17 August 2013 Last updated at 09:02 GMT
Egypt crisis: Tense stand-off at Cairo mosque
Egyptian security forces have entered a mosque in the capital, Cairo, to try to persuade Muslim Brotherhood supporters barricaded inside to leave.
Dozens remain, refusing to believe the authorities' pledge of a safe exit.
The tense stand-off follows a day of bloody clashes on Friday in which more than 80 people died and 1,000 Brotherhood supporters were arrested.
The group has called for daily protests after a crackdown on their camps in Cairo on Wednesday left hundreds dead.
The Brotherhood is demanding the reinstatement of Mohammed Morsi - Egypt's first democratically elected president - who was removed by the army last month and replaced with an interim government.
‘Devil’s advocate’ Jacques Vergès dies in Paris
French Lawyer gained notoriety for his defence of war criminals, dictators and terrorists
Lara Marlowe
He was known as ‘the devil’s advocate’ and ‘the advocate of terror’. Jacques Vergès, doubtless the most provocative and mysterious French lawyer of his generation, died at the age of 88 on Thursday night.
Vergès left the world with his usual theatrical flair, by dying in the very room where the philosopher Voltaire expired 235 years ago, on the Quai Voltaire, overlooking the Louvre.
The son of a French consul from the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion and a Vietnamese mother, Vergès was born in present-day Thailand. His sobriquet was ‘the Chinaman’. He received visitors in a sombre office filled with oriental objets d’art. Blowing puffs of smoke from his beloved Havanas, he peered quizzically through round, wire-rimmed glasses.
Bo Xilai supporters rounded up in advance of trial
August 17, 2013 - 11:41AMMalcolm Moore
Beijing: China has arrested supporters and opponents of Bo Xilai before the fallen politician enters the dock for the country's biggest political trial in decades.
Several of Mr Bo's supporters have been either detained or put under police surveillance ahead of the trial on corruption charges, which could take place at the end of next week.
Wang Zheng, a Beijing teacher who wrote an open letter backing Mr Bo, said she could not meet journalists because "the police are sitting next to me". Ma Jiming, another supporter, wrote a message on Sina Weibo, China's version of Twitter, on August 8 that said: "My account has been closed. This is the new one. I want you to know I am safe. Currently I cannot use this Weibo. I guess you all know the reason why."
Venezuela's economic, political woes knock its currency to its knees
The Venezuelan bolivar has plunged in value against the U.S. dollar since the presidential election in April.
By Chris Kraul and Mery Mogollon
BOGOTA, Colombia — Capital flight, political instability and misguided attempts to rein in double-digit inflation are being blamed for the weakening of Venezuela's currency on the black market, where it has fallen more than 75% against the U.S. dollar since April.
The sharp drop in the value of the bolivar has occurred as economic problems grow more acute for President Nicolas Maduro, the late Hugo Chavez's handpicked successor, and political divisions between Chavistas and the opposition become wider and more violent.
Traders said Thursday that a dollar cost as much as 37 bolivars, compared with the unofficial rate of 21 to 22 as recently as April, when Maduro narrowly defeated Henrique Capriles in the election to replace Chavez, who died in March.
Layoffs Taboo, Japan Workers Are Sent to the Boredom Room
By HIROKO TABUCHI
Published: August 16, 2013
TAGAJO, Japan — Shusaku Tani is employed at the Sony plant here, but he doesn’t really work.
For more than two years, he has come to a small room, taken a seat and then passed the time reading newspapers, browsing the Web and poring over engineering textbooks from his college days. He files a report on his activities at the end of each day.
Sony, Mr. Tani’s employer of 32 years, consigned him to this room because they can’t get rid of him. Sony had eliminated his position at the Sony Sendai Technology Center, which in better times produced magnetic tapes for videos and cassettes. But Mr. Tani, 51, refused to take an early retirement offer from Sony in late 2010 — his prerogative under Japanese labor law.
So there he sits in what is called the “chasing-out room.” He spends his days there, with about 40 other holdouts.
US security interests kept Obama from cutting aid to Egypt. What are they?
When Obama, in response to Egypt's brutal crackdown on protesters, refrained from cutting off US military aid, he cited US 'national interests.' Broadly, they boil down to one main idea: stability.
Howard LaFranchi 9 hours ago
As President Obama labored this week to explain his cautious response to the Egyptian military’s deadly crackdown on peaceful protesters, he repeatedly cited America’s national security interests in maintaining close ties with Egypt.
The US is “guided by our national interests in this longstanding relationship,” he said in his statement Thursday on the Egyptian security forces’ brutal repression of supporters of Mohammed Morsi, the ousted Islamist president.
Mr. Obama did not enumerate those national interests, but taken together they can largely be boiled down to one word: stability. The US has a keen interest in Egypt’s internal stability, but upheaval in Egypt would also raise questions about broader regional stability.
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