BRUSSELS, Belgium – The Belgian authorities have charged a 9th person in connection with last month's deadly Paris attacks, the prosecutor's office said Thursday, December 24.

A spokesman said the suspect had telephoned Hasna Aitboulachen, the cousin of ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud, several times after the November 13 attacks and before a police raid 5 days later in which they both died.

A statement identified the man as Abdoullah C., a Belgian national born in 1985, who was arrested on Tuesday, December 22, on charges of "terrorist murders and participation in the activities of a terrorist organization."

The attacks, claimed by the Islamic State jihadi group, and the Belgian links to them have shocked the country and sparked a sharp increase in visible security.

Armed police and soldiers now patrol the streets in Brussels, Europe's diplomatic hub and home to the European Union, NATO and a host of major companies.

The Paris onslaught stoked fears the city was fertile ground for Islamist extremists, who have in some cases gone to fight in Syria and returned home battle-hardened and even more determined.

The police are especially looking for Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam, 26, who is believed to have played a key role in the attacks on bars, restaurants, a concert hall and the French national stadium which left 130 dead.

Friends drove him from Paris back to the Belgian capital, slipping through three police checks, with the authorities bemoaning a lack of intelligence sharing and closer cooperation for missing Europe's most wanted man.

The attacks and the apparent ease with which some of those involved travelled around the EU beforehand has also raised questions.

In early December, Belgian prosecutors said they were looking for two "armed and dangerous" men who used false ID papers to help Abdeslam travel to Hungary in September where he was stopped -- but then let go -- by police. 

The fake identity card of one of the suspects was also used to wire money from Brussels to Paris and Hasna Aitboulachen four days before the attacks.

Several people have since been charged with helping Abdeslam on his return to Brussels where he lived in the gritty Moelenbeek district, along with several others implicated in the attacks and Islamist groups.

Earlier this week, the police arrested another 5 people in a series of raids in and around Brussels but a judge later ordered their release without charge. – Rappler.com

TOKYO, Japan – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered his foreign minister to visit South Korea in a drive to resolve a bitter row over women systematically forced to have sex with Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Abe told Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida to visit Seoul by the end of this year as he aims for a resolution of the "comfort women" issue, national broadcaster NHK said, using a euphemism for those coerced into sexual servitude.

Seoul is demanding a formal apology and compensation for the Korean women forced to serve as sex slaves in Japanese military army brothels during World War II.

Japan has long maintained that the dispute was settled in a 1965 normalisation agreement, which saw Tokyo make a total payment of $800 million in grants or loans to its former colony.

The planned dispatch of Kishida reflects Abe's objective to "arrange a final settlement", NHK said, adding that attention will be focused on whether the foreign minister can clinch such a deal.

Jiji Press said that arrangements for a day trip were ongoing for a possible meeting around Monday, December 28.

The Foreign Ministry declined to immediately confirm the reports.

Tokyo is sounding out expanded humanitarian measures for the victims, such as financial assistance, in search for a breakthrough to resolve the issue, Jiji Press said.

As it attempts to reach a deal, Tokyo "wishes to affirm jointly with South Korea that the agreement would be the final settlement so that the issue would not be brought up again," Jiji said, echoing reports in other major Japanese media.

The fate of the wartime comfort women is a hugely emotional issue in South Korea and a source of much of the distrust that has marred relations between Seoul and Tokyo for decades.

However, Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye have recently demonstrated their willingness to resolve the row after their first bilateral summit meeting last month and diplomats from the two countries have since met to seek a solution.

Before last month's meeting in Seoul, Park had rebuffed all previous bilateral summit proposals, arguing that Tokyo had yet to properly atone for its wartime past and 1910-45 colonial rule.

The acquittal last week in South Korea of a Japanese journalist who had been prosecuted for allegedly defaming Park in a column is seen as having cleared another obstacle that had stood in the way of improved relations. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Veteran journalist Letty Jimenez Magsanoc, editor in chief of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI), is dead, the newspaper announced late Thursday night, December 24.

"It is with deep sorrow that the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports the death of its esteemed editor in chief," the paper said in a statement. The paper said she died at St Luke's Medical Center Global City.

"The country has lost a bedrock of journalism. And we, the Inquirer family and her family in the profession, feel the incalculable loss of a well-loved leader, a mentor, a friend," the PDI added.

Magsanoc's career spans several decades, starting in the late 1960s, when she started working for the Manila Bulletin. She became editor of the Philippine Panorama (1976-1981), Mr & Ms Special Edition (1983-1986), the Sunday Inquirer Magazine (1986-1987), and then the Inquirer.

Magsanoc's forced resignation as editor in chief of Panorama under the Marcos regime was one of the key moments in the anti-Marcos movement in the 1980s. She was asked to resign after writing an article critical of the government. Panorama, the Sunday magazine of the Bulletin, was then owned by Hans Menzi and part of the establishment press at the time.

She would later help found the Inquirer, and eventually become its editor in chief beginning 1991.

Under Magsanoc, Inquirer stood up to the Estrada regime when its allies spearheaded an advertising boycott of the newspaper in 2000. Inquirer refused to bow down to pressures to tone down on its exposés against then president Joseph Estrada, who was eventually ousted in a military-backed revolt in January 2001.

In a statement, Malacañang paid tribute to Jimenez for being a "freedom fighter."

"We join the Philippine Daily Inquirer and all Filipino journalists in mourning the passing of Letty Jimenez Magsanoc. She was in every sense of the word, a freedom fighter, wielding her pen against the dictatorship, and any and all who would oppress and betray the Filipino people, on whose behalf she was a fearless crusader for democracy, accountability, and honesty," said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. 

"We hope that her family's deep sadness at this time will be at least partially assuaged, by the deep admiration her peers and reading public felt for her. She writes 30 having been, up to the end, a force for good in our society, a truth-teller to the nation and mentor to so many in her field," Lacierda added. – Rappler.com

JERUSALEM – New violence erupted in the West Bank on Thursday, December 24, with 3 Palestinian attackers shot dead as they carried out stabbings and a car ramming and another killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers.

The upsurge came after nearly three months of attacks and protests but with the violence having become less frequent in recent weeks.

The ongoing unrest has led to a sharp decrease in pilgrims travelling to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, where the Bible says Jesus was born, for Christmas Eve celebrations and the traditional midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity.

Early Thursday, a Palestinian stabbed two security guards at an entrance to an industrial zone at the Jewish settlement of Ariel, the largest in the north of the occupied West Bank, before being shot dead.

