user: News: The United Nations Refugee Agency has called for refugees and asylum seekers to be immediately removed from Nauru.

It comes as thousands of leaked incident reports published by Guardian Australia reveal allegations of sexual and physical abuse against women and children at the Nauru immigration detention centre.

The UNHCR says it has witnessed and reported on the deterioration of the situation in Nauru since 2012.

The allegations are consistent with its longstanding concerns regarding the conditions and mental health of refugees and asylum seekers on Nauru, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Delays in immediate action to rectify the current situation are exacerbating human suffering and causing ongoing deterioration."

One document discusses a painting created by a child asylum seeker that depicts "violent/intense sexual activity including the representation of a penis" and claimed that children had seen Nauruan guards pull their pants down and having sex.

A guard allegedly put his hands in the pants of an asylum-seeker child during a car trip, even though the father was present, according to another report.

Title: UNHCR urges immediate removals from Nauru


News: Attorney General Eric Holder has decided against forcing a reporter for the New York Times to reveal the identity of a confidential source, according to a senior Justice Department official.

The reporter, James Risen, has been battling for years to stop prosecutors from forcing him to name his source for a book that revealed a CIA effort to sabotage Iran's nuclear weapons program.

The government wanted Risen's testimony in the trial of a former CIA official, Jeffrey Sterling, accused of leaking classified information.

But now, according to the Justice Department official, Holder has directed that Risen must not be required to reveal "information about the identity of his source."

If the government subpoenas Risen to require any of his testimony, the official said, "it would be to confirm that he had an agreement with a confidential source, and that he did write the book."

No final decision has been made about exactly how to proceed, the official said, but added the government "will no longer seek what he's most concerned about revealing."

The decision ends months of internal debate about how aggressive prosecutors should be in seeking Risen's testimony. The federal judge overseeing the case, Leonie Brinkema of Alexandria, Virginia, gave the government until next Tuesday to declare how much he would be required to reveal in court.

Holder had earlier signaled he might decline to force Risen to reveal a source, telling a group of news media executives earlier this year that "As long as I am attorney general, no reporter who is doing his job is going to jail."

Without Holder's decision, Risen would have faced the difficult decision between revealing a source or facing possible jail time for contempt of court.

First published December 12 2014, 3:02 PM

Pete Williams is an NBC News correspondent based in Washington, D.C. He has been covering the Justice Department and the U.S. Supreme Court since March 1993. Williams was also a key reporter on the Microsoft anti-trust trial and Judge Jackson's decision.Prior to joining NBC, Williams served as a press official on Capitol Hill for many years. In 1986 he joined the Washington, D.C. staff of then Congressman Dick Cheney as press secretary and a legislative assistant. In 1989, when Cheney was named Assistant Secretary of Defense, Williams was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. While in that position, Williams was named Government Communicator of the Year in 1991 by the National Association of Government Communicators.A native of Casper, Wyo. and a 1974 graduate of Stanford University, Williams was a reporter and news director at KTWO-TV and Radio in Casper from 1974 to 1985. Working with the Radio-Television News Directors Association, for which he served as a member of its board of directors, he successfully lobbied the Wyoming Supreme Court to permit broadcast coverage of its proceedings and twice sued Wyoming judges over pre-trial exclusion of reporters from the courtroom. For these efforts, he received a First Amendment Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Title: Attorney General Won't Force New York Times Reporter to Reveal Source


News: Joseph Fiennes (left) and Michael Jackson

02/16/2016 AT 03:40 PM EST

is responding to criticism over his

in an upcoming film, and welcoming a conversation on its implications.

"I think outrage is good, as long as it doesn't get into a violent shouting match," Fiennes recently told

. "These conversations are really important and they shape our industry. It's vital to have them. I kind of welcome it. You can't do this and not welcome it."

The half-hour TV special, titled

, follows a fictional road trip taken by Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson and Marlon Brando in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York.

After noting that, as a white actor, he wrestled with the implications of playing the African-American pop star before taking the part, Fiennes explained why he feels color blind casting is healthy in film.

"It's important because all actors bring something fresh and new. We're looking for imagination and interpretation, and it doesn't steal anything away from the true identity of that person. It might offer something new and fresh and funny; as long as it doesn't become disenfranchising, racial or rude or stereotypical," he said.

Fiennes also said that he believes the reaction to his casting would have been different if minority actors were offered the same opportunities as their white counterparts.

"The thing is, the playing field is not fair right now, and that's absolutely evident," Fiennes admitted. "This is quite right, why people are up in arms. I'm a full believer in making the playing field fair. When it is fair, we can have a conversation about this project and it wouldn't cause outrage."

But given the current debate on diversity in Hollywood, Fiennes said he feels the conversation is especially pertinent.

"The reaction is important – I'd never shy away from that. I share this industry with my brothers and sisters right across the board, and I only want a level playing field."

is not attempting to tell Jackson's life's story.

"It's not a biopic, and it's not Michael in his younger days," Fiennes clarified. "It's Michael in his last days when, I have to say, he did look quite frankly rather differently than when we grew up with him in the '80s or earlier. So it's as Michael as we last remembered him and how he looks."

The comedy will be broadcast in the U.K. by Sky Arts, who defended the casting in a statement to PEOPLE. "It is part of a series of comedies about unlikely stories from arts and cultural history," a rep said. "Sky Arts gives producers the creative freedom to cast roles as they wish, within the diversity framework which we have set."

Title:

assistant: Joseph Fiennes Talks Michael Jackson Controversy Over 9/11 Road Trip Movie : People.com