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France’s far right National Front has chosen Marine Le Pen as its new leader, replacing her father Jean-Marie Le Pen, party officials say.

The results will be officially announced on Sunday, but party sources said she had secured about two-thirds of members’ votes.

Mr Le Pen is stepping down after leading the ultra-nationalist party, which he founded, for almost 40 years.

In 2002 he came a shock second in the first round of presidential elections.

Mr Le Pen lost the second round to incumbent Jacques Chirac.

A count of votes cast ahead of the annual FN congress in the central city of Tours showed Ms Le Pen, 42, who had the backing of her father, had easily beaten her rival, Bruno Gollnisch.

The FN, with its anti-immigration agenda has been shunned by France’s main parties.

But Ms Le Pen has said she wants to break with its xenophobic, anti-Islam image and is confident the FN can become part of mainstream politics.

A recent poll suggested the party could come third in the presidential elections to be held in 2012.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Driving into Kalmunai we saw choppy waters on both sides of the road, something like an inland sea.

The water gave way to flooded coconut plantations.

On Friday, as the Muslim faithful went to midday prayers, the rain was starting up again in this mixed Muslim-Tamil town on Sri Lanka’s isolated south-eastern seaboard.

Life here has been turned upside down.

In normal times this is a land peppered with lagoons but now it is as if they have taken over the land.

By a small Hindu temple, its bell tolling, the road simply petered out, giving way to a huge expanse of water.

There was merely a line of poles indicating where the road should be.

In places like this, local people are now getting around by boat. Motorboats and simple wooden catamarans sailed past.

Not far away a few men, women and boys were peering gingerly round the houses they abandoned six days ago. The water level has gone down but not enough for them to move back in.

Youths were trying to throw out the aquatic plants that have been swept into the buildings. One picked up two snakes that ended up on top of the compound fence.

About half a dozen tortoises of various sizes had also been brought in by the waters.

Much worse, the floodwaters have spilled into the freshwater wells – the UN children’s agency Unicef believes 66,000 wells have suffered this fate.

Navamani Ravichand is just one of nearly 400,000 Sri Lankans now living in makeshift camps that have sprung up in schools.

She, her husband and four children are crammed with about 400 other families into a school that now accommodates those who fled their homes.

A team of local volunteers helped by inmates cooks lunch.

There is improvised cricket while the younger children have taken over the playground – but Ms Ravichand just wonders when they will all be able to go home. Her husband, a farm labourer, has no work at the moment.

On the way inland are huge expanses of crushed paddy crops – fields destroyed by the rain and by water gushing out of burst irrigation reservoirs.

Ahmed Lebbe, a 50-year-old farmer, faces ruin. “There was no rain for months,” he says.

“Then it started raining and it’s gone on for a month and a half without stopping. Then the reservoir burst and everything was destroyed. We can’t salvage any crops.”

Another farmer who also works as a teacher, Suleiman, is equally desolate.

“Now, nothing to harvest. Everything under water,” he laments in English. “Other people are also like this. So many farmers are very lost. To recover this it will take five years, I think.”

They cannot farm – so many local men see little option other than to try fishing in the floodwaters.

Everywhere, nets are being cast – but little substantial is being caught.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Australia name spinner Xavier Doherty ahead of Nathan Hauritz for the first of seven one-day internationals against England.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

At least 45 pilgrims have been killed in a stampede at a religious festival in the southern Indian state of Kerala, officials say.

Scores more have been injured in the crush, which was reportedly triggered by a road accident.

The pilgrims were returning from the Hindu shrine of Sabarimala, which is in a remote, mountainous, densely-forested area.

State officials said the death toll could rise.

It was not immediately clear how the stampede had begun.

The Indian PTI news agency said a jeep carrying pilgrims had driven into a crowd returning from the shrine, starting a panic.

However, the Times of India reported that the incident happened when the jeep broke down and overturned as pilgrims tried to move it.

It crushed a number of people and caused others to stumble, which then triggered the stampede, the report said.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Both the Guardian and the Independent lead on the crisis in Tunisia.

The Guardian describes the departure of the country’s president as a “victory for people power”, but is prompted to ask: “what next?”

The Independent believes similar events could easily be repeated across the Arab world.

The Daily Mail describes it as the first “Wikileaks revolution”, as one of the US diplomatic cables likened the presidential family to mafia mobsters.

The paper says that even though publication of the comments was banned, news of them spread by mouth, and contributed to the public anger.

The lead in the Times is about the collapse of the trial of six environmental activists.

The reason given at the time was that an undercover police officer apparently decided to support the defence.