Both of the victims suffered moderate wounds, police said. 

The assailant was identified as Mohammed Zahran, 23, from the nearby village of Kafr Addik.

Later, a Palestinian tried to attack soldiers with a screwdriver at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Hebron and was shot dead. The Palestinian health ministry identified him as Iyad Idaissat, 25, from the village of Yatta.

A third incident saw a Palestinian shot dead attempting to ram his car into a military post near the Adam junction northeast of Jerusalem, the army said.

Bilal Zayd, 23, was from the Qalandiya refugee camp between Jerusalem and Ramallah, where clashes broke out Thursday between Israeli security forces and Palestinians.

Israeli forces were said to have entered the camp to arrest three suspects, local officials said. Seven people were wounded, including two from gunshots to the head, according to camp official Jamal Lafi said.

A wave of violence since the start of October has claimed the lives of 129 on the Palestinian side, 19 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean.

Many of the Palestinians killed have been attackers while others have been shot dead by Israeli security forces during clashes.

A number of them have attempted attacks with kitchen knives in what some analysts have described as virtual suicide missions.

Palestinians have grown frustrated with Israel's occupation, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership.

Video sparks controversy

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities said they had opened an investigation into a video showing gun-wielding Jewish extremists at a wedding celebrating the death of a Palestinian toddler in a firebombing.

The video, broadcast by an Israeli news program, has spread online and drawn strong condemnation from politicians, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It shows guests at the wedding of a radical right-wing couple dancing with guns, knives and at least one unlit Molotov cocktail, while also stabbing a picture of the toddler killed in a firebombing blamed on Jewish extremists.

That attack killed 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha, and fatally injured his parents. The toddler's four-year-old brother was the sole survivor from the immediate family.

Palestinians have often highlighted the lack of progress in the case as one of the causes of the wave of attacks targeting Israelis that began on October 1.

In recent weeks, Israeli authorities have arrested a number of suspected Jewish extremists over the July 31 firebombing in the West Bank village of Duma, though no one has been charged.

Their detentions have sparked anger among far-right Israelis who have held several protests, including outside the home of a judge, while lawyers have alleged torture of suspects by the domestic security agency, Shin Bet.

The firebombing drew renewed attention to Jewish extremism and accusations Israel had not done enough to prevent such violence.

Young Jewish men from wildcat settlement outposts in the West Bank and known as the "hilltop youth" have been blamed for violence and vandalism targeting Palestinians, Christian holy sites and even Israeli military property. – Mike Smith, AFP/Rappler.com

KABUL, Afghanistan – The US launched air strikes on Thursday, December 24, to bolster Afghan forces scrambling to beat back Taliban insurgents who seized large swathes of a key opium-rich district, following the first British deployment to the volatile region in 14 months.

The Islamists claim to have captured nearly the entire district of Sangin after storming its frontlines on Sunday, tightening their grip on the southern Helmand province.

Fleeing residents reported Taliban executions of captured soldiers as the insurgents advanced on the district center, compounding fears that the entire province was on the brink of falling into insurgent hands.

The US army conducted air strikes on Wednesday to support Afghan forces mobilizing reinforcements to relieve dozens of security forces holed up in the district center.

"US forces conducted two strikes in Sangin," a NATO spokesman said in a brief statement.

Dozens of militants were killed in a parallel army clearance operation, including a key commander seen as a close confidante of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, the interior ministry said.

But Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed insurgents were in control of the whole district, pinning down Afghan forces in an army base where trapped soldiers reported dire conditions.

"Our men are hungry and thirsty," Abdul Wahab, a local police commander in Sangin, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"Stepping out to get bread means inviting death," he said, adding that dozens of his comrades had been killed and critically wounded.

The war in Helmand, seen as the epicenter of the expanding insurgency, follows a string of military victories for the Taliban after NATO formally ended its combat operations last year.

All but two of Helmand's 14 districts are effectively controlled or heavily contested by the Taliban, who also recently came close to overrunning the provincial capital Lashkar Gah.

The turmoil in Helmand, the deadliest province for British and US forces in Afghanistan over the past decade, underscores a rapidly unravelling security situation in Afghanistan.

Britain on Tuesday said a small contingent of its troops had arrived in Camp Shorabak, the largest British base in Afghanistan before it was handed over to Afghan forces last year.

The deployment, in addition to a recent arrival of US special forces in the region, is the first since British troops ended their combat mission in Helmand in October 2014.

The contingent, which an Afghan official said includes around 90 people, is on an "advisory" mission with London insisting they will not engage in combat.

'Humiliating defeat'

The British and US intervention has fuelled the perception that foreign powers are increasingly being drawn back into the conflict as Afghan forces struggle to rein in the Taliban.

The unrest in Helmand, blighted by a huge opium harvest that helps fund the insurgency, comes after the Taliban briefly captured Kunduz city in September – their biggest victory in 14 years of war.

"Sangin signifies another humiliating defeat for NATO-trained Afghan forces," security analyst Mia Gul Waseeq told AFP.

"Since the NATO drawdown last year, the Taliban have gone from strength to strength."

President Barack Obama in October announced that thousands of US troops would remain in Afghanistan past 2016, acknowledging that Afghan forces are not ready to stand alone.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has sought to mend ties with longtime regional nemesis Pakistan – the Taliban's historic backers – in a bid to restart peace talks with the insurgents.

Pakistan hosted a first round of negotiations in July but the talks stalled when the Taliban belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar.

A security official in Islamabad told AFP Tuesday that Pakistan army chief Raheel Sharif would travel to Kabul in the coming days, in what appears to be a renewed push to jumpstart talks.

Afghanistan's spy agency chief resigned this month after a scathing Facebook post that vented frustration over Ghani's outreach to Pakistan.

Rahmatullah Nabil's resignation raised uncomfortable questions about a brewing leadership crisis in Afghanistan as the insurgency gains new momentum. – Mushtaq Mojaddidi, AFP/Rappler.com

“I think if you document every single moment of your life, then you will have many memories.” This is what a young man told me last weekend when I had a chat with him as he participated in an event called Google Hack where millennials showed the latest apps they have developed to see what others think of them. His outfit developed an app where the users would be reminded to take as many snapshots of  themselves or what  they are experiencing as much they can and post it – like a diary on steroids (and even those steroids on steroids). I have been thinking about his app and what he said since then.  

