Weather: Body Found In Floods, Rain And Snow

A body has been recovered at a house in Looe, Cornwall, which was badly damaged in flooding following heavy rains last night, firefighters said.

The front wall of the three-storey building crumbled away after downpours caused mud and debris to crash into the back of the property.

More than a dozen residents were evacuated from the building earlier.

The body recovered from the site is still to be formally identified, but fire crews had been searching the wrecked building for Susan Norman, who is said to be in her 60s, for several hours. 

Buxton in the Peak District was said to be virtually cut off by the snow

There was widespread flooding across the South West after rain hit on Thursday night. It then moved further north falling as snow in central and northern England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

Breakdown services reported there had been thousands of call-outs from motorists, while in Northern Ireland more than 40,00 homes remain without power, as well as 1,500 in Cumbria.

A complete blackout was reported for between 15 and 30 minutes across Belfast on Friday evening.

Schools, roads and airports have also been closed.

Sky's weather presenter Nazaneen Ghaffar warned the bad weather could continue to cause problems into the weekend.

"There'll be more snow tonight, from around the M4 up into central Scotland and across the north of Ireland, while southern counties will have yet more rain," she said.

Drifts of up to 40cm (15.7 inches) were reported in some areas of Belfast

"Saturday will see snow over central parts slowly fading, but there'll be a raw wind and it will stay near freezing away from the South West.

"The average temperature for the month so far, combining day and night, has been around 3C, well below the long term average of 6C. It's highly unlikely to be record breaking (the coldest March on record was in 1962, at 1.9C), but it could well be the coldest for over 25 years."

Up to eight inches (20.3cm) of snow is expected to hit the worst-affected parts of the North West, North Wales and southwest Scotland.

Higher areas could even see up to 16in (40.6cm), while bitterly cold gale-force winds create blizzard-like conditions and plunge temperatures down well below freezing.

Further floods were also expected in the South West with 12 warnings and 43 alerts in place.

Northern Ireland's World Cup qualifying match against Russia at Windsor Park in Belfast was postponed from Friday evening to Saturday despite ground staff working through the day to clear the pitch.

Northern Ireland's game against Russia at Windsor Park has been postponed

Drifts of up to 40cm (15.7 inches) were reported in some areas.

In Cumbria, police said a reception centre at a school to shelter motorists who had become stranded after snow had made several key roads impassable.

Non-essential staff at the Sellafield nuclear site were sent home early as local schools were closed and transport disrupted because of the bad weather.

Electricity North West said it was considering using helicopters to get engineers to some of the 1,500 properties without power in across the county.

The atrocious weather also caused trouble at sea, with an RAF rescue crew having to be called to pluck a seriously injured French fisherman from his boat in howling winds and lashing rain.

A motorcyclist waits by the road after the A66 was closed due to snow

In the West Midlands, nearly 230 schools shut their doors to pupils, with many reporting burst pipes and frozen heating systems.

Staffordshire was worst hit with 170 closing their doors, but there was also disruption in Walsall, Dudley and Wolverhampton.

Another 200 schools closed across North Wales and scores were shut across Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire and Cumbria.

In Birmingham, melting snow caused gridlock after it flooded the St Chad's Queensway tunnel. Engineers spent all morning trying to pump the water back out of the tunnel.

Food supplies were being airlifted to the Isle of Man as the severe weather disrupted scheduled ferry services.

Co-operative Food, which has 10 stores across the island, commissioned a Hercules aircraft to fly from Manchester to Ronaldsway Airport with around 18 tonnes of food and drink onboard.

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Cyprus Bailout: MPs Stumble Towards Deal

Cyprus Bailout: Threat To Savings

Updated: 1:42am UK, Saturday 23 March 2013

By Ashish Joshi, Sky News Correspondent

Finally late into Friday night - into to an agreement on Plan B, meaning Cyprus has moved one giant step towards securing a Brussels bailout.

It includes a solidarity fund pooling together state assets and the granting of power to the Government to control bank capital.

The latter move is to prevent a run on the banks when their doors finally open on Tuesday.

There will also be a restructuring of the country's banks and a savings tax on Cypriot savers.

The details of the tax have still to be finalised, but the framework is in place.

It could mean savings over 100,000 euros held in Bank of Cyprus accounts being taxed up to 20%, according to one source close to the negotiations.

The same source said if that proposal is rejected there will be a plan to impose a tax of around 10% on all Cypriot bank accounts over 100,000 euros.

The threat of savers being hit hangs over the heads of people like Loizos Michael.

The 60-year-old tailor worked hard for 35 years, building up a good business.

He was looking forward to a wealthy retirement. Not anymore. Times are hard.

Speaking from his small tailor's shop in central Nicosia, Mr Michael said: "With the banks being closed, it is hard because I don't have a credit card and so cash flow is a problem.

"Even filling your car with petrol needs thinking about.

"Cypriots have always been workers by nature and nobody could have imagined that unemployment would be so  high.

"This has hit us hard in the pockets."

Cyprus is weathering a storm - the likes of which this Mediterranean island has never faced in her young history.

Mr Michael said he knew things were getting bad, but expected solutions to be found to avoid ordinary people having to suffer.

"I expected something better. But now, it looks like the problem has been brewing for some time," he said.

"There used to be some people talking about the crisis, but now everyone's talking about it.

