Japan PM Shinzo Abe to deliver closely watched WW2 statement
- 56 minutes ago
- Asia
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to deliver a much-anticipated statement, marking 70 years since his country's World War Two surrender.
Its content will be closely watched by Japan's neighbours, who are concerned he may water down previous expressions of regret by the Japanese government.
Previous prime ministers used the once-every-decade statement to apologise for Japan's actions in World War Two.
But Mr Abe has been accused of playing down Japan's wartime atrocities.
Mr Abe's statement will be approved by cabinet shortly before he delivers it in Tokyo early on Friday evening.
Pentagon blocking Guantánamo deals to return Shaker Aamer and other cleared detainees
Exclusive: Pentagon chief and top officials playing ‘foot-dragging games’ despite 2013 agreement with UK diplomats and Obama’s promise to close facility
Spencer Ackerman
The Pentagon is blocking the return of UK permanent resident Shaker Aamer and two other longtime Guantánamo Bay detainees for whom the US Department of State has completed diplomatic deals to transfer home, the Guardian has learned.
American and UK diplomats reached an agreement in late 2013 for the return of Aamer, who has spent more than 13 years at the infamous detention facility without charge, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the understanding.
But even as the White House pledged to make his case a priority after a personal plea from David Cameron, Barack Obama’s defense secretaries have played what one official called “foot-dragging and process games” to let the deals languish.
SOUTH AFRICA 13/08/2015
Pretoria church burnt down in raid on 'Pastor Snakes'
A South African pastor has gained quite a reputation in the past few months. The self-styled prophet undresses churchgoers and walks on their bodies, whilst publishing photos of his rituals online. Fed up with what they see as the pastor's abuse of the poor and downtrodden, outraged residents in his Pretoria neighbourhood have taken matters into their own hands by torching the church.
Pastor Penuel Mnguni heads an evangelical Christian congregation called End Times Disciples Ministries in Soshanguve, a shantytown in northwest Pretoria. His bizarre rituals have made him a regular feature in South African media outlet over the past few months. Pastor Mnguni undresses his congregation to cleanse their sins, he flings himself on top of them and feeds them "chocolate-flavoured" toilet paper. The so-called "church" posts about each "miracle" on its Facebook page.
Neo-Nazi football team Ostelbien to be kicked out of local league
The German football league has finally moved to get rid of one of its most infamous members. FC Ostelbien Dornburg, founded in the far-right scene, has become renowned for assaulting opposing players and referees.
It has long been public knowledge that FC Ostelbien Dornburg was a predominantly neo-Nazi outfit, but the Saxony-Anhalt Football Federation (FSA) has now bowed to media pressure and applied to have the team thrown out of its league - the eastern German state's local Kreisliga, or the tenth tier of Germany's football league system.
The club represents a district of barely 270 inhabitants in a small town called Gommern, outside Magdeburg, but the violence of its 18 squad members - 15 of whom are recognized by the state intelligence agency as neo-Nazis - has made national headlines for several months.
South Sudan rebel general rejects interim government with Kiir, Machar
By Denis Dumo
A South Sudan rebel general has split with former Vice President Riek Machar and rejected his plans to join President Salva Kiir in a transitional government, raising prospects of fresh conflict in the country.
Fighting broke out in the world's youngest country in December 2013 between forces loyal to Kiir and rebels allied with his former deputy Machar, reopening ethnic fault lines that pit Kiir's Dinka people against Machar's Nuer forces.
Kiir and Machar have signed several ceasefire deals, only to violate them within days. The factions resumed peace talks last week, under growing international pressure and the threat of further sanctions if an Aug. 17 deadline is not met.
This map shows why the next police shooting could go unrecorded
The one policy idea that a huge majority of Americans have embraced in the year since the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, is cop-worn body cameras. But how many police departments have actually taken on the technology?
The Huffington Post's Dana Liebelson and Nick Wing looked into this question, finding that only two of 27 large US cities — New Orleans and Albuquerque — have fully adopted body cameras, although most of the other cities are moving toward outfitting all officers with devices:
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