But the Times says that the case fell apart when secret police tapes came to light, undermining the prosecution.

The Daily Telegraph turns its attention to the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election in which Labour increased its majority over the Liberal Democrats.

The paper’s leader warns that “if political history teaches us anything, it is to avoid reading too much into the outcome of a by-election”.

The Daily Express is angry that, at a time when student finances are in the spotlight, more than £250m of taxpayers’ money is spent each year on giving university places to students from other EU countries.

The paper’s leader concludes that “as in so many areas, European law seems purpose-built to disadvantage Britons”.

And Thunderbirds are go… again, according to the Sun. Nearly 50 years after the show first appeared on TV screens, creator Gerry Anderson, 81, tells the paper that Thunderbirds is making a return.

This time, however, the famous puppets will be replaced with CGI.

But Mr Anderson says Thunderbirds “will not lose its uniqueness”.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Prosecutors investigate Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, over allegations that he paid to have sex with a teenage nightclub dancer.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

BP has signed a joint venture with Russian energy firm Rosneft to exploit potentially huge deposits of oil and gas in Russia’s Arctic shelf.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Israel has warned the Hamas leadership that it will no longer tolerate rocket attacks from Gaza which have increased in intensity this month.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Actress Zsa Zsa Gabor’s right leg, which was infected with gangrene, has been amputated in a life-saving surgery her doctors have deemed a success.

She is in “frail health” and will be closely monitored in a Los Angeles hospital, Dr David Rigberg said.

Gabor was hospitalised on 2 January after attempts to save her leg with antibiotics proved unsuccessful.

The 93-year-old has been admitted to hospital a number of times since breaking her hip in July.

“Ms Gabor needed an amputation above her knee due to poor circulation and a large ulcerated area on her right leg,” said Dr Rigberg, an associate professor of vascular surgery at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

“The surgery today went well, however, she is in frail health so we will continue to monitor her closely,” he said, adding that after consulting with Ms Gabor’s husband, Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, he felt amputation was the best decision.

Gabor had been hospitalised several times for swelling in her legs and blood clots throughout her body, following a hip replacement surgery this summer.

She was readmitted to hospital in the new year because a wound in her right leg had grown and “wasn’t healing any more”, her publicist John Blanchette said earlier this month.

Gabor had reportedly been bedridden in recent months.

She was in critical condition and had asked for a priest during a trip to the hospital in August, but Gabor soon recovered and was sent home.

The veteran actress was partially paralysed in a car accident in 2002 and suffered a stroke in 2005, forcing her to use a wheelchair.

Gabor starred in the films Moulin Rouge, Touch of Evil and Queen of Outer Space, among others.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The ordination of former Anglican bishops as Roman Catholic priests could fundamentally change the Church they leave behind.

The ordination of Keith Newton, Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton by Archbishop Vincent Nichols signals the inauguration of a special section for former Anglicans – known as the “Ordinariate” – in the Roman Catholic Church.

It was set up by Pope Benedict XVI as a home for traditionalist Anglicans unhappy in the Church of England, and especially with its decision to introduce women bishops.

The Ordinariate will welcome married priests, although they will not be able to become bishops, and it will preserve some Anglican traditions and practices.

As bishops, the three clerics supervised parishes that opted out of contact with women priests.

Like some other traditionalist clergy on the Catholic wing of the Church of England, they don’t believe sufficient provision is being made for traditionalists to avoid coming under the jurisdiction of women.

Mr Newton has estimated that some 50 other Anglican clergy might join in the coming months, and a couple of dozen parish groups, but many seem likely to wait to see how the Ordinariate develops.

Speaking last November, Mr Newton said he did not mind giving up his former status as a bishop, but acknowledged that joining the new grouping would bring uncertainties.

“There are sacrifices to do with things like where I’m going to live, where I’m going to work, what I’m going to do, how I’m going to be paid, so I’m taking a bit of a step into the dark, a step of faith. But I do that with some joy really.”

Clergy have been warned that they will usually need to find alternative forms of funding when they leave their Church of England stipends and pension plans.

The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has set aside £250,000 to help fund the Ordinariate, and has said it will have to find other charitable funding.

Clergy – who are unlikely to take their entire congregations with them – might have to take jobs to support themselves and their families.

They will not be allowed to take their Church buildings with them into the new grouping, and it seems unlikely that many will be allowed to share them.

Some in what is a relatively liberal Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, might resent the influx of quite conservative clergy who are sometimes thought of as being “more Catholic than the Catholics”.

Their new organisation, headed by an “Ordinary”, rather like a diocesan bishop, will be spread across England and Wales.

