Roache: Abuse Victims 'Punished For Past Sins'

The actor who plays Coronation Street's Ken Barlow has seemingly claimed victims of sexual abuse are being punished for their behaviour in "previous lives".

Bill Roache made the comments in a television interview, during which he said famous men can be "caught in this trap" by young female fans who follow their movements.

Speaking to New Zealand's TVNZ, he said of the victims: "If you accept that you are pure love ... and therefore live that pure love, these things won't happen to you."

He was then pressed by reporter Garth Bray, who asked: "To some people that sounds perhaps like you're saying victims bring things on themselves. Is that what you're saying?"

Michael Le Vell arrives at court

The 80-year-old replied: "No, not quite, but then yes I am. Everything that happens to us is the result of what we have been in previous lives."

Roache's co-star of 30 years, Michael Le Vell, has been suspended from the ITV soap after he was charged with 19 child sex offences.

Le Vell, whose real name is Michael Turner, appeared in court last month and was bailed until his next appearance in the dock at Manchester Crown Court.

During his interview with TVNZ, Roache insisted: "Everyone's innocent until they're proven guilty."

He described paedophilia as "absolutely horrendous" but added: "There's a fringe here ... particularly pop stars who have these groupies, these girls, who are sexually active and sexually mature.

"They don't ask for their birth certificate and they don't know what age they may be.

"They're certainly not grooming them and exploiting them but they can be caught in this trap."

He added: "These people are instantly stigmatised. Some will be innocent and some will not, but until such time as (any offence) is proven, there should be anonymity for both.

"If someone has done something wrong, the law should take its course. But whether they're proven guilty or not, we should never be judgemental about anyone.

"We shouldn't go round condemning. We should be forgiving about everything."

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Brit Injured 'Escaping Sex Assault' In India

By Alex Rossi, Sky News Asia Correspondent

A British woman is recovering from injuries to her legs after jumping out of her hotel window to escape an alleged sex attack in Agra in India - the home of the iconic Taj Mahal.

According to police, the incident happened in the Cantonment area of the city in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Deputy Superintendent Simranjit Kaur told Sky News that the 31-year-old woman escaped out of the second floor window of her room after the owner of the hotel attempted to enter "demanding" a massage at about four o'clock in the morning.

"The woman became scared and leapt from the balcony - we have arrested the owner and may cancel the licence of the hotel depending on our investigations," she said.

The victim was taken to hospital by a rickshaw driver and was treated for muscle damage to her legs.

She has also given a statement to officers and is now "safely" in another hotel under police protection.

The police said she will be flying home to the UK shortly, even though she was planning to visit China after touring India.

The Foreign Office said it was "urgently" investigating the reports.

A spokesman said: "We are aware of the reports and we are urgently looking into it.

"We are in contact with our colleagues in India."

The FCO has changed its advice to female travellers visiting India in the last forty eight hours following the gang rape of a Swiss cycle tourist in Madhya Pradesh on Friday night.

The woman was camping in a forested area with her husband when they were attacked by men brandishing sticks.

The woman was repeatedly raped according to local police.

British female tourists are now being advised to be "extra vigilant" when travelling in India.

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

India has seen anger and public protests against rapes and sexual attacks on women since the gang-rape in New Delhi in December.

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Pope Francis Officially Starts His Papacy

Pope Francis has vowed to embrace the world's "weakest and poorest" and called on world leaders to shun "destruction" at his inaugural mass in St Peter's Square.

Francis was interrupted by applause several times during his homily, including when he spoke of the need to serve one another with love and tenderness and not allow " hatred, envy and pride to defile our lives".

The Pope must "open his arms to protect all of God's people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important," Francis, the first Jesuit pope, said.

Francis is the world's first Jesuit pope

"He must be inspired by lowly, concrete and faithful service," said Francis, who as a Jesuit has taken a vow of poverty.

"I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life ... Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world.

"It means respecting each of God's creatures and respecting the environment in which we live.

"It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about."

The Fisherman's Ring

The new pontiff officially began his ministry as the 266th pope and leader of the world's 1.2bn Roman Catholics when he earlier received the ring and pallium symbolising his new papal powers at the Vatican.

The pallium is a strip of lambswool that represents the Pope's role as a shepherd and the Fisherman's Ring is named in honour of the first pope St Peter, a fisherman by trade.

