BBC News with Nick Kelly
Pope Francis has urged the Roman Catholic Church to act with determination to tackle the sexual abuse of children in his first remarks on the issue since he became pontiff. But a group representing abuse victims says the comments are inadequate. Alan Johnston reports.
Pope Francis made his remarks to the Vatican officials who investigate sex abuse cases. He urged them to continue what he said was the decisive action demanded by his predecessor Pope Benedict. The new pope said this required measures to protect children and to help those who have suffered abuse in the past. He also spoke of the need to pursue the guilty. But those representing victims of abuse will want more. Responding to the pope’s words, one group said that children would not be helped by what it called a continuation of the tiny symbolic gestures taken so far.
North Korea has told foreign diplomatic missions in Pyongyang to consider evacuating their employees as tensions increase over the country’s nuclear weapons programme. Earlier there were reports from South Korea that the North had loaded two medium-range missiles onto mobile launchers. In Washington, the White House Spokesman Jay Carney said they were monitoring situation closely.
“We have seen them launch missiles in the past and the United Nations Security Council has repeatedly condemned them as violations of the North’s obligations under numerous Security Council resolutions, and it would fit their current pattern of bellicose, unhelpful and unconstructive rhetoric actions. We urge them to stop with the provocations and to focus instead on meeting their international obligations and feeding their own people.”
Media in Cyprus say an investigation into what went wrong at the island’s banks has found that important data has been deleted from computers of the largest lender-- the Bank of Cyprus. An independent report was handed to the government in Nicosia this week after months of investigation. Leaked sections suggest that current critically important files and emails have been deleted with data-removal software found on some of the computers.
A federal judge in New York has ordered the US government to make the “morning after” contraceptive pill freely available to girls under 16. Previously the Obama administration had overruled experts and insisted only older girls and women could have the pill without prescription. Paul Adams reports from Washington.
In a country with the highest rates of teen and unwanted pregnancy in the developed world, women’s health advocates have hailed the ruling as a significant breakthrough. They say the drug is entirely safe and that studies have shown that making it freely available will not lead to young people becoming more sexually active as many religious conservatives fear. The cost of the drug between $40 and $60 for a single dose will still put it out of reach of many of those who need it most. Rates of teen pregnancy are highest among the poor.
World News from the BBC
The president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, has said the fall of his government would cause a domino effect that would damage the Middle East for years to come. In an interview with Turkish media, Mr Assad gave his sharpest warning yet about the role of neighbouring countries in the conflict, saying Syria was surrounded by countries that were, as he put it, helping terrorists.
There’s been no breakthrough over Iran’s nuclear programme on the first day of the latest talks between the world powers and the Iranian authorities. Negotiators from Iran said they had outlined key and clear proposals at the meeting in Kazakhstan. James Reynold reports from Almaty.
The respective chief negotiators Catherine Ashton and Saeed Jalili kept their distance in the opening photocall and it would appear in the subsequent negotiations as well. The world powers wanted Iran to respond to a proposal the group made in February. Instead, Iran decided to present its own set of suggestions. There appears to be little overlap between the respective proposals. “We remain a long way apart on the substance,” said one Western diplomat at the talks. “Iran insists that it has no military ambitions. Because of this it says it wants sanctions to be lifted.”
Mexico has unveiled a controversial memorial to the tens of thousands of people killed during the country’s brutal drug war. Some relatives of victims have objected to the steel wall because it has quotes from famous writers and thinkers on it but no names. One prominent opponent, the poet Javier Sicilia, said the wall should not have been placed next to a military base.
And world football’s governing body Fifa says the South African government has agreed to investigate allegations of match fixing in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup. Fifa said in a statement that the investigation will be limited to friendly matches of the South African Football Association ahead of the World Cup.