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GERMANY ELECTS PASTOR JOACHIM GAUCK AS PRESIDENT
18 March 2012
A former Lutheran pastor and civil rights activist has been elected as Germany's new president.
Joachim Gauck, from the former communist East, won 991 votes out of 1,232 at a special assembly of MPs.
The 72-year-old has no party affiliation, but has gained a reputation as an eloquent speaker not afraid to address controversial issues.
He will replace Christian Wulff, who resigned last month in a scandal over financial favours.
Mr Gauck was elected by an overwhelming majority at the Bundestag on Sunday, easily defeating his main rival - former Nazi hunter and journalist Beate Klarsfeld. She won 126 votes.
Lawmakers and dignitaries greeted the result with a standing ovation.
"What a beautiful Sunday," Mr Gauck then said, prompting loud cheers in the chamber.
Joachim Gauck
- Born in Rostock, Communist East Germany, in 1940
- Lutheran pastor father sent to Siberia for civil rights activism when he was aged 11
- Became a Lutheran pastor in 1965, when he was forbidden to study other university subjects
- In late 80s, held services which preceded big demonstrations that eventually toppled the regime
- After the wall came down, he headed a probe into the activities of the Stasi, East Germany's secret police
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17420111
NO FOND FAREWELL FOR GERMANY"S WULFF
9 March 2012
The president of Germany marked his early departure from office with the grandest of torchlight parades in the full tradition of the Prussian military - and with a squabble over what tunes should be played.
President Wulff was entitled to what is called a Grosser Zapfenstreich, or Grand Tattoo, in front of the presidential palace.
In the dark of night, by the Tiergarten in Berlin, soldiers in full ceremonial uniform carried burning torches. Trumpets sounded. The fife and drum were prominent.
But it did not feel like a celebration. Chancellor Angel Merkel did attend but the four former presidents still alive were not there.
The event was overshadowed by debate over whether it should happen at all because of the allegations of corruption which have forced the current president from office.
Mr Wulff, the country's youngest ever president at 51 when he took the job in 2010, resigned because he said the trust of the people had "been seriously damaged".
A man once talked about as a future chancellor of Germany will, instead, engage closely with lawyers and prosecutors.
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17282637
LIBYA DEMANDS HANDOVER OF GADDAFI SPY CHIEF SENUSSI
18 March 2012
Libya has formally requested the handover of Col Gaddafi's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, following his arrest in Mauritania.
A spokesman for the new government in Tripoli "insisted" Brig Gen Senussi be extradited to Libya to face trial.
However, he is also sought by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charges of crimes against humanity.
France also wants to extradite him in connection with a bomb attack on a plane in 1989.
Mauritania has already said it wants to carry out its own investigation before considering any extradition requests.
Gen Senussi was held at the airport in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, after flying in from Morocco using a false passport, officials said.
However, Mauritania has not yet provided any evidence of his arrest.
Many Libyans want to see evidence of Abdullah al-Senussi's capture before they believe it.
It is believed he is being held at the offices of the Mauritanian intelligence agency.
Gen Senussi, 63, fled Libya last year as Col Gaddafi's regime began to crumble.
Where next for Senussi?
- Libya: Public will demand justice in Libya and officials say extradition process already under way; but international concern over fairness of trial
- France: Already sentenced to life in prison in France; President Sarkozy says French authorities involved in arrest; but France may be obliged to hand him to ICC
- ICC in The Hague: Arrest warrant issued in June 2011; but Mauritania not a signatory to Rome statute, so direct transfer unlikely; Libya likely to strongly resist ICC transfer request
The arrest provoked strong feelings on the streets of Tripoli on Saturday.
"Senussi is Gaddafi's black box, he has a lot of information," Tripoli resident Mustafa Jhyma was quoted by Reuters as saying.
"He has blood on his hands, he should be brought here and tried in Libya."
But analysts say Gen Senussi may have incriminating evidence against many NTC members themselves, so they may not be too happy to see him return home.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both said that Mauritania was bound by the UN Security Council to co-operate with the ICC, even though it has not signed up to its statute.
Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's deputy director for North Africa, said in a statement that the Libyan justice system remained "weak and unable to conduct effective investigations into alleged crimes".
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Senussi last June, saying he was an "indirect perpetrator of crimes against humanity, of murder and persecution based on political grounds" committed in the eastern city of Benghazi.
He could also be held to account for the massacre of more than 1,000 detainees at a Libyan prison in 1996.
