Poland blames Russia over crash

29 July 2011 Last updated at 16:44 GMT The crash near Smolensk killed all those on board A Polish report has found that Russia was partly to blame for the air crash last year which killed then-President Lech Kaczynski.

It said that pilot error was the main reason for the crash, but that air controllers and poor lighting at Smolensk were also at fault.

Poland's Defence Minister Bogdan Klich resigned in the wake of the report.

The crash killed 96 people and has been a source of tension between the two countries.

A Russian report released in January laid full blame on Poland.

But Poland, while accepting some of the findings, said that Moscow's report was "incomplete".

All those on board the TU-154 Tupolev, who included officials spanning the country's military and political elite, were killed when their airliner crashed while trying to land in heavy fog.

They had been on their way to a memorial for the victims of Katyn, where 20,000 Polish officers were massacred by Soviet forces in 1940.

'Erroneous information'

The report by Warsaw said the pilot had lacked experience in landing aircraft in adverse weather conditions, and the crew was not adequately equipped.

Russia was commended for its sensitivity after the crash, but relations later deteriorated

It also found that airport lighting was "defective and incomplete", while a landing zone official had given "erroneous information" to the crew as they prepared to land in poor weather at the Russian city of Smolensk.

Air traffic controllers misinformed the crew about their true altitude during the approach and gave a crucial warning too late, it said.

In its report earlier this year, Russia had said the crash was due to pilot error and said the crew had taken unjustified risks under pressure from their superiors.

However, the Polish report said there was no evidence that Lech Kaczynski or anyone else on board had put pressure on the pilots to act against their wishes.

An official with the Russian committee which investigates air disasters said "the fundamental part" of the conclusions in the Polish report agreed with his own committee's findings.

But the official, Alexei Morozov, said they could not understand the Polish finding that the flight's crew was not influenced by senior officials in the cockpit.

Russia's handling of the disaster had originally been widely commended, but the issue later became a source of contention between the two nations.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had accepted the resignation of Mr Klich in the wake of the report's criticism of the crew.

Tomasz Siemoniak, a deputy interior minister, has replaced Mr Klich, Mr Tusk told reporters.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of the late president and opposition politician, has previously accused Mr Tusk's government of a cover-up with Moscow. Mr Tusk strongly denies the claims.

Poland's first couple - along with other leading political and military figures - had been on their way to a memorial ceremony for the World War II Katyn massacre when the crash took place on 10 April. There were no survivors.

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Moody's warns over Spanish rating

29 July 2011 Last updated at 14:48 GMT Spain is continuing to see a number of protests about spending cuts and high unemployment Moody's has warned it may downgrade the credit rating of Spanish government bonds, saying last week's second rescue package for Greece had done little to ease debt concerns in the eurozone.

The rating agency said it was reviewing Spain's current Aa2 grade, adding that if it was downgraded, it would probably be by just one level, to Aa3.

Moody's added that the Spanish economy remained "subdued".

The Spanish government has now called an early general election.

The announcement was made just hours after Moody's made its credit rating warning, and will see Spain go to the polls on 20 November.

Explaining the decision, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he wished to "project political and economic certainty" over the months ahead.

However, it could be benefit the opposition conservative Popular Party, as it is ahead of the ruling Socialist Party in the polls.

The government could have waited until March of next year to hold the general election.

'Bond precedent'

In explaining why it was reviewing Spain's credit rating, Moody's highlighted the fact that as part of the second bail-out deal for Greece, private bondholders were being invited to participate.

Continue reading the main story Sarah Rainsford BBC News, Madrid

This is another blow to Spain - anxious to convince investors it won't need a Greek-style bailout. But Moody's still has concerns, so it has put Spain on review, for what's likely to be a one-notch downgrade of its government debt.

The ratings agency points to the slow pace of economic growth here, and the high levels of debt in Spain's autonomous regions. They account for almost half of state spending and several warn they'll overshoot the budget deficit target set by Madrid.

The Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has insisted that won't affect his target of cutting Spain's overall deficit to 6% by the end of the year. But investor doubts, coupled with concern over the details of the latest bailout for Greece, has already pushed Spain's borrowing costs higher and higher.

The Prime Minister has now announced an early general election for November; the main opposition party has long insisted a change of government is the only way to recover confidence in this economy.

The private bondholders, such as banks, are being asked to exchange their current Greek bonds for ones which pay a lower rate of interest over a longer term.

Moody's said this set a "precedent", adding that it had "signalled a clear shift in risk for bondholders of countries with high debt burdens or large budget deficits".

However, if Spain is downgraded to Aa3, this remains a healthy investment grade.

Moody's also said five Spanish banks could have their credit ratings downgraded because of the same concerns.

These include the largest two lenders, Banco Santander and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA).

'Fiscal slippage'

Despite the forthcoming general election campaign, Spain's central government is continuing to enforce cost-cutting efforts to reduce its public deficit.

However, Madrid is hampered by the fact that Spain is a heavily devolved country, and its regional governments, such as those in Catalonia and the Basque region, are not moving as fast or as deep in trimming their spending.

Moody's highlighted this problem, warning of "fiscal slippage" at the regional and local government level.

Spain is also struggling with the eurozone's highest unemployment rate, which now stands at 20.9%.

Spain's main share index was down 0.7% in afternoon trading, after falling as much as 2.4% immediately following Moody's announcement.

The yield on the Spanish government's 10-year bonds rose 10 percentage points to 6.10%.

The euro declined, falling 0.3% against the dollar to $1.4287.

"The trigger is that the [Greek] deal last week has not really rebuilt confidence across the eurozone, so Spain is still on their radar screens with costs rising," said Giada Giani, analyst at Citigroup.

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Mongolian spy chief loses appeal

29 July 2011 Last updated at 12:34 GMT A Mongolian spy chief - who claims he was tricked into coming to the UK so he could be arrested - can be extradited, the High Court has said.

In February, District Judge Quentin Purdy, at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court, ruled Bat Khurts should be sent to Germany.

Mr Bat, 41, is wanted for kidnapping a Mongolian national suspected of murdering a government official.

His appeal was rejected by the High Court on Friday.

The Mongolian government said it was "very disappointed" with the judgment.

It declined to appeal to the Supreme Court but said it would be "taking this matter to the International Court of Justice".

At the earlier hearing Mr Bat's lawyer claimed he was lured to the UK by the Foreign Office, on the pretence of attending high-level government talks on intelligence co-operation, so he could be arrested and extradited to Germany.

Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Foskett dismissed his appeal but his lawyers said the case may now be taken to the European Court of Human Rights.

'No evidence of luring'

Lord Justice Moses said Mr Bat "has not established that he was lured into this country".

He said: "Far from being lured, at every stage when the government of Mongolia, particularly through its ambassador, attempted to arrange meetings, they were rebuffed."

Lord Justice Moses said they rejected the allegation that Mr Bat was tricked into coming to Britain and said there was "no question of any official in the United Kingdom luring the appellant to this country in the belief that he was going to meet United Kingdom officials to discuss security matters".

Mr Bat was allegedly involved in the 2003 kidnap of Enkhbat Damiran, who was taken from France to Berlin, drugged and flown to the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator.

Mr Enkhbat was wanted in connection with the murder of Mongolia's Infrastructure Minister Zorig Sanjasuuren in 1998.

At the hearing earlier this year his lawyer, Alun Jones QC, claimed Mr Bat, head of the executive office of Mongolia's National Security Council, should not have been detained at Heathrow Airport in September because he was covered by diplomatic immunity.

He said Mr Bat had been granted a business visa for a visit during which he was supposed to meet Britain's National Security Adviser, Sir Peter Ricketts, and strategy and counter-terrorism director, William Nye.

Judge Purdy said he believed Mr Bat was invited for genuine security talks but the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) had heard about it and were aware of the outstanding warrant from Germany.

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Le culture vulture

29 July 2011 Last updated at 23:52 GMT By Hugh Schofield BBC News, Paris French President Nicolas Sarkozy has apparently been flaunting a love of culture - but how genuine is it?

In his excellent recent biography of Sarkozy, the journalist Franz-Oliver Giesbert recounts how the president's cultural life has been transformed by Carla Bruni.

The old Sarkozy was a boor. He gleefully displayed his contempt for France's arts establishment and his preference for the crass.

He appeared only to have ever read two books - Louis-Ferdinand Celine's Journey to the End of the Night and Albert Cohen's Belle du Seigneur. Of modern literature he knew not a thing.

"You would have said that his culture - if you could call it that - was purely televisual," writes Mr Giesbert.

Comedian Jean-Marie Bigard, a friend of Sarkozy, has mass appeal

The stories about President Sarkozy's supposed cultural ignorance have long done the rounds.

How the headline act at his inauguration concert was the naffest of crooners Gilbert Montagne.

How on once leaving the French state theatre La Comedie-Francaise, he made a hand gesture to indicate the extent of his boredom.

How he took the coarse comedian Jean-Marie Bigard to an audience with the Pope, and how he complained that civil service exams included questions on 17th century literature.

This was a Sarkozy who knew he was despised by the Paris cultural elite, and decided to give back as good as he got.

Then along came Carla.

For Franz-Oliver Giesbert - who edits Le Point news magazine and is one of the most distinguished observers of the French political scene - the Italian singer-cum-model is the best thing that ever happened to the president.

Continue reading the main story

Carla definitely pushed him at the start, but then she took the stabilisers off the bike, and now I think Sarkozy is quite happy pedalling by himself”

End Quote Jerome Garcin Arts presenter Not only has she "taught him good manners" and generally "calmed him down", she has also opened his eyes to culture.

