26 October 2013 Last updated at 09:03 GMT
Iran rebels 'hanged in reprisal for border deaths'
Sixteen rebels have been hanged in south-eastern Iran in retaliation for clashes in which 17 border guards were killed, say Iranian news agencies.
The rebels were "linked to groups hostile to the regime", the attorney general of Sistan-Baluchistan province was quoted as saying.
They were hanged in prison in Zahedan, north-east of Saravan, where the border deaths took place overnight.
The hanged rebels were not accused of carrying out the border killings.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, on Friday night in a mountainous region outside Saravan, on the border with Pakistan.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, on Friday night in a mountainous region outside Saravan, on the border with Pakistan.
An armed Sunni group, called Jundallah, has carried out a number of attacks against the state in recent years.
Chinese state TV shows journalist confessing to taking bribes
Arrest of Chen Yongzhou, who wrote stories about alleged corruption at machinery firm Zoomlion, sparked public outcry
Chinese state television has broadcast a purported confession to accepting bribes by a journalist who had been arrested on charges he fabricated stories to defame a state-owned construction equipment maker. The detention of Chen Yongzhou last week sparked a public outcry, including an unusually bold campaign by his newspaper to have him freed.
Chen's lengthy explanation of how he invented negative stories about Changsha-based Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology is the latest in a series of televised confessions by suspects in high-profile or politicised cases. Rights activists have said that public confessions inChina are often forced and violate the accused's right to due process.
The pride of Sarajevo: How football is uniting a once bitterly divided nation
With Bosnia and Herzegovina qualifying for their first ever World Cup, football is playing a cruical role in binding a once bitterly divided nation
Underneath an unambiguous 'No smoking' sign, a middle-aged man merrily puffs on a Drina cigarette, blowing fumes around extravagantly. The guard pats him on the shoulder as he passes. The passenger sways as the train threads between the emerald hills of the Neretva Valley on the most beautiful railway line in southern Europe.
These carriages were donated by Statens Jarnvagar, Sweden's State Railway. Notionally, perhaps, to repay the footballing debt the Swedes owe to Bosnia for inheriting Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of the best strikers on the planet. The Swedish train meanders from Ploce on the Croatian coast up to Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital. Apt really, as Ibrahimovic's mum was Croatian and dad Bosnian.
SYRIA
UN aid chief says Syria aid appeal making little difference
A UN aid chief has told the Security Council that its recent attempts to ease Syria's humanitarian crisis have made little difference. The government and rebel fighters have done little to facilitate aid efforts.
The Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, said Friday that the Security Council was not properly addressing Syria's more than two-year civil war, which has killed some 100,000 people and created over 2 million refugees.
Earlier this month the 15-member council approved a non-binding statement appealing for more humanitarian aid. Unlike the council's demand days earlier that the Syrian government eliminate its chemical weapons arsenal, the aid statement was nonbinding and Amos said the regime and rebels alike were mostly ignoring it.
"As we deliberate, people continue to die unnecessarily," she said. "I call upon the members of the council to exert influence and take the necessary action to stop this brutality and violence."
Anti-Islamist offensive opens new front on Mali's 'ever-present' terror threat
A major anti-Islamist military offensive in Mali by French, Malian and UN troops has highlighted worries over the possibility of renewed attacks in the run-up to nationwide polls, say analysts.
The troubled west African nation and its allies launched Operation Hydra on Sunday after being taken aback by a recent upsurge in violence in the north, according to Jean-Herve Jezequel, an analyst in Dakar for the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank.
About 1 500 troops are involved, including some 600 French, 600 Malians and 300 UN soldiers, and the operation is expected to last "at least 10 days", according to a Malian military source.
French leader Francois Hollande said Friday Hydra marked the first time that such a large deployment from each of the allies had worked together in Mali to fight "terrorism" which he said had become entrenched in the north and in other parts of Africa's Sahel region.
Following Dear Leader, Kim Jong-un gets title from university: Dr. Leader
Malaysian university faces criticism for rewarding 'one of the most evil men on the planet'
By Choe Sang-Hun
North Korea has long been known for its love of titles for its leaders. Mr. Kim’s grandfather, the nation’s founder, was known as the Great Leader; his son, the Dear Leader. The country seems not yet to have decided on the same kind of moniker for Mr. Kim — settling for workaday titles like marshal of the military. But now a university in Malaysia has bestowed upon the 30-year-old leader an honorary doctorate that allows him to spruce up his title count.
If the North Korean state news agency has it right, the particular doctorate is perhaps as much of a surprise for those outside the isolated nation as the honor itself. Dr. Kim, it says, is now a doctor of economics. The news report does not mention that he oversees one of the world’s poorest and most dysfunctional economies.
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