Many traditionalists on the Catholic wing of Anglicanism oppose their colleagues’ conversion, warning that it will weaken the Church of England as a broad Church able to balance its Protestant and Catholic traditions.

Prebendary David Houlding belongs to the Catholic Group on the Church of England Synod, and regards the ordination with sadness and anger.

His anger is directed partly at his own Church, but he believes converting to Catholicism is premature.

“The Church of England hasn’t finally settled what sort of provision [to operate outside the supervision of women bishops] we are going to get,” he said.

“There’s more work to do, we haven’t reached a satisfactory conclusion, there’s no certainty that the legislation will go through as it stands.”

Mr Houlding regards the Church of England as the continuing “Catholic” Church in England, albeit one reformed after the break with Rome 450 years ago.

He fears that a long-maintained balance will be lost, not just between its Catholic and Protestant wings, but between its liberal and traditionalist elements.

In short he, and others like him, worry that it’s becoming a more liberal and more Protestant Church, less able to fulfil its traditional role in serving the whole theological and social spectrum in England.

Mr Newton’s view is not dissimilar, even if he has come to different conclusions about how to respond to it.

“I think in recent years we have gone much towards a Protestant understanding of the Church…” he said.

“I think there are questions as to whether it can really claim to be part of the one holy and apostolic Church. It seems to have… made changes to holy orders (ordaining women clergy) that the rest of the (universal) Church has advised us not to make.

“I think a Catholic understanding is no longer credible in the Church of England.”

Mr Newton insists that his conversion to Catholicism and membership of the Ordinariate is not solely to do with the ordination of women, but about maintaining “unity” at a time when he sees the Church of England departing from tradition.

More ordinations of former Anglican clergy as Catholic priests are due to take place just before Easter.

There are few signs of a mass exodus of Anglicans at the moment, but Mr Houlding, for one, fears that Pope Benedict has opened a door in the Church of England, that will in perpetuity encourage unhappy traditionalists to leave rather than fight their corner.

But Mr Newton questions how far the “marginalised” Catholic wing of the Church can any more “dictate to a larger group what is right for them”.

“We’ve felt for some time that Anglo Catholics and Evangelicals (some of whom also oppose women bishops) have been holding the Church back from what it wants to do.

“You can’t have a Church that believes in women bishops and doesn’t believe in women bishops.”

Supporters of the Church of England’s status as the established, official state Church, see its long balancing act between opposing factions as vital to its survival in its present form, and the benefit they believe that brings to society at large.

There will be many who wonder anxiously how far the ordinations at Westminster Cathedral could undermine it.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Three former Anglican bishops, unhappy with the ordination of women, are to be ordained as Roman Catholic priests at Westminster Cathedral.

Their ordination will signal the inauguration of a special section of the Catholic Church for such Anglicans.

Keith Newton, Andrew Burnham and John Broadhurst will take up roles in the section known as the Ordinariate.

Other traditionalist Anglican clergy have spoken of their sadness and anger about the bishops’ conversion.

Mr Burnham, former bishop of Ebbsfleet, along with fellow “flying bishops” Mr Newton (ex-bishop of Richborough) and Mr Broadhurst (Fulham), had all formerly supervised Church of England parishes that had opted out of contact with women priests.

Mr Newton has estimated that about 50 more Anglican clergy might join the Roman Catholic church in the coming months – along with members of their congregations.

Like some other traditionalist clergy on the Catholic wing of the Church of England, they opposed the introduction of women bishops, and do not believe sufficient provision was being made for traditionalists to avoid coming under the jurisdiction of women.

The Vatican will allow them to maintain a distinct religious identity and spiritual heritage within the Ordinariate.

Other Anglican traditionalists have warned that the bishops’ departure will jeopardise the future of the Church of England as a broad Church able to balance its Protestant and Catholic traditions.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Labour leader Ed Miliband says he will not join in the “gloating” over his party’s victory in the Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election.

At a speech to the Fabian Society on Saturday, Mr Miliband will say Labour must become again “the standard-bearer of the progressive majority.”

And in article for the Guardian, Mr Miliband also says that he will co-operate with “courageous” Lib Dems.

The by-election saw Labour boosting its majority from 103 to over 3,500.

After the result Mr Miliband said the result showed the Lib Dems had made a “tragic mistake” in joining the Conservatives in coalition.

In his speech Mr Miliband will say: “We must rebuild ourselves as a broad movement of the British mainstream that politicians have talked about for decades but often not understood.”

As the government’s spending cuts begin to impact as it aims to save £81bn in four years, Mr Miliband will set out how he sees Labour’s position: “I want to become the voice and hope of those who feel squeezed by an economic system that promised to liberate them.