"I think things are harder now than just after the war. After the war of '74 people could still find work. Now, there is just no work so people have no money. What can we do?"

In the 1990s, Cyprus boasted a dynamic, booming economy, but it grew and unchecked.

An overbloated banking sector exposed to Greek debt has crippled the country's economy.

Now people like Loizos Michael must pay the price. He and the rest of Cyprus will soon find out exactly how much that is going to be.

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Child Smokers: Thousands More Take Up Habit

The number of children who have taken up smoking has risen by 50,000 in just one year - the equivalent of 567 a day.

About 207,000 children aged 11 to 15 started to smoke in 2011, a sharp rise from 157,000 in 2010, Cancer Research UK said.

Almost one in three (27%) of under-16s have tried smoking at least once, a study by the charity found.

It urged the Government to commit to putting all cigarettes in plain standardised packs.

Sarah Woolnough, executive director of policy and information at Cancer Research UK, said: "With such a large number of youngsters starting to smoke every year, urgent action is needed to tackle the devastation caused by tobacco.

"Replacing slick, brightly-coloured packs that appeal to children with standard packs displaying prominent health warnings is a vital part of efforts to protect health.

"Reducing the appeal of cigarettes with plain, standardised packs will give millions of children one less reason to start smoking."

Last April, the Government launched a consultation on plans to introduce mandatory standardised packaging for tobacco products.

Health campaigners have welcomed the proposal, but opponents claimed it would lead to increased smuggling and job losses.

Information generated by the consultation, which closed in August, is still being analysed by health officials.

In December, Australia became the first country in the world to put all tobacco products in standardised packs.

Cigarette packets and other products are all sold in a standardised colour, with only the brand name and graphic warnings visible.

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Weather: Snow And Rain Warning For Drivers

Motorists have been warned against driving in some areas as heavy rain hit the South West and forecasters said snow could cause widespread disruption further north.

The Met Office has issued a cold weather amber alert - the second highest warning on its scale - as rain, sleet and snow, coupled with strong winds, spread from the South West.

Up to 60mm of rain is expected in some areas, according to the Met Office.

Seventy-nine flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible, are in place as well as eight flood warnings, meaning it is likely.

Police in the South West said they had already received a "significant" surge in call-outs on Thursday evening.

Sgt Dave Opara, based in Plymouth, said: "There has been a considerable amount of rainfall across the force area.

Amber alerts have been issued for snow and rain

"There will be more to come throughout the night, so the situation is not going to get much better too soon."

Cornwall opened its dedicated control centre to deal with the volume of calls about flooding. Fire crews had already been called out to 50 incidents before 10pm on Thursday.

Newlyn, in the southwest of the county, was reported to be the worst affected area.

Newlyn resident Adam Gibbard said the river through the town had burst its banks and swept into the main street.

"This is the second it has happened in three months and a lot of these properties are businesses who were just getting back on their feet," he told Sky News.

"It has been very heavy rain all day and the deepest areas are a couple of feet deep.

"There are a lot of people out with sandbags, there are a lot of fire crews, people pitching in and trying to stem it but I don't think they have much of a chance."

Environment Agency spokesperson Pete Fox said: "Heavy rain in southwest England and south Wales on Thursday and into Friday means there is a risk of localised surface water and river flooding in the south west, the southern counties and parts of south Wales.

"The public can sign up for flood warnings and check the latest information on the Environment Agency's website, or follow us on Twitter at @EnvAgency."

Sky News weather producer Joanna Robinson said: "March can be a month of extremes and that's certainly what we're seeing this year.

"The cold theme is set to continue, with disruptive snow across parts of the UK.

The worst flooding was reported to be around Newlyn in Cornwall

"Over the next 24 hours, central parts of the UK will be most at risk of significant snow, particularly Northern Ireland, southwest Scotland, northwest England, northeast Wales and the north Midlands.

"There will be drifting in the raw wind and blizzard conditions. Disruption is likely to transport and perhaps even power supplies."

In the South West, an amber alert for heavy rain was been issued for Friday and Saturday, warning of localised flooding and travel problems, while amber snow warnings have been issued for Northern Ireland, the North West and the West Midlands.

Darron Burness, head of the AA's Special Operations Response Team, said: "It's going to be a real witch's brew of driving wind, rain and snow, which will inevitably cause disruption on the roads.

"Drivers should be well prepared as even short journeys can quickly turn bad.

"Drifting snow could repeat the scenes we saw in southern England last week when hundreds of drivers got stuck overnight - it only takes one or two vehicles struggling for grip for the situation to quickly escalate.

"Keep your speed down as visibility could be seriously reduced and there's a risk of localised flooding - just stay out of flood water.

"Also with temperatures set to remain low, any snow that settles will likely persist for several days, so be wary of icy patches.

"Wherever you're going, take plenty of warm layers, check the travel reports before heading out and stick to the main roads where possible."

The Local Government Association said council gritting and ploughing teams would be out in force to try to ensure main roads remained passable.

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Budget 2013: The Key Points You Need To Know

George Osborne's Budget lasted 54 minutes and contained a raft of measures as well as data about the state of the economy. Here is a handy guide.

ECONOMY

:: The independent Office for Budget Responsibility predicts Britain will avoid a second quarter of negative growth and slipping into a triple-dip recession.

