pakistan s former president, general pervez musharraf, has died following a long illness. he was 79 years old. president musharraf seized power in a bloodless military coup in 1999, serving in office for seven years from 2001. and in 2019 he was sentenced to death in absentia, for treason charges for absconding the murder trial of one of his successors, bennazir bhuto. at the time of his death, he had been living in exile in dubai, receiving medical treatment. the bbc s gordon corera looks back on his life. 1999. and when troops stormed the national television headquarters to put pervez musharraf in power, the people of pakistan heard a familiar refrain. the nation needed another leader in uniform to save it from self serving politicians. in the past, our governments have ruled the people. it is time now for the governments to serve the people. pakistan had already been under army rule for more than half the time it had been independent. general musharraf portrayed himself as
Could moscow be softening its position about president Bashar Alassads role in the political future and we hear from the rugby world champions as they make a triumphant return home, the trophy back on new zealand territory after the all blacks successful title defense. Okay. We start with some breaking news out of romania, where the Prime Minister victor ponta and his government resigned following protests following a nightclub fire. 30 people died in the capital bucharest. 20,000 called for cabinet resignations on tuesday, and are accusing the government of corruption when granting permits and conducting safety inspections. Lets speak to the local journalists, joining us on the line from bucharest. We know ponta had been under pressure to resign. Was it the protests that did it. He had been under pressure to quit. He went on trial in september facing trials of fraud, Money Laundering et cetera. There were young professional students, artists, friends and relatives of those killed and