This is Mike Cooper with the latest World News from the BBC.
Reports from South Africa say the youth leader of the governing African National Congress, the ANC, Julius Malema faces a disciplinary hearing for bringing the party into disrepute. Local media said the charges are set to include promoting racism and fermenting intolerance. Genc Lamani of our Africa desk reports.
Mr Malema, who leads the ANC youth wing, has recently embarrassed party leaders by ejecting a BBC journalist from a news conference and defying an ANC order to stop singing a song inciting hatred against white farmers, which was banned by the South African courts. He also ignored party policy by publicly supporting Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe. The reported hearing follows several calls by the ANC and President Jacob Zuma, who had urged party leaders to avoid making public statements that could be misunderstood.
A court in Iran has sentenced a journalist to three and a half years in prison and 50 lashes for criticizing the country's top leadership. Mohammad Nourizad was arrested last November for denouncing the government over the unrest that followed the disputed presidential election. Mr Nourizad maintained his right as a journalist to criticize.
Three Italian medical workers arrested in Afghanistan last week have been set free. They were accused of involvement in an alleged plan to assassinate the governor of Helmand province. A statement from the Afghan National Directorate of Security said investigations had shown the Italians were not guilty.