The grand ceremony started at 8.30am GMT in a sun-drenched St Peter's Square before about 200,000 people, including royalty, political and religious leaders.

The biggest delegation came from Argentina, led by President Cristina Kirchner, who held a private meeting with Pope Francis on Monday.

Britain was represented by the Duke of Gloucester, Kenneth Clarke MP and Baroness Warsi. The Queen and Prime Minister David Cameron did not attend.

The Pope kissed several babies as he toured the square

Controversial Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe also made the journey to Rome in defiance of an EU travel ban, which does allow him to attend events within the Vatican state boundary. 

Before the proceedings began, Francis toured a crammed St Peter's Square, kissing babies and blessing a disabled man.

In another sign of the informality that is already a mark of his papacy, Francis abandoned the bullet-proof popemobile frequently used by his more formal predecessor Benedict, to tour the square.

Francis wore a plain white papal cassock and black shoes in contrast to the luxurious red loafers that attracted attention under Benedict.

"Go Francis! We Will Be With You Wherever You Go!" read a sign held up by a group of Brazilian nuns in St Peter's Square.

Sister Rosa, an elderly Italian nun, said she expected the pope would be "another St Francis on Earth for love, goodness, poverty and humility".

Crowds had been pouring into the square and surrounding streets since before dawn.

The crowds had begun gathering from the early morning

The former archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the surprise choice at a conclave of cardinals to find a successor to 85-year-old Benedict, who last month brought a sudden end to a papacy, saying he was too old to carry on.

After the Mass, Pope Francis met many of the world leaders before having lunch.

Leaders of the Eastern Catholic Rite were also at the ceremony, including Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

Bartholomew I became the first patriarch from the Istanbul-based church to attend a papal investiture since the two branches of Christianity split nearly 1,000 years ago.

Also attending for the first time was the chief rabbi of Rome.

Francis abandoned the bullet-proof popemobile

Their presence underscores the hopes for ecumenical and interfaith dialogue in this new papacy given Francis' own work for improved relations and his namesake St Francis of Assisi.

In a gesture to Christians in the East, the pope prayed with Eastern rite Catholic patriarchs and archbishops before the tomb of St Peter and the Gospel was chanted in Greek rather than the traditional Latin.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Francis will hold meetings at the Vatican before he holds a face-to-face meeting with Benedict at Castel Gandolfo, just outside Rome, on Saturday.

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Cyprus Bailout: Stock Markets Take Tumble

Cyprus Bailout Will Leave A Lasting Scar

Updated: 10:57am UK, Monday 18 March 2013

By Ed Conway, Economics Editor

Banking is a confidence trick.

The modern financial system – fractional reserve banking as it's technically called – relies on the public putting faith in their banks.

After all, the nature of the system is that at any one time there's never enough cash in bank vaults to give everyone their deposits back - which is why bank runs are so fatal.

That's why in financial crises the cardinal rule is always to attempt to reassure savers that their deposits will be safe. It's why we have things like deposit insurance; it's why all Northern Rock, RBS, etc savers were made good during the crisis in the UK.

Yes, everyone ended up having to pay the eventual price anyway through austerity and higher taxes but people are accustomed to having money confiscated through income and consumption taxes: their savings, on the other hand, are considered inviolable.*

And that is, when push comes to shove, the problem with the way the Cyprus bailout and bank deposit tax has been handled.

If you have money in a bank account - any bank account - in the country, you are being hit with an instant and unavoidable tax. This instantly undermines public faith in banks - not just the rotten ones but every single branch in the country, including branches of perfectly healthy foreign banks.

This is worth reiterating because there are some analysts who, in economic terms at least, can't see that much of a problem with the bank deposit tax.

After all, the country is in need of a bail-out; the money has to come from somewhere; the banking system is full of dirty Russian money, so why not start there?

And in economic terms, this is quite right: plus you avoid all the messy legal complications of defaulting on bondholders. Moreover, technically speaking depositors are just another lender to banks, alongside creditors.

But looking at this through an economic prism misses the point, which comes back to that fragile confidence trick.

There are of course certain circumstances under which a bank's depositor should lose out: basically when that bank collapses. Indeed, that's precisely the kind of system we need in future to prevent bail-outs and too-big-to-fail.