I am mainly a writer so I am steeped in the tradition of expression which is oriented outward. But writing is also a deeply inward thing for me – both a cultivation and an expression of an inner life which I, as much as I can, carefully navigate so that I am able to balance my inner life and how I make sense of things to express to the world. If I am lucky, I with 1,800 words or less, could “explain, enchant and elevate” as Maria Popova thinks science writing should do. I have been doing a science column for over 700 weeks without skipping a week and never did it occur to me to document the moment I do it even if science writing is one of the most important, challenging and joyful things I do with my waking hours. So if the young man is right about photos being equal to memories, then a big chunk of my life would be lost to my own home of memories.

But the young man may be missing some things as I think only an older person like me can tell him. One, is that forgetting things is part of learning. Not all the moments in your life deserve the same degree of attention and perhaps, documentation. Otherwise you clutter your brain’s hard drive and do not home in the much bigger and more important skill of “filtering” to know what is important to you and what you have to do in your own life.

Second, you cannot passionately mine a moment in its fullness and still also be concerned with how you would look in it for others to see. Being conscious of the moment and of how you would look in a photo of it cannot happen at the exact same time. One blurs the other. Just like quantum physics where you can’t know where an electron is and also how fast it is at the same time – an observer’s gaze limits what it can tell you. Once you decide to observe it, only either of those are knowable to you. You can’t have it both ways. Something is always lost when you are made aware that you are being documented, even by yourself. If you are willing to lose that portion, then make peace with that loss because nature so far has told us that we cannot have it all.

Lastly, there is a magnificent and most powerful undercurrent happening through all the photos, videos, and comments in the vast universe of social media. It is called “living” – the great unfolding, making and remaking of each of our inner lives as we encounter each other, other life forms and things. It is what drives you to do something for someone without a shadow of a thought for a logo, a post or tweet. It is what makes you show up at work everyday thinking maybe, just maybe you will be able to do something that could count in the pool of human attempts to make today better not just for yourself. It is what happens when you discover and understand something for yourself and you feel your spirit click its own heels doing so! It is what makes us well up in tears when we witness tragedy and more, reach out to let those who have fallen to let them know that we too died a little when they did. It is what we feel when you put our arms around a beloved to say “thank you for being in my life.” It is what makes us sit in a corner to look at our lifelong beloved family and friends and accept that time is a very strange thing that inhabits each of us so that  youth, middle and old age are just the different angles of light of the prisms we are to each other. To fully soak in all that glory, a post about it could only be a “post-post”. You only think about it afterwards and if you are lucky, you get some traces of it to share in photos and videos. This is because of the “invisibility of the inner life” as the late Oliver Sacks put it so beautifully.

Our inner lives are inherently invisible because meaning is invisible. But you could see it only if you show up in your own life and not for a photo or video of it. When you do, embrace that dense, rich and complex invisibility and perhaps come to the surface once in a while to take snapshots of what you seem to be after. But dive again and forget the shutter.

May your days be filled with invisible things. – Rappler.com

PARIS, France – It was a subdued Christmas Eve in Paris on Thursday, December 24, with tourist numbers down, security bolstered at shops and churches, and locals still on edge after last month's jihadist attacks.

Heavily armed soldiers patrolled outside the iconic Galeries Lafayette and Printemps department stores in the city centre, still doing a brisk last-minute Christmas trade but notably less crowded than usual.

"It's a lot quieter," said taxi driver Belkassem. "I feel bad for the hotels and restaurants because there are a lot fewer tourists in town this year and this is a crucial time of year for them."

The famous "bateaux-mouches" boats that carry millions of tourists each year along the Seine have reported a 15-30 percent drop in business since the attacks of November 13, which left 130 dead and hundreds injured.

It is not only France that is feeling the tension this festive season. Christians around the world are bracing for potential attacks at a symbolic time of year – even in China where the US and British embassies warned of possible violence against Westerners in Beijing.

But Paris – the world's most-visited city – has naturally taken the worst blow in the wake of last month's attacks, with flight reservations down nearly a third compared with a year earlier. 

Tourist guide Cecile Reverdy, who translates mostly for Chinese visitors, described a massive fall in business from some countries. 

"There are around 30 percent less Chinese – only 30 percent because the Chinese are pretty daring," she told French television.

"But for other languages, in Japanese or American, there is a drop of practically 80 percent."

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has sought to reassure visitors and put a brave face on the economic damage.

"Of course there are worries and we will never forget the victims, but activity is restarting," she said recently.

Heightened church security

The government has warned that Christmas church services "could constitute targets of exceptional symbolic force."

Unprecedented security checks have been put in place at many of France's 50,000 churches, with bags checked and visitors asked to open their coats to check for guns or explosive vests. 

At Strasbourg cathedral in eastern France, a military contingent was set to guard the Christmas midnight mass, where attendance will be strictly limited and the doors locked once the service starts.

France only narrowly escaped a church attack earlier this year, when a 24-year-old Algerian, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, accidentally shot himself in the leg. 

Police discovered an arsenal of weapons, tactical gear and jihadist documents in Ghlam's car and student flat, as well as detailed plans to attack churches in the Paris suburb of Villejuif.

But the atmosphere of fear could nonetheless boost attendance.

"The Sundays after the attacks of November 13, we saw more people in our churches. People had a need to look inwards, to reflect on life and society," said Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, spokesman for the Conference of French Bishops.

A total of 120,000 police and soldiers will be on guard and patrol duty to protect Christmas celebrations across the country, officials said.

-Threats around the world

Around the globe on Thursday people were facing an edgy Christmas. 

The British and US embassies in China issued a warning about possible threats against "Westerners" in a popular Beijing neighbourhood ahead of the holiday.

Some separatist militants in the mostly-Muslim region of Xinjiang in western China have styled themselves as jihadists, though attacks have not previously targeted foreigners.

In Somalia, religious authorities have cancelled Christmas entirely out of fear that festivities could provoke attacks by the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab. 

"We are warning against the celebration of such events which are not relevant to the principles of our religion," said Sheikh Nur Barud Gurhan, of the Supreme Religious Council. 

Meanwhile in Kenya, where Shebab Islamists have carried out numerous attacks including the killing of at least 67 people at Nairobi's Westgate Mall in 2013, police chief Joseph Boinnet warned of the danger of fresh attacks as Shebab splits and some factions switch their loyalty to Islamic State. 

All of which pales in comparison to the fear of celebrating Christmas in the Syrian town of Sadad, on the front lines with the Islamic State.

Only a few families remain in Sadad, once a Syriac Orthodox-majority town in the centre of the country. 