Nowadays, the presidential couple apparently spend their evenings watching films and reading.

Where the old Sarkozy once boasted that his favourite film was Saving Private Ryan, today he can discourse at length on the Danish classic film director Carl Theodor Dreyer or the German Ernst Lubitsch.

Last month, according to Liberation newspaper, Mr Sarkozy hosted a dinner at the Elysee for four actors who had each played the part of a French president on stage or screen (including Denis Podalydes as Sarkozy).

We learn that there followed a conversation about theatre, film and literature, which left the actor Michel Vuillermoz (de Gaulle) "seduced".

"I found (Sarkozy) courteous, elegant and curious," he was quoted as saying.

For Franz-Oliver Giesbert, "Today (the president) no longer looks like a lost child… when the conversation turns to the arts."

A number of questions spring to mind when contemplating this transformation. First of all, how deep does it go?

The Comedie-Francaise might not be everybody's cup of tea

It is well-known that Sarkozy has an extraordinarily retentive mind as well as a capacity for obsession.

Could it be that he has simply swotted his way to sophistication in a bid to please his wife?

That is certainly the view of Jerome Garcin, presenter of the arts programme Le Masque et la Plume (The Mask and the Quill) on France-Inter radio.

"I am very doubtful," he said. "When it comes to culture, I do not believe in that kind of metamorphosis. You can't suddenly switch from Spielberg to Dreyer and be sincere about it."

The writer Yann Moix is marginally more indulgent. "Carla definitely pushed him at the start, but then she took the stabilisers off the bike, and now I think Sarkozy is quite happy pedalling by himself."

Another question concerns the politics of it all.

Continue reading the main story

If he'd just crammed a few books in the preceding days, I would have seen through him”

End Quote Franz-Oliver Giesbert Sarkozy biographer If Mr Sarkozy is rebranding himself as an aesthete ahead of next year's presidential election, is that necessarily a wise move? After all, the president's whole career has been built around rejection of the Paris elite, and as a policy it has served him pretty well.

Most voters would share his apparent boredom in the Comedie-Francaise, and they will not have even heard of Carl Theodor Dreyer. As for the crude comic and Papal buddy Jean-Marie Bigard, he is well-liked by the masses and actually quite funny.

Perhaps by aping the language of the Left Bank salons, Mr Sarkozy risks both the derision of those he aspires to and the contempt of those he leaves behind.

But there is a deeper, psychological aspect to this story, which Mr Giesbert - no fan of the president - grasps at in his biography.

In the last chapter of Monsieur le President, Giesbert describes a lunch at the Elysee in February this year.

The journalist finds himself utterly bewildered by the extent of Sarkozy's learning. The conversation starts with literature, as the president sings the praises of the late anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss.

They move through the French classics before coming to modern American books - a speciality of Mr Giesbert, who is surprised when President Sarkozy corrects his memory of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

They discuss Albert Camus, and the president tells how on a recent trip to Algeria he made a detour to the town of Tipasa because it was the scene of Camus' 1938 book Nuptials.

"When the journalists asked me why, I said 'If you don't understand that's your problem'," Mr Sarkozy said.

Mr Giesbert feels utterly nonplussed.

"I have known Nicolas Sarkozy for 25 years, and never once have I had a glimpse of this side of his personal universe. If he'd just crammed a few books in the preceding days, I would have seen through him.

"If his knowledge is recent, which I cannot help but suspect, then he has already read an awful lot.

"But I owe it to the truth to say that contrary to the legend that I myself have fostered, the president is anything but uncultured."

Mr Sarkozy, Franz-Oliver Giesbert concludes, has indeed changed.

"He is no longer exactly the same man. Perhaps finally he has started to discover who he really is."

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Renault must improve - Boullier

Venue: HungaroringDate: 29-31 JulyFriday 29 July: First practice: 0855-1035, BBC Red Button/online; Second practice: 1255-1435, BBC Red Button/online Saturday 30 July: Third practice: 0955-1105, BBC Red Button/BBC Radio 5 live sports extra/online; Qualifying: 1210-1420, BBC One/BBC Radio 5 live/online Sunday 31 July: Grand Prix live: 1205-1525, BBC One/BBC Radio 5 live/online; F1 forum: 1525-1625, BBC Red Button/online; Highlights: 1900-2000, BBC Three/Red Button Nick Heidfeld was third in Malaysia but has struggled since Renault team boss Eric Boullier has called for a drastic improvement at this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Boullier has seen Vitaly Petrov score points in only two of his last six races, while Nick Heidfeld crashed out at the German Grand Prix on Sunday.

The pair have picked up 66 points between them and the team are fifth in the constructors' championship.

Boullier said: "I've made no secret of the fact I'm not satisfied with where we are."

Renault's campaign started strongly as Petrov claimed third in the opening race in Australia and Heidfeld matched that at the second round in Malaysia.

But the team have fallen off the pace and are currently 12 points behind fourth-placed Mercedes in the standings.

Boullier added: "We went to the Nurburgring with some developments to the car, which gave us higher hopes going into the weekend.

"We gained another point, but we were well below par, and it was not the weekend we expected it to be. It was not good enough.

"We started the season well, but that feels like a while ago now and we have to face the facts, which are that we've been off the pace and we are trying hard to put that right."

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UK holds second royal wedding

30 July 2011 Last updated at 14:55 GMT Mike Tindall and Zara Phillips emerge from Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh The Queen's granddaughter Zara Phillips has married England rugby player Mike Tindall at a ceremony in Edinburgh.

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh were among those at the wedding in Canongate Kirk on a sunny Royal Mile.

Hundreds of well-wishers lined the streets for Scotland's first royal wedding in almost 20 years.

Prince Charles and Camilla, Prince William and Catherine, and Prince Harry were also attending the ceremony and reception at Holyroodhouse.

The Reverend Neil Gardner welcomed guests up the Royal Mile, including the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh.

The bride's dress, an ivory silk and satin gown, was designed by Stewart Parvin, one of the Queen's favourite couturiers. This was accompanied by a veil, tiara and Jimmy Choo shoes.

It is Scotland's first royal wedding in almost 20 years

The doors of the Canongate Kirk were closed to the press and public, but hundreds of well-wishers gathered in Edinburgh's Old Town to watch the arrival and departure of the Royal Family.

After the ceremony the couple emerged arm-in-arm, stood on the steps to the entrance to the 17 Century kirk and shared a kiss.

The newlyweds arrived back at the palace as the Royal Scots Association pipe band played.

Among the crowds who turned out for the day was Jackie Rushton, 48, from Yorkshire, who told BBC Scotland: "I just love anything to do with the Royal Family, I'm a big fan, I have great respect for them."

Another well-wisher, Margaret Kittle, 76, travelled from Winona in Canada to see the wedding.

She said: "I've come to all the royal weddings since Princess Anne and Mark Phillips' wedding.

"I like to come to the weddings and all the royal occasions that I can, because the Queen is queen of Canada."

Continue reading the main story

Zara Phillips is believed to be setting a royal precedent by not taking the surname of Mike Tindall.

Even when they marry commoners, Royal brides have always adopted the family name of their partners.

When Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, daughter of Princess Margaret and the Earl of Snowdon, wed Daniel Chatto in 1994 she took on his name.

Zara's decision appears to be based on the fact she wants to preserve her sporting persona and business interests.

The former equestrian world champion is known throughout the sport as Zara Phillips and she has signed a number of deals which help fund her sporting interests.

Other guests included Prince Andrew and his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

The private afternoon ceremony will be followed by a reception at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

The couple hosted a pre-wedding party on the royal yacht Britannia, which is moored in Leith, on Friday night.

They had previously attended a rehearsal for the ceremony at the kirk with the bride's parents, Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips.

Princess Anne's second marriage, to Timothy Laurence, was the last Scottish royal wedding in 1992.

Zara, 30, will keep her maiden name when she marries. It is understood this is because of her sporting career in equestrianism.

Mr Tindall, from Otley in Yorkshire, plays for club side Gloucester and has been capped more than 60 times for his country.

He invited some of England's best-known rugby players to the wedding.

He and best man Iain Balshaw were part of England's winning 2003 rugby World Cup squad in Australia, where the couple were introduced by Zara's cousin Prince Harry.

Lothian and Borders Police said they had been working with the Palace and Edinburgh City Council to ensure the event's smooth running.

Supt Ivor Marshall, who is the Silver Commander responsible for overseeing security arrangements, said the kirk's location, close to both the Scottish Parliament and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, yet set on the busy tourist hub of the Royal Mile, presented unique challenges.

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Rangers 0-1 Malmo

By Alistair Magowan
BBC Sport Larsson (right) celebrates his well-taken opener after 18 minutes Rangers face an uphill battle to qualify for the next round of the Champions League after losing the first leg of their qualifier against Malmo.

The Swedes took the lead on 18 minutes when a flick from Wilton Figueiredo set up Daniel Larsson, who smashed in.

Rangers improved and should have overturned the deficit but Steven Naismith shot wide twice in succession.

Malmo kept Rangers keeper Allan McGregor busy and, though Steve Davis went close, the hosts could not reply.

Figueiredo was a constant threat for the Swedish champions and he twice had shots well saved, one a free-kick and another a curling effort after a fine counter attack.

Yet the way in which Ally McCoist's side failed to make a breakthrough in this third qualifying round tie leaves them a huge task in the return leg on 3 August, with thoughts of making the group stages a long way off.

