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West Asia
Saudi women vote and get elected for the first time in country’s history
Saudi voters elected 20 women for local government seats, according to results released on Sunday by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, a day after women voted and ran in elections for the first time in the country’s history. The 20 female candidates come from different parts of the country and…
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East Asia
US military’s largest overseas base under construction in Pyeongtaek, Korea
The U.S. military is in the final stage of construction on what is set to be its largest overseas base located in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. If finished on schedule in 2017, the base will accommodate approximately 42,000 soldiers and their families. The site was first opened up to the media…
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Politics
Facebook CEO offers support for Muslims as Islamophobia increases
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared words of support for Muslims who fear retaliation for the recent violent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. In the wake of those attacks, Zuckerberg wrote on his personal Facebook page Wednesday that he wants to assure Muslims they are welcome on Facebook and that…
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West Asia
Iranian newspaper condemns media censorship
Iran’s “Ettelaat” newspaper has objected to the state’s ban on publishing the name or images of the former reformist president, Mohammad Khatami. As the managing editor of the state-run newspaper, Seyed Mahmoud Doaei, wrote a front-page editorial in the form of a public letter addressed to President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday 9th December…
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East Asia
82% South Koreans in favor of reunification
Eight out of 10 South Koreans believe unification with the North is necessary, a survey shows. The National Unification Advisory Council surveyed 1,000 adults last month and 82 percent said unification is necessary while 15.2 percent said it is not. The perception that the divided peninsula needs to be unified…
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Politics
South Korea elected as president for Human Rights council
South Korea has been elected as president for Human Rights council for next year. The members of the council chose Korea’s permanent representative in the UN in Geneva, Choi Kyong-lim, during the council’s meeting on Monday 7th December. Choi will head the council for year starting in January. Upon his election,…
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South East Asia
Another former sex slave dies; 46 victims remain
Choi Gap-sun, 96, a victim of the Japanese military’s sexual enslavement of women from Korea and other Asian nations, died on Saturday, according to a civic group. With Choi’s death, the number of Korean survivors of sexual slavery during World War II has dropped to 46. Including Choi, nine have…
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East Asia
China turning hostile toward North Korean defectors
The Chinese government regards North Korean defectors as illegal immigrants, and said on Thursday that they should be forcibly repatriated. Its hostile approach came despite the United Nations’ growing criticism of Beijing’s forced repatriation of asylum seekers from the Kim Jong-un regime; and possibly reflects an improvement in relations between…
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South East Asia
Sex slavery talks between Korean, Japan likely to continue into 2016
Negotiations between Korea and Japan over Tokyo’s sexual enslavement of Korean women during World War II are likely to drag on into next year. Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said he was skeptical about striking a deal with Korea over the issue by the end of this year, Japan’s Nihon…
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West Asia
Al-Qaida in Syria releases 16 Lebanese prisoners in swap deal
Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, the Nusra Front, released Lebanese soldiers and policemen held captive since August 2014 in a Qatari-mediated swap deal that also secured freedom for a jailed ex-wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. According to AlAraby AlJadeed, the sixteen Lebanese servicemen were captured by Nusra on the…
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