"I haven't put up a Christmas tree in my house for the past four years because the situation does not allow us to, and because I can't find a place for joy in my home," said Youssef, a retired 65-year-old man, whose family has fled to a safer village.

Another elderly resident, Mtanyos Mawas, sums up his hopes for the holidays.

"All I want is for this Christmas to pass in peace." – Eric Randolph, Agence France-Presse / Rappler.com

BEIRUT, Lebanon – Syria's regime said Thursday, December 24 it was ready to take part in new talks in Geneva aimed at ending the war, but appeared to make its participation conditional on which opposition groups attend.

Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Damascus "is ready to participate in the Syrian-Syrian dialogue in Geneva without any foreign interference".

Last week, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing a proposed peace plan to bring the regime and opposition together for talks in January.

The plan is the result of nearly two months of strenuous efforts among top diplomats from 17 countries, including regime backers Russia and Iran.

But it does not address the sharpest difference between opposition groups and the regime: the fate of President Bashar al-Assad.

Muallem's comments seemed to indicate government approval of the plan – but with apparent preconditions.

Syria had rejected "foreign interference", and the government's negotiating team "will be ready as soon as we receive a list of the opposition delegation", he said.

On the ground, regime air raids killed 10 children among 28 civilians in the rebel-held area of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, said a monitor.

Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS or the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq) group jihadists meanwhile pushed further into a key eastern city in fighting that reportedly left more than two dozen loyalists dead.

Syria awaits 'terrorist' list

Muallem said Syria was waiting to receive a list of "terrorist organizations" that would not be allowed to participate in the talks.

The UN tasked Jordan with creating the blacklist, which was submitted Friday and apparently included ISIS and the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front.

Syria's government has systematically referred to all its opponents, including non-Islamist groups, as "terrorists".

A landmark summit in Saudi Arabia earlier this month saw armed and political branches of the opposition agree to talks with Assad's government.

An opposition delegation to future peace negotiations is expected to include the factions present in Riyadh, as well as other groups on the ground in Syria.

The UN resolution calls for talks in early January that would lead to the "establishment of an inclusive transitional governing body with full executive powers" within 6 months. (READ: Arab League backs UN plan to end Syria war)

But Muallem referred only to an eventual "national unity government". 

He said Damascus would "compose a constitutional committee to look for a new constitution with a new law of election so the parliamentary election will be held within the period of 18 months, more or less".

The UN resolution was received coolly by Syrian opposition forces, including the main group in exile, the Istanbul-based National Coalition.

Previous efforts to negotiate a political solution to the nearly 5-year conflict have faltered, including the 2014 Geneva talks between the regime and opposition forces.

ISIS advances in east

It is the danger posed by ISIS that saw world powers redouble efforts to contain Syria's civil war, which has killed more than 250,000 people.

The extremist organization has overrun swathes of territory across Syria, and Iraq, declaring a self-styled caliphate governed by a literal interpretation of Islamic law.

Late Wednesday, December 23, ISIS fighters seized another neighborhood in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, strengthening their position in the oil-rich province.

The operation began when 3 suicide bombers drove explosive-laden cars into the city's industrial neighborhood, killing at least 11 pro-regime fighters, the Observatory said.

The ensuing "violent clashes, air strikes, and an exchange of shelling" brought the toll up to 26 government loyalists and 15 ISIS militants, including the suicide bombers, it said.

ISIS has been fighting for months to fully capture the city and its military airport.

If the city falls, it would be the second provincial capital under the extremist group's control, after Raqa in the north.

Kurdish militia and Arab rebel groups have been chipping away at ISIS territory near Raqa, the jihadist organization's de facto Syrian capital.

On Thursday, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab rebels drove ISIS fighters back on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River in the northern province of Aleppo, its spokesman told AFP. – Rappler.com

SAN JOSE, Philippines – Wading through knee-deep floods, 12-year-old Joana Yambao pushes her infant sister in a black wash basin along the surface of the filthy water in a typhoon-hit Philippine village, where residents have little to celebrate this Christmas.

Under sunny skies, their mother sweeps mud from the floor of her grocery shop in San Jose, a village in the city of San Fernando, Pampanga. It is one of scores of villages and towns still submerged and struggling to recover after being battered this month by Typhoon Nona (Melor).

The storm killed 45 people and left thousands without food, water, or urgent medical care.

"We're just taking in the sights. I doubt Santa Claus will come tonight. The water's too high," Yambao told Agence France-Presse.

Instead of gathering by the Christmas tree to open gifts and eat a traditional meal of meat, cheese, and sweets, hundreds of people in San Jose stood in flood waters with their own wash basins to wait for food aid at the Catholic church.

Residents of the village, home to about 5,000 people, have seen seasonal flooding before, but elderly villagers said it was the first time they had seen it during Christmas.

Other towns in the vast, rice-growing Central Luzon plains near Manila also remain submerged, and the government says 206,000 people are still either stuck in floods or dependent on government food rations, or both.

There were few signs of Christmas cheer in San Jose.

At Amelia Samblijay's house, 6 plastic Santa statues hung from the rafters, suspended above murky brown flood waters littered by old shoes, plastic bottles, and a dead rat.

But the white-bearded, red-robed figures brought little charm to the dark, tin-roofed house with bare walls, which had been without power for 10 days after authorities cut electricity to avoid electrocution accidents.

Samblijay, a 63-year-old mother of 3 grown children who was born in San Jose, said her family would not visit her for what would have been a traditional holiday reunion. They could have travelled the 42 kilometers (26 miles) from Manila by boat, but it was deemed unsafe for her young grandchildren.

"It will be a sad Christmas without my 7 grandchildren," said Samblijay, who had had to cook on the rooftop to feed her bedridden husband, a former carpenter who recently suffered a stroke.

"They would not like it here anyway without electricity," she added, speaking near her husband, whose oxygen tank sat submerged in water in the flooded basement.

Nearby, two dogs stood on the roof of a neighbor's house to escape the water, as small wooden and fibreglass boats – now the main mode of transport in San Jose – floated along, chauffeured by fishermen who now charge a fee to ferry people around.

Sleeping at church

On the swollen Pampanga river near the town, Allan Gonzales escorted a boat with a white coffin bearing the remains of his 99-year-old grandfather who died in hospital days earlier.

"It's difficult. It was night time when he had a heart attack and we also had to use a boat to take him to hospital," the 34-year-old fisherman told Agence France-Presse from his own fiberglass boat.

