7 October 2013 Last updated at 08:56 GMT
Activists lobby World Bank to disinvest amid concerns over access to poorest communities and conflict of interest
Special envoysToday’s meeting in Krakow comes three days after EU special envoys to Ukraine – Ireland’s former European Parliament president Pat Cox and ex-Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski – formally asked Mr Yanukovich to pardon Ms Tymoshenko. He has yet to respond to their request.
US commando raids: Kerry defends al-Liby capture
US Secretary of State John Kerry has defended the capture of an alleged al-Qaeda leader, Anas al-Liby, on Saturday as a "legal and appropriate target".
He is a suspected mastermind of the 1998 US embassy attacks in Africa.
His son, Abdullah al-Raghie, said his father had been seized by masked gunmen and that some of them were Libyans.
Mr Kerry's comments come after Libya called on the US to explain the special forces raid on its territory, one of two by US commandos in Africa Saturday.
Mr Kerry said Mr Liby would face justice in a court of law.
"With respect to Abu Anas al-Liby, he is a key al-Qaeda figure, and he is a legal and an appropriate target for the US military," Mr Kerry told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in Indonesia.World Bank 'gambling assets' by investing in private water firms
Activists lobby World Bank to disinvest amid concerns over access to poorest communities and conflict of interest
Civil society groups are pressuring the World Bank to disinvest from private water companies, saying that privatising ownership and management of this natural resource has failed to improve access to clean drinking water.
The World Bank is subsidising private profiteering from an essential resource by lending public money to private corporations that manage or run water utilities but have failed to improve services, says Corporate Accountability International (CAI), a Boston-based advocacy group that focuses on corporate abuse and represents an international coalition of water activists.
"The World Bank Group's reputation and assets are being gambled. Millions of people's lives are being imperiled," CAI said last month in a letter to the World Bank president, Jim Yong Kim.
Pakistan army chief Kayani to stand down as latest attack on polio-workers kills two
In a surprise to many observers, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said he would not be seeking to extend his role as head of the military when his term expires next month
The head of Pakistan’s powerful military has said he will stand down when his term ends next month, apparently scotching rumours that he was seeking to further extend his position.
In an announcement that surprised many observers, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani said he was not seeking any further extension and would stand down on 29 November.
“My tenure ends on 29 November 2013. On that day I will retire,” Mr Kayani said in a statement released on Sunday evening. “I share the general opinion that institutions and traditions are stronger than individuals and must take precedence. It is time for others to carry forward the mission of making Pakistan a truly democratic, prosperous and peaceful country.”
EU raises pressure on Ukraine to free Tymoshenko before key summit
EU warns that key political and free trade deals are at stake if former PM not freed
Dan McLaughlin
European leaders are increasing pressure on Ukraine to release its former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko from jail, ahead of a major summit at which the EU hopes to prise the country from Russia’s grip and firmly align its future with the west.
The issue will surely top the agenda when Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovichmeets counterparts from Germany, Italy and Poland today to discuss Kiev’s chances of signing key political and free trade deals with the EU at its Eastern Partnership summit in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius next month.
Special envoysToday’s meeting in Krakow comes three days after EU special envoys to Ukraine – Ireland’s former European Parliament president Pat Cox and ex-Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski – formally asked Mr Yanukovich to pardon Ms Tymoshenko. He has yet to respond to their request.
Mother of toddler who berated Kenyan terrorists speaks
October 7, 2013 - 9:28AMZoe Flood
Nairobi: It is one of the most dramatic moments of the dreadful assault on Kenya's Westgate mall - the moment a four-year-old boy, having been unexpectedly spared by an al-Qaeda inspired terrorist, told the gunman he was a "bad man" and should let everyone walk free.
Amber Prior, the mother of that young boy, has told London's Telegraph of her family's terrifying ordeal at the hands of the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab.
It felt like no one was coming to help, that it was never going to end, that I was going to die like everybody else.
Mrs Prior, a French national who runs a production company with her British husband Daniel, described how she was seriously injured, saw the deaths of many around her and how she successfully pleaded for the lives of her two children and two others when she came face to face with the gunman.
Iranians launch #jeans protest on Twitter, taking jab at Netanyahu
The #jeans protest is a response to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's comments that Iranians are governed by a cult that bars them from wearing jeans, among other forms of expression.
In a lighter side to the Israel-Iran standoff over nuclear weapons, Iranians armed with nothing more than jeans and a camera are protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s intimation that they are ruled by a cultic government that restricts not only their voting options but their sartorial choices as well.
One Iranian Twitter user, who had only bothered tweeting 152 times before today, dedicated his next 140 characters to Mr. Netanyahu:
Other tweets ranged from sassy to vindictive, but all seemed to send a clear retort: We don’t need you intervening on behalf of our freedom.
The #jeans protest came in response to a comment by Netanyahu last week in which he attempted to distinguish Iranian aspirations from the theocratic system of government that has prevailed in the Islamic Republic since 1979. The Supreme Leader is officially considered “God’s deputy on earth.”
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