Typhoon Haiyan: Thousands feared dead in Philippines
The BBC
Around 10,000 people may have died in just one area of the Philippines hit by Typhoon Haiyan, according to officials.
One of the worst storms on record, it destroyed homes, schools and an airport in the eastern city of Tacloban.
Neighbouring Samar island was also badly affected, with reports of 300 people dead and 2,000 missing.
The Philippine government has so far only confirmed the deaths of 151 people throughout the country, but hundreds of thousands have been displaced.
The BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports that the scene in Tacloban, the capital of Leyte province, is one of utter devastation.
Geneva talks end without deal on Iran’s nuclear programme
Diplomats said to be furious after France objected to a stopgap deal being presented as a fait accompli
Julian Borger and Saeed Kamali Dehghan in Geneva
The Observer, Sunday 10 November 2013Three gruelling days of high-level and high-stakes diplomacy came to an end in Geneva with no agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme, after France blocked a stopgap deal aimed at defusing tensions and buying more time for negotiations.
A six-nation group of major powers and Iran agreed only to meet again on 20 November, but on a lower level – senior diplomats rather than foreign ministers. The EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said: “A lot of concrete progress has been achieved, but differences remain.” Asked about the part France had played, Ashton said that all parties to the talks had played an important role.
Inspiration or danger? Private schools in Pakistan ban Malala Yousafzai’s book
UMAIR AZIZ , ANDREW BUNCOMBE LAHORE Sunday 10 November 2013
Tens of millions of Pakistani children will struggle to lay their hands on the book written by Malala Yousafzai after the organisation representing the country’s private schools decided to ban it.
The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation, which says it represents more than 152,000 institutions across the country, has decided that allowing pupils to read the book, I am Malala, would have a “negative” effect on them. The federation also said it believed the book was not entirely respectful of Islam.
Van Rompuy warns against rising nationalism in EU
EU President Herman van Rompuy has defended the bloc’s policy of freedom of movement and warned against growing nationalism on the continent. He also urged member nations to do more for asylum seekers.
DW
Speaking in Berlin on Saturday, van Rompuy warned against fear of immigration among EU populations and defended the EU’s open borders.
“Populism and nationalism cannot provide the answer to the challenges of our time,” he said, urging member states to maintain a freedom of movement that he called a “sign of civilization.”
There are two million available jobs yet at the same time a high unemployment rate in many EU countries, van Rompuy said while delivering a speech on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Burundi president builds schools, but education remains weak
Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza has built more schools in his eight years in power than all of his predecessors put together, but education levels are still at an all-time low.
Sapa-AFP | 10 November, 2013 08:48
When Nkurunziza came to power in 2005, he immediately declared primary education free, a widely welcomed policy which resulted in the number of children registered for primary school tripling in a year.
In some schools, as many as 200 children piled into classrooms built to accommodate a fraction of that number.
“It was one of the biggest rushes to get children into school that we’ve ever seen,” said Johannes Wedenig, UN children’s agency Unicef’s chief for Burundi.
Soon, Burundi ran into the problem of insufficient schools, said Willy Nyamitwe, one of Nkurunziza’s spokesmen.
Venezuela’s government seizes electronic goods shops
The BBC
Hundreds of bargain hunters in Venezuela flocked to the Daka chain of electronics shops after President Nicolas Maduro ordered their seizure.
President Maduro accused the Daka chain of overcharging and said it would now be forced to have “fair prices”.
He later announced the seizure of the JVG store in eastern Caracas, saying it was used by the wealthy elites of the city whom he called thieves.
The opposition blames government policies for causing high inflation.
On a speech on Friday night, President Maduro promised to sell off Daka’s stock of plasma televisions, washing machines and other
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