Despite the difficulties, Gonzales said, the village was lucky that no one died as a result of the typhoon, voicing hope that the waters would soon recede to allow him and his family of seven to enjoy a traditional Christmas meal, normally eaten at midnight.

"Anything is possible with God," he said.

On Christmas Eve, some 80,000 people were stuck at evacuation centers after fleeing the advancing floods, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

In San Jose, residents flocked to traditional pre-dawn church masses in the days leading up to Christmas, with some seeking refuge in their parishes as waters refused to subside at home.

"My house is half-submerged until now. I realized it's easier to sleep here," said Solita Nebre, 53, who had slept on a cardboard box at San Jose church for 3 nights to wait out the deluge.

"God is merciful. He did not punish us," she told Agence France-Presse. "He merely sent down the floods to test our faith." – Cecil Morella, AFP/Rappler.com 

MANILA, Philippines – It was an unusual Christmas celebration for the standard-bearer of the ruling Liberal Party (LP), who flew to disaster-hit Oriental Mindoro on December 24, Thursday.

Dindo Melaya, a local of Pinamalayan town, told Rappler that Roxas visited some areas devastated by the Typhoon Nona (Melor), had dinner with some evacuees at the municipal gymnasium, before joining Misa de Aguinaldo nearby.

Roxas was joined by his wife, broadcaster Korina Sanchez.

Pinamalayan is where Nona made landfall more than a week ago. Roughly 50% of homes in the town were damaged by Nona, Melaya told Rappler. His own home wasn’t spared from Nona’s wrath.

Roxas’ visit comes a day after President Benigno Aquino III dropped by the town to check on the situation in the province – a visit, Melaya said, that left some typhoon evacuees disappointed because they were unable to go near the President.

After attending mass and taking photos with mass-goers, Roxas left for Calapan with LP allies Oriental Mindoro Governor Alfonso Umali, Jr. and Oriental Mindoro 2nd district Representative Reynaldo Umali.

Roxas, who usually spends the Christmas break with relatives overseas, hinted at the Mindoro trip in a chance interview with reporters earlier this week.

“Malalaman na lang ninyo (You’ll find out), but I intend to be with our people on Christmas,” said Roxas when asked whether he would work or rest during the Christmas break.

The LP standard-bearer avoided talking about politics in recent trips out-of-town, particularly in Bulacan where he joined local politicians in relief efforts.

Just this week, at least 3 polling firms released the results of their presidential preference surveys. The different polls saw Roxas either take a dip or enjoy incremental increases in his numbers. (READ: Roxas suffers first survey dip post-endorsement)

In separate statements, Roxas and spokespersons of the LP-led “Daang Matuwid” coalition downplayed the survey results, saying the “most important survey” would be the one held on election day on May 9, 2016.

Roxas ranks either 3rd or 4th in recent surveys, which saw presidential aspirant Vice President Jejomar Binay bounce back after a still-to-be-resolved corruption scandal. – Bea Cupin/Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Will closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras and Global Positioning System (GPS) trackers be required in Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs) soon?

The justice department sees no legal impediments for House bills that want to require all PUVs to have CCTV cameras and GPS trackers to get their registration renewed, Justice Secretary Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa said in a two-page legal opinion.

“The intention here is for the safety of the passengers. The government cannot watch over its constituents 24 hours a day. However, the installation of CCTV will at least serve as a deterrent to those with evil motives,” Caguioa said.

There are at least 4 House bills – 1992, 3704, 3755, and 5228 – that want added safety measures for PUVs in the country.

Caguioa also suggested minor tweaks to the proposed measures, namely:

• Including the phrase “operating under a franchise or certificate of public convenience” after enumerating the PUVs affected by the law to “delineate that only PUVs operating under a franchise or CPC are covered under this act”; and 
• Including a provision that would allow government agencies to access the CCTV footage for investigations.

– Rappler.com

TOKYO, Japan – The defiant southern region of Okinawa countersued Japan's government on Friday, December 25 over local resistance to a new US military base, the latest chapter in deepening mistrust between central authorities and the strategic island.

The lawsuit by Okinawa prefecture comes after the central government sued it last month amid a long-running drama between Tokyo, keen to satisfy security ally the United States, and Okinawa, where frustration over a seven-decade American military presence is rife.

Pacifist sentiments run high on the island that accounts for less than one percent of Japan's total land area but hosts about 75 percent of US military facilities in the country.

Earlier this week, Okinawa governor Takeshi Onaga renewed his pledge to prevent the central government from building a US Marine base in a remote part of the island to replace the existing Futenma facility in a heavily populated area.

"Taking every possible measure, I will not let (the central government) construct the base," Onaga said.

In October, Onaga cancelled a 2013 approval for the project by his predecessor, saying it was not legally sound, prompting Tokyo to seek court action.

Okinawa's suit, filed in the prefectural capital of Naha, asks the court to revive his cancellation order of a landfill permit, which is currently nullified by the central government, court and local officials said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga described the latest legal action as "extremely regrettable," insisting the initial approval was legal and formed a precedent that allows landfill work to continue.

Work in the Henoko district of Nago city in the island's north is only in the initial stages, with crews setting up sea floats and a makeshift bridge necessary for the landfill work.

Japan and the United States first proposed moving Futenma in 1996, though both insisted it must remain in Okinawa – a key area from which US troops and aircraft can react to potential conflicts throughout Asia.

But residents have insisted Futenma should be closed and a replacement built elsewhere in another part of Japan or overseas, saying they can no longer live with the noise pollution, accidents and occasional crimes committed by US service members. – Rappler.com

BEIJING, China – Beijing residents woke up to a white Christmas Friday morning, December 25, but with the sky obscured by thick toxic smog rather than snow after more than 100 million people across China had been warned to stay indoors. 

The capital and surrounding parts of northern China are regularly blanketed in deadly pollution associated with heavy industry and an increase in coal consumption during the winter months. 

Counts of PM2.5 – harmful microscopic particles that penetrate deep into the lungs – in Beijing peaked at 620 micrograms per cubic meter as of early Friday, according to data from the United States embassy.

The World Health Organization's recommended maximum exposure is 25 micrograms over a 24-hour period.

"If this only happened a few days a year, I'd put up with it, but it's paralyzing for it to be like this every day!" said one angry social media user on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform. "Is this the new normal?"

The city posted contradictory alerts for Christmas day, with the Beijing Meteorological Service issuing an orange alert - requiring factories to limit expelled pollutants and schools to cease outdoor activities - while the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau issued only a yellow alert, the second lowest in a four-tiered, color-coded warning system.