However, in those circumstances 1) other senior creditors should lose out, 2) depositors whose savings are below the deposit insurance scheme limit should be protected and 3) the deposits affected should, logically, be in the bank that's going under.

None of these three criteria were observed in the Cyprus case, where even deposits in Barclays in Nicosia are subject to the tax, in the plan's initial form.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that such a capricious attitude to principles savers might have reasonably considered inviolable will catastrophically undermine Cypriots' faith in banks - not just Cypriot ones but any within their country.

There is a chance I'm wrong about this - after all, as I've said above, in blunt economic terms it doesn't really matter where Cyprus gets its bailout cash - whether from taxpayers, depositors, fiscal cuts or the Germans - it still needs money to pay the bills.

But the experience of the 1930s showed that when a government intervenes to confiscate deposits, it critically undermines that faith in the banking system.

And, for better or worse, that faith is a key bedrock of the modern capitalist economy.

Would that it weren't the case: but it is. And what's happening in Cyprus begs profound questions about whether there really is a safe place to put one's cash, questions which can now legitimately be asked about all banking systems, not just in Spain, Italy and so on, but also in the UK and the US.

That is why the initial plan being passed around Brussels spared deposits below 100,000 euros. The eventual scheme, involving a tax on all savers, came as a complete surprise to anyone who wasn't in the room when it was being hammered out.

What, after all, is sacred? We used to assume insured deposits were. Now we can no longer be sure.

* I'm talking, of course, about the savings themselves rather than the interest on the savings – there's less of a cultural resistance to taxing that.

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Leveson: Parties Reach Press Regulation Deal

The three main political parties have reached a deal on how to regulate the press after months of talks.

The details are expected to be revealed in the House of Commons later, but it appears a Royal Charter will be used to create an independent regulator which will have more powers to deal with the press if it breaks the rules.

But the main point of contention - whether or not it should be underpinned by law - seems to be a matter of interpretation.

Labour claims the deal is based on their plans for a Royal Charter underpinned by law, so that it cannot be watered down or changed - suggesting the Tories have given most ground.

"What we have agreed is essentially the Royal Charter that Nick Clegg and I published on Friday. It will be underpinned by statute. Why is that important? - because it stops ministers or the press meddling with it, watering it down in the future," Labour leader Ed Miliband said.

"It will be a regulator, a system of complaints where the regulator has teeth, can direct apologies ... and it is independent of the press.

"For too long we have had a system where the press have been marking their own homework.

"There has been a lot of tough negotiation in this process, but I genuinely believe this upholds the freedom of the press ... at the same time as protecting the victims.

"People who revealed MPs' expenses, people who revealed phone hacking have nothing to fear from what has been agreed."

But Culture Secretary Maria Miller insisted there would be no statutory underpinning for the new regulatory system.

She told Sky News: "It isn't really statutory underpinning, but the important part of today is that we do have a clear way forward - three months on of intensive discussions ... a really workable solution.

"The Royal Charter is the right approach. I am really please that all three parties now are supporting the Prime Minister's recommendations, and I do hope that as a result of the discussions in Parliament today we can see this quickly swing into action."

The Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats are understood to have held talks for more than five hours.

David Cameron - faced with a possible defeat in a House of Commons vote on the issue - was not present but was represented by Oliver Letwin, who has been the key figure for the party in recent negotiations.

Mr Miliband, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Ms Harman also attended the talks.

Mr Clegg told Sky News that in his opinion "everybody" was a winner.

"We have secured the cherished principle of the freedom of the press, but also given innocent people reassurance that they won't be unjustifiably bullied or intimidated by powerful interests in the press without having proper recourse when that happens."

Mr Cameron has been clear that he is very uncomfortable with the idea of setting anything down in law because it could be seen as politicians meddling with the press.

However, it is understood a compromise has been reached to include three lines of statute - a clause in the legislation to ensure that any Royal Charter can not be amended in the future without two-thirds majorities in both Houses of Parliament.

There will be no industry veto of who sits on the regulator, and there will be a specific rule to ensure apologies are proportionate.

It has been welcomed by Hacked Off, the group campaigning for victims of phone hacking. London bombing hero Paul Dadge told Sky News: "This isn't to stop stories in the newspapers in the future. This is to ensure that things that happened to me, the Dowler family, the McCanns, don't happen again in the future."

