Obama backs Japan in islands row with China |
US president says islands at centre of Sino-Japanese dispute are Japanese and fall under terms of US-Japan defence pact.
Last updated: 24 Apr 2014 06:01
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The US president has reiterated that islands at the centre of a Sino-Japanese dispute are covered by a US-Japan defence pact, in a public show of support for allies in Tokyo.
In comments made on Thursday in Japan, Barack Obama said that the islands - known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China - were historically administered by Tokyo and came under the terms of joint-defence alliance.
He said US commitment to the treaty was "absolute", and that it covered all territory administered by Japan.
"This is not a new position. This is a consistent one," he said. "Article five covers all territories under Japan's administration including Senkaku islands."
However, he said: "We stand together in calling for disputes in the region, including maritime issues, to be resolved peacefully through dialogue."
In India, no shame in standing for election with criminal conviction
Election watchdog says 15% of those running for election in India face criminal charges
Rahul Bedi
In the sixth round of countrywide voting taking place today in 117 of 543 parliamentary constituencies in India’s staggered general elections, one in six candidates faces criminal charges.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a civil society election watchdog group, 15 per cent, or 321, of 2,071 candidates hoping to become MPs face criminal cases. Of these, 204 stand accused of murder, attempted murder, robbery and crimes against women in addition to a plethora of assorted charges, such as electoral misconduct and fostering sectarian tension.
Indian law requires electoral candidates to disclose all pending criminal charges against them and the ADR study is based on this data.
Life on the margins for China's Uighur minority
Members of China's Uighur minority have long complained they suffer cultural marginalization. Many now also say they are the victims of worsening repression, with accusations of serious human rights abuses.
China is a multiethnic state. In addition to the overwhelming majority of Han Chinese are another 55 national minorities, mostly living on the periphery of the country. But some minorities also feel culturally and politically marginalized.
The Chinese government would like to paint a picture of harmonious coexistence among the country's various ethnicities. However, the extent to which this is in doubt for some 10 million people in China's northwestern Xianjiang region has been thrown into sharp focus once again.
In the city of Aksu earlier this month, a 17-year-old motorcyclist was shot by police after riding past a red traffic light. The subsequent protests were brutally suppressed, according to Radio Free Asia.
Palestinian unity push angers Israel
April 24, 2014 - 2:59PMRuth Pollard
Middle East Correspondent
Cairo: The United States said it was "disappointed" and Israel convened an extraordinary meeting of its security cabinet to consider sanctions after the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas announced plans for a unity government of the Palestinian Authority, seven years after a violent split created rival governments.
The US State Department said the pact - agreed between the Islamist group Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Palestine Liberation Organisation - could make peace efforts difficult.
"The timing was troubling, and we were certainly disappointed in the announcement," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
Confusion as ex-Senegal leader Wade delays return home
By TAMBA JEAN-MATTHEW IIIConflicting reports are emerging over the exact cause of the failure of ex-President Abdoulaye Wade’s arrival in Senegal on Wednesday.
Officials sources said the former leader was held up in Casablance, Morocco after air port officials discovered two different lists of personalities that were to be on board the plane.
However, supporters of the former leader claim his absence is because of a row with Landing Authority from the Transport ministry.
Some who spoke to Nation.co.ke claim that the government is attempting to delay Wade's arrival so that the security operatives find it easier to contain his supporters who crowded the streets of the capital.
From gunfights to 'mansions': Inside Rio de Janeiro's smorgasbord of favelas (+video)
Brazil's favelas are often associated with violence and crime, but that's only part of the story.
Turning the corner on a narrow, uneven footpath, a small white chapel comes into view in a plaza surrounded by whitewashed buildings with blue tile trim. As dusk falls on this tightly packed neighborhood set high above the ocean, the scene evokes Mediterranean Greece instead of one of Rio de Janeiro’s oldest favelas, Providência.
Brazil’s favelas, or shantytowns, are increasingly in the news, usually in a negative light. Last night the death of a popular dancer prompted a shootout between police and residents of Pavão-Pavãozinho, and protests spilled into the streets of posh Copacabana.
But not all favelas are created alike. There's Rio’s Cantagalo favela, where businessmen are moving inand building boutique hotels for tourists, and Complexo do Maré, which security forces recently occupied (it sits on a main road between Rio's airport and popular tourist zones.)
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