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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Berlusconi: Semi-Naked Women At Bunga Parties

A TV journalist has told a court she saw semi-naked women dancing at former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's infamous 'Bunga Bunga' parties.

Silvia Trevaini also said Berlusconi gifted her 800,000 euros in just two years because her "career had been affected".

It emerged the 29-year-old was still working for one of the media tycoon's websites, prompting the prosecutor to question her stated reason for the payments.

Berlusconi leaves hospital on Friday after treatment on his eye

Miss Trevaini was giving evidence in the case of three people accused of procuring women for the politician's parties, which he threw at his luxury villa and which prosecutors say were characterised by semi-naked women being paid to attend.

She told the court in Milan: "I saw Nicole Minetti dressed as if she was a Bagaglino (dancing girl show). She had a short top and mini skirt. Other women were dressed the same way."

When asked what she had thought, she replied: "Everyone is free to do what they want. They were just pleasant dinners. I always left in my own car."

Miss Trevaini added that she had met Berlusconi in 2006 and started work for his Mediaset TV empire shortly afterwards, receiving a salary of 2,500 euros a month - which she said came with other regular payments from him into her bank account.

She said: "In 2007 I received 290,000 euros from him to buy a house and then in 2009 he gave me 400,000 euros to buy another house after I sold the first one.

"The same year I also received two bank transfers of 40,000 and 80,000 euros as well as an Audi. In total, 810,000 euros.

"I needed the money because my career had suffered. I also had to help my brother and my father who was having problems with his building business. It's very hard for a woman in this business to have a career."

Miss Treviani did not go into further details of how her career had been affected but when questioned about the money she confirmed she had a contract to work on the website of one of Berlusconi's news programmes.

Prosecutors have accused regional councillor Nicole Minetti, casting agent Lele Mora and TV news anchor Emilio Fede of recruiting the girls for the parties and being paid handsomely by Berlusconi, 76, for doing so.

Another witness, Russian model Raissa Skorkina, told the trial she had met Berlusconi while on holiday in Sardinia and was invited several times to his homes on the island, in Rome and Milan.

"At the time I met him I was working for (Flavio) Briatore but Silvio told me to quit my job and he would look after me," she said.

"He said 'I will be your little angel'. Then I started to get monthly payments from him, around 3,000 euros. I'm still getting them now.

"When we spoke he said I should never talk about money on the telephone as they were bugged he said I should say the word 'petrol' for money."

Berlusconi is also accused of paying under-aged Karima El Mahroug for sex

The trial has already heard from several women who attended the parties including two who said they were left "mortified and embarrassed" at the sexual nature of events that took place, although Berlusconi has insisted they were simple dinners.

He has accused magistrates of being on a left-wing orchestrated witch-hunt and being out to get him.

Berlusconi is currently on trial separately for paying a then 17-year-old girl, Karima El Mahroug, for sex when she attended the parties. Both deny any wrongdoing.

That trial was suspended last week after Berlusconi's legal team filed a request for an adjournment as he was suffering from a severe eye complaint.

It is due to end later this month but they have also now asked for it to be moved to Brescia, accusing judges of bias.

The trial against the three accused of procuring the women also continues later this month.

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US Boosting Defence After North Korea Threats

The US is beefing up its domestic missile defence systems with new interceptors after recent threats of a nuclear attack by North Korea.

Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel has announced the addition of 14 interceptors in Alaska, a nearly 50% increase in defence capability.

The new interceptors, added to the 30 already installed in California and Alaska, will improve the military's ability to shoot down missiles in flight before they reach the US.

Mr Hagel said the US is also working with Japan to deploy new radar systems that could better track and provide warning of any missile launched by the Communist regime.

Kim Jong-Un greets troops on a visit to a military installment

The Pentagon is also studying the feasibility of alternative missile defence system sites in other parts of the US, he said.

Officials do not believe North Korea is capable of carrying out a nuclear attack on the US, but the recent threat has added to tensions between the two countries.

The defence system has existed since 2004, when the George W Bush administration built it in response to threats from North Korea.

North Korean soldiers undergo military training

In the past year, under the regime of leader Kim Jong-Un, North Korea has conducted three nuclear tests and successfully launched a satellite into orbit using the same technology needed to launch a long-range missile.

Mr Hagel told reporters the decision was intended to help the US "stay ahead of the threat" posed by North Korea's missile technology advances.

"The United States has missile defence systems in place to protect us from limited ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) attacks, but North Korea in particular has recently made advances in its capabilities and is engaged in a series of irresponsible and reckless provocations," he said.

