24 October 2013 Last updated at 08:34 GMT
Burmese opposition leader stops short of condemning anti-Muslim violence and insists no ethnic cleansing is taking place in Radio 4 interview
Bangladesh disaster: 'Little help' for Rana Plaza victims
Six months after a major clothing factory collapse in Bangladesh, 94% of the victims are still awaiting compensation, a charity says.
The charity, Action Aid, says many survivors have serious injuries that have prevented them returning to work.
More than 1,130 people died when the Rana Plaza building near Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, collapsed in April.
Action Aid, questioned nearly two-thirds of survivors and victims' relatives for its survey.
It found that 94% of those questioned said they had received no legal benefits from their employers, including sick pay or compensation.
Burma sectarian violence motivated by fear, says Aung San Suu Kyi
Burmese opposition leader stops short of condemning anti-Muslim violence and insists no ethnic cleansing is taking place in Radio 4 interview
Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has stopped short of directly condemning anti-Muslim violence in the country and said that it was motivated by fear.
Sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims began in western Rakhine state last year, with hundreds killed and about 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, driven from their homes. The violence has spread to other parts of the country this year. The government has been heavily criticised for not doing enough to protect Muslims, who account for about 4% of Burma's roughly 60 million people, and Aung San Suu Kyi has also been accused of failing to speak out.
In an interview broadcast on Thursday, the Nobel laureate insisted there was no ethnic cleansing taking place and said that both sides were afraid of each other.
Pope suspends German ‘bling bishop’ pending investigation
Expensive residence renvoation under investigation by German bishops
Derek Scally
Pope Francis has suspended an embattled German bishop from his diocese, where he is under fire after spending €31 million on a new residence.
After a 20-minute audience on Monday, the Vatican said yesterday in a statement that it deemed it “appropriate” for Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst to take “a period of leave from the diocese”.
“A situation has been created in which the bishop can no longer exercise his episcopal duties”, said the statement. It was not clear yesterday if the bishop would remain in the Vatican or travel elsewhere during his suspension.
The absence of Dr Tebartz-van Elst (53) from Limburg will give time for a church investigation into the so-called “bishop of bling” affair.
IRAN
UN envoy details ongoing human rights abuses in Iran
A new UN report has highlighted ongoing human rights abuses in Iran even since the election of reform-minded President Hassan Rouhani. The report also said there were signs that the situation may be improving.
The report released by the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Iran on Wednesday details widespread abuses, including the executions of 724 people over the past 18 months and a rise in number of journalists placed behind bars.
In a speech to unveil the report, UN special rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed also expressed concern about other restrictions on freedom of expression in Iran, saying the authorities had taken steps to block access to as many as five million websites. He said a monthly average of 1,500 websites were being shut down in Iran, particularly those that focused on things like women's rights, or the minority Wahhabi and Bahai religions.
Positive signals
At the same time, though, Shaheed pointed to what he described as "a number of positive signals" from President Hassan Rouhani, since he was elected last June, including the release of a number of political prisoners.
Kenya cops threaten to arrest journalist over mall massacre looting reports
Kenya's police chief has threatened journalists with arrest after they reported on looting and disarray among security forces during the massacre in Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall, media said.
Police Inspector General David Kimaiyo told reporters it is "very clear that there is limit" to media freedom.
"We are looking within the law very closely for those individuals who in one way or another might have committed crimes... that soon they would be apprehended and appear before the court, and face the consequences of this," he said.
Journalists from Kenya's KTN television station - which like other media outlets has reported widely on the ransacking of the upmarket shopping mall as soldiers battled Islamist gunmen in the four-day siege last month - are among those threatened with arrest.
Brazil oil auction forces Rousseff to reconsider Petrobras's role
Maintaining the current pace of oil development without opening up underwater reserves to foreign developers could prevent Brazil from becoming a net oil exporter.
Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff can’t seem to make anyone happy as she oversees the development of the nation’s massive oil fields.
While violent protesters decried this week’s auction of the Libra oil field to a consortium led by state-owned oil giant Petrobras with several Western European and Asian minority partners, energy analysts also criticized President Rousseff’s government for exerting a strong hand in the bidding process. Brazil demanded hefty upfront payments while retaining all development control and claiming the lion’s share of profits.
Now Rousseff, who is up for reelection next year, has a choice to make between the short-term economic benefits of opening up future fields to faster development and the potential political fallout from selling natural resources to foreign investors, says Christopher Garman, Latin America director for Washington-based political-risk research firm Eurasia Group.
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