They will need to begin better than they did on this occasion - they were sluggish at the start and it was from Steven Whittaker's mistake that Larsson struck what proved to be the winner.

The Rangers defender lost possession on the right side of his own penalty box, allowing Malmo to pounce, and Larsson fired in to give further encouragement to their already vocal fans.

Rangers improved following David Weir's hamstring injury after half an hour, which made them change tactics and employ two centre-backs rather than three.

And soon afterwards Davis carved out their first real chance by going close with a free-kick, before his cross was mistimed by Nikica Jelavic when the striker looked well placed.

Rangers boss McCoist had warned of Malmo's attacking threat before the game and Larsson missed a chance to make it 2-0 soon after the break when he could not connect with Figueiredo's right-wing cross, and the Brazilian forced two fine saves from McGregor.

Rangers should have overturned the deficit in the space of a few minutes, but Naismith missed on two occasions, both chances coming at the back post from Jelavic crosses across goal.

As the hosts increased the pressure on their opponents, Davis shot just over from a well-worked effort, but Malmo were always a threat on the break and McCoist can have few complaints in what proved to be an open but frustrating encounter.

The difference was Larsson, a name that has already caused Rangers fans torment in the past.

And his strike will create extra pressure for the next encounter, with qualification for the group stage crucial to Rangers' financial situation.

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

Champions Lge qualifying

Final Result Full Time 90:00+2:09 The referee ends the match. 90:00+1:40 The ball is sent over by Sasa Papac, save made by Dusan Melicharek. 89:40 Lee Wallace delivers the ball. 88:38 Effort on goal by Palazon Juanma Ortiz from just inside the area clears the bar. 86:58 The ball is delivered by Steven Whittaker, Jiloan Hamad manages to make a clearance. 85:34 Amin Nazari sends in a cross, save by Allan McGregor. 82:36 Palazon Juanma Ortiz sends in a cross, Pontus Jansson makes a clearance. 82:18 Inswinging corner taken left-footed by Lee Wallace, save by Dusan Melicharek. 82:05 Steven Whittaker crosses the ball, blocked by Jiloan Hamad. 81:49 Jiloan Hamad gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Steven Naismith. Free kick taken by Maurice Edu. 81:09 Jimmy Durmaz takes a outswinging corner to the near post, clearance by Sasa Papac. 80:58 Jiloan Hamad takes a shot. Save by Allan McGregor. 80:43 Outswinging corner taken right-footed by Jimmy Durmaz, Sasa Papac makes a clearance. 80:29 Substitution Fernandez Yago comes on in place of Daniel Larsson. 80:08 Dardan Rexhepi takes a shot. Allan McGregor makes a save. 78:52 Shot on goal by Steven Davis from just inside the area goes over the target. 76:20 A cross is delivered by Steven Whittaker. 74:42 Inswinging corner taken left-footed by Lee Wallace played to the near post, clearance by Ivo Pekalski. 74:30 The ball is crossed by Steven Naismith, blocked by Jiloan Hamad. 73:58 Amin Nazari gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Palazon Juanma Ortiz. Steven Davis crosses the ball in from the free kick, Daniel Andersson makes a clearance. 73:30 The ball is crossed by Lee Wallace, Nikica Jelavic takes a shot. Save made by Dusan Melicharek. 73:09 The ball is swung over by Steven Davis, Ivo Pekalski manages to make a clearance. 71:22 Effort from the edge of the penalty box by Miljan Mutavdzic goes wide of the right-hand upright. 70:08 Lee Wallace produces a cross, Nikica Jelavic has a headed effort at goal from deep inside the area missing to the right of the goal. 68:43 Substitution Wilton Figueiredo goes off and Dardan Rexhepi comes on. 68:15 A cross is delivered by Nikica Jelavic, Shot from close range by Steven Naismith misses to the left of the goal. 68:05 Centre by Steven Whittaker, Jimmy Durmaz manages to make a clearance. 66:20 Nikica Jelavic sends in a cross, Close range shot by Steven Naismith misses to the left of the target. 65:21 Effort on goal by Lee McCulloch from just inside the penalty box goes harmlessly over the target. 65:14 A cross is delivered by Steven Whittaker, Daniel Andersson manages to make a clearance. 64:04 Nikica Jelavic fouled by Jiloan Hamad, the ref awards a free kick. The free kick is swung in left-footed by Lee Wallace, clearance by Markus Halsti. 63:28 The ball is crossed by Jiloan Hamad. 62:19 Palazon Juanma Ortiz produces a cross. 60:56 The ball is crossed by Steven Whittaker, Nikica Jelavic takes a shot. Blocked by Ivo Pekalski. 58:53 Corner taken by Wilton Figueiredo, Daniel Andersson takes a shot. Save made by Allan McGregor. 58:30 Shot by Wilton Figueiredo. Save made by Allan McGregor. 57:50 Steven Whittaker sends in a cross, Nikica Jelavic takes a shot. Dusan Melicharek makes a save. 56:17 Booking Lee Wallace is shown a yellow card for unsporting behaviour. 54:47 Palazon Juanma Ortiz crosses the ball. 54:20 Daniel Larsson is caught offside. Indirect free kick taken by Allan McGregor. 53:10 Substitution Amin Nazari comes on in place of Agon Mehmeti. 52:36 Corner taken by Steven Davis from the right by-line to the near post, clearance made by Wilton Figueiredo. 52:16 Lee McCulloch takes a shot. Save made by Dusan Melicharek. 51:03 Lee Wallace sends in a cross, Steven Naismith takes a shot. 50:37 Jiloan Hamad concedes a free kick for a foul on Steven Naismith. Free kick crossed by Steven Davis, Palazon Juanma Ortiz manages to make a clearance. 49:33 Wilton Figueiredo takes the outswinging corner, Miljan Mutavdzic produces a header from inside the area that goes over the crossbar. 48:53 Sasa Papac gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Wilton Figueiredo. Wilton Figueiredo takes the direct free kick. 48:53 Booking Booking for Sasa Papac. 46:43 Foul by Ivo Pekalski on Lee McCulloch, free kick awarded. Free kick taken by Steven Davis. 46:23 The ball is crossed by Wilton Figueiredo, Daniel Larsson takes a shot. 45:01 The referee gets the second half started. Half Time 45:00+2:43 The referee calls an end to the first half. 45:00+2:06 Inswinging corner taken by Lee McCulloch, Madjid Bougherra takes a shot. Blocked by Jiloan Hamad. 45:00+2:00 Lee Wallace sends in a cross, blocked by Markus Halsti. 45:00+1:32 Palazon Juanma Ortiz produces a cross, clearance by Daniel Andersson. 44:43 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Agon Mehmeti by Lee Wallace. Agon Mehmeti restarts play with the free kick. 44:04 Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Daniel Andersson by Maurice Edu. Dusan Melicharek takes the free kick. 42:03 The ball is crossed by Sasa Papac. 40:25 The ball is delivered by Steven Davis, Shot by Nikica Jelavic from deep inside the penalty area misses to the left of the goal. 37:49 The offside flag is raised against Nikica Jelavic. Free kick taken by Daniel Andersson. 36:35 Inswinging corner taken left-footed by Lee Wallace, Madjid Bougherra has an effort at goal from just inside the box that misses to the left of the target. 35:27 Unfair challenge on Sasa Papac by Miljan Mutavdzic results in a free kick. Direct free kick taken by Allan McGregor. 34:43 Nikica Jelavic crosses the ball, save by Dusan Melicharek. 31:00 Steven Whittaker has an effort at goal from just inside the box that misses to the right of the target. 30:33 Short corner worked by Steven Davis, Palazon Juanma Ortiz sends in a cross, Daniel Andersson manages to make a clearance. 29:18 The referee penalises Wilton Figueiredo for handball. Steven Davis produces a shot on goal direct from the free kick, brilliant save by Dusan Melicharek. 29:18 Booking Booking for Wilton Figueiredo for unsporting behaviour. 28:17 Pontus Jansson gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Steven Naismith. Shot comes in from Nikica Jelavic from the free kick, Wilton Figueiredo gets a block in. 28:17 Substitution David Weir goes off and Palazon Juanma Ortiz comes on. 26:58 Unfair challenge on Wilton Figueiredo by Steven Davis results in a free kick. Wilton Figueiredo fires a strike on goal direct from the free kick, save made by Allan McGregor. 25:37 Ivo Pekalski crosses the ball, save by Allan McGregor. 24:48 David Weir concedes a free kick for a foul on Daniel Larsson. Direct free kick taken by Jimmy Durmaz. 24:14 Steven Naismith sends in a cross. 24:04 The ball is swung over by Steven Whittaker, Daniel Andersson manages to make a clearance. 23:11 Wilton Figueiredo produces a right-footed shot from just outside the penalty box that goes wide left of the target. 22:43 Centre by Lee Wallace. 21:26 Centre by Steven Naismith, clearance by Daniel Andersson. 20:44 Maurice Edu takes a shot. Blocked by Miljan Mutavdzic. 17:02 The assist for the goal came from Wilton Figueiredo. 17:02 GOAL - Daniel Larsson:Rangers 0 - 1 Malmo Daniel Larsson grabs a goal from the edge of the penalty box to the top left corner of the goal. Rangers 0-1 Malmo FF. 15:07 Daniel Larsson fouled by David Weir, the ref awards a free kick. Ivo Pekalski crosses the ball in from the free kick. 14:10 Centre by Steven Whittaker, Headed effort on goal by Nikica Jelavic from inside the penalty box misses to the right of the target. 11:23 Steven Davis sends in a cross, clearance by Pontus Jansson. 9:14 Lee McCulloch concedes a free kick for a foul on Miljan Mutavdzic. Jimmy Durmaz restarts play with the free kick. 8:16 Daniel Larsson produces a left-footed shot from deep inside the penalty box which goes wide of the left-hand upright. 7:58 Wilton Figueiredo takes a shot. Save by Allan McGregor. 5:58 Steven Davis delivers the ball, save made by Dusan Melicharek. 2:01 A cross is delivered by Steven Whittaker. 0:44 Daniel Larsson takes a shot. 0:00 The referee gets the match started. Live text and data provided by The Press Association.