North Korea's ire has also been directed at neighbour South Korea, with it recently threatening to reduce the country's capital Seoul to "a sea of fire".

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Drone: US Fires Flare To Warn Off Iranian Jet

An Iranian fighter jet flew towards a US surveillance drone but then went away after a warning flare was fired, according to the Pentagon.

The unarmed Predator drone was being escorted by two military aircraft, one of which released the flare to warn the pilot.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said the Iranian F-4 plane came as close as 16 miles to the drone before it broke away.

Mr Little said the Predator was conducting what he called a "routine classified" surveillance mission in the Arabian Gulf on Tuesday.

He added the three US aircraft remained over international waters at all times.

In November an Iranian fighter fired upon, but did not hit, a Predator over the Gulf.

After that episode, the US told Iran they would continue surveillance flights over international waters "consistent with long-standing practice and our commitment to the security of the region".

Mr Little added: "We also communicated that we reserve the right to protect our military assets as well as our forces and will continue to do so going forward."

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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 Anniversary: EU Pressed On Arms Embargo

Health Needs Critical In Aleppo

Updated: 12:37am 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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Former Khmer Rouge Leader Ieng Sary Dies

The former Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary, who was on trial for genocide and war crimes, has died at the age of 87, a spokesman for Cambodia's UN-backed court said.

"We can confirm that Ieng Sary died this morning after being hospitalised since March 4," court spokesman Lars Olsen said.

The oldest of three former Khmer Rouge leaders on trial, Ieng Sary was the minister of foreign affairs under the regime of Pol Pot.

Along with "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, 86, and one-time head of state Khieu Samphan, 81, he had denied charges including war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Mao Zedong (l) greets Ieng Sary (r) in the 1970s, as Pol Pot looks on

Ieng Sary was arrested in 2007, and was tried in lengthy proceedings that began in late 2011.

He declined to participate in the trial, demanding that the tribunal consider the pardon he received from Cambodia's king when he defected in 1996.

The tribunal, formally known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, previously ruled that the pardon does not cover its indictment against him.

Led by "Brother Number One" Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge wiped out nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population through starvation, overwork or execution in a bid to create an agrarian utopia during their rule.

An undated photo of Pol Pot (l) with Ieng Sary (c)

Ieng Sary had emerged as one of the few public faces of the regime during its brutal rule in the late 1970s.

Born to a poor ethnic Khmer family in south Vietnam, he repeatedly denied knowledge of the mass executions that came to define the regime, and claimed he had no powers of arrest.

The communist regime, which ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, claimed it was building a pure socialist society by evicting people from cities to work in labour camps in the countryside.

The regime's policies led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

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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.

"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.

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

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.

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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Pope Francis To Meet Benedict At Papal Retreat

Pope Francis is expected to visit his predecessor Benedict XVI at the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo, as the pontiff begins his first full day as leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

The 76-year-old, who has become the first Jesuit pope and the first pope to be named Francis, will visit Benedict at the retreat south of Rome, according to prominent US cardinal Timothy Dolan.

Speaking at the North American College, the US seminary in Rome, Cardinal Dolan said Pope Francis told his fellow cardinals on Wednesday that "tomorrow morning, I'm going to visit Benedict".

The visit is significant because 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 has already spoken by phone with Benedict, who has been living at the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo since the end of his papacy.

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.

He is respected in the church as a humble man who has denied himself the luxuries that previous Buenos Aires cardinals enjoyed.

Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio becomes the first Jesuit pope

Pope Francis is said to have finished second when Benedict was elected in 2005.

During this week's papal conclave, he was chosen on just the fifth ballot to replace the first pontiff to resign in 600 years.

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

Francis is sure 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".

He asked for prayers for himself, and for Benedict, whose stunning resignation paved the way for his election.

"I want you to bless me," Francis said in his first appearance from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, asking the faithful to bow their heads in silent prayer.

He also delivered a blessing to "all men and women of good will", before calling for "brotherhood" in the church.

A roar emanated from the crowds outside the Vatican in St Peter's Square on Wednesday as the white smoke indicated the new pontiff had obtained the required two-thirds majority in the voting by 115 cardinals.

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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 have more 709 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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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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Rare Sumatran Tiger Mauls Farmer To Death

A rare Sumatran tiger has mauled a farmer to death in western Indonesia.

Karman Lubis was attacked while working on a rubber plantation near the Batang Gadis National Park in North Sumatra province.

Park official Yudi Santoso confirmed the 32-year-old's body was found on Tuesday less than a mile from the plantation.

The death has prompted terrified villagers to call for the animal to be killed.

