Profile

John Yates, the Assistant Commissioner at the centre of the storm about the Metropolitan Police's investigation into celebrity phone hacking at the News of the World, under the editorship of Andy Coulson, now the Prime Minister's chief spin doctor. Yates is a high flyer and no stranger to high profile and controversial cases. He led the perjury case against Lord Archer, the 'cash for honours' investigation, was involved in the Stephen Lawrence enquiry. In 2005 he travelled to Brazil to meet the parents of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot dead by police after being mistaken for a suicide bomber, and with an offer of financial compensation from the Met. Yates is also responsible for counter-terrorism. Yates is in the spotlight again this week as MPs questioned his judgement about the limits of the hacking enquiry and the closeness of the Met's relationship with News International. Yates has now agreed that new evidence means the investigation will be re-opened. Colleagues and critics talk John Yates, the m

Who is Pope Benedict XVI? Ahead of his visit to the UK in September, former BBC religious affairs correspondent Jane Little delves into his background to paint a portrait of a man many people know little about. The Catholic Church is facing one of its biggest challenges in recent history as one sexual abuse scandal after another emerges in countries from Ireland to Germany to the US. Critics are accusing the Church of cover-ups and are angry that the Pope has failed to issue an apology. Some observers are suggesting the Pope will be met with some hostility when he comes to the UK in September. Can the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide deal with the controversy, if protests happen, and does he have the temperament and personality to heal the cracks that are threatening the very fabric of his Church? Jane Little talks to former colleagues and students of this very devout Pope to find out.