GERMANY: Former German president Johannes Rau, who dominated politics in the country's most populous state for two decades until 1998, died yesterday, aged 75. Rau, a member of the Social Democrats (SPD), was president between 1999 and 2004 during which time he sought to encourage Germany to take a more open approach to immigration.
But he made his name between 1978 and 1998 as the powerful state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, home to 18 million people, or nearly a quarter of Germany's population.
News magazine Der Spiegel dubbed him Germany's "citizen king" because of his popularity with ordinary voters.
This reputation took a dent in 1999 when it was revealed he and other top Social Democrats in North Rhine-Westphalia had taken advantage of aircraft put at his disposal by the Westphalia state's federal bank, WestLB, to go on private trips.
Despite great success at state level, Rau suffered some high-profile political setbacks on the national stage, most notably when he failed to oust conservative chancellor Helmut Kohl in the 1987 general election.
Rau, who married late in life, is survived by his wife and three children.