2010-07-01 BBC
BBC News with Iain Purdon.
After months of negotiations, an agreement has been reached by European Union national governments and the parliament in Brussels on new ways, new rules covering the way bonuses are awarded in the banking industry. As Ben Shore reports, the aim is to make bankers think twice about taking major economic risks.
The huge bonuses paid to some bankers have been the cause of immense controversy since the financial crisis of 2008. In the UK, Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, was seen as personifying a culture which rewarded irresponsible risk-takers after receiving a $900,000-a-year pension despite bringing his company to the brink of ruin. The European Parliament has now agreed a text for a law which will prevent such exceptional pension arrangements. It will also limit the amount of money a banker can receive in cash upfront to 30% of the total bonus. The rest of the payments will be delayed.
Police in Cyprus say one of the 11 suspects accused by the United States of spying for Russia has gone missing after being released on bail on the island. The man, a Canadian named by police as Christopher Robert Metsos, was expected to sign in at a police station in the coastal town of Larnaca on Wednesday, but failed to show up.
The United States Senate has confirmed General David Petraeus as the new commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. General Petraeus takes over from General Stanley McChrystal who was dismissed by President Obama for making disparaging remarks about his administration. Paul Adams reports.
This confirmation was never in doubt. The Senate voted 99-0 a measure of the enormously high regard in which David Petraeus is held here in Washington, as well as the widespread belief that he is the best man for this difficult job. For many, it seems like history repeating itself. During his handling of America's war in Iraq, David Petraeus showed consummate political skills as well as undoubted military prowess. Whatever his private views on the way the war in Afghanistan is being run, he is most unlikely to repeat the mistake of his predecessor Stanley McChrystal and make them public.
The President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan has ordered the national football team to take a two-year break from international competition. A presidential adviser said this would enable Nigeria to re-organize its football after a dismal performance at the World Cup. Caroline Duffield reports from Lagos.
In a country where people are passionate about football and talent is in abundance, there have been questions. The national assembly asked football bosses from the Nigerian Football Federation to appear before them to explain what happened. There have long been complaints of too much government interference in the game here. Coaches running clubs at the local level say that money is badly spent, that there is too much patronage and favouritism, and that those charged with selecting talent are not fit for the job.
World News from the BBC.
The presidential candidate supported by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel has finally clenched victory after three rounds of voting. In an embarrassment for Mrs Merkel, Christian Wulff failed to win the first two rounds in the face of a strong challenge from the former East German pastor, Joachim Gauck. Here is Gavin Hewitt in Berlin.
So, in the end, Angela Merkel's candidate for the largely ceremonial post of president won, but it took three rounds of voting. Christian Wulff, a bland political insider from the centre-right, becomes Germany's youngest ever president. On paper, Angela Merkel would have expected a comfortable majority in the federal assembly. But rebels within her ruling coalition were prepared to embarrass and weaken her by either abstaining or voting for the opposition candidate. The scale of the revolt has surprised observers here in Berlin. One said it is indeed a big defeat for Angela Merkel. A significant number of people have clearly left the government's camp.
The son of a founding member of Hamas, who says he was a spy for Israel, has been granted asylum in the United States. A judge in California said Mosab Hassan Yousef will be allowed to stay in the US once he passes a routine background check. In a book published earlier this year, Mr Yousef recounted how he became dissolution with Hamas after witnessing the brutality in their prisons. He converted to Christianity and says he then spied for Israel's security agency, Shin Bet, for a decade.
The first hurricane of the Atlantic season is bearing down on the coasts of northern Mexico and southern Texas, bringing heavy rain and winds of more than 130km/h. Thousands of people have been evacuated from low-lying areas ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Alex expected to make landfall within the next 24 hours. Rough seas caused by the storm are disrupting efforts to clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, forcing some ships to stay in port and washing more oil onto beaches, but the main operation to capture that oil is continuing.
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