swept away residents and their homes.

The country's worst disaster since World War Two also wrecked the Fukushima nuclear power plant, sparking another emergency.

Three reactors suffered meltdowns and spewed radiation into the surrounding soil and water after the tsunami knocked out the plant's vital cooling system.

A total of 15,881 people are confirmed to have died in the triple disaster and 2,668 others remain unaccounted for.

And more than 300,000 people remain displaced, including about half of them evacuees from areas near the plant.

Police take part in a moment of silence during their search for victims

Ceremonies were held in towns and cities throughout the disaster zone, as well as in Tokyo.

In the city, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko led tributes to those who lost their lives, including over 2,300 whose deaths have been recorded as being caused by the stresses of life in evacuation centres or temporary housing.

"I am always deeply moved by seeing how so many people lead their daily lives without complaining ... and hope ... to be able to share their suffering, if only a little," he said.

In the city of Ishinomaki, where at least 70 children at a school were swept to their deaths by the rising waters of March 11, 2011, tsunami alarms were sounded, marking the exact moment the undersea quake hit.

Nearly 10,000 aftershocks have been recorded since the original quake, including 736 jolts that measured above a magnitude of 5.0.

The aftermath of the 2011 disaster

Some shook the ground at the plant which has now been brought under a stable state known as "cold shut down".

But decommissioning its damaged reactors will take decades and cost billions of pounds. Many of the 160,000 who fled the area will never be able to return.

Schoolgirl Rin Yamane recounted the horror of the day she lost her mother as they tried to escape the waves.

"Suddenly, we were in the middle of a black sea ... When I saw her in a morgue a few days later, I knew then it was a reality," she said.

Police in Miyagi prefecture have been continuing their search for those still listed as missing, with a 50-strong team scouring the coastline.

"We haven't found any bodies for a year," police officer Toshiaki Okajima told the AFP news agency.

"But there are still 1,300 missing people in Miyagi alone and the feelings of families haven't changed. That's why the police need to keep looking for remains."

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Oscar Pistorius Wants To Leave South Africa

Lawyers for Oscar Pistorius have appealed against bail restrictions imposed after he was charged with murdering his girlfriend.

His representatives argue that the double-amputee athlete is not a flight risk and should have the option of travelling outside South Africa as long as he has official permission.

It comes as a close friend said that the athlete is a "broken man".

Pistorius was released on bail on February 22, a week after he was arrested on charges of murdering girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Reeva Steenkamp was killed by Oscar Pistorius last month

He says he mistakenly shot Miss Steenkamp, thinking she was an intruder in his home.

Prosecutors believe he killed her intentionally after an argument.

His friend Mike Azzie says the star is a "broken man", and his state of mind has worsened since he had to sell his racehorses to raise money to pay his rising legal fees.

"He has no confidence in his tone of voice and he is just a man that is almost like someone that is walking around in circles and doesn't know where he is going," he told a BBC3 documentary.

"I would say that, just speaking to him, that he is a broken man and that I would go as far to say that he would be on the verge of suicide. It really worries me."

Sky's Alex Crawford said: "His family feel that the bail restrictions and conditions are extremely stringent." The application is likely to be heard in the next two weeks.

She added that he was understood to be spending his time at an uncle's house reading the bible, and said that his family deny that he is suicidal.

The appeal was filed on Friday. A copy of the papers was sent by representatives of the Pistorius family to news agencies on Monday.

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Briton 'Feared Killed' By Nigeria Islamists

A Nigerian Islamist group claims it has killed seven foreign hostages - reportedly including a Briton - who were abducted from a construction site last month.

They were taken from the compound of Setraco, a Lebanese construction company, in the town of Jama'are in Bauchi state on February 7.

The al Qaeda-linked Ansaru group, believed to be an offshoot of the larger Boko Haram, is said to be behind the abductions.

Nigerian authorities said they had no information to confirm the claims.

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: "We are aware of reports of the death of a British national in Nigeria and are urgently investigating."

The abducted workers were also thought to include four Lebanese people, an Italian and a Greek citizen.

A statement released on an Islamist website by Ansaru was accompanied by screen shots of a video purporting to show the dead hostages.

One showed a man with a gun standing above several figures lying on the ground.

The workers were taken from Jama'are in Bauchi state

The abduction of the hostages involved the largest number of foreigners seized in the mostly Muslim north of Nigeria since the Islamist insurgency there intensified two years ago.

The attack saw gunmen first assault a local prison and burn police trucks, authorities said.

Then the attackers blew up a back fence at the construction company's compound and took over, killing a guard in the process, witnesses and police said.

The gunmen appeared to be organised and knew who they wanted to target, leaving the Nigerian household staff members at the residence unharmed, while the foreigners were quickly abducted, a witness said.

In January 2013, Ansaru declared itself a splinter group independent from Boko Haram, the north's main terrorist group, analysts say.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege", has launched a guerrilla campaign of bombings and shootings across Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north. It is blamed for at least 792 killings last year.

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Falkland Islanders To Vote In Referendum

By Ian Woods, Senior Correspondent, Falkland Islands

Falkland Islanders begin two days of voting today in a referendum to decide whether they want to stay British.

The question they have to answer is whether they want to remain an Overseas Territory of Britain, and there is likely to be a huge majority voting yes.

Dr Barry Elsby, one of the members of the Falklands Legislative Assembly, told Sky News "We're looking for a very high turnout.