A French court has already convicted the former spy chief in absentia of involvement in a 1989 attack on a French plane that killed 170 people, and sentenced him to life in prison.
Senussi, nicknamed "the butcher", was one of the last significant members of the Gaddafi regime still at large.
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www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17419575
THOUSANDS MOURN EGYPT'S COPTIC POPE SHENOUDA III
18 March 2012
Tens of thousands of Egyptian Coptic Christians have held an overnight vigil in Cairo to mourn the death of their spiritual leader, Pope Shenouda III.
The vigil was followed by a Sunday morning Mass, with the dead pope's body sat in the papal chair dressed in ceremonial robes.
He died at the age of 88 on Saturday, after reportedly suffering from cancer. He led the Church for four decades.
Coptic Christians make up 10% of Egypt's population of 80 million, making them the Middle East's largest Christian minority.
A crowd of mourners estimated to be larger than 100,000, spent the night outside St Mark's Cathedral, many weeping as they prayed for the pope.
The government has given Coptic Christians three days off work to prepare for his funeral.
The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Cairo, says there is no timetable yet for the selection of his successor, who will be elected by a conclave of senior bishops.
Whoever succeeds him now faces the task of reassuring the Coptic community as the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood look on the verge of sharing power in Egypt for the first time, our correspondent says.
Pope Shenouda III
- Born Nazeer Gayed 3 August 1923 in Asyut, Upper Egypt
- Became a monk in 1954, as Father Antonios el-Syriani
- Enthroned as pope of Alexandria in 1971, after death of Pope Cyril VI
- Banished to desert monastery after row with then President Anwar Sadat
- Released in 1985 by President Hosni Mubarak
Read full article:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17420084
KING OF TONGA DEAD
Sunday, 18 March 2012
"It was (in) Hong Kong, and the Crown Prince Tupouto'a Lavaka was there at the hospital just before the king passed away," the brief Matangi Tonga Online report said.
"This news is yet to be officially confirmed but our reliable source informed us that the king was rushed to hospital early this afternoon but it is understood that he had passed away a few hours later."
Government and royal palace officials in Tonga were not immediately available to confirm whether the 63-year-old monarch had died.
Tupou V, a strong advocate for democratic reform in the tiny South Pacific kingdom, was sworn in as king in September 2006 following the death of his father king Taufa'ahau Tupou IV.
However, his coronation was delayed until 2008 as the impoverished Polynesian nation of 115,000 reeled from the impact of riots in the capital Nuku'alofa.
Eight people were killed and much of the central business district was destroyed in the November 2006 riots when people protested against the slow pace of political reform.
Within two years after his coronation, Tupou V made good on his pledge for democracy and the people of Tonga were able to vote in their first popularly elected parliament.
The democratic changes replaced the former feudal system where the kingdom was run by a parliament dominated by a clique of nobles selected by the king, who also chose the prime minister and cabinet.
www.brecorder.com/world/southeast-asia/49953-king-of-tonga-dead-report-.html
REACTION TO THE RESIGNATION OF ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
16 March 2012
There has been a mixed reaction to Dr Rowan Williams's decision to stand down as the Archbishop of Canterbury in December.
The 61-year-old is to take up the post of Master of Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge from January 2013.
Fellow archbishops praised Dr Williams as "gifted" and "humble" but during his 10-year term as head of the Church of England, he has faced controversy over the Church's stance on women and gay bishops and same-sex unions.
-Chairman of evangelical group Reform the Reverend Rod Thomas:
"His departure opens up the potential for a new leader to heal the deep divisions within the Anglican Communion.
"What is needed is someone who will hold firm to Biblical truth in areas such as human sexuality in order to promote the gospel and unite the church in the face of militant secularism."
-Church of England General Synod member Alison Ruoff:
"He's a kind, wise, warm, godly man, but had he actually stood up and been counted as a leader, I think we would be in a very different place in the Church of England from where we are now, and that is thoroughly regrettable."
-Head of the Progressive Conservatism Project at think tank Demos, Max Wind-Cowie:
"His period of leadership over the Anglican Church has been marked by a real lack of leadership on a range of theological subjects - from the issue of women to gay priests.
"Dr Williams has shown himself to be incapable of holding the communion together both domestically here in the UK and globally, and I think his time in office has done a lot of damage to the Anglican communion."
-Baptist pastor and chairman of the Evangelical Times Roger W Fay:
"The 39 Articles is the basis on which the Church should work and the greatness of any archbishop is measured against that creedal statement.
