UK: London's controversial mayor Ken Livingstone was suspended for a month yesterday for comparing a Jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard, a verdict the mayor said struck "at the heart of democracy".
A three-person panel, which hears complaints against local authorities, ruled in a case brought by a Jewish group that Mr Livingstone had brought his office into disrepute. It ordered him suspended for four weeks from March 1st.
"Three members of a body that no one has ever elected should not be allowed to overturn the votes of millions of Londoners," Mr Livingstone said in a statement. His deputy Nicky Gavron said she would run the city in his absence and that services would not be interrupted.