“I want us to articulate the frustration of people who are fed up with bankers taking vast public subsidies and then rewarding themselves for failure while the rest of the country struggles.

“I want us to be the party that answers the call for a fairer sharing of the nation’s wealth, strong and responsive public services and a different kind of politics.”

Mr Miliband will say that he hopes the Liberal Democrats will realise their “mistake” in joining the Conservatives in coalition.

“Forgive me if I decline to join those of you who are gloating at the expense of the Liberal Democrats.

“Their decision to join a Conservative-led government was a tragic mistake, and I hope they come to see that in time.”

In his Guardian article Mr Miliband says he “respects the choice” of Lib Dems who have decided to stay and fight for the soul of their party.

“We want to co-operate with them in parliament and outside to fight against the direction in which this Conservative-led government is taking our country.

“We will work with those who have the courage of their convitions.”

In Thursday’s by-election, Debbie Abrahams finished 3,558 votes ahead of the Lib Dems with 14,718 votes. The party’s share of the vote increased from 31.9% to 42%.

But Lib Dem Elwyn Watkins fractionally increased the party’s vote share on the 2010 result from 31.6% at the general election to 31.9%.

The Greater Manchester by-election was called after a special court found ex-Labour minister Phil Woolas made false statements about Mr Watkins in May’s general election, in which Labour retained the seat by just 103 votes over the Lib Dems.

The ruling invalidated the result and resulted in Mr Woolas being barred from politics for three years.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

“Your very good health” is a popular toast often exchanged between people pinging two glasses of wine together.

Usually it is a gesture that is meant to be more friendly than literal.

But now in Italy, its meaning may, indeed, be taken at face value.

That is not because of the contents of the glass, but because of the bottle.

Italy’s quality wine producers are selling some of their finest vintages with special labels on the bottle to help in the fight against HIV/Aids in Africa.

The tiny red labels have been put on around two million bottles so far, each bearing the words ‘Wine For Life’.

For every bottle sold, 50 cents (42p) goes to buy anti-retroviral drugs for people in Africa.

“This is about life, it is not about business”, says Luca Sanjust, the owner of the Petrolo winery in Tuscany and one of the producers signed up to the scheme.

Luca led me through the idyllic rolling hills of his vineyards to his production line.

There, workers were putting the red labels on bottles of his delicious Galatrona.

“Wine to us is sacred. Life is sacred, ” Luca says.

“It’s about taking the love that we receive from nature, in the form of wine, and giving it back to the earth, in the form of helping our needy brothers and sisters in Africa.”

This almost spiritual reasoning for supporting the project is shared by many of the 120 wine producers who are now a part of the ‘Wine For Life’ programme.

Luca happens to be a good friend of Jamie Oliver, the British chef who regularly visits Luca’s villa to try out new recipes and buy his olive oil there.

His is a medium-sized winery, with the vineyards producing about 70,000 bottles of wine a year.

So, with each bottle making 50 cents, Luca is able to contribute around 35,000 euros (£29,500) a year to the scheme.

The ‘Wine for Life’ idea did not come from the wine makers, but from the Sant’Egidio Community in Rome.

Founded by students in 1968, Sant’Egidio has grown into a unique mix of Christian charity, social communicator and diplomatic facilitator.

In its long history, it has done everything from providing Christmas lunches for the homeless, to acting as mediator in the Mozambique civil war, leading to the Rome Peace Accord of 1992.

Mario Marrazitti, its ebullient leader, was part of that peace process and is also behind ‘Wine For Life’.

“We were doing work in ten African countries in what we call our ‘Dream’ project and we needed to sustain it, financially”, he tells me amid the tropical plants of Sant’Egidio’s glorious garden in Rome.

“We thought that wine producers were a natural partner in this private/ public arrangement, as they represent a connection with nature, whilst also having the ability to raise money.

I ask Mario if the project has worked.

“It’s been incredible,” he says.

“We believe that about 20,000 children and 2,000 adults have been saved by getting access to the drugs paid for by the wine scheme”.

Mario now wants to expand it, by getting supermarket chains like Tesco and Carrefour to set up special corners in their stores, where customers can buy a wider range of products with the red labels on.

“Everyone wins,” says Mario.

“The supermarkets will attract a select, socially-conscious, clientele, the producers costs are all covered and the people of Africa get access to the drugs they need, but which governments and other non-governmental organisations can’t always provide,” he says.

In Tuscany and other areas of Italy, soil, weather and care blend to produce some of the world’s finest wines.