:: OBR forecasts put growth for this year at 0.6%, down a massive 50% on its previous forecast of 1.2%.

:: Growth forecasts for the coming years are now: 2014 - 1.8%, 2015 - 2.3%, 2016 - 2.7% and 2017 - 2.8%.

:: The deficit has been cut by a third from 11.2% of GDP in 2009/10 to 7.4% this year. It is forecast to drop to 2.2% by 2017/18.

:: Borrowing forecast to hit £114bn this year instead of £108bn, then £108bn in 2014, £97bn in 2014/15, then £87bn, £61bn and £42bn in the following years.

:: Proportion of national income spent by the state has fallen to 43.6%.

:: Public sector net debt is due to be 75.9% of GDP this year, then 79.2%, 82.6%, 85.1%, 85.6% in following years falling to 84.8% in 2017/18.

:: The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee keeps 2% inflation target but has its remit overhauled.

CUTS AND SPENDING

:: Whitehall departmental budgets cut by 1% after £11bn underspend this year.

:: Bigger savings of £11.5bn sought in the spending review for 2015/16, up from £10bn.

:: Public sector pay cap of 1% extended by a year in 2015/16. Military will receive full recommended increase and be exempt from changes to profession pay.

:: New limit on "annually managed expenditure", which includes welfare budget, debt interest and payments to the EU.

:: Deal on the European budget secured by David Cameron saved Britain £3.5bn.

:: Infrastructure plans given and annual £3bn boost from 2015/16 - a total of £15bn over the next decade.

:: Plans to take forward two major carbon capture and storage projects.

:: "Generous" new tax regime to promote early investment in shale gas and tax incentives for the manufacture of ultra low emission vehicles.

TAX AND WELFARE

:: Corporation tax cut another 1% to 20% in April 2015 and small company and main rates of corporation tax merged at 20p.

:: Corporation tax cut paid by rise in bank levy rate to 0.142% next year.

:: Help for employees with more generous shareholder status, Capital Gains Tax relief for sales of business to workers and doubling tax free loans for commuter season tickets to £10,000.

:: Large new package of measures targeting tax avoidance and evasion to bring in £3bn in unpaid taxes.

:: New Employment Allowance from April 2014 taking off first £2,000 from employer National Insurance bills. Means around 450,000 small businesses will pay no employer NI at all.

:: Rise in personal allowance brought forward to 2014, meaning no income tax will be paid on the first £10,000 of earnings.

:: Extension to the Capital Gains Tax holiday.

:: Tax-free child care vouchers worth £1,200 per child and increased support for families with children on universal credit.

HOUSING

:: New Help-to-Buy scheme for people struggling to build up a deposit to buy a house, worth £130bn in loans.

:: Includes £3.5bn for shared equity loans and Government interest-free loan worth 20% of the value of a new build house.

PENSIONS AND SOCIAL CARE

:: Flat rate pension of £144-a-week brought forward to 2016.

:: Cap on social care introduced in 2017 and set at £72,000. Threshold for means-testing of help raised from £23,000 to £118,000.

:: Help for Equitable Life Policy holders extended to those who bought with-profits annuities before 1992, with payments of £5,000 and extra £5,000 for those on lowest incomes.

FUEL AND BEER

:: Planned rise in fuel duty this autumn is cancelled.

:: Planned 3p rise in beer duty tax scrapped and replaced by a 1p cut on a pint of beer.

:: Beer duty escalator axed. Planned rises for other alcohol duties is retained. 

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Budget: 2013 Growth Forecast Is Cut In Half

George Osborne has unveiled tax breaks for beer drinkers, drivers and first time buyers as he admitted the economy is still struggling.

The Chancellor's Budget contained a string of moves designed to ease the cost-of-living, including a 1p cut in the price of beer and the cancellation of a planned fuel duty hike.

A £130bn mortgage guarantee scheme will help people without big deposits buy homes, with interest-free loans worth 20% of the value of a new build property also available.

And in what he called a Budget for "the aspiration nation", Mr Osborne said the income tax threshold will rise to £10,000 in 2014, a year earlier than planned.

The Chancellor also gave small businesses a boost by unveiling a new employment allowance which will save employers £2,000 on their National Insurance bills.

But he was forced to admit that the recovery was taking far longer than expected as he confirmed growth forecasts for this year have been cut in half to just 0.6%.

Ed Miliband called George Osborne a "downgraded Chancellor"

The independent Office for Budget Responsibility does expect Britain to avoid a triple-dip recession but public borrowing will be higher because of the floundering recovery.

It is now forecast to hit £114bn this year instead of £108bn before eventually falling to £42bn in 2017/18.

Driving home the problems facing Britain, figures released hours before the Budget showed the first rise in unemployment for a year - up 7,000 to 2.52m.

But despite growing calls to change course from his austerity regime, Mr Osborne insisted there could be no turning back.

"It is taking longer than anyone hoped but we must hold to the right track," he said.

Labour leader Ed Miliband claimed: "All he offers is more of the same - higher borrowing and lower growth - a more of the same Budget from a downgraded Chancellor.

"He is the wrong man in the wrong place at the worst possible time for the country."

The Chancellor leaving Number 11 Downing Street with his Budget

But Mr Osborne declared: "This is a Budget that doesn't duck our nation's problems. It confronts them head on. It is a Budget for an aspiration nation. It is a Budget for a Britain that wants to be prosperous, solvent and free."

