6 October 2014 Last updated at 07:25
Hong Kong protests: Civil servants at work as numbers dwindle
Hundreds of pro-democracy campaigners remain camped out on the streets of Hong Kong as a government deadline for them to leave passed without incident.
But their numbers dwindled overnight and civil servants have returned to work in the government's headquarters.
The protesters are angry at China's plans to vet candidates when Hong Kong holds elections in 2017.
They are demanding that the central government in Beijing allow a fully free vote for the territory's leader.
The BBC's Juliana Liu in Hong Kong says the protesters appear to have decided to beat a strategic, possibly temporary, retreat - partly out of sheer exhaustion, as the demonstrations entered their second week.
Nobel prize-winners in numbers
Everything you need to know about the awards widely regarded as the most prestigious available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and economics
Latvia’s ruling coalition expected to shut out Russia-leaning party
Harmony party, backed mainly by ethnic Russians, wins largest number of votes
A party mainly backed by ethnic Russians won the largest number of votes in Latvia’s parliamentary elections this weekend, but is likely to be shut out of government after fears over a resurgent Kremlin dominated the campaign.
The Harmony party, led by the mayor of Riga, Nils Ushakov won 23 per cent of the votes in the elections, while the coalition of three current ruling parties had 56 per cent between them.
After the Kremlin’s actions in Ukraine and increased rhetoric about protecting Russians abroad, there have been concerns among the Latvian elite that the country’s large Russian-speaking minority could be used to give Moscow a foothold in the small Baltic state.
UN alarm over shrinking biodiversity
Grim warnings on the earth's dwindling biodiversity have been given at the opening of a UN conference in South Korea. A UN report says governments are only on course to meet five of 53 goals by 2020.
UN Environment Program chief Achim Steiner told conference delegates on Monday that the UN's progress report on biodiversity made for "very sobering" reading.
The document should make the "whole world sit up," Steiner said.
"We need to do more -- and do it fast -- to protect the very fabric of the natural world," Steiner told delegates gathered in Pyeongchang, South Korea's venue for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Lagging on many goals
The Global Biodiversity Outlook report released as the conference opened said governments were failing to meet most of the 53 goals set for 2020 in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It aims to protect species, for example, by stalling deforestation and over-fishing.
Signatory nations were only on target to meet five goals, the report concludes. One positive trend was the intention to set aside 17 percent of the world's land area for wildlife.
African Union, Somali troops retake Al Shabab stronghold
A port town used by Al Shabab to bring in arms and fighters from abroad was captured Sunday by government and AU forces. The town of Barawe had been fully controlled by the Islamist militants since 2006.
BARAWE, SOMALIA — African Union and Somali troops on Sunday took control of Barawe, a port town used by Al Shabab to bring in arms and fighters from abroad, after the Al Qaeda-linked militants fled without resistance, a Somali official said.
The African Union and the Somali military launched a joint offensive in March to drive the Islamist fighters out of towns and areas they control and stepped up their campaign in August after a surge in gun and bomb attacks in Mogadishu.
Al Shabaab members across Somalia have been arrested and smaller towns retaken, but the rebels still hold swathes of territory.
The fight to make divorce legal in the Philippines
October 6, 2014 -- Updated 0455 GMT (1255 HKT)
When Rowena Festin leaves her job as a congressional aide in Quezon City, Metro Manila each day, she returns home to three children and a husband. But her marriage, like many others in the Philippines, exists in name only.
"My husband wants another person," she says. "We are living in the same house but both decided to live our own life."
Although both have long wanted to legally end their marriage, the government will not allow them to do so. The Philippines is the only country in the world, aside from Vatican City, which lacks divorcelaws.
But a bill recently filed in Congress provides hope for thousands of couples trapped in failed and often abusive marriages, by legalizingdivorce. It comes at a time when Catholic Church leaders from across the world are holding an "Extraordinary Synod" in Rome at the request of Pope Francis to explore the Church's position on issues such as family, marriage and divorce.
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