Now, those natural treasures are being harnessed for people in a continent thousands of miles away.

For Luca Sanjust, the link between his land and their life has become sacrosanct, a mission that goes beyond commercialism.

He knows that customers all over Italy are now helping uncork a different kind of revenue stream to fight HIV/Aids and where one of the pleasures of life is now helping to save it.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Nobody enjoys going to the dentist. But for some people their feelings of anxiety can turn into fear and even a fully-blown phobia.

Dentophobia is an extremely common affliction. Around 12% of us suffer from extreme dental anxiety and the British Dental Association says that 25% of the British population suffer from some sort of anxiety before visiting the dentist.

Phobias of needles and blood can also prevent people from going to see their GP, from being treated in hospital and from having certain medical procedures.

Whether the dentist’s drill or doctor’s needle is to blame for these anxieties, avoiding them puts your long-term health at risk.

The term “phobia” is derived from the Greek word phobos meaning ‘flight’, ‘panic-fear’ and ‘terror’.

A phobia is more than just an anxiety. It is an excessive fear of a particular type of object or situation which sufferers then try to avoid at all costs. This kind of fear is often exaggerated and disabling.

The Royal College of Psychiatrists’ website says: “Your life can become more and more dominated by the precautions you have to take to avoid the things that scare you. You will usually know that there is no real danger, you may feel silly about your fear, but still find that you can’t control it.”

Dr Jennifer Pinder, a dentist in London, has been treating dental phobic patients for over 30 years. She says it’s vital to find out exactly what someone’s phobia is and then deal with it in a sensitive and sympathetic way.

She has dealt with people who have a fear of the drill, fear of gagging and fear of needles and pain, among other things.

Only when their teeth look really awful, begin to disintegrate or their breath has got seriously bad do phobics finally realise that a visit to the dentist is unavoidable, she says.

“People keep saying it’s irrational, but phobias are actually a rational reaction to pain and fear,” Dr Pinder says.

“People are often embarrassed and ashamed about it. I hear the words ‘shame’ and ‘guilt’ all the time.”

She helps patients overcome their embarrassment by making time for them to talk about their fears, encouraging them to email her with a description of their feelings before their appointment.

Then it’s a case of managing their anxiety and offering a range of pain-free treatments.

Dr Pinder uses a new implement called The Wand, which covers the needle and controls the speed at which the flow of anaesthetic is given to the patient. She finds it helpful for needle phobes and pain phobes.

She also welcomes a new device which cancels out the anxiety-provoking drill noise – but not the dentist’s voice – and believes it will help more people overcome their fear.

At present, her patients often bring along a personal music player to take their minds off the treatment. She also offers hypnotherapy and counselling.

Although phobias are a worldwide phenomenon, poor dental health is a noticeable problem in the UK. Compared to countries like the US, Dr Pinder says, “education on oral hygiene is not as good and flossing levels are much lower”.

Phobics who avoid dentists tend to live with constant pain from infections and gum disease and there are often social effects from the phobia too.

“Dentophobes stop going out, stop seeing friends and even start to keep away from their partners if they have poor oral hygiene,” says Dr Pinder.

Dr Paul Blenkiron, consultant psychologist in York, has helped people with needle phobias to “face their fear in a gradual way”, often using cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT).

This approach is all about changing the patient’s thinking and behaviour.

“Firstly I get the patient to practise handling needles, then press a needle against their arm and finally, when anxiety has reduced, I carry out an injection,” he explains.

It’s almost impossible to quantify how many people in the UK have phobias. The list of phobias is never-ending – from ablutophobia (fear of washing) to zoophobia (fear of, er, zoos). While for some they are fears, for others they are real clinical problems.

Blood and injury phobia, for example, can be very serious if it results in people refusing to have life-saving operations or avoiding hospitals altogether. People with blood phobias are also particularly prone to fainting.

Emma, who has a phobia of blood, told Anxiety UK about her experience of being hemaphobic: “I have passed out many times in the past, often out in public due to the smallest cuts that most people wouldn’t even notice. And by passing out I have caused more damage to myself resulting in stitches and trips to casualty.”

Emma’s fainting occurs because of a sudden decrease in blood pressure at the sight of blood. This can become a self-perpetuating problem if blood phobics become afraid of fainting as well the sight of blood.

Paul Salkovskis, professor of clinical psychology at Bath University, says that, “all phobias are cureable, but they don’t all require the same treatments”.

Those who faint, he says, should try to tighten up their muscles and increase their blood pressure to prevent them fainting.

And he said: “Those who don’t faint still have to confront their fear, work out exactly what the specific fear is and then deal with it.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.