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Steps to recovery

By Justin Rowlatt
BBC News, Reykjavik

Nearly three years after the Icelandic economy imploded, the country appears to be recovering, and some believe its approach may offer a possible solution to Europe's debt problems.

Iceland does not seem like a country in the grip of a crisis.

On my first day the sun was shining brightly and out in Reykjavik's main shopping area the shops and boutiques, the cafes and restaurants were busy. Indeed, Reykjavik seemed pretty much like any other prosperous northern European city.

Yet Iceland was hit hardest by the credit crunch in 2008. Its current recovery is why Iceland is being held up as the model for an alternative way to deal with the debt that plagues so many economies.

That is because when Iceland's banks went spectacularly bust, instead of pouring in billions of taxpayers' money to shore them up, Iceland just closed them down.

Their debts were so huge that, in truth, the country had little choice. Nevertheless, it was a radical strategy. Iceland effectively said "stuff you" to the banks' creditors.

Foreign debts were written off - including $8bn (?4.9bn) of deposits from savers in the UK and Holland. "Bankrupting your way to recovery," it has been called.

Iceland's president is certainly convinced the strategy is working. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson reels off a series of impressive economic statistics when I meet him in his stark mansion on a forbidding spit of land jutting out into the bay outside Reykjavik.

He tells me how the economy is now growing faster than that of most other European countries and with a lower public sector deficit. Unemployment is falling and Iceland has just raised a billion dollars at favourable rates on the international market.

But Iceland's approach is about much more than just getting its banking sector in order, the president tells me. It is also about affirming the will of the people over the financial institutions.

"In Europe there is a conflict between the democratic will of the people and the interests of the financial markets," he tells me earnestly, leaning forward over his antique desk.

He believes if Europe is not about democracy then the European project means nothing.

Iceland ignored the dire warnings of disaster from the ratings agencies and other institutions, says the Icelandic president, and the country is doing OK.

The implication is clear - other countries should follow the Icelandic example.

But Iceland had a key weapon in its armoury that is not open to the indebted eurozone nations - Iceland had its own currency, the krona. And, when the banks collapsed, the krona did too.

That is a key reason why Reykjavik is now so busy. Prices have effectively halved for most tourists. From being one of the most expensive cities on earth, Reykjavik has become, well, just a bit pricey.

But, as Gunnar, the taxi driver who drove me back from the presidential mansion explained, the collapse in the krona has cost many Icelanders dear.

Virtually everything here is imported and when the currency devalued, prices for everything from cars, to building materials, to food, soared. And at the same time wages fell.

It has been a very painful squeeze, Gunnar says, made considerably worse by the fact that during the boom years many Icelanders were encouraged to take loans in foreign currencies and now they have doubled - sometimes even tripled - in value too.

"I'll never pay my loans back," Gunnar tells me. "Better just to walk away from it - let them have my house."

Debt trap

Gunnar seems resigned to the loss but he is just one of thousands of Icelanders in a similar situation. In a modest office on the outskirts of Reykjavik I met another of them, Guomundur Andri Skulason.

Mr Skulason believes Iceland's financial problems are far from over

He is much less sanguine than Gunnar. He set up an Association of Debtors to fight for debtors' rights.

Mr Skulason quotes central bank figures showing that 25,000 households are in arrears on their debts - that is nearly a quarter of all households in Iceland. Last March the minister of finance put the figure at more like 40% of households, he tells me.

Mortgages and other loans are a huge part of the assets of the new banks that Iceland formed out of the wreckage of the old.

Mr Skulason believes that when the Icelandic people realise that they can never pay off their debts they will - like Gunnar - just walk away from them. Then the real reckoning will come.

"Don't believe that Iceland has escaped its problems," he says. "This country and its banks are still bankrupt."

Back in town I wander up a windswept hill in the centre of Reykjavik to look at the magnificent statue of Ingolfur Arnarson, Iceland's first settler. He stands tall in full Viking regalia up against the prow of his longship, a huge sword by his side.

Once he would have had a clear view away over the fierce waters of the north Atlantic, out towards the coast of Greenland. Not any more.

The mighty Viking now stares down upon a square black fortress of an office block. This ugly building houses the Icelandic central bank.

It seems that, despite Iceland's best efforts, there is no easy way to escape the debt trap. Ingolfur's Viking vigil over the central bank is, I reflect, perhaps more appropriate than it first seems.

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VW unveils an ultra-efficient car

25 January 2011 Last updated at 18:23 GMT By Jorn Madslien Business reporter, BBC News Improved aerodynamics and weight reductions enable the car to use a smaller engine Volkswagen has made a car it says can travel 313 miles on a gallon of diesel, and that emits just 24 grammes of carbon dioxide per kilometre travelled.

The XL1, which seats two adults, combines a 0.8 litre two cylinder diesel engine with an electric motor.

The car is constructed around a carbon fibre reinforced polymer monocoque to reduce the weight to just 795 kilos.

German rival BMW is also making an electric carbon fibre car, while Mercedes is to make carbon fibre parts.

Their efforts show how the motor industry is increasingly working to improve aerodynamics and reduce weight, in order to supplement improvements in cars' engines.

On the engine front, electrification is becoming mainstream even though pure electric cars are expected to remain niche products for decades yet.

Instead, carmakers are increasingly combining conventional solutions, such as petrol or diesel engines, with battery-powered solutions.

"All sorts of mixes will come to the fore," said Jim O'Donnell, BMW North America's chief executive, in an interview with BBC News.

The Volkswagen XL1 is to be formally unveiled at the Qatar motor show on Tuesday night.

The carmaker says it can accelerate from nought to 100 kilometres per hour (60 miles per hour) in 11.9 seconds.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger museum open

30 July 2011 Last updated at 12:22 GMT By Bethany Bell BBC News, Graz Bethany Bell takes a look around the new museum in Arnold Schwarzenegger's childhood home

Arnold Schwarzenegger's childhood home in Austria has opened as a museum.

It came as the former Mr Universe, who went on to be a Hollywood star and governor of California, turned 64.

On display at the museum are his childhood bed, a motorbike from one of the Terminator films, some of his first dumb-bells, and a copy of the desk he used as governor of California.

The family lived in the first floor flat with no electricity or running water

Mr Schwarzenegger left the village of Thal, near the city of Graz, in 1966, but has given the project his blessing.

A plaque by the door reads "Arnold Schwarzenegger's Birth House Museum," although one of the locals later told me he was born in a nearby hospital.

He lived with his family in the modest first floor flat from his birth in 1947 until 1966 when he left to pursue his dreams of winning the Mr Universe competition.

Pit toilet

It was a humble beginning. The flat had no electricity and no running water.

The museum shows the house's original pit toilet, and a 1950s kitchen, with a washstand and jugs for collecting water.

In one of the rooms, the star's childhood bed is on display. "This is where he first started to dream of success," the curator, Peter Urdl told me.

It was while he was living in Thal, that he first started pumping iron.

Schwarzenegger found early success as a bodybuilder

As well as trophies and photographs from his early days of bodybuilding, the museum also has some of his first dumb-bells.

And it has his original home work-out machine, a pulley with weights attached which hung in a door frame inside the flat.

The museum charts his obsessive training routine and describes how his success at bodybuilding led him eventually to Hollywood.

And it has a collection of Schwarzenegger movie memorabilia, including a Harley Davidson motorbike from one of the Terminator films and a sword from Conan the Barbarian.

Continue reading the main story

He was a little farm boy and his career was so exciting... I think the Austrian people are really proud”

End Quote Helga Forstner Museum co-ordinator Visitors to the museum can pose next to a life-size model of Arnie as the Terminator.

Controversy

The museum also has a section dedicated to his time as governor of California, including a facsimile of his desk.

Although he lives half a world away, Schwarzenegger's exploits are closely followed in Austria.

A number of his policies as governor were controversial here, including his support for the death penalty.

His name was taken off a stadium in the neighbouring town of Graz in 2005, when he rejected pleas to spare the life of a California gang leader.

The museum bills itself as the world's only Schwarzenegger museum

But while Austrians are not always comfortable with his politics, many of them are nonetheless fascinated.

"He was a little farm boy and his career was so exciting and so special and I think the Austrian people are really proud," Helga Forstner, the museum co-ordinator told me.

"He always comes to visit Thal when he is in Austria," she said. "He came here on 21 June and he was really excited about the exhibits."

Thal continued to play a role in his life, years after he left home. One photograph shows the rowing boat in which he proposed to his now estranged wife, Maria Shriver, on a nearby lake.

But the exhibition does not touch on her recent filing for divorce. Mr Schwarzenegger recently admitted fathering a child with the couple's long-time housekeeper.

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Strauss-Kahn 'civil suit' threat

28 July 2011 Last updated at 21:23 GMT Nafissatou Diallo: ''We cry every day''

The hotel maid who accuses ex-IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape may file a civil suit if prosecutors do not press criminal charges, her lawyer says.

