Thousands protest across Russia

15:08 GMT, Saturday, 31 January 2009
Thousands protest across Russia

Thousands of people have held rallies across Russia protesting against what they describe as the government's mismanagement of the economy.

The biggest demonstration took place in the eastern city of Vladivostok, where protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

In the capital Moscow, police arrested a number of people at an unauthorised gathering by a radical party.

Meanwhile, government supporters also held their rallies across the country.

Protests on such a large scale were unthinkable just a few months ago as the economy boomed with record high oil prices and as the Kremlin tightened its grip over almost all aspects of society, the BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says.

But now with the economy in deep trouble, there is real fear amongst ordinary people about what the future will hold, he says.

He adds that unemployment is rising rapidly, as are the prices of basic food and utilities.

Putin's 'policy bankruptcy'

In Vladivostok, the anti-government demonstration was called by the Communist Party.

In pictures: Russian demonstrations

Anti-government rally in Vladivostok

"The crisis is in the heads of the authorities, not in the economy!" chanted protesters.

The protest was joined by a local group angered by higher tariffs imposed on cars imported to the city.

The region has thrived on the car import business and the government's decision has led to job losses, correspondents say.

In Moscow, police detained a number of members of the radical National Bolshevik Party, including its leader Eduard Limonov.

Separately, our correspondent says he witnessed a small group of supporters of former world chess champion Gary Kasparov - who is now an opposition figure - being attacked by unknown masked men before later being arrested by police.

Earlier, about 1,000 supporters of the Communist Party were allowed by the authorities to hold their demonstration in the capital.

Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said the economic crisis had exposed the bankruptcy of Mr Putin's policies.

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07:55 GMT, Sunday, 1 February 2009
Orthodox Church enthrones leader
Metropolitan Kirill, elected Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow, Russia (27/01/2009)

The Russian Orthodox Church has enthroned its new leader at a ceremony in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad became the 16th leader of the Church, succeeding Patriarch Alexiy II, who died in December.

He was appointed after a ballot of the Church Council in Moscow last week.

Patriarch Kirill, who is regarded as a liberal, has said the Orthodox Church could play a greater role in Russia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was among the thousands of people attending Sunday's ceremony.

'Axios!'

Kirill arrived at the cathedral in a black limousine after the cathedral bells had chimed for 15 minutes.

He was welcomed by two senior priests and a layman with the Russian traditional bread and salt at the entrance.

He was formally enthroned after senior bishops chanted "Axios!" - the Greek word for "worthy" - three times.

BBC religious affairs correspondent Christopher Landau says Kirill is a well-known face in Russia, having presented religious programmes on state television for some years.

Patriarch Kirill is seen by some as a moderniser, our correspondent says.

He certainly understands the potential of a high media profile.

But on social issues, like abortion and homosexuality, his words are resolutely conservative.

In addition to his TV show, Patriarch Kirill served as acting head of the Church after Alexiy II's death and has also been the head of the Church's external relations department for the past 20 years.

Warmer ties

That position has meant he has established relationships with other Christian leaders that may prove valuable in the years ahead

Kirill's appointment was welcomed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and by the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI.

The two Churches split in 1054 and relations have been strained, with the Orthodox Church accusing the Vatican of trying to win Russian converts following the break-up of the Soviet Union.

But Kirill and the Pope have met each other several times, which could indicate a future warming of ties, says our correspondent.

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20:46 GMT, Saturday, 31 January 2009
Pope promotes conservative cleric
By David Willey
BBC News, Rome

Pope Benedict

Pope Benedict has made a controversial appointment, days after revoking the excommunication of a bishop who is a Holocaust denier.

He promoted ultra-conservative cleric Fr Gerhard Maria Wagner to assistant bishop of the Austrian city of Linz.

The Vatican came under heavy criticism from Jewish groups this week for the rehabilitation of dissident British-born bishop Richard Williamson.

The bishop apologised for shaming the Church, but not for his views.