He fleshed out plans for a further £2.5bn in Whitehall cuts over the next two years to fund capital spending projects.

And he confirmed plans to help working parents with tax-free childcare support and to introduce a flat rate pension by 2016.

The Capital Gains Tax holiday will also be extended and corporation tax cut further by 1% to 20% in April 2015.

But there will be anger at the extension of the 1% public sector pay cap to 2015/16, which came as civil servants staged a 24-hour strike.

There will also be further cuts in the spending review for 2015/16, up from £10bn to £11.5bn.

And the Chancellor announced that the Bank of England's remit was being overhauled but that it will keep its inflation target of 2%.

The House of Commons was extremely rowdy as Mr Osborne delivered one of the most important speeches of his career.

Shadow chancellor Ed Balls was singled out by the deputy speaker for barracking from Labour's front bench.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) now predicts growth of 2.3% for 2015, 2.7% in 2016 and 2.8% in 2017.

A Twitpic shows George Osborne at work

This means the Chancellor is now set to borrow £55.7bn more over the next five years than he was planning as little ago as in December.

Figures do show that the deficit has fallen from 11.2% of GDP in 2009/10 to 7.4% this year and is set to continue dropping until it reaches 2.2% in 2017/18.

But the OBR confirms Mr Osborne will miss his target for total public sector debt to start falling as a percentage of national income by 2015/16.

It now forecasts this will rise to a peak of 85.6% of GDP or a staggering £1.58tn in 2016/17 - an increase of 6.4% on its previous figures.

There was consternation as the speech began when the London Evening Standard newspaper posted its front page, complete with full details of the Budget, on Twitter.

The paper suspended the person behind the tweet and launched an investigation as it issued a fulsome apology for breaking the embargo.

Editor Sarah Sands said: "We have immediately reviewed our procedures. We are devastated that an embargo was breached and offer our heartfelt apologies."

John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, criticised Mr Osborne for not going far enough to support business and boost growth.

"We are at an unprecedented moment in economic history, and the Government should be doing everything in its power to get the economy moving", he said.

But Simon Walker, director general of the Institute of Directors, said: "We applaud this Budget. The Chancellor has stuck to his guns and held his nerve - which is exactly what we wanted to see.

"Deficit reduction is not an optional policy, it is an absolute necessity, and he is right to reject the siren calls to abandon it."

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Budget: Osborne's Hopes Of Rescuing Economy

By Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent

George Osborne will today unveil a Budget with the twin aims of attempting to rescue both the British economy and the political fortunes of the Conservative Party.

The Chancellor will announce a raft of measures he hopes will not only kick-start economic growth but also reverse a Tory slump that began with his Budget a year ago.

Many Conservative MPs blame last year's so-called "Omni-shambles" Budget - containing a series of blunders that required embarrassing U-turns - for the collapse in support for the party over the past 12 months.

This year Mr Osborne has already promised help for pensioners, working couples and homebuyers.

But to avoid another onslaught from critics he will also need to provide help for motorists on fuel duty and businesses with incentives to invest.

On tax, the Chancellor is tipped to help the low paid by accelerating raising the income tax threshold to £10,000, a move championed by the Tories' LibDem Coalition partners.

And after the furore in the Conservative Party over gay marriage, the Chancellor may boost the married couples' allowance to cheer up disgruntled Tory backbenchers. A cut in corporation tax from 21p to 20p would also delight business leaders.

Mr Osborne is also expected to agree to unlock £4.8bn in child trust funds and allow parents to transfer their investments into more generous Junior ISAs. This move could leave some children up to £34,000 richer.

He will also announce that thousands of elderly people who lost up to half of their life savings when Equitable Life came close to collapse a decade ago will receive compensation.

But in a bleak message to MPs and voters on the state of the economy, there will be no U-turn on spending cuts or unfunded tax cuts and some grim economic forecasts.

Speaking at the weekend, the Chancellor rejected calls from LibDem Cabinet colleague Vince Cable and former Tory Defence Secretary Liam Fox to change course and abandon his so-called "Plan A".

Warning that economic recovery would be a slow process, he said: "There is no easy answer to Britain's problems.

"There is no miracle cure, because of course if there was a miracle cure it would have been deployed. It is just a lot of hard work dealing with Britain's debts, helping businesses create jobs and helping families who work hard and want to get on."

Yesterday it was revealed the Chancellor will unveil another £2.5bn of cuts to fund capital spending, although health, schools, overseas aid and HM Revenue and Customs will be shielded from the latest round of savings.

Osborne warned there would be no U-turn on spending cuts

Mr Osborne told the Cabinet other departments would have to find 1% savings on day-to-day budgets for each of 2013/14 and 2014/15.

But the move was attacked by Labour. Shadow Treasury Minister Chris Leslie MP said: "An increase in capital spending of just £2.5 billion compares to deep cuts of £12.8 billion to infrastructure investment in the last three years on the plans George Osborne inherited.

"If this is the only additional investment in infrastructure in the Budget it will be a huge disappointment. Business groups, the IMF and even Vince Cable have all said now is the right time to invest, at record low interest rates, in building homes, road and schools to create jobs now and strengthen our economy for the future.