But Neil Wallis, former executive editor of the News Of The World, disagreed. "What these people want to do is to control what the public is told. And if you give the State legislation, what you have not got any longer is a free press." he said.

"You can't put those words in the same sentence - 'state regulation' and 'free press'. It simply stops."

Trevor Kavanagh, former political editor of The Sun, added: "Until we've examined the fine print we will have to hold our fire, but it's a little worrying when the three political parties get together and their final verdict is welcomed so enthusiastically by Hacked Off, which is definitely seeking to shackle and gag the free press."

Mr Cameron, who last week pulled out of talks about implementing Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations, previously warned that legislation would endanger press freedom.

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David Hockney: Artist's Assistant Dead

A man has died in hospital after being taken there from the home of artist David Hockney in Bridlington, say Sky sources.

It is understood that the man was 23-year old Dominic Elliott, a close friend and studio assistant to Hockney.

He was taken to Scarborough General Hospital at 6am on Sunday.

Humberside Police said they were contacted by the hospital shortly after a man arrived in a serious condition.

Curtains drawn at Hockney's house in Bridlington

"The 23-year-old man was sadly pronounced dead at hospital and the police notified," a police spokesman said.

"The circumstances of the man's death are not clear and officers are currently undertaking enquiries to establish events leading to his death.

"There were no signs of violence and a post-mortem examination is due to take place tomorrow which is hoped may provide further information."

Sky's North of England Correspondent Gerard Tubb said Mr Elliott was in Hockney's inner circle and helped the artist set up equipment.

In a statement, Bridlington Rugby Club said: "(The club) would like to send their condolences to the family of Dom Elliott.

"He played for the club at both second team and first team level. He will be sadly missed by all the players and club members."

David Hockney, 75, is one of the most famous British artists of his generation, and was celebrated at the Royal Academy of Arts last year with an exhibition of his large scale landscapes, called A Bigger Picture.

Born in Bradford, he is famous for artworks such as A Bigger Splash, a vivid depiction of a Los Angeles swimming pool, and the portrait Mr And Mrs Clark And Percy.

In recent years he has been exploring the possibilities of using an iPad for his artworks.

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Five 'Confess' To Tourist Gang-Rape In India

Five villagers in India have confessed to the gang-rape of a Swiss tourist, according to police.

The woman was on a cycling holiday with her husband in Madhya Pradesh state when they were attacked.

Investigators said as many as eight men were involved in the assault on Friday night.

"We have detained five men and they have confessed to gang-raping the woman and attacking her husband," local police official M S Dhodee told the AFP news agency.

A sixth man allegedly involved in the crime is also being hunted by police, Mr Dhodee added.

The alleged rapists live in a village near the forested area where the couple had stopped to camp for the night.

They were en route to the popular tourist destination of Agra in northern India.

"They were passing by, noticed the couple putting up their tent and saw an opportunity to attack and rape the woman," Mr Dhodee said.

He added that the five detainees would be arrested shortly, pending formalities.

The woman, who is thought to be around 39, was treated in hospital but released on Saturday and the couple are now in Delhi.

The Swiss embassy said it was in touch with local authorities in Madhya Pradesh and has urged a "swift investigation and for justice to be done".

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

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

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

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

Four other men and a juvenile are on trial for that attack.

One woman is raped every 20 minutes in India, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.

But police estimate only four out of 10 rapes are reported, largely due to victims' fear of being shamed by their families and communities.

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Father And Son Die Hiking In The Alps

A British father and his 12-year-old son who went missing while hiking in the Alps have been found dead, French police have confirmed.

Rescue services in Chamonix said they received a phone call from a 48-year-old man at 2pm local time on Saturday who said they were lost on Mont Blanc.

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

The pair's bodies were found on Sunday morning and it is believed they may have fallen into a crevasse.

The father and son have not yet been named but the Foreign Office has been informed of their deaths.

More follows ...

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Cyprus Postpones Vote On Savings Raid Bailout

Cyprus's parliament has postponed its decision on whether savers must pay a levy on bank deposits under terms for an international bailout to avert bankruptcy.

The vote which was due to take place later this afternoon has been pushed back to Monday.

The delay came as Chancellor George Osborne announced that any UK Government and military personnel would be compensated - if their personal savings accounts were subject to the levy.

"For people serving in our military, for people serving our Government out in Cyprus - because we have military bases there - we are going to compensate anyone who is affected by this bank tax," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.