Fr Wagner is also notorious for his extreme views - he has accused the popular Harry Potter novels of spreading Satanism, and described Hurricane Katrina as God's punishment for the sinners of New Orleans.

He wrote in a parish newsletter that the death and destruction caused by the hurricane in New Orleans was divine retribution for the city's tolerance of homosexuals and permissive sexual attitudes.

The future bishop said he was glad that Katrina destroyed not only nightclubs and brothels in New Orleans, but also five of the city's abortion clinics.

The Catholic Church in Austria has been losing support in recent years after its former head was sacked as a result of a scandal involving gay priests in a teaching college.

Austrian Catholics gave only a lukewarm welcome to the Pope when he visited Vienna in 2007.

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00:26 GMT, Saturday, 31 January 2009
Holocaust row cleric apologises

A UK-born cleric who denied the existence of Nazi gas chambers has apologised to the Pope for causing any distress - but without retracting.

Richard Williamson also thanked Pope Benedict for allowing him to rejoin the Roman Catholic Church after being excommunicated on an unrelated issue.

He apologised for his "imprudent remarks" in a Swedish TV interview.

Pope Benedict has reiterated his "full and indisputable solidarity" with Jews on the subject of the Nazi death camps.

He has been under pressure from Nobel Peace Prize winner and death camp survivor Elie Wiesel among others to distance himself from Mr Williamson, who was promoted to bishop along with others by the breakaway Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of France.

Mr Williamson, who lives in Argentina, blogged his apology in an open letter to Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, the mediator between the Vatican and the breakaway Catholic faction.

The letter on Mr Wlliamson's blog

"Amidst this tremendous media storm stirred up by imprudent remarks of mine on Swedish television, I beg of you to accept... my sincere regrets for having caused to yourself and to the Holy Father so much unnecessary distress and problems," he said.

He made no mention of the Holocaust in the brief letter.

In an interview with Swedish TV, he had said: "I believe there were no gas chambers... I think that two to three hundred thousand Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps but none of them by gas chambers."

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, contacted by AFP news agency, refused to comment on the content of the letter, saying only: "The Vatican has asked nothing of Monsignor Williamson, who is not an 'ordinary bishop' of the Catholic Church."

Mr Williamson and three other "bishops" whose excommunications were lifted are members of the Society of St Pius X, which was founded by Archbishop Lefebvre in 1970 as a protest against the Second Vatican Council's reforms on religious freedom and pluralism.

The late Archbishop Lefebvre made them bishops in unsanctioned consecrations in Switzerland in 1988, prompting the immediate excommunication of all five by the late Pope John Paul II.

When it recently lifted their excommunication, the Vatican said the four men had been asked to recognise the authority of the Pope and the Second Vatican Council.

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Russian Orthodox Church enthrones new patriarch
11:21 | 01/ 02/ 2009

Print version

MOSCOW, February 1 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Orthodox Church enthroned on Sunday its new leader, Patriarch Kirill, at a ceremony held in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad was elected as the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia on Tuesday by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, succeeding Patriarch Alexy II, who died in December at the age of 79.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin were among the hundreds of people who attended the ceremony in the Cathedral.

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Russian Orthodox Church enthrones new patriarch -2
13:05 | 01/ 02/ 2009

Print version

(Adds details in paras 4-10)

MOSCOW, February 1 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Orthodox Church enthroned on Sunday its new leader, Patriarch Kirill, at a ceremony held in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad was elected as the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia on Tuesday by the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, succeeding Patriarch Alexy II, who died in December at the age of 79.

During the enthronement ceremony, senior bishops seated Kirill three times in the patriarch's chair at the center of the altar, chanting "Axios" (the Greek word for "Worthy") together with the clergy and the flock.

After that, deacons replaced Kirill's archbishop's vestments with the patriarchal sakkos (tunic), the omophorion (a broad scarf) and the patriarchal mitre.

The enthronement ceremony was attended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other dignitaries.

An articulate public speaker, Kirill is seen as a liberal figure in the largely traditionalist Russian church and led dialogue with the Vatican as head of the Russian Orthodox Church's external relations, the post he had occupied for more than a decade.