"The test for the Budget is whether it delivers bold action to kickstart our flat-lining economy and significant tax cuts for middle and low income families, not a £3 billion tax cut for the very richest and more of the same failing policies."

But only weeks after Britain lost its AAA credit rating and slipped into a double dip recession with the risk of a triple dip, Mr Osborne is expected to have to deliver more gloomy news about the country's finances.

The Office for Budget Responsibility is expected to raise borrowing forecasts and lower those for growth.

Confirmation of Mr Osborne's unpopularity comes in a survey suggesting that more than four out of ten voters (44%) think he should be sacked as Chancellor.

Fewer than one in five (18%) of those questioned said Mr Osborne should keep his job, while 38% did not know.

Favourite to replace him is Mr Cable, favoured by 12%, followed by Foreign Secretary William Hague (5%) and Home Secretary Theresa May (3%).

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Al Qaeda Says It Beheads French Hostage

Al Qaeda says it has beheaded a French hostage in reprisal for France's military intervention in Mali, according to reports.

Its North African arm claimed responsibility, Mauritania's ANI news agency reported, citing a commander for the group.

A French foreign office spokesman said they were trying to verify the report of the killing of Philippe Verdon, adding that "we don't know at the moment" whether it is reliable.

In a telephone call to the news agency, the group spokesman said Mr Verdon had been beheaded on March 10 "in response to the French military intervention in the north of Mali", ANI reported.

The AQIM commander described Mr Verdon as a French spy and said France's President Francois Hollande "bore the responsibility for the remaining hostages".

Mr Verdon and another Frenchman, Serge Lazarevic, were kidnapped from their hotel room on November 24, 2011, in the northern Mali town of Hombori.

Their families denied that the two men were mercenaries or secret service agents.

It is not known whether Mokhtar Belmokhtar is dead or alive

The killing, if proved true, would be a worrying development for Mr Hollande.

Another 14 French hostages are detained in Western Africa, including seven believed to be held in the Sahel region by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its affiliates.

in August last year a video showing Mr Verdon describing the "difficult living conditions" was released on a Mauritanian website.

The hostages' families have in recent weeks expressed growing fears for their loved ones in the light of France's military actions in Mali.

Earlier Tuesday, Mr Verdon's father Jean-Pierre, complained that the families were hearing nothing from the French authorities.

"We are in a total fog and it is impossible to live this way," he told RTL radio. "We have no information."

French soldiers on the ground in Timbuktu

Asked about France's refusal to pay ransoms to kidnappers, he replied that the families had no say in such "decisions of state".

Terror chief Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an AQIM leader and one of the world's most wanted men, had pledged revenge and vowed to attack western targets in Africa after France launched a campaign to help the country's embattled government drive Islamist militants out of northern Mali.

France now has more than 4,000 troops on the ground in Mali.

It launched a nine-week assault in January to dislodge the group and other Islamist militants who had hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in Sahel and seized the northern half of the country.

They were driven out from the main cities of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal, after which some 1,600 French and Chadian troops began searching for Islamist rebels in their pocket hideouts in the mountainous region of northern Mali.

When asked by the ANI news agency whether Belmokhtar had been killed, the AQIM commander neither denied nor confirmed it.

There have been conflicting reports on whether he was killed in the French military campaign against the rebels.

Soldiers from Chad fighting Islamists in Mali had claimed to have killed Belmokhtar, who is said to have been the mastermind behind the recent Algerian hostage crisis at a remote gas facility in the Algerian desert.

The one-eyed gangster, nicknamed Mr Marlboro because of his involvement in cigarette smuggling, had also been dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence after being linked to a series of kidnappings of foreigners in north Africa over the past decade.

France has been carrying out DNA tests to determine whether militant leaders Belmokhtar and Abdelhamid Abou Zaid are among those killed in recent fighting in Mali.

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Pope Francis Inauguration To Draw Huge Crowds

Pope Francis is due to be inaugurated in Vatican City later in front of an expected one million people.

Heads of state, royalty and religious leaders will be among the guests at a two-hour ceremony in St Peter's Square, although the Queen and Prime Minister David Cameron will be absent.

Large crowds are also expected in Buenos Aires in the Pope's native Argentina, where big screens have been erected outside the city's main cathedral.

An estimated 300,000 people listened to Pope Francis's first Angelus prayer

The Vatican said the Mass would be a simplified version of events in 2005 that brought Pope Benedict XVI to the papacy.

The service will make several gestures towards Eastern Rite Catholics and Orthodox Christians, with the Gospel chanted in Greek not Latin and Eastern Rite prelates joining the Pope at an initial prayer at the tomb of St Peter under the Basilica's main altar.

Pope Francis will wear the Fisherman's Ring

The Vatican also released details of the coat of arms and official ring Pope Francis will receive during the Mass. Both are in keeping with his simple style.

The coat of arms is the same Jesuit-inspired one he used as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, while the ring was once offered to Pope Paul VI, who presided over the second half of the Second Vatican Council, the church meetings that modernised the church.

Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner will be among those present for the inauguration.

She met the Pope at the Vatican on Monday in what had the potential to be a tense discussion.

She and her predecessor and late husband, Nestor Kirchner, defied church teaching to push through a series of measures with popular backing in Argentina, including mandatory sex education in schools, free distribution of contraceptives in public hospitals and the right for transsexuals to change their official identities on demand.