The smog is expected to last until Saturday afternoon, December 26. 

Photos on social media showed empty freeways shrouded in a white-out of haze as authorities shut down highways in the region and grounded flights out of the capital. 

More than 500 international and domestic arrivals and departures at Beijing's main airport were cancelled due to "heavy fog and low visibility", its website said.

"In this kind of weather, can Santa even find Beijing?" a user wrote on Sina Weibo.

In the neighboring city of Tianjin, no fewer than 19 freeways were closed early Friday morning, according to the Tianjin Freeway Management Office's official microblog, with CCTV television reporting visibility of less than five meters.

"Santa can't even get to Tianjin! I was wondering why my stocking had no gifts in it! Smog you better get out of here!" said another Weibo commentor.

Beijing issued its first-ever red alert on December 7, declaring emergency pollution measures following scathing public criticism of the city's weak response to choking smog that settled on the capital earlier in the month.

Its second and latest red alert, which lasted four days, concluded Tuesday night. – Rappler.com

SEOUL, South Korea – South Korea and Japan's foreign ministers will meet next week to settle a bitter row over a Japanese wartime brothel system, which has strained bilateral ties, officials said Friday, December 25.

The one-day meeting between South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida, will be held in Seoul on Monday, December 28, Yun's office said.

The ministers are set to discuss "matters of mutual concern" such as the issue of women systematically forced to have sex with Japanese soldiers during World War II, it said.

In Tokyo, Kishida told reporters that he was prepared to "work hard" to settle the dispute over "comfort women," a day after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered him to visit Seoul to seek a breakthrough.

Abe aims for a resolution of the lingering issue that has hammered bilateral ties between the two East Asian US allies.

"I'm ready to be improvizational and work hard over the Japan-South Korea relationship and the comfort women issue," Kishida said.

He said his visit is "part of efforts towards an early settlement of (bilateral issues) that our leaders agreed" in the summit last month between Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.

Japan issued a landmark 1993 statement that expressed "sincere apologies and remorse" to the women "who suffered immeasurable pain and incurable physical and psychological wounds as comfort women".

But it has long maintained that the dispute was settled in a 1965 normalization agreement with South Korea, which saw Tokyo make a total payment of $800 million in grants or loans to its former colony.

Seoul is demanding a fresh formal apology and compensation for the Korean women forced to serve as wartime sex slaves in Japanese military army brothels.

The fate of the comfort women is a hugely emotional issue in South Korea and a source of much of the distrust that has marred relations between Seoul and Tokyo for decades.

However, Abe and Park have recently demonstrated their willingness to resolve the row after their first bilateral summit meeting last month and diplomats from the two countries have since met to seek a solution.

Before last month's meeting in Seoul, Park had rebuffed all previous bilateral summit proposals, arguing that Tokyo had yet to properly atone for its wartime past and 1910-1945 colonial rule.

The acquittal last week in South Korea of a Japanese journalist who had been prosecuted for allegedly defaming Park in a column is also seen as having cleared another obstacle that had stood in the way of improved relations. – Rappler.com

With the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc denying presidential aspirant Grace Poe’s motion for reconsideration, her next step is to elevate the matter to the Supreme Court via a petition for certiorari under Rule 64 of the Rules of Court. Under the said rules, she has 30 days from receipt of the decision to assail the Comelec en banc decision. (READ: How Comelec commissioners voted on Grace Poe's cases)

She is, however, expected to elevate the matter immediately because, under the Comelec Rules of Procedure, decisions on “special actions” – which include a petition to deny course – become final and executory after the lapse of 5 calendar days from their promulgation, unless restrained by the Supreme Court.

Unfortunately for her, the Supreme Court is not only on a Christmas break; the magistrates are on a scheduled recess until after the New Year. Assuming that Poe received a copy of the decision on the same day of promulgation that was December 23, the Comelec en banc decision would become final and executory by December 28. However, following the Supreme Court’s calendar, December 28 is the earliest working day after December 23 when it can accept Grace Poe’s petition! (READ: Grace Poe's camp questions timing of Comelec decision) 

Despite its declared recess, the Supreme Court may hold a special session if it finds Grace Poe’s case urgent, or, in lieu of that, the Chief Justice may simply issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) or a status quo ante (SQA) order pursuant to its Internal Rules (AM Number 10-4-20-SC).

Supreme Court should act now

A TRO is an injunctive relief that is issued to restrain an act which is yet to be executed. If an act has already been executed, an SQA maybe issued to undo its effects, reinstating the status of the applicant prior to the assailed decision. 

In Grace Poe's case, a TRO coming from the Supreme Court will have the effect of restraining Comelec en banc from executing its December 23 decision. However, if no TRO is timely issued and Comelec has already decided to remove Grace Poe’s name from the ballot, the Supreme Court may issue a SQA to undo her exclusion.

Whichever of the two is issued, it will have the same effect of reinstating her as a candidate for president. In effect, her name stays in the ballot pending the final resolution of her case.

With those two injunctive reliefs, the Supreme Court may interfere with the execution of the Comelec decision at any time, but it must do so before the Comelec completes the preparatory acts for the printing of the ballots for 2016.

Once the ballot templates without Grace Poe's name are finalized and printing begins, her exclusion from the ballot will be irreversible even if she wins her case later before the Supreme Court. In other words, that will be the abrupt end of her quest for the presidency. 

Recurring problem 

This Grace Poe saga is but another episode to this recurring election drama of last minute disqualifications and cancellation of COCs, to which we are too accustomed.

They are not only confusing to the public; they affect even Comelec’s own preparations for the election. This is attributed to that flaw in our election system, where schedules for the filing of COCs, the printing of ballots, and election day itself are way too close to each other.

The only way to correct this is to set the filing of COCs way ahead of the elections, giving the Comelec and the Supreme Court ample time to settle and decide all election cases without the pressure of logistical and operational deadlines.

This will also afford the Comelec to focus on its election management function as the election gets nearer, rather than dividing its attention at the most crucial phase to resolve hundreds of pre-election cases filed before it. These changes, however, are beyond the power of the Comelec but something for Congress to think about. Unless this is done, the same problem is expected to recur next elections.

What will happen if Grace Poe’s name is printed on the ballot but she eventually loses her case before the Supreme Court?

It has been settled that that votes in favor of candidates whose certificates of candidacy have either been cancelled or set aside are considered “stray.” While they may still be counted by the voting and consolidating machines, the final tallied result will simply be disregarded.

