BBC News with Iain Purdon
The Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi has issued a new constitutional declaration widening his powers. In a televised statement, the presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said the president’s decisions could not be appealed or revoked by any authority, including the judiciary, and they have been made to protect Egypt’s revolution. Jon Leyne reports.
Fresh from his role mediating the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, President Mursi has taken a number of steps to consolidate power at home. He’s issued a decree preventing the courts from dissolving the constitutional assembly, something they have already done on one previous occasion. And he has once again moved to appoint a new prosecutor general. It's in an attempt to move forward with trials of officials from the former regime. Both measures are likely to be strongly contested by the judges jealous of judicial independence.
The new constitutional declaration comes as protesters and police clash for a fourth day in Cairo on the edge of Tahrir Square where last November a stand-off between Egypt’s then the military rulers and protesters left dozens dead. Many of the demonstrators wanted the president to punish those responsible for last November’s killings.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for the former first lady of Ivory Coast, Simone Gbagbo, for crimes against humanity during the country’s post-election crisis. Her husband Laurent Gbagbo is already awaiting trial on similar charges. From The Hague, Anna Huligon reports.
The former first lady is accused of planning and helping to orchestrate the violence. She’s charged with murder, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts. More than 3,000 people lost their lives in the bloody unrest that broke out after the 2010 elections. Some analysts say Simone Gbagbo was the real hardliner, preventing her husband from relinquishing power. The ICC arrest warrant describes Simone Gbagbo as her husband’s alter ego, exercising power and taking state decisions.
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The new director general of the BBC is Tony Hall, who was head of BBC News until 2001, and he’s currently the chief executive of the Royal Opera House in London. Lord Hall succeeds George Entwistle, who resigned earlier this month after a BBC television report led to a former senior political figure being wrongly implicated in child abuse. Lord Hall said he cared passionately about the BBC. And former head of the BBC World Service, John Tuser, welcomed his appointment.
To have somebody like him, who looks and sounds human, which is a distinct help. Also who looks and sounds not afraid, which is also a big help. And people looked him and think, “Do I trust him to run the most important cultural organization in the country?” and I think I’ll say increasingly “Yes, I do”
World News from the BBC.
Rebels in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo have rejected calls from African leaders to withdraw from the city of Goma. The M23 rebels widely believed to be backed by Rwanda have threatened to press on with an advance towards Kinshasa until President Joseph Kabila opens direct peace talks. Meanwhile, the head of the Congolese army has been suspended over an investigation into allegations that he sold weapons to the rebels.
The Colombian rebel group, the Farc, has freed four Chinese hostages who’ve been held captive for 17 months. The oil workers were released on Wednesday, three days after the start of peace talks between the leftist rebels and the Colombian government.
A former owner of an ice cream parlor in Vienna has been found guilty of killing two men, chopping up their bodies and burying them in the concrete floor of her shop. The Spanish Mexican woman called Estibaliz Carranza pleaded guilty. She told the court she shot her husband and used a chainsaw to cut up his body, and the same fate awaited her lover two years later. Our correspondent in Vienna Bethany Bell has followed the case in court.
This woman is described by the prosecution as a cold-blooded, dangerous woman who was very likely to commit crime again. And the jury today found her guilty. They’ve given her a lifelong sentence and they’ve also said that she should go to a facility for mentally-ill prisoners. But the defense said that she had been abused by her father and had abusive relationships. And they are going to appeal this decision.
The governing body of English football, the Football Association, has decided that one of the country’s top referees, Mark Clattenburg, will not face a disciplinary charge over an alleged racist comment. Mr. Clattenburg was accused of using racist language towards Chelsea’s Nigerian midfielder John Mikel Obi during a premier league match last month.
BBC News.