Benedict XVI officially steps down from papacy

So it happens - Pope Benedict XVI has officially resigned, saying that he now "will simply be a pilgrim" starting his last journey on earth.

The pontiff, aged 85, was earlier flown by helicopter from the Vatican to his retreat at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome.

The college of cardinals, headed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, is now in charge of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics until a new pope is elected.

Benedict vowed "unconditional obedience and reverence" to his successor.

He stepped down after nearly eight years in office - the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.

His decision to resign has been openly criticised by Australia's top Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, who questioned his leadership skills. Also, the Church has been beset by scandals over sexual abuse by priests and leaked confidential documents revealing internal corruption and feuding.

Read more about it at: BBC News
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India-Italy helicopter deal - Finmeccanica boss Orsi resigns amid corruption probe

The $750m (£485m) helicopter deal between India and Italy comes to a hold as charges emerge that Finmeccanica group paid bribes to win an Indian contract. India was to buy 12 helicopters from the Italian firm.

And the chairman and chief executive of the Italian defence firm Finmeccanica, formally resigned as the first casualty of the scandal.

Giuseppe Orsi was arrested in Italy this week as part of a corruption investigation involving the sale of helicopters to the Indian government.

Finmeccanica has already handed the running of the firm to another director, Alessandro Pansa, while it deals with the allegations.

Mr Orsi announced his decision to resign in a letter, in which he denied any wrongdoing and said he had always worked "for the exclusive interest of Finmeccanica and its subsidiaries".

He said he wanted to "help to calm the atmosphere" at Finmeccanica by resigning.

Read more about it at: BBC Business
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Lightning strikes St Peter's hours after Pope Benedict announced to resign

Lighting strikes the basilica of St.Peter's dome

The Catholic church was thrown into turmoil Monday when Pope Benedict XVI made the shock decision to quit the papacy because of his deteriorating health.

This has been first ever such decision in 600 years as the decision is unprecedented. He is the first Pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415 and no Pontiff in history has stepped down on health grounds.

The Pope, who also uses a walking cane, is also understood to be suffering from a degenerative joint disease and prostate problems.

And surprisingly, a lighting struck the basilica of St.Peter's dome earlier this evening during a storm that struck Rome on the same day Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation - may be a holy signal of nod perhaps.

A Vatican spokesman said he will officially stand down at 8pm Rome time (7pm GMT) on February 28.

Read more about it at: Mail Online
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Lord Patten not quitting BBC in wake of Newsnight shambles

Lord Patten has said that Mr Entwistle, who dramatically resigned last night, had been "destroyed" by the botched Newsnight investigation which wrongly implicated a senior former Tory in a child abuse scandal.

However, he made clear that he would resist calls to follow suit, insisting his job was to ensure the BBC learned the lessons from what happened and from the inquiries under way into the Jimmy Savile child abuse scandal.

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"I think that I now have to make sure that, in the interests of the licence fee payer and the audience, that the BBC has a grip, that we get ourselves back onto the road," he told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.

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President of Hungary resigns over claims of plagiarism in doctoral thesis

The president of Hungary, Pal Schmitt, resigned from his largely ceremonial post yesterday amid a storm of criticism over what he called “unfounded allegations” of plagiarism in his 1992 doctoral thesis.

His resignation followed days of political turmoil after the university in Budapest that awarded his doctoral degree stripped it from him last week.

“Based on Hungary’s constitution, which I have signed, the president expresses national unity,” Mr Schmitt told parliament. “In this situation when my personal issue divides my beloved nation rather than unites it, I feel it is my duty to end my service and resign my mandate as president.”

Read more: The Irish Times

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Olympus board signals it will quit

[ Reuters ] 7 Dec

Olympus Corp's board signaled plans to quit over a $1.7 billion accounting fraud, but will likely pick a team of potential successors, triggering a battle for control of the Japanese firm with the former CEO who blew the whistle on the scandal.

The decision is an outcome of an investigative panel report, unveiled on Tuesday, concluded that several former executives spent 13 years running a complex scheme to hide huge investment losses off the company's balance sheet.

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