The Supreme Court in Nicaragua has suspended the controversial return to the original owners of properties confiscated by the Sandinistas while they were in power from 1979 to 1990.

A commission was set up last year, after years of wrangling, to analyse several-thousand claims and adjudicate on property rights.

But the Supreme Court has ruled that the commission lacks the necessary authority to make such decisions.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service