The Manhattan district attorney's office has publicly announced they had doubts about the credibility of Nafissatou Diallo's allegations.

Making her first public appearance, Ms Diallo spoke of the pain the case had caused her and her family.

Mr Strauss-Kahn has denied the charges.

"What she wants is justice and if the prosecutors are not going to bring this case to trial then we have to look for justice and what I look forward to is putting this case before a jury," Ms Diallo's lawyer, Kenneth Thompson told a news conference.

When pressed by journalists when he might launch this case, he said: "Soon. Soon is soon."

On Wednesday, Ms Diallo and Mr Thompson met prosecutors for eight hours.

Continue reading the main story Laura Trevelyan BBC News, New York

Flanked by her lawyer and her supporters, a tearful Nafissatou Diallo told a crowded room full of reporters and camera crews that she doesn't want other women to suffer in the way that she has.

Ms Diallo's supporters suggested race and class may be factors in the way the case had been handled, and accused the Manhattan district attorney of throwing Ms Diallo under a bus by questioning her credibility.

There's speculation that the prosecution is weighing up whether to drop the charges against Mr Strauss Kahn.

It's highly unusual for a witness in a criminal case to speak out to the media before giving an account to the jury - Ms Diallo's decision to give interviews to ABC News and Newsweek three days ago prompted legal experts to say that she was trying to put pressure on the prosecution not to drop the charges.

It was their first meeting since the Manhattan district attorney's office said it had doubts about her credibility because of false statements on her asylum application and a taped recording of a telephone conversation between Ms Diallo and a friend in an Arizona jail.

Mr Thompson said a translated transcript revealed that the conversation, the day after the alleged attempted rape, focused on what had happened to Ms Diallo, and not on Mr Strauss-Kahn's wealth.

Ms Diallo was reported to have discussed with the man how to obtain money from the French politician.

'Stop crying'

Mr Thompson was speaking after Ms Diallo made a emotional public appeal for people to believe her allegations.

"A lot of things people say about me are not true," she continued.

Her daughter, she said, had told her: "You have to remember this guy is a powerful man - everybody knows that. But for you, only the people who work with you, your neighbours, the people back home, know you.

"But those people say good things about you because they know you. Please mum, stop crying, be strong for me."

She said she had promised her daughter she would be strong "for you and every other woman in the world".

"What happened to me I don't want to happen to any other woman," she said.

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Spartan lives

29 July 2011 Last updated at 00:46 GMT By Paul Henley BBC News, Sparta King Leonidas, taking aim at ancient Sparta's old enemy, Athens The BBC's Paul Henley detects stirrings of dissent in Sparta as middle-class Greeks hit by the country's economic woes aim their ire at the Athens government.

Yiannis did not expect to be back in his sleepy home town of Sparta, in the Greek Peloponnese, at the age of 30.

He sees his return as a personal defeat.

Up until 18 months ago, the business graduate had a career in Athens for a finance company.

But his job was a casualty of a national economic collapse that dwarfs most others in Europe and, ever since, he has been unable to find work.

He ended up moving back in with his parents where he grew up.

Having made constant unsuccessful applications for work, he says the growing feeling of uselessness is reducing him as a person.

"Now," he says, "I can't dream as I did before, I can't be optimistic about life or have any real ambitions. Perhaps my only chance is to move abroad."

War against Athens

Yiannis is one of a group who call themselves the "Indignant Spartans" and who went on a 250km protest march to Athens.

Yiannis - one of the "indignant Spartans"

The three-day march, in May, was a vent for their anger and a way of publicly underlining their belief that ordinary Greeks had been betrayed by their political elite and by the murky world of international finance.

About 10 of the group are sitting around a table, at dusk, at a friend's pavement cafe.

They are, frugally, drinking water in the shadow of a statue of Sparta's ancient king, Leonidas, a symbol of the days when Sparta waged a bitter war against Athens.

These days, much of that bitterness is returning.

The "Indignant Spartans'' stories are a microcosm of the troubles facing citizens everywhere in Greece, as another national austerity package kicks in, living costs and taxes rocket, consumers rein in spending, wages fall and jobs are lost.

And although the calm, olive and palm tree-lined streets these Spartans inhabit, amid the constant hum of cicadas, seem a world away from the tear gas and the pitched battles outside parliament in Athens, the spirit of provincial rebellion seems to be growing fast.

Vasilis, who is 33, puts it like this: "Sometimes during the past two months I have started to understand how easy it would be to turn, in an instant, from being a good, law-abiding, tax-paying citizen - into a terrorist."

He is not the idle, state-reliant Greek familiar from mocking articles in the foreign press recently.

'Angry inside'

Vasilis is an entrepreneur who built up a highly successful business chain from scratch during a working life which began, he says, at the age of 12 and has regularly involved 18-hour days.

In the past year, he says he has lost €800,000 ($1,150,000; ?700,000).

Vasilis's restaurant and catering business faces bankruptcy

A single cafe became a collection of restaurants and a mobile catering business with regular wedding and business contracts.

As customers began to trail off, Vasilis put his capital into a scheme to build a hotel on the coast.

But the scheme was reliant on government-approved loans and grants which disappeared in the crisis. The hotel was never finished and he is looking bankruptcy in the face.

"I feel very angry inside," he says.

"When you try to do the best for your country and your children and your neighbours, you still get treated like garbage by the authorities," he says.

"It is psychological violence. Maybe the terrorists we see on the television - this is the process they have gone through."

His words are greeted with nods around the table.

Personal revolution

Constantina says she has been independent since she was 17 and now, at the age of 43, finds herself borrowing money from her parents.

She set up a graphic design business eight years ago. Labels for agricultural products and flyers for local shops are her mainstay.

Constantina's graphic design business is starved of business

All her clients are desperate to save money. She feels penalised by a tax system she predicts will be the final straw for her business within the next year.

"Maybe marching is the only way I can remain an active citizen of this country," she says.

George, who is 45, is a secondary school teacher and one of those supposed to feel thankful for the relative security of his job.

"I do not feel at all lucky," he says.

"Civil servants' salaries were a number one target in the cuts and that will continue."

He feels the faith he had in the future has gone. A house he was building for his family has been left a concrete shell.

"The next few years will be the hardest of our lives," he says. "The Ministry of Education has already begun closing schools."

"The situation makes me want to revolt," says Panagiotis, a pastry chef in his 40s.

The business he set up with his nephew is at risk from a dramatic loss of customers recently and a simultaneous hike in costs.

The macaroons, mini ice-creams and chocolate eclairs he makes are among the first to be crossed off people's shopping lists in difficult times.

The handful of people they employ have already taken pay cuts. Some could soon be made redundant.

"I worry for my family," he says.

"What will happen if I can not pay back the loans on the business? I want to go out into the streets and shout about it."

His words are a thinly-veiled warning to Athens: "I want people to understand that my personal revolution must become a national revolution."

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Shhh! Shallow stealth tactics of beaked whales

25 July 2011 Last updated at 05:01 By Matt Walker Editor, BBC Nature Blainville's beaked whales, which are among the world's most enigmatic cetacea, go silent in shallow waters.

Researchers have discovered that the whales refuse to communicate with each other near the surface.

By becoming silent, the whales enter a stealth mode that prevents them being detected by predatory killer whales.

The study, one of the first to record how beaked whales communicate, also recorded sounds made at the deepest recorded depth by any mammal.

Beaked whales are deep-diving, toothed whales.

Little is known about them, in part because they spend so much of their time in the ocean depths.

Some species have been barely sighted, and scientists suspect there may be more species of beaked whale awaiting discovery.

Continue reading the main story

Keeping silent near the surface is an unexpected behaviour and strikingly in contrast with that of other toothed whales”

End Quote Dr Aguilar and colleagues writing in Marine Mammal Science Also, very little is known about how beaked whales communicate or avoid predators.

So Natacha Aguilar of La Laguna University in Tenerife, Spain and colleagues at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, US and Aarhus University, Denmark, conducted the first study into how beaked whales communicate when diving.

Using suction cups, the researchers attached electronic listening devices to eight Blainville's beaked whales, recording them for 102 hours in total.

They recorded the sounds made by the whales though the water column, as they came up to breathe and swim near the water surface, and also as they dived to depths of 900m.

The results, published in the journal Marine Mammal Science, revealed that Blainville's beaked whales fell silent once they entered waters that are shallower than 170m.

Above this depth, the whales did not communicate with one another at all, while they were also silent when ascending from dives: a climb through the water that could take an average of 19 minutes.

That is despite the fact that these whales spend 60% of the lives swimming in waters shallower than 170m, and would be expected to communicate with one another to maintain social ties, particularly as they swim and dive in close knit groups.

When the whales swam in deeper waters, they did sound off.

Orcas swim and hunt much closer to the surface

At depths below 450m, the whales made a series of echolocation clicks, interspersed with so-called buzzes, tonal whistles and short bouts of repeated clicks.

The whales likely make the echolocation clicks to navigate and hunt prey.

But the whistles and repeated clicks, which the researchers dubbed "rasps", had never been recorded before.

These could serve to help the whales co-ordinate their movements as they disperse at the bottom of a dive to hunt.

The researchers believe that entering a stealth mode when swimming in shallow waters is an anti-predator strategy.

Killer whales, more appropriately known as orcas, are shallow divers that prey on many whale species in shallower waters.

By swimming in stealth mode, the beaked whales avoid broadcasting their location to orcas.

Hiding in the oceans this way may be an effective avoidance strategy, as beaked whales cannot out-swim orcas and have few other defences against them.

