Tag - religion

 
 

RELIGION

Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 22, 2015
Nigerian military announces recapture of Baga from Boko Haram militants
Nigerian forces backed by airstrikes seized the northeastern border town of Baga from Islamist group Boko Haram on Saturday, the military said, a significant victory in an offensive against an insurgency affecting four African states.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 21, 2015
Afghanistan arrested Chinese Uighurs to get Beijing's help on Taliban talks: officials
Afghanistan arrested and handed over several Muslim Uighur militants from China's west in an effort to persuade China to use its influence with Pakistan to help start negotiations with the Taliban, Afghan security officials said on Friday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 19, 2015
Fierce crackdown on dissent no laughing matter in Egypt
When President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said people should not moan about Egypt because it was not like war-ravaged Iraq or Syria, his remark gave birth to a joke: New Egyptian passports should read "The Country not like Iraq or Syria."
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 19, 2015
Tanzanian albino baby abducted by witch doctors for his body parts is found dead
Tanzanian police have found the mutilated body of a 1-year-old albino boy whose abduction renewed calls for tougher action to stop the killing of albinos for their body parts, which are prized in black magic.
WORLD
Feb 18, 2015
Turkey to help U.S. train and equip Syrian opposition fighters
The United States and Turkey have reached a tentative agreement to train and equip moderate Syrian opposition fighters and expect to sign the pact soon, U.S. and Turkish officials said on Tuesday, with Ankara predicting a signing in days.
WORLD
Feb 17, 2015
Syrian Army moves step closer to surrounding key rebel city of Aleppo
The Syrian Army backed by allied militia has captured several villages north of Aleppo from insurgents and blocked a main supply route leading into the northern city amid heavy fighting, a group monitoring the war said Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 17, 2015
Iran denies report Khamenei replied to Obama letter on Islamic State
Iran has denied a Wall Street Journal report that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently responded to a letter sent in October by U.S. President Barack Obama suggesting cooperation with Iran in fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 17, 2015
Danish Jews' affection for their country runs deep
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's calls for Jews to move to Israel after attacks in Paris and Copenhagen may strike a chord with thousands of French Jews, but it will likely fall on deaf ears in Denmark.
JAPAN / History / THE LIVING PAST
Feb 14, 2015
Doomsday fever spurs a religious revolution
Sometimes the world seems eternal; sometimes the end looms black and near. We moderns know the apocalyptic mood well, having survived Dec. 21, 2012, in spite of an ancient Mayan "prediction" of doom on that date, but, facing as we do numerous other portents of extinction — climate change, environmental...
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 13, 2015
China offers to mediate in stalled Afghan Taliban peace talks
China offered to mediate in stalled efforts to engage the Afghan Taliban in peace negotiations, reflecting its desire to play a more active role in a region it sees as part of its sphere of influence.
WORLD
Feb 12, 2015
Obama asks Congress to authorize war on Islamic State
U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday sent Congress his long-awaited formal request to authorize military force against Islamic State, meeting swift resistance from Republicans as well as his fellow Democrats wary of another war in the Middle East.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 12, 2015
Widow of Paris gunman reportedly in Islamic State territory
A magazine run by the Islamic State militant organization has published an interview with the French widow of a Paris hostage taker, its first official claim that Hayat Boumeddiene is in their territory, which spans parts of Syria and Iraq.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Feb 12, 2015
Young Thais urged to skip sex, see a temple on Valentine's Day
Bangkok city officials are urging young Thais to forgo sex on Valentine's Day this weekend and visit temples instead to mark the day of love.
Japan Times
WORLD / FOCUS
Feb 12, 2015
Yazidis take revenge as Islamic State atrocities unearthed
Some members of Iraq's Yazidi minority are turning on their Arab neighbors, staging deadly reprisals against Sunni villagers they believe collaborated in atrocities inflicted by Islamic State on their community.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Feb 11, 2015
A search for meaning in the arc of Goto’s life and the horror of his death
The frenzy of the hostage crisis and the visceral terror of the Islamic State group's executions have for a moment ushered Syria into Japanese youth's sphere of concern.
WORLD
Feb 7, 2015
Nigeria's Boko Haram has 'up to 6,000 hardcore' fighters
The Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, which is fighting a violent insurgency in northeast Nigeria, has about 4,000-6,000 "hardcore" fighters, U.S. intelligence officials said Friday.
WORLD
Feb 7, 2015
Islamic State punishes cleric who objected to pilot's fiery death
An Islamic State cleric who objected to the group's decision to burn to death a captive Jordanian pilot has been removed from his post and will be put on trial, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 4, 2015
Grenades cheaper than Coca-Cola menace the Central African Republic
As Capt. Victor leads a team of Spanish special forces on a night patrol in the capital of the Central African Republic, Bangui, one thing worries him most: Chinese-made hand grenades that sell for less than a soft drink.

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?