This is consonance with Aratea v. COMELEC (GR Number 195229, October 9, 2012), where the High Court ruled that a candidate whose COC is cancelled –whether before or after elections – is by law not a candidate from the very beginning, his certificate of candidacy being void ab initio.

Thus, should a disqualified Grace Poe emerge with the highest number of votes in next year's presidential election, the next eligible or qualified candidate with the highest number of votes should be proclaimed president. – Rappler.com 

Emil Marañon is an election lawyer who served as chief of staff of recently retired Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. He is currently studying Human Rights, Conflict and Justice at SOAS, University of London, as a Chevening scholar.  

TOKYO, Japan – A former school head teacher, who reportedly paid for sex with 12,000 women in the Philippines, has been convicted in Japan for taking photos of naked Filipino girls.

The Yokohama District Court sentenced Yuhei Takashima, 65, to two years in prison with the term suspended for four years, a spokesman told AFP. 

Takashima, who reportedly had sex with girls as young as 14 years old, escaped prison with a promise not to offend again.

Quoting the verdict, Japan's Jiji Press said the girls pictured were "aged between 12 and 14" and were photographed at a hotel in the Philippines about two years ago. 

According to local media, Takashima had meticulously catalogued nearly 150,000 photographs of his sexual encounters over a 27-year period in around 400 separate albums.

Takashima was quoted as having said in court that he "has a habit of collecting things" and wanted "to keep the memories".

The former middle-school principal started paying for sex when he was dispatched to a Japanese school in Manila in 1988.

He later went on 3 sex tours a year to the country, making a total of 65 visits.

During that time, he had sex with more than 12,000 women, with Nippon TV saying they were aged between 14 and 70.

Presiding judge Naoko Omori called Takashima's action "despicable and vicious," saying he "took advantage of the economic plight of young girls" in the Philippines, according to Jiji.

"Either in Japan or in the Philippines, children should be protected. He should have known that as a teacher," she said.

Takashima should be condemned for "repeating indecent acts habitually to fulfill his sexual desire" but he "pledged he will never do it again," she said, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Prosecutors had reportedly sought a two-year prison term.

In Japan, possession of sexual images or videos of people under 18 can result in jail time after the government overhauled laws that had only banned the production and distribution of child pornography. 

The changes came into effect this summer, but it does not include drawings or digitally-created imagery.

Anyone who "possesses child pornography for the purpose of satisfying his/her sexual interest" faces imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to one million yen ($8,300), according to the justice ministry. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista defended the Comelec against allegations that other parties influenced their decisions to take Senator Grace Poe out of the presidential race.

Bautista, who was appointed by President Benigno Aquino III, said the commissioners of the poll body are all “independent.” 

He was one of the two commissioners who voted against cancelling Poe's certificate of candidacy.

“Ang maganda naman po, kami lahat ay independent. Wala po akong utang na loob sa aking pagka-appoint.... So 'pag botohan, kanya-kanyang pag-iisip at kung sino'ng majority, 'yun po ang mananaig,” Bautista said in a live interview on ABS-CBN on Friday, December 25.

(What's good is, we are all independent. I do not feel indebted for my appointment.... When it comes to voting, we have our own thoughts and whoever's the majority, they win.)

Poe and her camp earlier linked the cases to have her COC cancelled to her rivals – administration standard-bearer Manuel Roxas II and Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Her running mate, Senator Francis Escudero, accused the poll body of "bullying" Poe. 

Escudero said the poll body is "pretending to be an independent Commission" when they have been supposedly acting as Poe’s “persecutor” in “plain and simple bullying.”

Roxas is allegedly connected to “The Firm,” the term used to call the former law office of former Defense Secretary Avelino “Nonong” Cruz, former Solicitor General Simeon Marcelo, and Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. Carpio was one of the 4 members who voted against Poe in the Senate Electoral Tribunal.

Binay is a known ally of former Senator Francisco Tatad, one of the 4 petitioners who filed a case seeking to bar her from running in 2016. 

“Alam 'nyo na. Makikita 'nyo naman sa mga galaw nila. Sino ba ang may koneksyon sa malalakas na law firm? Sino ba ang dati pang kaalyado ng dati pang tumatakbo?” Poe earlier said.

(You know, you can see it in their moves. Who has connections with big law firms? Who are longtime allies of those who ran before?)

Some commissioners also have supposed links to Roxas. The ruling Liberal Party, the opposition said, is using Commissioner Rowena Guanzon to ensure Roxas’ victory in 2016. After all, they claimed, Roxas backed Guanzon’s appointed in the Commission on Audit in 2013.

Commissioner Arthur Lim, meanwhile, was one of the private prosecutors in the administration-backed impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Commissioners Arthur Lim and Al Parreño belong to the same fraternity as Carpio, Marcelo, and Cruz.

The 3, as well as commissioners Sheriff Abbas and Luia Tito Guia, voted in the en banc to ultimately disqualify Poe from next year’s elections. (READ: How Comelec commissioners voted on Grace Poe's case)

Despite this, Bautista maintained that all commissioners think on their own. 

“Sa amin naman po, we are a 7-member commission. Kanya-kanya kaming kuro-kuro at pag-iisip. In the end, majority wins,” Bautista reiterated. (We are a 7-member commission. We have our own opinions and way of thinking. In the end, majority wins.) – Rappler.com 

LAGOS, Nigeria – A huge Christmas Eve explosion at an industrial gas plant in southeastern Nigeria left several people charred beyond recognition, police said on Friday, December 24, as fatality numbers ranged from single digit figures to scores.

The blast at the Inter Corp Oil Limited gas plant, a subsidiary of Nigerian conglomerate Chicason Group, started around noon on Thursday, engulfing the industrial city of Nnewi in black clouds of billowing smoke. 

The fire raged on for hours gutting surrounding buildings and cars.

By the time firefighters doused the last flames, there were charred corpses on the ash-covered ground, according to local reports. 

Gruesome mobile phone photos taken at the scene  showed blackened bodies lying face down in smouldering rubble.  

"It was a huge inferno," police spokesman Ali Okechukwu told Agence France-Presse (AFP). 

"We have found six bodies outside the perimeter, two more bodies were found in the adjoining building, bringing the total number of casualties to eight," Okechukwu said. 

"Six more persons were injured and referred to the hospital."

Okechukwu, who was en route to the blast scene, said an investigation into the explosion was under way. 

The gas-fuelled fire spread to a large surrounding area instantly, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) spokesman James Eze told AFP.