"For Blainville's beaked whales that live in cohesive associations and co-ordinate their activities, keeping silent near the surface is an unexpected behaviour and strikingly in contrast with that of other toothed whales," the researchers write in the journal.

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Georgia releases photojournalists

22 July 2011 Last updated at 15:35 GMT Journalists held a support rally in Moscow for the three Georgians this week A court in Georgia has released three photojournalists who were arrested earlier this month and accused of spying for Russia.

The three Georgian photographers were given suspended sentences of up to three years after reaching a plea bargain with prosecutors. The three confessed to involvement in espionage.

Human rights groups accused Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili of intimidating the media.

Russia earlier condemned the arrests.

It called them symptoms of "anti-Russian hysteria". Russia sent thousands of troops into Georgia in 2008 to help separatist rebels in a brief war against Tbilisi's forces.

The three released were: Presidential photographer Irakli Gedenidze, foreign ministry photographer Giorgi Abdaladze and European Pressphoto Agency employee Zurab Kurtsikidze.

The BBC's Damien McGuinness in Tbilisi says plea bargaining is a widespread practice in Georgia, but also a controversial one.

Human rights groups say the practice enables the authorities to strike deals behind closed doors.

In this case such a bargain means that the full evidence of why the photographers were arrested will now not be heard in a proper court hearing.

Our correspondent says the deal may mean freedom for the photographers, but it will further fuel the fears of some journalists, who say the government can use the threat of prison to force admissions of guilt.

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Grave concern

22 July 2011 Last updated at 00:24 GMT By Thomas Doerfler University of Goettingen, Germany On Wednesday 20 July 2011 - the anniversary of the attempt on Hitler's life in 1944 - the public was informed that the grave of Rudolf Hess, the "Fuehrer's deputy", had been razed before daybreak.

Beyond the fascinating coincidence in the date - there will surely be further speculation on this - the decision by Hess's heirs was surprising.

They wanted to commit his mortal remains to the waves and organise a funeral at sea for a man whose mystique and influence on the far-right was strongly linked to the existence of his grave in the Bavarian village of Wunsiedel.

He was already one the most interesting figures in post-war Germany, being the only high-ranking Nazi serving a life sentence imposed by the Nuremberg war-crimes court - Albert Speer, for instance, was released in 1966.

'Anti-German plot' Hess owes his ambiguous fame to the circumstances of his death. He was found hanged in a summer house in Berlin's Spandau Prison, where he had spent the previous 20 years.

The official version - contested by right-wingers of all stripes - was that he committed suicide to end his long imprisonment.

For the German and international far-right movement, this was clear evidence that the powers that be had tried to suppress the truth about an "anti-German" plot dating back to the war years.

According to this version of events, the Allied forces - notably the British secret service - ignored the true purpose of Hess's flight to Britain in 1941. He was taking a peace plan to Churchill, he told his interrogators.

This idea made Hess the perfect figure to portray the Nazis as victims, rather than aggressors.

Britain had started World War II to destroy Germany, and Hess was captured in Scotland to crush the peaceful intentions of Nazi Germany.

Even the fact that Hitler declared him insane did not dent this legend.

Revitalised myth The place where Rudolf Hess's grave once stood has been levelled

Moreover the resurgent Nazi scene in recent years has gradually recognised the potential of this myth to attract young people susceptible to tales of injustice.

What started as a tiny demonstration of a handful of Nazi activists in the 1990s had turned into thousands regularly filling the streets of Wunsiedel by early 2000s.

Everybody who looked at such scenes - including myself and my academic colleagues - felt uncomfortable. Most of the demonstrators were young and dressed like average heavy-metal kids - until you looked at their T-shirts and tattoos.

The Hess myth, modernised to satisfy a desire for victimhood, made the Wundsiedel commemorations alluring to young people. But it also led the Constitutional Court to ban the event in 2005, as the potential for the recruitment of new blood into the Neo-Nazi movement got increasingly obvious.

However the court order had limited effect on such gatherings, which continued less frequently and at a smaller scale elsewhere. But then Hess had become a kind of right-wing Che Guevara, with his portrait on shirts, buttons and posters.

Continue reading the main story 1894: Born in Alexandria, Egypt1914-18: Serves during WWI, ending war as lieutenant1920: Joins Hitler's fledgling Nazi party1923: Imprisoned with Hitler and becomes his secretary1933: Becomes Hitler's deputy after his rise to power1941: Seeks peace with Britain by flying solo to Scotland; detained in Britain1946: Convicted of crimes against peace at Nuremberg Trials and given life sentence1947: Transferred to Spandau Prison in Berlin1987: Found hangedIn the end the family agreed to terminate the lease on the grave.

Thus an event that many would have thought highly improbably until now became reality on Wednesday evening. What might be the consequences of this startling decision?

Nazi zombie

Firstly, it is no coincidence that the relatives and officials chose to eliminate every physical trace of a figure with a vast potential for creating right-wing legends.

As was the case for Osama Bin Laden some weeks ago, the authorities understand the power of a permanent shrine to a highly controversial figure.

It becomes a place of pilgrimage, a focus for irrational and uncontrollable worship.

Secondly, the far-right movement has lost a crucial place embodying myths and legends that give it a friendly face. The neo-Nazis desperately need to celebrate the memory of an attractive "hero" for the benefit of new recruits.

And thirdly, there will be an increased potential for violence of all kinds - from street unrest to digital stalking - by the far-right.

Deprived of a leading rallying figure, the movement will feel that its noble tradition has been humiliated by unjust powers yet again.

Ultimately it is possible that a renewed cult could rise again around Hess, the ultimate Nazi zombie.

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N Ireland police sorry for wedding blunder

22 July 2011 Last updated at 16:42 GMT Yanan Sun and Neil McElwee's wedding was stopped by police A Castlederg man has rejected an apology from the police after they interrupted his wedding on suspicion it was "a sham marriage".

The police wrongly arrested Neil McElwee and his pregnant fiancee, Yanan Sun, moments before the ceremony at the Guildhall in Londonderry on Tuesday.

Chief Inspector John Burrows said the police had acted in good faith, but sometimes they got things wrong.

Mr McElwee said "sorry" would not make up for the distress caused.

The couple were taken to a police station, forced to dress in forensic clothing and separated.

They were held for five hours and only released when their solicitor got involved. They were married the next day in nearby Castlederg.

The police told the couple they were acting on an anonymous tip-off.

They have accepted that they made a mistake and have apologised.

'Mess-up'

However, Mr McElwee said: "It just doesn't add up - something on that scale based on an anonymous letter and some paperwork faxed through about two hours before the wedding. It just doesn't happen like that.

"So there's a lot of questions that need [to be] answered and there's a lot of people responsible for this mess-up.

"An apology? It's just no good - apologies won't give us our day back. It won't make everything better."

Mr McElwee's solicitor Karina Breslin Carlin said: "I do have concerns that the Borders Agency have taken the view here, that if it's alleged this is a sham marriage, it's a great opportunity to go into this wedding ceremony and see how many Chinese nationals are there who may not have the correct paperwork in order.

"You can't replace a man's wedding day, you can't replace a bride walking in on her wedding day to assembled guests. They will never get that moment back, they'll never get those memories back."

One wedding guest has been referred for deportation.

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Sanchez joins Barcelona for £23m

Sanchez, 22, was voted Serie A's best player last season

Alexis Sanchez is set to join Barcelona from Udinese for a fee of ?23m, which could rise as high as ?33m.

The Chilean winger, who will undergo a medical on Monday, has signed a five-year deal with the La Liga and Champions League holders.

Sanchez, 22, was voted Serie A's best player last season having scored 12 times in 31 games.

Sanchez, who has 40 caps for Chile, signed for Udinese in 2006 from Chilean side Cobreloa.

Should the deal reach the maximum ?33m, it will be Barcelona's second most expensive signing having paid Inter Milan ?40m for Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a move that saw Samuel Eto'o move in the opposite direction.

"Sanchez is very young," said Barca coach Pep Guardiola.

"He can play in all three attacking positions, he shows intense defensive skills, he's direct and from what I've been told, he's a very nice kid."

Sanchez was the subject of a bid by Manchester City last month but, despite the Chilean being open to a move to the Etihad Stadium according to boss Roberto Mancini, City withdrew their bid.

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Sponsorship cycle

13 July 2011 Last updated at 23:01 GMT By Alex Murray BBC News The Tour has had a chequered time in recent years The Tour de France has witnessed glory and scandal in almost equal measure over its 100-year history.

The legacy of the period between the early 1990s and mid-2000s - when doping was allowed to become endemic in the sport - is still being felt today.

Despite efforts to escape this past, it is still hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons.

Earlier this week Russian Alexandr Kolobnev denied any wrongdoing after testing positive for banned diuretic hydrochlorothiazide on the Tour.

'Concern'

"The sport is still in a state of transition." says Prof Simon Chadwick, expert in sports marketing and business at Coventry University.

"That's reflected in the relatively benign values for cycling team costs and sponsorship deals, because there is still a concern that any time a scandal might break and it may have ramifications for the sponsors involved."

But for Bob Stapleton, owner of Mark Cavendish's HTC-Highroad team, this should be seen in the context of a wider downturn in sponsorship values.

"Ten to 15 million euros goes a long way, when before it was more like 25 to 50 million," says Mr Stapleton.

He says outside major sponsorships such as Manchester United, prices are down substantially.

Bob Stapleton of HTC-Highroad says sponsorship values have fallen

When Gerard Vroomen's bike company, Cervelo, moved from being a bike supplier to team sponsor in 2009, it took advantage of the tough climate to sign Carlos Sastre, winner of the 2008 Tour, as their star rider.