Fearful farmers have asked authorities to shoot the tiger, which is protected by law.

The local government plans to try to trap and relocate the animal.

Indonesia is home to some 400 Sumatran tigers, which are on the brink of extinction because of deforestation, poaching and clashes with people.

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Afghanistan Helicopter Crash: Five Dead

Five US service members have died in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan.

The cause of the crash has not yet been established, the International Security Assistance Force said.

An ISAF statement said: "The cause of the crash is under investigation, however, initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the incident."

The crash came on the same day two US troops and five Afghan police and soldiers were killed in a so-called insider attack by a person in an Afghan military uniform in the east of the country.

The new American Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel left Afghanistan earlier on Monday after a difficult first trip to Kabul.

Secretary of State Chuck Hagel has been on his first visit to Afghanistan

His trip was marred by a suicide bomb attack near where he was holding a meeting, and differences with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who accused the United States of colluding with the Taliban.

Helicopter crashes are not uncommon in Afghanistan and the Taliban and others often claim to have shot them down, although such claims by insurgents are often exaggerated.

Last August, 11 people, including seven US soldiers, were killed when a Black Hawk helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan.

The worst such incident was in August 2011, when the Taliban shot down a CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter, killing all 38 people on board, including 25 US special operations troops.

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Cardinals Prepare To Choose A New Pope

By Nick Pisa, Vatican City

Cardinals are gathering 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 will begin 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 will be led by the Dean of the College of Cardinals Angelo Sodano, who will also give 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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Pope: The Secret World Of The Conclave

By Michelle Clifford, Sky News Correspondent

The cardinals heading into today's Conclave in Rome know they won't see the world outside the Vatican walls again until they have picked 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.

The elector cardinals go to the Sistine Chapel in 2005

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 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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Queen Tells Commonwealth To 'Be Inspired'

The Queen has used her Commonwealth Day message to urge nations to harness "ambition and curiosity" to "create a better future".

In her annual address, the Queen highlighted this year's Commonwealth theme - Opportunity Through Enterprise.

She said: "Great achievements in human history have a number of common   characteristics.

"From climbing the highest mountain, to winning a sporting competition, making a scientific breakthrough, building a successful business or discovering unique artistic talent - these outcomes all begin as a simple goal or idea in one person's mind."

She added: "We are all born with the desire to learn, to explore, to try new things.

"And each of us can think of occasions when we have been inspired to do something more efficiently, or to assist others in achieving their full potential.

"Yet it still takes courage to launch into the unknown. Ambition and curiosity open new avenues of opportunity.

"That is what lies at the heart of our Commonwealth approach: individuals and communities finding ways to strive together to create a better future that is beneficial for all."

Her pre-recorded message will be part of a service at Westminster Abbey celebrating economic innovation throughout the Commonwealth and a commitment towards youth, social and sustainable enterprise.

Concluding her message, the Queen, who is head of the Commonwealth, said: "I am reminded of the adage, 'nothing ventured, nothing gained'."

In his message, the Commonwealth secretary-general Kamalesh Sharma said the theme "challenges us all to harness the vast and distinctive potential of youth as nation builders, and to encourage them to grasp opportunity through personal creativity, energy and enterprise".

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New Pope 'Needs To Put House In Order'

By Michelle Clifford, Senior Correspondent in Rome

Jane Livesey is a straight talking, no-nonsense Brit who also happens to be a nun living and working in the power base of the Catholic faith - Rome.

And she isn't short of opinions about what needs to be done to restore trust in the Church which she says she "loves, but sometimes drives me mad".

"The Church needs to put its own house in order and be seen to be putting its house in order," says Sister Livesey.

She believes the last Pope failed to grasp just how ordinary people were feeling in the wake of the unravelling sexual abuse scandals.

"The Pope's people, his civil service, were out of touch. They didn't get it and that meant he didn't get it."

By "they " Sr Livesey means the Roman Curia - the powerful, intensely secretive, predominantly Italian, bureaucratic body in the Vatican whose members are now facing intense scrutiny after leaked documents alleged high-level corruption and gay networks at the top.

Sister Jane Livesey says those at the top need to get a grip

A report commissioned by Pope Benedict into the so-called Vatileaks scandal remains under wraps and is the subject of fierce speculation.

In fact some of the cardinals who will be choosing the new pope have been demanding to see the contents of the report.

Investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi said: "A very strong request came from the North American cardinals. Transparency was one of their demands."

But Pope Benedict had insisted before departing only the next pontiff will get to see what is contained in its pages.

