Drink-drive bishop quits

Germany's top Protestant cleric resigned yesterday after she was caught driving with a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit, an incident that she said had undermined her authority.

Margot Kaessmann, who was elected only last October as the first woman to head Germany's Lutheran church, said she was quitting both that post and her job as bishop of Hannover immediately.

"I made a serious mistake that I regret deeply," Kaessmann, 51, said.

She was stopped by police after ignoring a red traffic light in Hannover.