30 September 2014 Last updated at 07:18
Hong Kong protests: Leader CY Leung urges crowds to leave
Hong Kong leader CY Leung has urged pro-democracy protesters to stop their campaign "immediately", as huge crowds continue to bring parts of the territory to a standstill.
Tens of thousands of people have been blocking streets in several areas.
The protesters want Beijing to give Hong Kong a free vote for its next leader, something Beijing has rejected.
Streets are now relatively quiet but crowds are set to swell later ahead of Chinese National Day on 1 October.
People were sleeping and clearing up on Tuesday before larger gatherings expected during the evening.
Wednesday is a national holiday marking the founding of Communist China.
German minister compares far-right party to neo-Nazis
Schäuble brands Alternative für Deutschland "demagogical"
Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, has called the anti-euro Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party demagogical and populist, and compared it to German neo-Nazis.
His attack on the AfD is the first time a senior member of chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has engaged with the party, little more than a year after it was founded.
Until now the CDU largely ignored the AfD, hoping it would vanish as quickly as it appeared. However, a run of AfD electoral success appears to have prompted a rethink inside Dr Merkel’s inner circle.
The Caliphate Next Door: Turkey Faces Up to its Islamic State Problem
For years, Ankara has been tolerating the rise of the extremist Islamic State. But now that the jihadists are conquering regions just across the border in northern Syria, concern is growing that Islamist terror could threaten Turkey too.
Islim Ali is dragging a torn trash bag behind her, clothes spilling out of the growing holes. Twenty-two years old and in her sixth month of pregnancy, she heaves the sack into her arms and crosses the border, followed by her husband, himself overloaded with possessions, and their two daughters, Esma, 6, and Rodin, 2. A Turkish disaster management agent notes down the Kurdish family's personal details and they then sit down on the ground behind the metal barricade. A gust of wind kicks up a cloud of dust, covering everything with a fine layer. But the Alis don't seem to care. They are in Turkey -- in safety.
The family had spent five days on the Syrian side of the border before crossing into Turkey, having left their hometown of Kobani, called Ain al-Arab in Arabic, once the Islamist fighters from Islamic State went on the attack.
Global wildlife numbers 'halved in four decades'
A WWF study has found that the world's wildlife population has dropped by more than a half in the past four decades - a far greater drop than identified in a previous report. Human numbers, meanwhile, have doubled.
The World Wild Fund for Nature (WWF) found in its latest survey that there was a 52-percent decrease in the global head count for more than 10,000 different animal populations across Earth.
The 2014 Living Planet Report, released on Tuesday, looked at the change in population numbers for 3,038 of what it considers to be the most representative animal species.
It revealed a 39 percent fall in numbers across a representative sample of land-dwelling species from 1970 to 2010, with the same depletion in marine species. In freshwater populations, the drop was more marked - at 76 percent.
U.S. judge holds Argentina in contempt of court (+video)
US District Judge Thomas P. Griesa said Argentina's repeated efforts to avoid paying US bondholders was illegal conduct that could no longer be ignored.
NEW YORK — A judge, calling civil contempt a rarity, ruled that Argentina was in contempt of court on Monday for its open defiance of his orders requiring that US hedge funds holding Argentine bonds be paid the roughly $1.5 billion they are owed if the majority of the South American nation's bondholders are paid interest on their bonds.
US District Judge Thomas P. Griesa made the announcement after a lawyer for US hedge funds led by billionaire hedge fund investor Paul Singer's NML Capital Ltd. argued that Argentina has openly defied Griesa's court orders for more than a year. The judge reserved decision on sanctions pending further proceedings.
"What we are talking about is proposals and changes and actions that come from the executive branch of the Republic of Argentina," the judge said.
History’s largest trade agreements are being negotiated in secret
Unelected representatives iron out logistics of massive TPP and TTIP deals between US and Europe, Asia-Pacific regions
In August 2007, then–presidential candidate Barack Obama vowed that, if elected, he would “immediately” amend the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which the U.S. signed with Mexico 13 years earlier.
“Our trade agreements should not just be good for Wall Street. It should also be good for Main Street,” he said, objecting to the influence of corporate lobbyists over labor unions and other groups in negotiating trade agreements.
Six years later, with NAFTA still untouched, Obama faced the decision to appoint the chief U.S. negotiators for the two largest trade agreements in history.
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