Pope Benedict XVI welcomed on Wednesday the election of Kirill as the new Russian Orthodox Church patriarch.

"May the Almighty also bless your efforts to seek that fullness of communion which is the goal of Catholic-Orthodox collaboration and dialogue," Pope Benedict said in his message.

Relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican, which split almost 1,000 years ago, have been strained since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, mainly over accusations that the Catholic Church stepped up activities to convert believers. The Vatican has denied this.

The dispute prevented Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, from visiting Moscow and meeting with Alexy II.

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Russian Orthodox bishop cites barrier to patriarch meeting pope
17:32 | 31/ 01/ 2009

Print version

VLADIVOSTOK, January 31 (RIA Novosti) - A meeting between the new Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Pope is possible but would require the end of proselytizing by Roman Catholic monastic orders, a senior Russian Orthodox bishop said Saturday.

"A meeting with the Pope was never excluded by the late Patriarch Alexy," said Bishop Ilarion of Vienna and Austria, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church at European international organizations.

He identified the proselytizing of Catholic monastic orders as the principal obstacle to a meeting.

"Certainly, Catholics say officially that there is no proselytism, but it de facto exists, and we point to such facts in our dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church," the bishop said live on the Vesti v Subbotu (News on Saturday) TV program.

A Russian Orthodox Church meeting in Moscow on Tuesday chose Metropolitan Kirill as its new patriarch, replacing Patriarch Alexy II, who led the church's post-Soviet revival for 18 years.

Metropolitan Kirill, 62, became interim head of the world's largest Orthodox Church after Alexy's death in December at the age of 79. He is seen as a liberal figure in the largely traditionalist Russian church and has led dialogue with the Vatican as head of the Russian Orthodox Church's external relations.

Pope Benedict XVI welcomed his election on Wednesday.

"May the Almighty also bless your efforts to seek that fullness of communion which is the goal of Catholic-Orthodox collaboration and dialogue," Pope Benedict said in his message.

Metropolitan Kirill has met Pope Benedict several times.

Bishop Ilarion said the main thing was not a meeting between the two church leaders, but how relations between the churches could improve, making them "not competitors, not contenders, but allies."

"Most important is not whether this meeting will take place or when it will take place, but whether we will manage together with the Catholic Church to build a model of mutual relations that would exclude the chance for proselytism," he said.

Relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican, which split almost 1,000 years ago, have been strained since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, mainly over accusations that the Catholic Church stepped up activities to convert believers. The Vatican has denied this.

The dispute prevented Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005, from visiting Moscow and meeting with Alexy II.

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パナソニック：最終赤字が３５００億円超に　３月期連結

2009年2月1日 19時28分　更新：2月1日 20時09分

　パナソニックの０９年３月期の連結最終（当期）損益の予想が、３５００億円超の赤字（従来予想は３００億円の黒字）に陥る見通しになった。世界的な景気の急減速で薄型テレビなどデジタル家電製品の収益が低迷。さらに、生産拠点の統廃合などリストラ前倒しの費用や株価下落に伴う保有株式の評価損、円高による為替差損がかさんだ。最終赤字は６年ぶりで、赤字額は０２年３月期の４３１０億円に次ぐ水準となる。４日に業績の下方修正を発表する。

　昨年４月時点の予想では、過去最高の３１００億円の最終黒字を見込んでいた。しかし、昨年９月のリーマン・ショック以降の経営環境の悪化を受け、昨年１１月に３００億円の黒字に下方修正。その後も、販売不振、株安、円高は加速する一方で、業績予想の一段の引き下げに追い込まれた。

　世界的な景気減速に直撃され、電機各社は相次いで０９年３月期の連結最終損益見通しを下方修正している。最大手の日立製作所が過去最悪の７０００億円、東芝が２８００億円、ソニーも１５００億円の最終赤字を予想するなど、総崩れ状態で、正社員の削減を打ち出すメーカーも出ており、雇用に深刻な影響を与えている