'Everything was burnt'

"About 300 meters from the gas line all the plants there were burnt, houses from 400 metres away were affected, heavy machines too," Eze said, speaking by phone from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital where victims of the blast were taken for treatment. 

Eze put the total number of casualties at four, barring any missing people who were burnt without any trace. 

"The fire (was) so strong as to burn the bones into ashes, but nobody has come forward with a missing person," Eze said.

There are conflicting accounts about the cause of the explosion and the authorities have not explained what triggered it. 

Some local reports say that the blast occurred  after a truck was off-loading butane cooking gas for customers stocking up on fuel for Christmas festivities. 

Others say it was triggered when a leaking consignment of gas was being moved to the company dump.

"The cause is yet to be determined. A few people lost their lives. Some people suffered burns of various degrees," said Anambra state governor, Willy Obiano, who visited the scene of the accident.

A mainly Christian city, Nnewi is known as a busy hub for trading spare vehicle parts. 

Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer, deriving the bulk of its money through the commodity. 

Accidents happen frequently in the country, usually when pipelines are damaged by people stealing crude oil. 

In July, 12 people died and three were injured after an explosion while doing repair work on a pipeline in the Niger delta. 

Over the past decade, hundreds of people in the continent's biggest economy have been killed in explosions. 

The country loses an estimated 300,000 barrels a day to gangs that syphon crude from pipelines, according to the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. – Rappler.com

LAHORE, Pakistan (UPDATED) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a surprise "goodwill" visit to Pakistan on Friday, December 25, to meet his counterpart Nawaz Sharif, both reaffirming to resume high-level peace talks.

It was the first time an Indian premier had stepped foot on Pakistani soil in more than 10 years and was seen by analysts as a step towards normalising ties between the two neighbours which have fought three wars.

State TV footage showed an Indian Air Force jumbo jet land in the late afternoon at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport where Sharif -- who celebrated his birthday the same day -- had flown in by helicopter moments earlier.

Sharif, flanked by his cabinet ministers, received Modi on the tarmac where military officers lined up along a red carpet.

Both leaders wore their national dresses and made their way to Sharif's helicopter, which flew them to the Pakistani prime minister's palatial residence just south of the city.

They were seen smiling as they walked alongside each other and chatted in Sharif's living room.

After about a two and half hour stay Modi was seen off by Sharif at the airport.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, the top foreign ministry bureaucrat, later told a press conference that it was a "purely goodwill visit."

"It was decided that the foreign secretaries of the two countries should meet in Islamabad in the middle of next month to take the comprehensive dialogue forward," Chaudhry said.

He said Modi gave Sharif birthday greetings and the meeting took place in a "cordial atmosphere."

"Both leaders agreed that it was extremely important that the leaders of both countries should understand each others point of view so that the doors of prosperity could open for their people," Chaudhry said.

Modi had earlier made the surprise announcement to visit Sharif on Twitter as he wound up his visit to Afghanistan with an address to the Afghan parliament.

"Looking forward to meeting PM Nawaz Sharif in Lahore today, where I will drop by on my way back to Delhi," he said.

Possible thaw?

The last visit to Pakistan by an Indian prime minister was in 2004 by then leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is credited with bringing about a thaw in relations with Islamabad.

Modi and Sharif have had a stop-start diplomatic relationship since the Indian premier's surprise invitation to Sharif to his inauguration last May.

Initial optimism about a revival of ties was short lived as the two countries traded heavy fire across their disputed border in the Himalayan territory of Kashmir which claimed dozens of lives on both sides.

But earlier this month, they agreed to resume high-level talks that would cover peace and security as well as territorial disputes, including over Kashmir.

A brief meeting between Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the UN climate change summit in Paris on November 30, followed by talks between the two countries' national security advisers in Bangkok, appeared to have broken the ice.

Though officials have remained tight-lipped about the agenda, the meeting was hailed by regional observers.

Imtiaz Gul, head of the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies, said: "It's an extremely welcome move and it shows that the baby steps promised at the Paris summit between the two Prime Ministers have transformed into a much bigger step, which holds big promise for both countries."

- Criticism at home -Earlier Friday, in his speech to the Afghan parliament, Modi urged closer cooperation between India, Pakistan and other neighbours for Afghanistan's progress.

"We know that Afghanistan's success will require the cooperation and support of each of its neighbours. And, all of us in the region -- India, Pakistan, Iran and others -- must unite ... behind this common purpose," Modi said.

Modi also made a veiled reference to Pakistan on the issue of cross-border terrorism in Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan will succeed only when terrorism no longer flows across the border; when nurseries and sanctuaries of terrorism are shut; and, their patrons are no longer in business," Modi said. 

India's main opposition party, Congress, was quick to criticise Modi's "irresponsible" decision.

In Pakistan, opposition senator Sherry Rehman said that while most Pakistanis backed better ties, parliament had not been consulted and it was unclear what concessions Islamabad was ready to make.

"It's a small step because we don't know what kind of sustainable progress is based around it. We don't know if this is more than a grand gesture," she told Agence France-Presse. – Rappler.com

BEIJING, China – A landslide last week that killed seven and has left dozens missing was an "industrial safety accident" rather than a geological disaster, a Chinese cabinet investigation found, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday, December 25.

The landslide, which struck the southern city of Shenzhen on Sunday, is the latest in a series of fatal man-made accidents in the world's most populous country, coming just months after a massive chemical blast in the industrial city of Tianjin killed almost 200 people. 

The disaster was caused by the improper storage of waste from construction sites, according to the official newspaper of the Ministry of Land and Resources.

Soil was illegally piled 100 meters (330 feet) high at an old quarry site and turned to mud during rain on Sunday morning, according to the state-run Global Times.

Some 75 people are still missing and seven bodies have been found so far, Xinhua said Thursday in the latest count, adding that only one rescued person, 19-year-old Tian Zeming, has made it out alive.

The State Council, China's cabinet, announced earlier this week that it would set up a team headed by the minister of land resources to investigate the disaster.

Documents on the website of Guangming New District, where the landslide occurred, show that authorities were aware of problems with the soil storage and had urged action as early as July.

In an announcement dated July 10, officials said work at the site was not being carried out according to approved plans and ordered the Hongao Construction Waste Dump to "speed up" work to bring its operations into line.

The government issued a second warning in September, noting that the dump's permit to receive waste had expired and authorities had made it clear that dumping should cease.

The city had "pointed out problems at the site and requested steps to correct them," the statement said. – Rappler.com