Japan's Abe and China's Xi hold ice-breaking meeting as Apec starts
- The leaders of China and Japan meet for mini-summit
- Barack Obama flies into Beijing for Apec meeting
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, and Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, have met in Beijing for their first formal talks since 2012, marking a diplomatic breakthrough after years of soured ties over competing territorial claims in the East China Sea.
Abe was in China, along with other world leaders, including the US and Russian presidents, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit’s economic leaders’ meeting, two days of high-powered talks at a lakeside resort in Beijing’s far-northeastern mountains.
He and Xi met at the Great Hall of the People, a massive granite reception hall abutting Tiananmen Square, at 11.50am on Monday, hours before an economic meeting hosted by Xi. During an awkward handshake before the meeting, both leaders looked dour and resigned, a clear indication that feelings between the two countries remain raw.
Abe was in China, along with other world leaders, including the US and Russian presidents, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, to participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit’s economic leaders’ meeting, two days of high-powered talks at a lakeside resort in Beijing’s far-northeastern mountains.
He and Xi met at the Great Hall of the People, a massive granite reception hall abutting Tiananmen Square, at 11.50am on Monday, hours before an economic meeting hosted by Xi. During an awkward handshake before the meeting, both leaders looked dour and resigned, a clear indication that feelings between the two countries remain raw.
Turkey accused of ignoring destruction of Christian sites
Ancient relics of Christian past are slowly being lost to history
Stephen Starr
The light of day was quickly fading as a farmer gestured to follow him through a doorway into the stone outhouse. Inside, in the darkness, there are sacks of animal food and dust-covered machinery.
In the light from a camera’s flash hints of eastern Turkey’s Christian past tentatively show themselves: a cross chiselled into an arch on an ancient wall; an apse painted with the faint, pale, blue colour associated with the Virgin Mary during Byzantine times.
Here in the Pontic mountains, named after the community of Greeks stationed on the Black Sea coast from 700BC until their massacre and expulsion in the early 20th century, ancient relics of a Christian past are slowly and in some cases deliberately being lost to history.
Mexico fighting endless war against cartels
Is Mexico's drug war endangering the country's modernization? The Iguala massacre has sparked a debate on the close relationship between the state and organized crime, and its lasting effect on Mexico's development.
"Over the next few days, I will be calling representatives of the Mexican state, political parties and social organizations to sign off on a national pact for security," announced Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Tuesday in the "El Universal" daily newspaper.
Pena Nieto said that all parties should commit to fundamental changes and guarantee the country's rule of law. "Events such as the massacre in Iguala should not be repeated," he said.
On the night of September 26, 2014, 43 students from a teachers' college disappeared in the town of Iguala, in the southern state of Guerrero. Officially, they are still considered "missing." Investigators have since uncovered 28 charred bodies in six mass graves, but these remains don't seem to be those of the missing students.
Problems persist long after Horn of Africa famine
November 10, 2014
Matt Wade
Senior writer
Dadaab, Kenya: I met Ladhan Waraq in the worst of circumstances. She had just buried a daughter, Malyun, in an unmarked grave at Dadaab, the world's biggest refugee camp near the Kenya-Somalia border. Another child, five-month-old Sahlan, was wasted by hunger and lay limp in Ladhan's arms. She was in danger of losing two daughters in a single day.
Ladhan was among the millions of Somalis uprooted by the devastating famine that hit the Horn of Africa in 2011. When her family's cows died and crops shrivelled, they joined the throng of people seeking help at Dabaab.
But death was everywhere at the desolate camp. Malyun was the second child buried that day in the makeshift cemetery. A grim-faced community leader, Muhammad Abduli, told me he'd helped dig the graves of 40 children from his block alone in the previous two months.
Malaysia's Sharia law costs non-Muslims their kids
By EILEEN NG2 hours ago
IPOH, Malaysia It was the last round of a recurring argument: M. Indira Gandhi's husband wanted her to convert to Islam. A committed Hindu, she refused.
He threatened divorce. Both started shouting. Neighbors came looking. Suddenly, he snatched their 11-month-old daughter from the arms of an older child, tucked her under one arm and sped off on his motorbike.
That was more than five years ago. Gandhi hasn't seen her child since, even though a Malaysian civil court awarded her custody.
Her husband — who converted to Islam shortly before taking his daughter away — won custody in an Islamic court. Because Gandhi is not a Muslim, she was not even called to appear. Police have been unwilling to enforce the civil court's decision.
"I am pining to see my daughter. No mother should ever have to endure this pain," said Gandhi, a kindergarten teacher, in her small rented home in Ipoh city in Perak state, about 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Kuala Lumpur, the capital. "Give us a chance. We are all Malaysians. We should have equal rights."
10 November 2014 Last updated at 00:16
The family that saved 3,000 lives
In August, the Magazine reported on a couple who spent millions of euros to save migrants in danger of drowning at sea. Their 60-day mission has now ended - so what did they achieve, asks Alison Gee?
"We helped to save around 3,000 men, women and children who would have otherwise been likely to perish," says Christopher Catrambone who -as we reported earlier - set up the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) with his wife, Regina, and daughter, Maria Luisa.
"I was shocked by the sheer number of migrants that are packed into each boat. Some migrants are pushed into the low deck where they are more susceptible to drowning and suffocation. You don't understand what a horrific journey this is until you actually witness it that closely," Christopher says.
"I recall an elderly Palestinian who sold all his belongings for a measly $15,000 to fund his trip... I also recall a couple of Syrian grandparents who at the twilight of their lives had to leave their beloved Aleppo.
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