In 2010, Argentina became the first Latin-American country to legalise same-sex marriages.

Pope Francis meets the Argentine president

But today those differences appear to have been brushed aside. President Kirchner gave the Pope a mate gourd and straw to hold the traditional Argentine tea that the new leader of the Catholic church loves. To her surprise, she got a kiss in return.

"Never in my life has a Pope kissed me!" she said afterwards.

Britain will be represented at the ceremony by HRH The Duke of Gloucester, as well as cabinet minister Kenneth Clarke and Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities.

A worker makes final preprations for the inauguration Mass in Vatican City

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe also arrived in Rome for the inaugural Mass.

He is the subject of a travel ban by European nations in protest at his human rights record but it does not affect his trips to the Vatican through Italy.

Former Pope Benedict XVI will not attend the Mass and is likely to be watching on television at the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.

He is due to greet Pope Francis in an unprecedented meeting at the retreat next Saturday.

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Cyprus Urged To Protect Savings Under 100k

Eurozone finance ministers have urged Cyprus to protect savers with less than 100,000 euros (£86,000) in their accounts from a proposed tax on bank deposits.

Under a bailout deal agreed with the EU, Cyprus planned to impose a levy of 6.7% on all savings below that level.

The scheme was then changed  to a 6.7% tax on all savings between 20,000 and 100,000 euros and 9.9% on all savings over 100,000 euros.

But the finance ministers, known as the Eurogroup, said they favoured a higher, 15.6% tax on richer savers in order to protect those with smaller deposits.

A statement from the group's president Jeroen Dijsselbloem said: "The Eurogroup continues to be of the view that small depositors should be treated differently from large depositors and reaffirms the importance of fully guaranteeing deposits below 100,000 euros."

Sparing more modest savers in favour of the higher rate on bigger deposits, would not impact on the overall amount of the bailout - 10bn euros (£8.6bn) - the group said.

Protesters gathered outside Cyprus' parliament in Nicosia

On Saturday the Eurogroup told debt-ridden Cyprus it would not give it a bailout unless it recouped some of the money it needed from savers.

The scheme had the potential to affect thousands of Britons who had either moved to Cyprus to live or had money saved in Cypriot accounts.

Russia, whose citizens are thought to have up to $30bn of their cash tied up in Cypriot accounts, was left furious by the proposal.

Cyprus may still ignore the advice from the Eurogroup and its parliament is expected to vote on a plan to save its economy on Tuesday.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain had been "separated" from contributing towards the bailout, adding that 3,000 Britons in the country would not suffer in the proposed raid on bank savings.

Large numbers of Russian millionaires have stashed savings in Cypriot banks

It is believed however that many British Cypriots may have millions in accounts that are not protected by UK rules.

It was also unclear whether British troops serving in Cyprus who had set up large savings accounts would be able to escape the tax.

Cyprus had been due to vote on the levy on Sunday but it was first pushed back until Monday and then Tuesday.

Banks were closed in the country on Monday because of a bank holiday, which prevented people withdrawing their money but cash machines across the island were emptied.

Branches will stay shut for another two days - Tuesday and Wednesday - to prevent people removing all their cash while the authorities decide what to do.

The decision to target bank accounts stunned Cypriots, and police sealed off parliament as about 400 people staged a noisy protest outside, aggrieved that their small island of one million people should be singled out for such treatment.

It is the first time within the EU that it has been proposed to tax savers in a country to pay for the failings of their government.

The euro and stock markets fell on concern that developments in tiny Cyprus could reignite the financial crisis in the 17-nation eurozone.

A large amount of cash was withdrawn from Cypriot banks on Monday

If Cyprus does tax large savers heavily there are fears that money could flood out of the country as two thirds of deposits are from abroad.

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Father And Son Killed In Alps Hiking Trip Named

A British father and his 12-year-old son who died while hiking in the Alps have been named by the Foreign Office.

Peter and Charlie Saunders were killed on a walking trip in the Chamonix valley in France after flying there for a short weekend adventure, the FCO said in a statement issued on behalf of their family.

"Charlie was always full of life, had a really happy temperament and loved spending time with his father. Peter was fantastic at making things happen, resourceful, with a positive approach to life. They will both be sorely missed by friends and family alike," it said.

Rescue services in Chamonix were called by 48-year-old Mr Saunders at 2pm local time on Saturday.

He apparently said his son had fallen into a crevasse near Mont Blanc and that they were lost.

Captain Patrice Ribes, a French police officer, told Sky News that emergency services tried to trace the mobile phone call and launched a rescue mission.

But the rescuers lost contact and had to launch their search with little information about the pair's location.

A helicopter eventually spotted their bodies on Sunday morning at an altitude of 1,600m.

Capt Ribes said: "We think the father tried to find his son after he called us and asked for rescue. We believe he fell as he tried to find his son. Their bodies were found together this morning at 7.40am."

The father and son had ventured into the Glacier des Bossons area of the Mont Blanc mountain range.

Capt Ribes said they had inadequate equipment and were exploring a "dangerous, deep, snowy" mountain trail.

Richard Mansfield, a mountain guide who has worked in the area for 20 years and lives near the Bossons glacier, said: "I don't know exactly where the accident happened but all the trails on the north side of the valley are covered in snow at the moment.

