BBC News with Marion Marshall
Cypriots reacted with anger to news that a ten-billion-euro bailout package agreed in Brussels will force bank depositors to help foot the bill. People queued to withdraw money from cash machines and from the only bank open during the day which reacted by closing its branches. Andrew Walker reports.
Bank customers have been taken out what money they can but it’s unlikely they will be able to get round the levy while the bailout was announced in Brussels the Cypriot government was already taking steps to ensure that it would be able to collect the money. The country’s finance minister described the levy as the least worst option. President Nicos Anastasiades plans to address the nation on television tomorrow. One reason for introducing the levy is to reduce the amount of new debt the Cypriot government has to take on under the bailout but there is also a political element, a lot of the money in those bank accounts belongs to wealthy foreigners.
Pope Francis has said the Catholic Church had remembered that it’s there to serve the poor. In what’s been seen as his clearest indication that he wants a more austere church, the newly elected pontiff said he would like the church itself to be poor. The Pope told hundreds of journalists why he’d chosen to name himself after St. Francis of Assisi.
“During the election I was sitting next to the Emeritus Archbishop of Sao Paolo Cardinal Claudio Hummes. And when things were becoming dangerous, he was comforting me. And when the number of votes reached 2/3 he hugged me and kissed me and said ‘don’t forget the poor.’ And that word just stuck with me. The poor, the poor, I immediately thought of Francis of Assisi.”
The Pakistani government has made history as the first elected government since the country was founded in 1947 to complete a full five-year term. Parliament was dissolved at midnight local time and a caretaker administration is assuming power until elections expected in May. Mike Wooldridge in Islamabad heard what the outgoing prime minister had to say.
In a broadcast farewell address Raja Pervez Ashraf charted the highly checkered history of government in Pakistan over the past six and half decades. From election, he described to stolen to leaders murdered and hanged and periods under military rule. This government lasting its cause was , he said, a victory of all democratic constitutions, and in effected launching, the Pakistan people's parties pitch for reelection, Mr Ashraf said the outgoing government may not be able to provide rivers of the milk and honey, as he put it, but had tried its best to alleviate the country's problems.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has informed President Shimon Peres that he succeeded in forming a government. His coalition agreed after seven weeks of negotiations will be sworn in on Monday. It includes the centrist Yesh Atid and the pro-settler Jewish Home Parties but for the first time in a decade excludes ultra-orthodox Jewish parties. The U.S. president arrives in Israel on Wednesday.
A high ranking officer in the Syrian army says he is defected with the help of rebel fighters. In an interview with the Saudi Arabia owned Al Arabiya TV, a man identified as Major General Mohammed Izz al-din Khalouf said the move had been planned for some time. High level defections from the Syrian army have been rare during the two-year uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
The Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga has filed a petition at the Supreme Court challenging Uhuru Kenyatta’s narrow victory in the presidential election. Mr. Odinga has accused the electoral authorities of manipulating the result. Police lob teargas canisters at hundreds of his supporters who gathered outside the courthouse. The head of Kenyan police David Kimaiyo warned against participating in demonstrations.
“Unfortunately there are instances which have been noted, there are groups of people come together to discuss politics. This is not acceptable since it has the potential to generate unnecessary tensions.”
Mr. Kenyatta is facing trial at the International Criminal Court in connection with a wave of violence following the last general election in 2007 when more than 1,000 people were killed.
Zimbabweans have taken part in a referendum on a new constitution. Casting his vote, President Robert Mugabe urged people not to resort to violence. He rejected criticism that Zimbabweans hadn’t been properly informed about the draft document. Correspondents say not enough copies were printed and many people didn’t understand it. The new charter is intended to pave the way for a presidential election later this year. Both Mr. Mugabe and his Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai support the new constitution which is expected to be approved.
Rugby Union and Wales have won the Six Nations championship by beating England 30 points to 3. The victory at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff means Wales retained the title they won last year.