"People who are doing their duty for our country in Cyprus will be protected from this Cypriot bank tax."

Chancellor George Osborne on The Andrew Marr Show this morning

Around 3,500 British military personnel are based in Cyprus. However, those among the 59,000 British residents of Cyprus who do not fall into that category could still be out of pocket.

The eurozone demand that savers pay up to 10% of deposits as a condition for the 10bn euro (£8.6bn) bailout has drawn criticism and anger in the eastern Mediterranean island.

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

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

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

The move marks the first time the 17 eurozone countries and the IMF have dipped into people's savings to finance a bailout.

An informal meeting earlier this morning for parties in the 56-member chamber to discuss the bank levy was also postponed by newly-elected Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

He has said refusing the bailout would lead to the collapse of the island's two largest banks, badly burnt by their exposure to bailed out neighbour Greece.

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) as a condition for the bailout, mainly needed to recapitalise banks.

Nicos Anastasiades with Angela Merkel in Brussels

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

The size of foreign deposits in Cyprus - estimated at 37% of the total - was one reason the eurozone agreed to the tax on savings, to take effect when banks reopen on Tuesday.

The tax 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."

The country has a large British expatriot community, among them David Symonds who lives in Limassol.

He told Sky News: "Everybody was surprised. We were assured only a few days ago that the haircut on the deposits was a red line for the government.

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

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

Its two largest banks saw combined losses of 4.5bn euros (£3.8bn) - equal to a quarter of the island's gross domestic product.

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

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

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Cameron Urges Party To Fight On For Britain

David Cameron has faced down critics within his own party and urged the Tories to focus on the fight against Labour.

The Prime Minister warned backbenchers and activists there are just 1,000 days to go before the next general election, implying there is no time for internal wrangling.

He insisted "I'm up for it" as he sought to draw a line under leadership rumours and remind the Tories of their achievements in Government and future plans.

Mr Cameron has faced growing grumbling from his own benches in the wake of the disastrous Eastleigh by-election last month, which saw UKIP beat the Tories into third place.

And with the Budget looming next week, there have also been rising calls for a change of approach on the economy amid fears about a triple-dip recession.

Home Secretary Theresa May has been at the centre of talk about a future leadership challenge amid Tory fears of electoral oblivion in 2015.

But Mr Cameron, at the party's spring conference, tried to brush off the current problems as mid-term blues and urged Tories to cut through the "background noise".

"Let the message go out from this hall and this party: We are here to fight. We are here to win, and we have never been more up for the task of turning our country around," he declared.

He sought to paint the Tories as the party of aspiration, with support for families and first-time buyers, a better adoption system, more rigorous schools, more apprenticeships and tighter welfare spending.

"The global race is not just about GDP," he said. "It's about saying to the mum who's worried about her children's future, we are building a country where there is a future, so your kids won't have to get on a plane to get on in life, they can make it right here in Britain.

Mr Cameron - who has come under fire from backbenchers over his "posh, male and white" inner circle - acknowledged the "leg-ups" he enjoyed in life.

Home Secretary Theresa May will also give a speech later today

"I know the leg-ups I got in life. A loving family, wonderful parents, a great school and university," he said.

"We want people to climb up through their own efforts, yes, but in order to climb up they need the ladder to be there in the first place, the family that nurtures them, the school that inspires them, the opportunities there for them.

"Great Conservatives down the generations have put those ladders in place. When Churchill invented the labour exchanges that helped people into work.

"When Macmillan built new homes. When Thatcher fired up enterprise so people could start their own businesses. That's what we're doing in the Conservative Party right now."

The Prime Minister announced a £150m cash boost for sport in school to help bolster coaching for pupils in England

Under the plans, a primary school with 250 pupils would receive £9,250 per year - this is around two days a week of a primary teacher or a coach's time.

Mrs May's speech later is expected to focus on home affairs, in contrast to a wide-ranging address last weekend which was widely interpreted as laying the ground for a future leadership bid. 

London Mayor Boris Johnson on Friday told Conservative Cabinet ministers accused of positioning themselves for the post-Cameron leadership to "put a sock in it and back the Prime Minister".

Mr Johnson, regarded as front-runner in the succession race if he can find a seat in Parliament, said speculation over a challenge to Mr Cameron's leadership was "complete nonsense".

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