"The footpaths usually don't get that many people out at this time of year because they are much more difficult to navigate, although yesterday was a beautiful sunny day."

Mr Mansfield described a "number of footpaths which weave in and out of indentures in the mountainside" and this "is where they may have slipped off".

The valley, which boasts five ski resorts, receives a lot of British tourists throughout the year, with many owning holiday homes in the area.

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Cyprus Bailout: Savings Tax Could Be Cut

Officials in Cyprus are reportedly trying to renegotiate a eurozone bailout deal in order to soften the impact of a levy on smaller savers.

Authorities had planned a 6.7% tax on deposits under 100,000 euros (£85,454), triggering queues at cash machines as people in Cyprus rushed to withdraw their money.

But the country's government is thought to be discussing cutting the tax rate to 3% while raising the rate for deposits over 100,000 euros from 9.9% to 12.5%.

In exchange for the tax levy, Cyprus will receive 10bn euros (£8.54bn) in aid to help recapitalise banks.

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades held talks with his cabinet

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, who was elected just three weeks ago, said the island had to accept a painful compromise or face bankruptcy.

In a televised address, he said the bailout "will eventually stabilise the economy and lead it to recovery".

Monday is a national holiday in Cyprus and measures need to be approved before banks open again on Tuesday.

Depositors in the eurozone's weaker economies have been unnerved by the levy, with investors fearing the move will set a precedent that could reignite market turmoil.

Their uncertainty could be reflected when European markets open later, with the euro having already seen sharp falls in Asia.

British government and military personnel in Cyprus will be protected from any levy on their bank deposits.

Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News that Britain had been "separated" from contributing towards the bailout, adding that 3,000 Britons in the country would not suffer in the proposed raid on bank savings.

The tax on deposits in Cyprus, which accounts for only 0.2% of the eurozone's economy, is expected to raise up to 6bn euros (£5bn).

Those affected will include rich Russians with deposits in Cyprus and Europeans who have retired to the island, as well as Cypriots themselves.

Savers have queued to withdraw their money from cash machines across Cyprus

The size of foreign deposits in Cyprus - estimated at 37% of the total - was one reason the eurozone agreed to the tax on savings.

It will apply to all deposits held in banks within Cyprus, including an estimated 2bn euros (£1.75bn) of British money, according to the European Central Bank.

It will not affect deposits held in the UK branches of Cypriot banks, such as Bank of Cyprus, whose UK subsidiary is regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

However, Laiki Bank UK said on its website: "Your eligible deposits with Laiki Bank UK are protected up to a total of 100,000 euro (£87.000) by the Cyprus Deposit Protection Scheme and are not protected by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

"Any deposits you hold above the 100,000 euro limit are not covered."

Cypriot banks lost 4.5bn euros (£3.8bn) - equal to a quarter of the island's gross domestic product - when eurozone leaders decided to write off Greek debt last year.

As part of its bailout deal, corporate tax will rise from 10% to 12.5%, while state assets will be sold off to help balance the public finances.

Cuts to government worker salaries and pensions have already been approved.

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

MP Arrested After Bar Brawl Denies Being Drunk

The MP arrested after a fight in a bar at the Palace of Westminster has denied he was drunk at the time.

Eric Joyce insisted he had consumed "by any standards a very modest amount" and criticised a decision by House of Commons officials to ban him from drinking at Parliament.

In a posting on his website, he also revealed that his visit to the Sports and Social Club bar on Thursday night was to mark more than a year since he was previously arrested.

"In retrospect, this does not seem to have been a good call," he said, while also stating that he would never do so again.

"It takes neither the brains of an archbishop nor the edict of an official to achieve that end," he said.

And, amid calls by some of his constituents for him to quit after the second such incident in recent years, he defended his "diligence" as the independent constituency MP for Falkirk - and denied he was "an alcoholic".

A witness claims he saw the MP "on the ground with two police officers"

Mr Joyce spent the night at central London's Belgravia Police Station after being arrested on suspicion of assault following a disturbance at the House of Commons bar, and was re-arrested on suspicion of actual bodily harm while in police custody.

He left the station by the back door on Friday after he was bailed to return there at a date later this month.

Last February, he resigned from the Labour Party after headbutting Tory rivals Stuart Andrew and Ben Maney in a different Commons bar called Strangers' Bar.

The 52-year-old also punched Tory councillor Luke Mackenzie and Labour whip Phillip Wilson.

The former soldier was given a 12-month community order and banned from entering pubs and licensed premises for three months after admitting four counts of common assault. A Friday to Sunday curfew was also imposed on him.

He also walked away from Westminster Magistrates Court with a £3,000 fine and was ordered to pay £1,400 to victims.

On the latest incident, the MP said he was limited in his responses to reports about him as he wanted to "respect the police inquiry".

The brawl erupted at the Sports and Social Club bar in the House of Commons

But in a series of points, he sought to correct what he said were false reports about his health and general behaviour.

"I am not, and never have been, an alcoholic," he wrote.

"I did, briefly, go through an unhappy period where I drank heavily. That ended 12 months ago, overnight, with the dreadful incident in Strangers for which I still feel genuine remorse in respect of those affected.

"I have spent the past 12 months making a concerted effort to address the causes of that incident. I do not go into bars, nor drink in my office. Nor do I inject alcohol right into my eyeballs while crying.

