Ghost ships: Bodies and boats unsettle Japanese community
Updated 0251 GMT (1051 HKT) December 23, 2017
Ryosen Kojima opens a sliding door, enters the Zen Buddhist temple that his family has operated for four generations, and lights two candles.
He then kneels and performs a prayer, chanting and rhythmically sounding a bell by his side.
Lined up in front of the priest on a table are dozens of containers covered in brocade that hold the cremated ashes of the deceased.
Fifteen sets of ashes do not have name tags on them. They belong to unidentified North Koreans who have washed up dead on the shores of this sparsely-populated Japanese peninsula in recent months.
Europe sends people 'home' to Afghanistan, where they have never been
Accelerated programme of forced removals results in scared young men being deported to a country they do not know
European nations are deporting to Afghanistan young Afghans who have never set foot in the country, or not lived there since they were infants.
An accelerated programme of forced removals this year resulted in several instances of the terrifying paradox in which young men are sent “home” to a country they do not know.
Ali Reza Azimi, 22, had never been to Afghanistan until German authorities deported him to Kabul. Arrested in Germany on the morning of 5 December, he was in Kabul by 7 December with only what he wore.
Last two dancing bears rescued from 'lifetime of suffering' in Nepal
'They showed signs of psychological trauma such as cowering, pacing and paw sucking'Rachel Roberts
The last two known “dancing bears” of Nepal have been rescued by an animal charity, after “a lifetime of suffering” at the hands of their captors.
The two sloth bears, Rangila and Sridevi, are recovering from the enduring psychological stress of performing for human entertainment.
The World Animal Protection charity said it worked with the Jane Goodall Institute of Nepal and with police to finally put an end to the bears’ misery.
Rangila, a 19-year-old male, and Sridevi, a 17-year-old female, had suffered years of cruelty after being sold to their owner for the illegal practice of bear-dancing.Musicians assume harassment is 'just part of life'
"Mozart in the Jungle" journalist Blair Tindall said sexual abuse in classical music is a power and generational problem. She also explained why institutions might turn a blind eye to "genius" conductors' abuse.
The classical music world has not been spared the wave of sexual harassment accusations that were unleashed by the Harvey Weinstein scandal in Hollywood. In early December, the New York Metropolitan Opera suspended famed conductor James Levine after he was accused of sexually harassing three men when they were teenagers decades ago. And on Friday, Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit was dropped by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and other international orchestras after four women accused him of sexual assault.
For Blair Tindall, the journalist behind the book and award-winning Amazon TV series "Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs and Classical Music," the news comes as no surprise. She knows from her first-hand experience as a professional oboist in New York City showed that sexual harassment is widespread in the industry and that orchestra institutions often see a conductor as "genius" above moral wrong. She spoke to DW from her home in Los Angeles.
Honduras opposition admits defeat as US recognises poll
Honduras pulled back from the brink of crisis on Friday when the opposition candidate Salvador Nasralla admitted defeat in the November 26 presidential poll.
Leftist flag-bearer Salvador Nasralla conceded shortly after Honduras' key ally Washington endorsed President Juan Orlando Hernandez's re-election, following a month of sometimes deadly street clashes.
"With the decision by Washington, I am no longer in the running," Nasralla told the HCH television station. As he spoke, police were dismantling the latest barricade erected around the capital by his supporters to protest the vote.
Saudi sisters who fled to Turkey fear forced return
by Umut Uras
Two sisters from Saudi Arabia, who are currently in Turkey, are desperately trying to avoid being returned to the kingdom, where they could be imprisoned, their lawyer has told Al Jazeera.
Serdarhan Topo said that his clients, 30-year-old Ashwaq Hamoud and 28-year-old Areej Hamoud, also fear violence from family members if they are forced to go back home.
The sisters, who are Saudi nationals, say they were subjected to torture and abuse at the hands of relatives.
They tried to flee to New Zealand on February 8 from Hong Kong, where they had arrived from Saudi Arabia via undocumented methods.
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