"I don't know Dr Williams well enough to pass a personal statement, but my impression is that he hasn't related closely to the 39 Articles and that his skills are more political than theological when it comes to adhering to those Articles.
"I think that the resignation could lead to a period of instability."
EVANGELOS VENIZELOS TO BECOME GREECE'S PASOK PARTY LEADER
18 March 2012
Greece's Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is set to be named the new leader of the centre-left Pasok party.
The 55-year-old is running unopposed in the contest to take over from George Papandreou, who resigned as prime minister in November.
Mr Venizelos is expected to stand down from government in the coming days to prepare for upcoming elections.
He inherits a divided and exhausted party facing historic lows in polls, the BBC's Mark Lowen in Athens reports.
Pasok has been punished for imposing the toughest austerity programme in modern history in exchange for international bail-out money.
Unemployment has soared as a result and the party has been tainted by widespread allegations of corruption, our correspondent adds.
Gifted orator
Pasok members and supporters have been urged to cast their vote in Sunday's nationwide ballot, even though the result is not in doubt.
Mr Venizelos said it would be a "useful opportunity to rally the party, to mobilise and activate its reflexes".
Observers say the turnout would also be an indicator of the level of support he can expect as he leads the party into a general election due to be held in the coming weeks.
After the election, the party is likely to be forced into coalition with the country's other main party, the conservative New Democracy, although leftist parties opposing the bail-out measures are gaining popularity fast, our correspondent says.
French-educated and a gifted orator, Mr Venizelos challenged Mr Papandreou - son of Pasok founder Andreas Papandreou - for the leadership back in 2007.
As the new Pasok leader, he has vowed to stick to the measures set out in the austerity programme and support structural reforms to slim down Greece's bloated public sector.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17420107
BUDGET: OSBOURNE PLEDGES AGGRESSIVE MEASURES ON STAMP DUTY AVOIDANCE
Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed he will be "coming after" stamp duty avoidance with "aggressive" new measures in this week's Budget.
He said buying homes through a company to avoid the tax was "unacceptable" and pledged to "come down on that practice like a tonne of bricks".
Mr Osborne also told the BBC his would be a Budget "for working people".
Labour said reports that he planned to cut the 50p tax rate on earnings over £150,000 showed he was "out of touch".
Stamp duty starts at 1% of a property's value for homes costing more than £125,000 and goes up to 5% for those costing more than £1m.
The Sunday Times reports that rock stars are among wealthy people who have bought properties through offshore companies - amounting to millions of pounds in stamp duty forfeited by the UK.
Asked on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show about the story, Mr Osborne said: "On the specific issue of stamp duty avoidance - in other words rich people, often foreigners who come to this country, but also some people here in Britain, who put homes into companies to avoid stamp duty - that is completely unacceptable.
"We are going to come down on that practice like a tonne of bricks, We are coming after that tax avoidance, we are going to be extremely aggressive in dealing with it, and people are going to face a very punitive charge."
He said there would be new measures announced in the Budget on Wednesday, adding: "People have had their warning. They need to pay stamp duty on the homes they live in."
He said he did not want to go into specific measures but said it would be a "Budget for working people".
"My priority is to help low and middle earners. That's where the bulk of effort in the Budget is going to be."Everyone needs to make a contribution, how we implement the policy is something we will discover on Wednesday”
But Mr Osborne said it would be a "coalition Budget", which he claimed would "satisfy a broad range of public opinion".
The "major measures" had been sent to the OBR last Monday, he said, and there would be a further meeting on Monday to discuss how it would be presented.
But backbench Lib Dem MP Stephen Williams, who co-chairs the party's Treasury policy committee, told the BBC's Sunday Politics: "I certainly don't think now would be the right time to announce the abolition or the reduction of the 50p rate of tax; 2012 is going to be quite a difficult year for many families."
The priority should be raising the income tax threshold to take more people out of paying it, he said.
Asked about the plan to stop child benefit payments to parents paying the 40% higher rate of income tax, Mr Osborne said it was right that each section of society made a contribution to tackling the budget deficit.
While people on £45,000 a year did not feel rich, they were in the "better off 15% of families": "Everyone needs to make a contribution, how we implement the policy is something we will discover on Wednesday."
On planning - another issue that has proved controversial with some Conservative supporters - he said he was "determined" that the rules be shaken up: "We will be publishing new planning rules which I think will make it a lot easier for things to get built in this country while protecting our precious environment."
He also confirmed that he would lift Sunday trading laws for two months during the Olympics and Paralympics.
Read full article:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17420646
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