"I was not drunk last Thursday. I had consumed, by any standards, a very modest amount of alcohol.

"I was examined by a nurse after being arrested. I was pronounced fit for interview. I did not need to 'sleep it off'."

Mr Joyce also denied claims that there was an "anti-Tory dimension" to his behaviour on Thursday prior to his arrest and cited good cross-party relationships.

He also addressed a number of personal issues which have been reported on and denied that they were a factor in his actions.

"I separated from my wife seven years ago. We are on excellent terms. I am not broken, tortured, lonely or tormented," he said.

Mr Joyce has labelled as "ridiculous" suggestions that he is suffering from post-traumatic stress.

He has been banned from buying, and being served, alcohol in all parliamentary facilities.

10.03 | 0 komentar | Read More

Cyprus Bailout: Savers Lose Money In EU Deal

Cyprus Savings Raid Crosses Rubicon

Updated: 4:04pm UK, Saturday 16 March 2013

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

Back in 1941, with the memory of the Great Depression still weighing heavy, an American wrote into the Federal Reserve with an idea.

"Would it not be feasible," the member of the public asked, "to impose a federal tax on the deposit of funds in bank checking accounts?"

The reply from the Fed was polite but succinct: while there is no doubt a tax on bank deposits would have "the advantage of administrative simplicity", it is "not in accord with one of the fundamental principles of taxation in a democracy, namely, that taxes should be imposed in accordance with ability to pay".

And that, when it comes down to it, is the most scandalous and worrying aspect of the overnight decision to impose a one-off levy on all bank deposits in Cyprus.

There is no doubt the country is in big trouble. It was heading for a potential default and is in desperate need of another bail-out.

However, trying to recoup some of the cash directly from bank deposits is a step across the financial Rubicon.

Even in the depths of the euro crisis, none of the troubled countries had, until now, gone so far as to confiscate bank deposits.

As the Fed said all those years ago, doing so involves arbitrary charges on those least equipped to afford them.

And so it will be in Cyprus.

If you have anything up to 100,000 euros in a bank, by the time you next get access to your account on Tuesday (after Monday's Bank Holiday) some 6.75% of your cash will have disappeared into the government's coffers to help keep the country afloat.

That goes for everyone, from a pensioner to a small business owner to a millionaire - although Greek depositors get an exception.

If you have more than 100,000 euros, the charge is 9.9%.

In exchange, Cypriots will get a share in the relevant bank, equivalent to the value of the tax deduction - although this is unlikely to be of much consolation given the country's current financial woes.

To make those distributional consequences even more egregious, the word from Brussels is that while depositors will get hit, the senior creditors who own bonds in the banks (including, naturally, some of the racier hedge funds) will escape scot-free.

The concern is not merely about the brutal arbitrariness of the plan - it is about its implication for the country's financial system in the coming months.

There are scant examples of similar bank levies and those that do exist are hardly shining models.

In July 1992, Italy's Socialist Prime Minister Giuliano Amato imposed a one-off levy on bank accounts.

It was a mere 0.6% in comparison with Cyprus's scheme, and it still left a lasting scar on the country's financial psyche.

In 1936, Norway experimented with a bank deposit tax, but it caused an exodus of cash from the country.

There are also some Latin American examples (Brazil in 1992, Argentina at the turn of the millennium) but most were combined with capital controls, and were last-ditch efforts to rescue the financial system when all else had already been tried.

There really is no precedent for a policy of this sort, on this scale, and in an economic system where there are no controls on the movement of cash from one country to another, which leads one to believe that it will trigger depositors to pull money out of Cyprus at record speed as soon as they have the chance.

Moreover, given that this policy was not merely rubber-stamped but engineered by Eurozone finance ministers and the IMF (indeed, the IMF wanted an even deeper cut of deposits), it sends a disquieting message to anyone with deposits in a euro area bank.

Although the ministers were quick to insist that this is a one-off and is "exceptional", anyone even vaguely acquainted with the initial Greek bailouts will remember precisely how long such exceptions last.

Now, to some extent, one can see the logic in the plan.

The country has an enormous banking system, worth several times more than its economic output.

Around half of all those deposits (estimates vary) are owned by Russians, many of whom allegedly use the country as a tax haven from their own domestic charges.

Another hefty chunk of the bank deposits are owned by Britons - although UK deposits in UK branches and subsidiaries won't be affected.

This one-off levy will at least recoup some of the cash needed for the bailout from these depositors rather than the Cypriot taxpayer.

And why should the Russians (primarily) and the British (less so) have to contribute to a bailout simply because Germany was unwilling to pay up?

The pragmatic answer is that conveniently they weren't in the room when the move was negotiated. Germany, which let's not forget has an election later this year, was.

Or, in the words of someone closely involved with the negotiations: "Basically Cypriots turned their country into an offshore tax haven for dirty Russian money and the Germans and others are now insisting they pay the price for that."

However, that price is a deeply socially-damaging one.

The move has all sorts of implications, whether it's for the state of the euro crisis, the prospect of future assaults on bank deposits, and the British deposits in Cypriot banks, which will now be raided for the bailout.

However, most of all, one's sympathy has to be with the country's savers. Consider it: overnight a widow's life savings, carefully built up over decades, have been gouged, simply because EU bureaucrats decided to protect hedge funds and the German surplus, and to teach Russians a lesson.

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