"When we started our own team, it was the lowest point, but that also made it possible to have a modest budget and a really good team," says Mr Vroomen.

"Despite all the upheavals in the sport, the return for sponsors has remained very good."

He says while cycling viewership is stable or up in most areas, it has become less expensive to invest in, and thus a good investment.

Merger

The Cervelo Test Team had a strong ethical stance on doping and a modern approach to marketing themselves.

The merged Garmin-Cervelo team has had a good start to the Tour

But that was not enough to attract a title sponsor and at the end of 2010, they merged with Garmin-Transitions, another team strongly identified with efforts to clean up cycling's image.

As Garmin-Cervelo they have enjoyed a hugely successful start to the Tour, providing a great boost for their team's sponsors.

'Image' issues

Mr Stapleton admits finding sponsors is a challenge.

"Image is a part of it, economy is a part of it, but those aren't excuses either, we have to find our way to success," he says.

He took over one of the biggest teams, T-Mobile, at a difficult point and made it one of the most successful - but change has not been easy.

T-Mobile withdrew as a cycling team sponsor at the end of 2007

"There were a number of investigations into the team, and their flagship rider, Jan Ullrich, had been withdrawn on the eve of the Tour in 2006. For them that was the make or break point," says Mr Stapleton.

T-Mobile withdrew backing at the end of 2007, leaving Mr Stapleton, a telecoms entrepreneur, to complete his transformation of the team.

He reformed the team around the sport's "best practice" and changed it from being a "very national German-centric team to being truly international, both in athletes and management".

There are now 20 nations represented in the team, mirroring its new multi-national marketing, which has seen it provide a European presence for US outdoor lifestyle firm Columbia.

"HTC is a very international company that wanted to increase their brand awareness worldwide, but particularly in Europe," he adds, referring to his current title sponsor.

Despite this success, he admits that in challenging economic times "there's been a shift to safe, conservative sponsorships that are not going to cause you any problems and you're not going to get criticised about".

'Kept faith'

To highlight these sensitive points, there have been continued media stories about defending champion Alberto Contador and seven-time winner Lance Armstrong.

Contador tested positive for banned substance clenbuterol on the second rest day of last year's Tour.

He was cleared of wrongdoing by the Spanish federation but the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed against the verdict.

A Court of Arbitration for Sport decision is due in August.

"If Contador was to win and then be disqualified, the UCI would be incredibly exposed commercially," says Prof Chadwick.

"It's incredibly reliant on partners who have kept faith and trusted that the bad days of doping are over. If Contador was disqualified, then the bad days aren't over."

Seven-time winner Armstrong has retired to find himself facing a US federal investigation into allegations of doping, which he consistently has denied.

But the cyclist tweeted in May: "Never a failed test. I rest my case."

'Exciting personality'

With Armstrong's immense presence no longer around, Mr Stapleton recognises a single name - such as Mark Cavendish - is not enough to grow the sport.

There are calls for cyclists such as Mark Cavendish to fill the gap left by the retired Lance Armstrong

"Cavendish is a good example of what we need - a new credible, exciting personality," says Mr Stapleton.

"I'd love to see a half dozen guys like that because I don't think a single dominating figure is enough."

While the sponsor picture for teams can be volatile, the Tour organiser ASO has attracted deals from global companies.

Nestle's Vittel water and Skoda - part of Volkswagen group - are top-tier sponsors, with a highly visible race presence their reward.

Recently Qatar Airways signed an agreement as an official race supplier, joining a list that ranges from sweets (Haribo) to gas products (Antargaz).

'Taking a lead'

However, another cycling body, the UCI, has faced repeated claims it has not driven change in the sport, limiting its growth.

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The Tour has kept it's value because it's your same three weeks in July, the date doesn't change”

End Quote Gerard Vroomen Co-founder Cervelo Cycles "What we have seen in cycling, it's the individual teams that have instigated the rebrand," says Prof Chadwick.

"In reality it should have been the governing body that was taking a lead."

Mr Stapleton agrees, saying there is "no reliable platform" for sponsors to put their money into.

"They want to know they are stepping into a very well-managed sport with a high level of professionalism," he adds.

But he believes the governing body has not developed the sport's commercial interests in a "predictable and safe way". Nor, he feels, has it established a level sporting playing field.

"Our governing body has struggled with that on both dimensions," Mr Stapleton says.

'Enthusiasts'

But Mr Stapleton does see the sport's participation rate as a plus.

"It's a massive participation sport, 160 million enthusiasts in the US and Western Europe alone. You're marketing to people in a sport they actually do."

And Mr Vroomen sees a broader cultural change, with cycling participation on the increase, which may help bring the money and propel it back into the top tier of sports.

"It's a reflection of the focus on health, obesity and transportation," he says.

"The Tour has kept it's value because it's your same three weeks in July, the date doesn't change.

"The events are so powerful, there's so much history there, you can't kill it."

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Eight banks fail EU stress test

15 July 2011 Last updated at 19:34 GMT Banks both inside and outside the eurozone were tested. Eight out of 90 European banks have failed stress tests designed to ensure they can withstand another financial crisis.

The European Banking Authority (EBA), which carried out the healthcheck, said another 16 banks were in the danger zone.

The EBA called on national financial regulators to ensure that capital shortfalls would be quickly resolved.

Five Spanish banks failed, as well as one in Austria and two in Greece.

On Wednesday, Germany's Helaba pulled out of the stress tests, effectively making it the ninth bank to fail.

Eight banks named

In Austria, the Oestereichische Volksbank failed the test, while in Greece two state-controlled banks - ATEbank and EFG Eurobank - fell at the hurdle.

In Spain, Catalunya Caixa, Pastor, Unnim, Caja3 and CAM failed, with seven others just scraping through the test.

Continue reading the main story

Banks will be under pressure to build their capital buffers, regardless of how they fared in the stress test”

End Quote Jason Karaian Economist Intelligence Unit However, Bank of Spain governor Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said there was no need to inject further capital into the banks as the sector was already undergoing a fundamental restructuring.

The EBA added that 16 banks only just passed the tests. All the banks should "promptly" take steps to strengthen their financial cushion, the EBA said.

After the EBA announcement, the Bank of Portugal said two of the country's banks would immediately begin bolstering their finances.

Banco Comercial Portugues, the country's largest listed bank, and Espirito Santo Financial Group, will strengthen their balance sheets within three months.

Debt-heavy Portugal took a 78bn euro (?68bn) bail-out earlier this year. Its economy is forecast to contract 4% over the next two years.

The news came just as Italy's parliament approved a 70bn euro austerity package. The country's central bank said that all Italian banks had passed the tests with "an ample margin".

Default

A key benchmark for passing the test was whether the banks have at least 5% "core tier 1" capital, which describes the best form of capital a bank can hold to make up any losses.

One analyst told the BBC that, while some people would find the results reassuring, others would see them as evidence that the tests were not credible.

He said that demands from the financial authorities that banks began immediately to bolster their core capital "is an acknowledgement that there is a risk of sovereign default".

The failed banks would have to find an estimated 2.5bn euros in new funding by the end of the year, he said.

German bank Helaba disputes the way the authorities carried out its assessment

But analyst Jason Karaian of the Economist Intelligence Unit said that the total extra funding needed by banks would be far higher in the long run.

"Given that the markets are rewarding safety and security over growth and risk, banks will be under pressure to build their capital buffers, regardless of how they fared in the stress test.

"In the end, it would not be surprising to see hundreds of billions of euros raised in the coming quarters, with the most frenzied activity centred on banks with the greatest exposure to the euro area's wobbly periphery," he said.

As expected, the four UK banks passed the test - Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group.

The Financial Services Authority said: "The results support our own stress tests and we are pleased that the major UK banks have capital above the minimum required in the test, reflecting the work we and the banks have undertaken to improve resilience since the crisis."

Stringent

The tests are a key element in fighting Europe's debt crisis, intended to identify weak banks and ensure they are made robust enough to survive a possible default on government bonds by heavily indebted countries such as Greece.

However, the tests did not consider the impact of Greece defaulting, something some analysts believe is increasingly likely.

There have been concerns, including from the ratings agency Standard & Poors, that the tests were not strict enough. However, the EBA said they were more stringent than those it carried out last year.

In 2010, both Irish banks tested, Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Bank, were given a clean bill of health. But just months later, AIB needed a government bail-out.

Each country's national banking regulators carried out a test that simulated what would happen to a bank's finances during a recession where growth falls more than 4 percentage points below EU forecasts.

On Wednesday, German bank Helaba withdrew from the stress tests to avoid public failure.

It said it would have passed the test if regulators counted a debt-equity hybrid, called "silent participation", as a capital reserve, but the EBA, having initially said it would accept this, then changed its mind.

"Under the EBA conditions the bank failed, that is clear," Helaba spokesman Wolfgang Kuss told the AFP news agency on Friday. "From our point of view we were successful," he added.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the 17 eurozone countries will hold an emergency summit next week in a bid to agree a deal on a second bail-out for Greece, the EU president announced Friday night.

Herman Van Rompuy called the meeting after disagreement over the contribution of banks and other private investors to a second rescue package.

The disagreement has overshadowed the financial markets, prompting some of the biggest share price falls for months.

