Japan and South Korea agree 'comfort women' deal
Japan and South Korea have reached a historic deal to settle the issue of "comfort women" forced to work in Japanese brothels during World War Two.
Japan offered an apology and will pay 1bn yen ($8.3m, £5.6m) to a South Korean-administered fund for victims.
The issue has long strained ties, with South Korea demanding stronger apologies and compensation for victims.
The agreement represents the first deal on the issue since 1965 and comes after both sides agreed to speed up talks.
The announcement comes after Japan's foreign minister Fumio Kishida arrived in Seoul for discussions with his counterpart Yun Byung-se.
After the meeting Mr Kishida told reporters that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered a heartfelt apology.
Israel warns Brazil faces diplomatic downgrade unless it accepts settler as ambassador
Israel warns ties may suffer if Brasilia does not accept nominee Dani Dayan, a former head of the Jewish settlement movement
Brazil’s reluctance to accept an Israeli ambassador who is a West Bank settler has led to a standoff with Israel now warning it could downgrade diplomatic relations.
The appointment four months ago of Dani Dayan, a former head of the Jewish settlement movement, did not go down well with Brazil’s left-leaning government, which has supported Palestinian statehood in recent years.
Most world powers deem the Jewish settlements illegal.
Israel’s previous ambassador, Reda Mansour, left Brasilia last week and the Israeli government said on Sunday Brazil risked degrading bilateral relations if Dayan were not allowed to succeed him.
Ghana’s textile trade unravels due to cheap Chinese imports
Counterfeit goods are putting jobs at risk. Chris Matthews meets those affected in Tema
Isaac Eshun watches closely as reams of newly printed fabrics flow down from the giant rollers overhead, vast sheets of cloth with intricate orange and blue designs tumbling from the factory’s whirring machines.
The 53-year-old technician has spent almost half his life working at this textile company in Tema, a coastal town around 10 miles from the capital of Accra, yet such a career is increasingly rare in Ghana’s once thriving textile industry.
Counterfeit goods, border inefficiencies and rising costs have hit the industry hard, and last month it emerged the government had replaced a local company as the provider of school uniforms for public schools with a Chinese fabric producer.
“I have worked here for 25 years and our product is very fine and people can see the difference when they buy it, but the counterfeiting is a problem,” Mr Eshun says. “It is killing us and it is killing the industry.”
South China Sea: Filipino protesters land on disputed Spratly island
December 28, 2015 - 6:16AMManuel Mogato
Manila: A group of Filipino protesters has landed on a disputed Philippine-held island in the South China Sea, a local government official said on Sunday, in a risky expedition that may trigger a strong reaction from China.
About 50 protesters, most of them students, reached Pagasa island in the Spratly archipelago on Saturday in a stand against what they say is Beijing's creeping invasion of the Philippine exclusive economic zone, said Eugenio Bito-onon, the island's mayor.
"The 'freedom voyage' arrived at about 8.30am on Saturday from Balabac island on a motor launch," Mr Bito-onon told Reuters, adding the protesters left southern Palawan on Thursday in fine weather to make the long sea crossing.
China claims almost all the South China Sea, believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, through which about $US5 trillion ($6.8 trillion) in ship-borne trade passes every year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims on the strategic waters.
Japan, wary of outsiders, keeps doors closed to refugees
Ever wary toward outsiders, Japan keeps doors closed to refugees despite pledges to do more
By Elaine Kurtenbach and Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press
For Mohammed, the perils of staying in Damascus crystalized when a sniper's bullet whizzed past his head while he and his cousins were on his rooftop, watching the Syrian air force bomb rebel forces.
The same roof where Mohammed and his lifelong friend Jamal used to sit in a tent and play video games. Now, instead of studying for a law degree, Mohammed is working as a fitness instructor in Tokyo, trying to squeeze in some language study and hoping that like Jamal, he'll beat the odds and win official status as a refugee in Japan.
The odds aren't good.
Out of the 7,533 people who applied for refugee status in 2014, or appealed earlier refusals, only 11 were approved. That includes Jamal, his mother and sister, whose approvals came after a year-and-a-half wait.
Evidence suggests 2015 will be a record year for gun sales
Updated by Alvin Chang
In 2015, the FBI will likely process a record number of background checks for people looking to buy guns and get permits.
Background checks are a good proxy for measuring how gun sales are changing, even though one background check does not necessarily equal one gun. That said, the purpose of background checks has nothing to do with measuring sales. Rather, it is part of a 1993 gun control law called the Brady Act, which mandates that someone looking to buy a firearm from a dealer, manufacturer, or importer is subject to a criminal background check. As part of this law, the FBI runs what is called the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which pings three databases to quickly figure out whether a prospective buyer has a criminal record.
In the first 11 months of this year, the bureau already processed 19.7 million background checks. This is more than every other year on record — by nearly 800,000. This number includes a record-breaking Black Friday, when a whopping 185,000 background checkswere requested.
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