News In Brief

Christian Wulff

Ex-German president charged with graft
Afp, Berlin

Germany's disgraced former president who resigned amid a political favours scandal last year was charged with corruption yesterday, public prosecutors said.
If the case proceeds, Christian Wulff, 53, would become Germany's first former head of state to answer charges in court. He was the youngest president in Germany's history.
Wulff was Germany's youngest president but resigned in February 2011 after becoming embroiled in a series of scandals played out in the media, culminating in prosecutors asking parliament to lift his immunity.

Sudan president visits South Sudan
Afp, Juba

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir arrived in South Sudan yesterday, for the first time since his 2011 visit for the country's independence; a sign of easing tensions after bloody border battles last year.
South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, Bashir's former civil war foe and an ex-rebel commander, welcomed his counterpart at Juba airport, as a military band struck up their respective national anthems.
The two nations battled over their un-demarcated border one year ago, with Khartoum's warplanes bombing the South, and Juba sending troops deep into disputed areas to battle Sudanese soldiers.

Israel reopens Gaza border crossing
Afp, Jerusalem

Israel reopened a goods crossing into the Gaza Strip yesterday, officials said, after closing it several days earlier in response to rocket fire from the besieged Palestinian enclave.
A rocket fired from Gaza crashed into southern Israel on Sunday, as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. It struck an uninhabited part of the Negev desert, causing no damage or casualties.
The UN expressed "serious concern" on Wednesday at the impact of Israeli restrictions on the transfer of goods to civilian populations, particularly the Kerem Shalom closure.

French Senate adopts gay marriage law
Afp, Paris

France's upper house Senate yesterday voted to adopt a landmark bill granting homosexual couples the right to marry and adopt, after a heated debate and protests from conservatives and religious groups.
The vote, by a show of hands, puts the bill on track to become law after technical second readings in both houses.
Senators had on Wednesday approved the crucial first article of the bill granting gay couples the right to marry and to adopt, by a vote of 179 to 157.

2,000 invited to Thatcher funeral
Afp, London

Britain was printing invitations Thursday for 2,000 people for the funeral of Margaret Thatcher, ranging from all of the surviving US presidents and British prime ministers to celebrities including "Top Gear" host Jeremy Clarkson.
Argentina meanwhile downplayed Britain's decision not to invite President Cristina Kirchner in a sign of the tensions that still exist between the two countries following the 1982 Falklands War, regarded by the Iron Lady herself as her finest hour.
Thatcher died in London's Ritz Hotel on Monday at the age of 87, after suffering a stroke. She was Britain's first female prime minister and was in office from 1979 to 1990.