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Hushovd battles to stage 13 win

Dates: 2 July - 24 JulyCoverage: Listen live to every stage finish on the BBC Sport website (UK only); live text commentary on key stages; updates on BBC Radio 5 live & sports extraGet involved: Tweet with the hashtag #bbcTdF Hushovd's stage win was the ninth of his career World champion Thor Hushovd won the 13th stage of the Tour de France after a thrilling finish to the 152.5km trek from Pau to Lourdes.

The Norwegian overtook long-time leader Jeremy Roy of France in the final two kilometres to secure his first stage win of this year's Tour.

Another Frenchman, David Moncoutie, came second with Roy finishing third.

Home rider Thomas Voeckler finished in the peloton, more than seven minutes behind, but retained the yellow jersey.

"I really didn't think I would win this stage," said Hushovd, who took the race lead when helping his Garmin team win stage two's team time trial and held it for a week.

"I did things right tactically. It's true that I descend very well. I knew I had to. It was super."

For the second day in a row, FDJ rider Roy was in the thick of the action during a stage which included the hors categorie ascent of the imposing Col d'Aubisque.

The Frenchman was part of a 10-man breakaway group which pulled clear after the day's first climb - the category-three Cote de Cuqueron.

At the foot of the Col d'Aubisque Hushovd went clear, but Roy counter-attacked and caught the Norwegian before passing him with 50km to go.

Roy had a nervous moment when a fan got too close and brushed him with a flag, forcing him to swerve, but he still looked set for his maiden Tour de France victory and the first for a Frenchman in this year's Tour.

Hushovd had other ideas though and worked with Moncoutie to reel Roy back in before launching a solo attack to pick up the ninth stage win of his career.

"The disappointment is too big, it will be hard to take in," said Roy. "It's too hard for me. Only victory counts."

Yellow jersey holder Voeckler, who assumed the lead from Hushovd on the ninth stage, retained his lead of one minute and 49secs in the general classification.

Other leading contenders, including defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain and two-time runners-up Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans, could not take any time off each other as they conserved energy for Saturday.

Isle of Man rider Mark Cavendish retained the green jersey after finishing 129th overall, more than 22 minutes adrift, but saw his lead trimmed to 13 points.

STAGE 13 RESULT:

1. Thor Hushovd (Norway / Garmin) 3hrs 47mins 36secs

2. David Moncoutie (France / Cofidis) +10"

3. Jeremy Roy (France / FDJ) +26"

4. Lars Bak (Denmark / HTC - Highroad) +5:00"

5. Jerome Pineau (France / Quick-Step) +5:02"

6. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway / Team Sky) +5:03"

7. Vladimir Gusev (Russia / Katusha) +5:08"

8. Alessandro Petacchi (Italy / Lampre) +5:16"

9. Maarten Tjallingii (Netherlands / Rabobank) same time

10. Philippe Gilbert (Belgium / Omega Pharma - Lotto) +6:48"

OVERALL STANDINGS:

1. Thomas Voeckler (France / Europcar) 55hrs 49mins 57secs

2. Fraenk Schleck (Luxembourg / Leopard) +1:49"

3. Cadel Evans (Australia / BMC Racing) +2:06"

4. Andy Schleck (Luxembourg / Leopard) +2:17"

5. Ivan Basso (Italy / Liquigas) +3:16"

6. Damiano Cunego (Italy / Lampre) +3:22"

7. Alberto Contador (Spain / Saxo Bank) +4:00"

8. Samuel Sanchez (Spain / Euskaltel) +4:11"

9. Philippe Gilbert (Belgium / Omega Pharma - Lotto) +4:35"

10. Tom Danielson (U.S. / Garmin) same time

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Robert Peston

14 July 2011 Last updated at 12:22 GMT There is a real risk of the US government defaulting on its debts and - for unconnected reasons - also a danger of a whole string of sovereign defaults within the eurozone, which would foist losses on banks and financial institutions on a scale that would make the great crash of 2008 look like a shower on a sunny day.

And yet equity markets aren't in meltdown, the price of US Treasury bonds hasn't cracked and the price of gold (the putatively safe haven) hasn't risen as much as you might have expected.

Which tells you that investors and bankers assume that governments of the old rich West will eventually take evasive action - that President Obama and the Republicans will reach an accommodation on spending cuts that would allow the amount that the state can borrow to be increased, and also that eurozone governments will put enough money where their rhetoric has been on their determination to protect the integrity of the currency union.

But can Germany in particular make the financial commitment that is now perceived necessary to re-establish investors' and bankers' confidence that the eurozone as currently constituted will survive?

Because my conversations with those who run large banks and large funds make it clear that the crisis in the eurozone is no longer about Greece - or rather Greece is only a modest element of what concerns them.

They take it for granted that there will be big losses on loans to the Greek state and private sector - probably at least 200bn euros.

There is no longer a scintilla of doubt in their minds that there will be a restructuring of Greek sovereign loans, a reduction in what the Greek government owes to a level that may be affordable for Greek taxpayers.

Defensive moves

It is what follows which concerns them.

The worst case chain reaction from Greek default, whether orderly or disorderly, would probably go like this: a heightened perceived risk of default by the other two bailed-out nations, Ireland and Greece; an increase in expected losses for banks exposed to the financially over-stretched troika of Greece, Ireland and Portugal; a potentially devastating funding or liquidity crisis for banks if providers of wholesale finance decide to shun eurozone banks; a potentially devastating funding or liquidity crisis for Italy and Spain, if lenders decide to shun those economies regarded as next most at risk; default by Italy and/or Spain, sparking losses for banks and a new credit crunch that tips the global economy back into recession or worse.

What went wrong in the eurozone?

These are massive, real dominoes that are wobbling and could fall at any time. But they don't have to tumble: the eurozone has the ability to insert dampeners, buffers and defences so that, as and when Greece defaults, the reverberations are uncomfortable rather than calamitous.

There are four such possible circuit breakers.

We'll know the effectiveness of one of these tomorrow - when the European Banking Authority publishes the results of its investigation of "stress tests" of whether the 90-odd most important European banks have adequate capital and liquidity to withstand possible shocks.

What bankers and investors tell me is most important about the stress-test results is that they should include enough detail about the risks to which individual banks are exposed so that the banks' creditors know the risks they are running.

The cancer for the banking system is the uncertainty about which banks are weakest - because if there's a sense that some banks are at risk of going bust, but it is not clear which, the rational response of any creditor is to shun them all.

'Write-offs'

Which takes me to circuit breaker number two: eurozone governments would have to make a statement, over the coming weekend, that they would provide whatever capital is required by those banks that fail the stress tests or are close to failing the stress tests and are unable to raise such capital from private investors.

It beggars belief that we won't get such a statement from eurozone governments - but you never know.

Next, and this circuit breaker is proving elusive, the eurozone probably has to provide a collective guarantee to absorb some of the losses generated by countries like Greece - and also possibly Ireland and Portugal - that have borrowed more than they can afford to repay.

Alternatives exist for the European Central Bank

It is probably encouraging that there is growing talk among European regulators and ministers that the eurozone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, should be able to buy Greek bonds in the market and then only demand repayment from Greece of the price actually paid for those bonds, the amount actually invested in the bonds.

In theory this policy of buying and cancelling some of the debt would reduce Greece's indebtedness, because the market price of its bonds is a fraction of the amount originally borrowed: if the EFSF paid 50m euros for Greek bonds with a face value of 100m euros, and agreed that Greece should have an obligation to replay only the 50m euros, that would reduce Greece's indebtedness by 50m euros.

But although deploying the EFSF in that way would help to put Greek public finances and the Greek economy back on the path to recovery, on its own it might actually exacerbate the crisis of confidence in the eurozone, if seen as a precedent for write-offs by other sovereign borrowers.

So the final circuit breaker - and the one seen increasingly as the most important, but is far and away the hardest to put in place - would be for eurozone governments to collectively agree to increase the resources of the EFSF to a size where it would be perceived to be big enough to lend to economies as big as Italy or Spain, in the event that private-sector lenders were to go on strike.

The problem is that the EFSF would probably need authority to borrow something like 2tn euros, or more than four times the EFSF's current size - according to Royal Bank of Scotland, for example - for it to be seen as a credible lender of last resort to eurozone members deprived of access to finance from conventional sources.

And the biggest chunk of that 2tn euros would in effect be lending by German taxpayers, which would be highly controversial in Germany, where there appears considerable popular resistance to the idea that they should increase their exposure to the rest of the eurozone.

Blank cheque?

There is an alternative that would fudge the issue of the extent to which Germany was supporting the rest of the eurozone.

This would be for the European Central Bank, in an explicit policy decision, to start buying distressed eurozone sovereign debt in a much more aggressive way. That is what the US investment bank Morgan Stanley is recommending.

But ECB conversion of Italian debt into euros would be a German subsidy for Italy by the backdoor rather than the front door - in that it would be predicated on the idea that Germany (and other eurozone countries) would be prepared to inject more capital into the ECB in the event that the central bank incurs substantial losses on its lending to overstretched states.

Or to put it another way, there may be no long-term survival for the eurozone unless Germany is prepared to use its balance sheet to underwrite the whole project. German voters, German taxpayers would need to be comfortable about providing backstop, guaranteed finance for the public sectors of any eurozone state that ran into difficulties.

Do the Germans feel a strong enough sense of solidarity with European neighbours to hand over to those neighbours what some will see as blank cheque?

Would they do so, even if new, more stringent eurozone-wide constraints were put in place limiting how much governments can spend relative to what they receive in tax revenues?

The nature of mainstream political and media discourse in Germany right now is not redolent of a nation ready to make that degree of financial commitment in the interests of eurozone cohesion. Which means that those investors who fear the worst may not be alarmist.

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