19 June 2013 Last updated at 08:56 GMT
Conflicts in Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali push number of displaced people to more than 45 million
Troops to be deployed
to protect Confederations Cup matches
Afghanistan suspends talks after US-Taliban move
Afghanistan has suspended talks under way in Kabul on a bilateral security agreement with the US.
A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said the decision was taken in protest over inconsistencies in proposed US direct talks with the Taliban.
The row centres on the name given to the Taliban office, which opened in Qatar on Tuesday, the spokesman said.
US-Afghan talks are to determine the nature of US military presence after foreign troops withdraw in 2014.
President Karzai has been reluctant to sign a long-term agreement with the US amid fears it would undermine Afghan sovereignty - and how it might reflect on him during his remaining time in office, the BBC's Bilal Sarwary, in Kabul, reports.
UN warns of worst refugee crisis in nearly 20 years
Conflicts in Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali push number of displaced people to more than 45 million
The world is in the throes of its most serious refugee crisis for almost 20 years, as conflicts in Syria, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Malihave forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, the UN's refugee agency has said.
In its global trends report (pdf), UNHCR said more than 45.1 million people were displaced last year, the largest number since 1994. This includes 15.4 million refugees, 937,000 asylum seekers, and 28.8 millioninternally displaced people (IDPs) – those forced to find refuge within the borders of their own countries.
"These truly are alarming numbers. They reflect individual suffering on a huge scale and they reflect the difficulties of the international community in preventing conflicts and promoting timely solutions for them," said António Guterres, UN high commissioner for refugees and head of UNHCR.
Brazil protests see violence erupt in Sao Paulo as government websites are hit with cyber attacks
Troops to be deployed
to protect Confederations Cup matches
Another night of violence in Brazil saw more clashes between protesters and police, with demonstrators in Sao Paulo looting shops, setting fire to a TV satellite truck and attempting to invade the city hall.
More than 50,000 people gathered to protest in front of the city’s main cathedral, and throughout the night rioters threw stones at the windows of businesses and burned rubbish in the street. It is reported by the O Globo TV channel that at least 20 people were arrested for looting.
NUCLEAR
Fukushima groundwater shows high strontium contamination
Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant operator TEPCO says "very high" levels of radioactive strontium-90 have been found in groundwater, two years after reactor meltdowns. But it had not leaked into the ocean nearby.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said on Wednesday that, as well as finding high levels of strontium, groundwater samples collected had also showed levels of the hydrogen isotope tritium at eight times the allowed level.
A TEPCO manager, Toshihiko Fukuda, told a press conference in Tokyo that the utility did not believe that strontium-90 had leaked via soils from the seaside facility into the ocean.
19 June 2013 Last updated at 00:23 GMT
Nigeria militants kill school children in Maiduguri
Suspected Islamist militants in north-east Nigeria have killed at least nine school children, the second targeted attack on students in recent days.
Gunmen believed to be from the Boko Haram group opened fire on the pupils, who were in school uniform, at a school on the outskirts of Maiduguri.
Boko Haram said the attack was to punish youngsters for helping the army.
Some survivors said it was a response to the emergence of vigilante groups in the town.
North-eastern Nigeria is under a state of emergency as the government tries to defeat an Islamist insurgency.
As Spain's people drift from Catholic Church, government cozies up
Spain's conservative government is considering dramatic restrictions on abortion and has already increase the Catholic Church's role in education, revealing a divided society.
After years of moving in a more socially liberal direction along with the rest of western Europe, the Spanish government is now doing an about face, seeking to clamp down on abortion and return the Roman Catholic Church to a prominent role in the country's school system.
Though the church is still losing ground among the faithful, it has powerful friends in the current conservative Popular Party government, which has traditionally had close ties to the Vatican. Now the PP is pushing a controversial bill in parliament that would dramatically restrict access to abortion.
“We see an alliance between the ruling party and the Catholic hierarchy on moral issues. The church wants to press its priorities and it appears to be winning on issues like abortion and education,” says Juan José Tamayo, director of theology at Carlos III University.
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