Minister's pledge

Manfred Kanther was sworn in as Germany's Interior Minister yesterday and immediately promised to tackle the issue that toppled his predecessor: the unexplained police killing of an alleged terrorist and suspected Red Army Faction member, Wolfgang Grams, Reuter reports from Bonn.

Mr Kanther's task is to scythe through a web of police evasion to find out if Grams was killed in cold blood, and to sharpen the law-and- order profile of Chancellor Helmut Kohl's coalition as it heads for elections next year.