Minister quits over plagiarism

GERMANY’S defence minister has quit after he was accused of plagiarising parts of his doctoral thesis.

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, 39, said he had decided to go “not just because of my faulty doctoral work” but because the persistent focus on it threatened to overshadow his duties.

Bayreuth University revoked Guttenberg’s academic title last week, saying the minister had “seriously violated” its standards by failing to credit sufficiently some of his sources, but the minister at first sought to cling on.