From what he has uncovered in relation to Vatileaks, Mr Nuzzi said: "It's evident that the dossier shows the power struggles in the Roman Curia which sent the Papacy into a stall.

"So much so that Pope Benedict took a step back for what he called the good of the Church. He stepped away from the divisions that he acknowledged slashed at the face of the Church."

The new pontiff will have to not only wrestle with the content of the report but deal with the fallout. There is a growing chorus coming from the Catholic clergy worldwide for reform of the Curia.

Father Marco Fibbi, whose church is in the Tiburtino suburb not far from the Vatican, wants to see power wrested from the Curia and even from priests. He wants power and responsibility shared with lay people.

He said: "In other countries lay people do the work of spreading the word. Priests have to leave more space to lay people.

"Look, in history of the Church the best testimony didn't come from popes or cardinals, but simple people. St Francis of Assisi was a layman, he never become a priest, but he had a very strong message."

Fr Fibbi acknowledges that some in the Church might find that concept hard to deal with, but he is unapologetic, saying: "Maybe this is a kind of humble therapy for priests to realise they are not so fundamental for the Church."

It's a thought he hopes the new pontiff will spread. Fr Fibbi says this moment of transition at the Vatican is a real opportunity for change and reform. Reform which he believes has been a long time coming.

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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 has hanged himself in his prison cell.

Ram Singh was found dead in the high-security Tihar jail where he had been on suicide watch in an isolated cell, officials said.

The suicide has angered the family of the 23-year-old rape victim 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? 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."

Days of protests followed the attack

Singh, 35, was accused of leading a gang of five others who subjected the 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 suicide 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."

Singh's lawyer confirmed his client's death but claimed he had been "killed in prison". 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.

Rallies grew violent and water cannon were turned on protesters

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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Conclave Cardinals Vote With Latin Remote

By Nick Pisa in Vatican City

Cardinals taking part in secret discussions ahead of next week's Conclave to elect a new Pope have been using a remote control with buttons in Latin.

The state-of-the-art devices have been handed to the so-called "Princes of the Church" as the College of Cardinals hold their daily meetings at the Nervi hall in the Vatican.

Latin is the official language of the Vatican and numerous signs and documents are in the ancient language - as is a cashpoint machine just inside the walls by the Sant'Anna gate.

The remote control is used by the cardinals as they vote on a series of themes and topics that have come up for discussion ahead of the start of Tuesday's Conclave in the Sistine Chapel.

The electronic devices have a small display with a Vatican stem showing the "sede vacante" or empty see, which denotes the fact that no Pope is in office since former Pontiff Benedict XVI stepped down last month.

Below the screen are two buttons - one coloured green with the word "confirmo" for send and one in red with "deleo" for delete.

Cardinals discuss matters in the Vatican ahead of the Conclave on Tuesday

Then there are four grey buttons with the words "placet" (agree), "non placet" (don't agree), "abstineo" (abstain) and "luxta modum" - agree in principle.

During voting and meetings, the wifi system in the nearby press centre is switched off and a jamming device also prevents the use of mobile telephones to ensure that cardinals have no contact with the outside world.

The same principle is used for the Conclave, with a jamming system being place to prevent cardinals receiving and giving information on the secret ballot.

However, the voting procedure inside the Sistine Chapel follows a more traditional method, with the 115 elector cardinals (those under 80 years old) writing their nominations on a ballot paper - again written in Latin.

It says "Eligo in Summum Pontificem" (I elect to the Pontifical See) and then their chosen cardinal's name. This is then put in an urn and the names are counted by scrutineers with a hole being pushed through each paper with a needle and thread.

These are then collected and burned in a stove inside the Sistine Chapel with chemicals being added which turn the resulting smoke white to signify a new Pope has been chosen or black to say there is still no decision.

Recently, the Vatican has been stepping up its use of social networks with a Papal Twitter account, Facebook site and YouTube page, plus all announcements from the Vatican are uploaded into its press office site and Twitter account.

Emeritus Pope Benedict was the first to have a Twitter account - before he stepped down he had more than three million followers.

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Anger Over US Cardinal's Role At Conclave

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.

Mahony 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 one hundred 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.

And 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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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 turn out. People realise the importance of a high turn out 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.

Owen Betts, who works in the fishing industry, said: "I don't think Argentina will (take notice), especially the government. Maybe some of the Argentine people may think differently, but I think the Argentine 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.

Outside observers are being brought in to monitor the referendum

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 crisscross 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.

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."

Islanders are expected to back remaining an Overseas Territory of Britain

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 Falkland's 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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