7 December 2012 Last updated at 06:53 GMT
Palestinian Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to visit Gaza
The exiled political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, is due to make his first ever visit to Gaza to mark the organisation's 25th anniversary.
Mr Meshaal has not set foot in the Palestinian territories since leaving the West Bank in 1967 and is scheduled to address a mass rally on Saturday.
His visit follows a ceasefire that ended days of violence between Hamas-run Gaza and Israel last month.
The Islamist militant group has governed Gaza since 2007
'Made in Gaza'
Konrad: Germany and the European Union have taken a pioneering role on climate protection, under the mistaken assumption that other countries would follow our example. That's the wrong strategy. Making this kind of advanced effort weakens our bargaining position. Instead of building wind turbines, we should build higher dikes.
Mr Meshaal is due to enter Gaza from Egypt. Officials at the Rafah border crossing said his wife had arrived late on Thursday.
Mr Meshaal is expected to visit the home of late Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, as well as that of Ahmed Jabari, the military commander killed in an Israeli strike last month.
A Plea for a New Climate StrategyEurope Shouldn't Try So Hard to Save the Planet
As the United Nations climate change conference in Doha wraps up, many environmentalists are feeling hopeless about the lack of progress. But in a SPIEGEL interview, German government advisor Kai Konrad says that Berlin and Europe are taking the wrong approach to motivating others.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Konrad, the climate talks in Doha seem to be failing. Why is that?
Morsi defiant amid continued Egypt unrest
Activists denounce president's call for dialogue as he refuses to delay constitutional referendum.
Last Modified: 07 Dec 2012 05:12
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has defied calls to curb his sweeping powers and refused to call off a referendum on a disputed constitution that has led to the country's worst political crisis in two years.
Addressing the nation on Thursday night, he called for dialogue and offered sympathy for recent deaths of protesters, but offered few concessions and dismissed his political opposition.
His speech prompted immediate angry reactions from protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square and elsewhere, who yelled "Leave!" and chanted other anti-Morsi slogans.
Southeast Asia
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By Richard Javad Heydarian
Earlier hopes that a leadership transition in China would help to ease tensions in the South China Sea have faded as Beijing carves out a more assertive position in the contested waters.
China's recent announcement that patrol vessels will beginning next year "intercept and board" any foreign vessels in areas over which it claims sovereignty in the South China Sea represents the gravest threat yet to freedom of navigation in an area crucial to global trade.
Adding to the tensions, Beijing also recently issued new passports for its citizens which bear an official Chinese map that incorporates all contested territories in the South China Sea and
beyond. The move has sparked new diplomatic flare-ups, including with rival claimants in the Philippines and Vietnam.
China's recent announcement that patrol vessels will beginning next year "intercept and board" any foreign vessels in areas over which it claims sovereignty in the South China Sea represents the gravest threat yet to freedom of navigation in an area crucial to global trade.
Adding to the tensions, Beijing also recently issued new passports for its citizens which bear an official Chinese map that incorporates all contested territories in the South China Sea and
beyond. The move has sparked new diplomatic flare-ups, including with rival claimants in the Philippines and Vietnam.
Brazil's Sao Paulo slums see a return to violence
Nearly 100 police officers are among 4,100 people killed this year in violence on Sao Paulo's outskirts, which had abated. The gang known as PCC is believed to be largely responsible.
By Vincent Bevins, Los Angeles Times
SAO PAULO, Brazil — Renewed tension between police and Sao Paulo's largest criminal gang are being blamed for a surge in violence in Brazil's most populous state, where more than 4,100 people have been killed this year, including almost 100 police officers.
Analysts say a wave of executions of police officers has been carried out by First Command of the Capital, a two-decade-old gang known by the Portuguese initials PCC. It burst into the consciousness of more well-off Sao Paulo residents in 2006 when a series of deadly attacks shocked and paralyzed the city for days.
Peace was restored, but this year police have come under attack again and poor neighborhoods in Sao Paulo, a state of more than 40 million, are living through an onslaught of unexplained killings.
Nationalism gains ground in election campaign
By Harumi Ozawa
Park Jeong-hun always found Japan a reasonable place to live; a place where, as a second generation Korean, she rubbed along well with her neighbors.
But when her non-profit group tried to put on a dance to showcase their heritage in the cosmopolitan city of Nagoya, things unexpectedly turned ugly.
City officials received a visit from two respectable-looking men proffering business cards and saying they were there to protest at the mounting of Park’s Korean dance.
Footage posted on the Internet shows the mask of civility soon slipping, as the men let out a volley of racist abuse at a city official.
“I had to cancel it for the children’s safety,” Park told AFP.
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