"People realise the importance of a high turnout because that is what is important. It is showing the world that the majority of the people here want to remain as we are. We don't want to become a colony of Argentina.

"We would like to send a message out to the world to say, look, we are a people. We do have our own views and those views should be listened to.

"And we hope at the end of this referendum process countries will stand up and say 'yes, we must listen to this democratic view of the people'."

But even those who plan to vote yes doubt that Argentina's government will take any notice.

Outside observers are being brought in to monitor the referendum

Owen Betts, who works in the fishing industry, said: "I don't think Argentina will (take notice), especially the government.

"Maybe some of the Argentinian people may think differently, but I think the Argentinian government are pretty hard headed and it's going to take a while to sink in."

The geography of the islands creates real challenges for making sure everyone who is eligible can vote.

The Falklands are slightly bigger than Yorkshire, but most roads are unpaved so sometimes it can take hours to drive relatively short distances.

Some communities consist of little more than a few houses. So many people are unable to get to one of the few polling stations. So the polling stations will come to the people.

A fleet of 4x4 vehicles will criss-cross the island visiting communities for around half an hour to allow people to put their votes in a ballot box.

And for even more remote locations which cannot be reached by road, a plane will island-hop with a ballot box on board.

Islanders are expected to back remaining an Overseas Territory of Britain

The reason two days of voting has been scheduled is in case the weather prevents the light aircraft taking off and landing.

An international group of election monitors, including some from South America, will observe the referendum to make sure rules are followed.

Brad Smith, from the Referendum International Observation Mission, is aware of the importance of the vote.

"Because the spotlight is here internationally, this is a issue that plays way beyond the islands. We have to make sure that even in these very remote places, everybody has an opportunity to vote."

And to try to ensure the ballot is beyond criticism the Falkland Islands government withdrew official observer status from a visiting British academic because they did not believe he was independent.

Professor Peter Willets, from City University, had given a speech in Stanley arguing that the islands could not remain an Overseas Territory, but needed to move to full self-government.

Some islanders agree that independence is the way forward and may vote no in the referendum to signal their wishes.

But even some of the few Argentinian-born residents of the Falklands, who spoke to Sky News on condition of anonymity, favoured retaining the links with the UK.

One man, who did want to be identified in case of anger from his homeland, said he felt the islands should remain British because of the wishes of the people who live there.

But for most people in Stanley today will be a celebration. A parade will be held in the afternoon, with cars festooned with Union Jacks and Falklands flags driving in convoy through the streets.

And Neville Hayward will be showing off his new made-to-measure suit, delivered from London specially for the occasion. Jacket, trousers, waistcoat, bow-tie and shoes, all with the Union flag design.

He said: "We want to show the rest of the world that we want to remain British. Because we are British, it's our way of life. It's the only it's the only thing we know."

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Anger Over Cardinal Mahony's Conclave Role

By Greg Milam, US Correspondent

Victims of sexual abuse by priests in the largest Catholic diocese in the US have spoken of their anger that its former archbishop is taking part in the process to choose the next Pope.

Cardinal Roger Mahony was stripped of all administrative duties in January over allegations he engaged in a cover-up to protect priests accused of abuse.

He retired after 26 years as the Archbishop of Los Angeles in 2011, but the punishment handed down by his successor is regarded as unprecedented.

It followed the release of thousands of pages of files which highlighted claims against more than 100 priests dating back decades.

They also showed the attempts made to avoid getting the police involved.

Mahony, an enthusiastic blogger, has been providing a running commentary of developments in the Vatican since arriving to join the conclave.

A petition had called for him not to go.

Esther Miller, who was abused by a priest when she was a teenager, told Sky News she was angry that Mahony was there at all.

She said: "He is not contrite. As Catholic kids we learn the prayer of contrition and it talks about steps you do to repair the offences.

"He has not done steps to repair the offences, he has not done a full remorseful act. Instead he slaps us in the face and jaunts off to Rome. It is appalling."

Esther Miller was a victim of sexual abuse when she was a teenager

Ms Miller said the abuse she suffered still impacts her life.

"I lament the years that were stolen from me," she said. "It is difficult."

She was a party to a multimillion dollar settlement between the church and victims in 2007.

It included an order to release the files but legal wrangling prevented their full release until January.

Victoria Kim, a staff writer at the Los Angeles Times which campaigned for the full release, said: "What was surprising to us was the explicitness in the church leaders' own words.

"They very much understood that what these priests had done could be prosecuted under criminal law. Their reaction was to try and avoid that at all costs."

The Los Angeles Police Department has said it will review the files to see if there is the prospect of a criminal prosecution for either abuse or the failure to report it.

In a statement, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles told Sky News: "The Catholic Church's Canon Law requires Cardinal Mahony to participate in the election of the next Pope.

"The cardinal made mistakes, apologised for them, but also learned from them, implementing rigorous policies and procedures to deal promptly with allegations, and to provide abuse prevention training to adults and children."

They pointed out that the Italian newspaper La Stampa reported this week that Mahony's address to the General Congregation of cardinals focused on clergy sexual abuse and how it needs to be dealt with decisively.

He has already spent three hours answering questions from lawyers representing victims of abuse while he was in office in Los Angeles.

Victims groups say they hope the successor to Pope Benedict XVI will take a stronger line in supporting them and providing transparency within the church.

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