GENEVA (AP) – More than 1 million migrants and refugees have crossed into Europe this year, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday, passing a symbolic milestone amid the fallout of war, poverty and persecution in Africa and the Middle East. With just days left in 2015, the Geneva-based intergovernmental …
Read More »Daily Archives: December 22, 2015
British troops deploy to Afghan province amid Taliban battle
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Fierce battles were underway Tuesday between Afghan forces and the Taliban in southern Helmand province where the insurgents have almost completely captured a strategic district as Britain deployed military advisers to the restive area. The development came a day after a Taliban suicide bomber killed six …
Read More »South Korean ‘mock funerals’ seek to ease life’s stresses
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – In a dimly lit room, people dressed in white burial shrouds slowly sit up inside the wooden coffins where they had been lying, enclosed, for 10 minutes. Blinking, pale and solemn, they say they thought about their past and their loved ones while inside the …
Read More »Chinese lawyer gets suspended sentence in online speech case
BEIJING (AP) – After months behind bars, one of China’s most prominent human rights lawyers left a detention center Tuesday after receiving a suspended prison sentence in a case involving online comments critical of the ruling Communist Party. The court convicted Pu Zhiqiang on charges of disturbing public order and …
Read More »In Israel, former ultra-Orthodox Jews demand basic education
BEERSHEBA, Israel (AP) – When Avihay Marciano completed his schooling, he didn’t know how to use a computer or speak English and had only elementary math skills. Now, Marciano and 50 others who left the insular ultra-Orthodox community are suing the state, claiming they were denied a basic education and …
Read More »Toshiba to cut jobs in consumer electronics amid record loss
TOKYO (AP) – Toshiba plans to cut 7,800 jobs, mostly in its consumer-electronics business, as it reorganizes in the face of projected record losses for the current fiscal year. The Japanese conglomerate has been struggling with the aftermath of a major accounting scandal, compounded by troubles in nuclear energy and …
Read More »