17 December 2013 Last updated at 05:24 GMT
17 December 2013 Last updated at 00:50 GMT
Japan sets out defence strategy amid China tensions
Japan's cabinet has approved a new national security strategy and increased defence spending in a move widely seen as aimed at China.
Over the next five years, Japan will buy hardware including drones, aircraft and amphibious vehicles.
The military will also build a new marine unit, an amphibious force capable of retaking islands.
The move comes with Tokyo embroiled in a bitter row with Beijing over East China Sea islands that both claim.
It reflects concern over China's growing assertiveness over its territorial claims and Beijing's mounting defence spending.
"China's stance toward other countries and military moves, coupled with a lack of transparency regarding its military and national security policies, represent a concern to Japan and the wider international community and require close watch," the national security draft said.
Congo army accused of abuses by United Nations
UN report points to use of child soldiers, executions and sexual violence while M23 rebels still actively recruiting in Rwanda
Recently defeated M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo have continued to recruit fighters in neighbouring Rwanda while the Congolese army has been involved in human rights abuses and corruption, according to a confidential UN report.
"The group has documented that M23 received continued support from Rwandan territory," the UN Group of Experts said in its final report to the security council's Congo sanctions committee, which was seen by Reuters on Monday.
"The group has received credible information that sanctioned M23 leaders are moving freely in Uganda and that M23 has continued to recruit in Rwanda," it said.
Russia missile deployment causes concern abroad
The United States, Poland and three Baltic states have all voiced concern at reported missile deployment by Russia in its exclave of Kaliningrad. Washington urged Moscow not to increase political tensions in the region.
Poland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia on Monday expressed alarm at reports that Russia planned to deploy, or already has deployed, Iskander-M missiles close to their borders.
The Estonian and Lilthuanian defense ministers both called the news "alarming," describing it as "cause for concern."
Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks said on Monday that such a move would change the "balance of powers in our region" and "threatens several Baltic cities."
The United States also expressed its concern, with State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf saying "we've urged Russia to take no steps to destabilize the region."
Washington said it had received no official word from Moscow about the deployment.
Plants could stop soaking up carbon say scientists
December 17, 2013 - 4:05PM
Vegetation on Earth could become saturated with carbon by the end of the century and stop acting as a brake on global warming, say scientists.
A 4 degrees rise in global temperature, predicted by 2100, marks the threshold point after which terrestrial trees and plants will be unable to soak up more carbon from the atmosphere.
Atmospheric carbon will then start to increase more rapidly, accelerating climate change, the researchers warn.
Vegetation acts as a ‘‘carbon sink’’, a natural system that takes carbon dioxide from the air and traps it. The Amazon rainforest and the vast belt of coniferous boreal forest that rings the northern hemisphere both act as powerful carbon sinks.
Saudi Arabia: Women experience freedom on campus, but few changes outside
Women's universities and women's campuses of the nation's only coed university offer unprecedented educational access for Saudi Arabia's young women, but critics point out how little is changing outside school walls.
Within their female-only campuses, women at Saudi Arabia's universities let loose. Trendy sneakers, colorful tops, a myriad of hairstyles. Some experiment with bleach blonde or even dip-dyed blue hair. The more adventurous ones have cropped their hair into short buzzes.
In their bags, the textbooks vary, but one item is mandatory: a floor-length black abaya robe that each must cover herself with when she steps through the university gates back to the outside world of the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars to improve women's education, part of a broader drive to empower young Saudis for the marketplace. That has meant improved campuses, better facilities and research programs and a slight expansion in the curriculum for women. For years, Saudi King Abdullahhas been making startling, if incremental, moves to ease restrictions on women in the kingdom, where the word of strict ultraconservative Wahhabi clerics is virtually law.
Who next as the world's elder statesman?
Nelson Mandela was often described as the "world's elder statesman", a father figure tackling global problems. His moral authority made him, in some people's eyes, a successor to Gandhi. Who might play a similar role now?
Lockerbie, Burundi, DR Congo, Lesotho, Indonesia, Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, Stephen Lawrence murder, HIV awareness and World Cup football.
The list of subjects addressed in some way by Nelson Mandela is long and varied.
In some disputes, like Burundi's long-running conflict, he was a mediator. On other intractable issues, like the stigma of HIV, he was the campaigner and bereaved father who tried to address prejudice.
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