Japan will buy islands claimed by China - Spokesman

The Japanese government will buy three islands at the centre of bitter territorial row with China, a spokesman said Monday after a cabinet meeting. “During the ministerial meeting today, we agreed that we will obtain the ownership of the three Senkaku islands as quickly as possible,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters, using the Japanese name for what China calls Diaoyu.

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Syria peace envoy in Cairo amid Russia-US split

International peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in Cairo Sunday on his first trip to the region as Moscow and Washington aired their differences over Syria and violence there claimed yet more lives.

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Anti-corruption cartoonist arrested for sedition in Mumbai

Kanpur-based cartoonist Aseem Trivedi (25), who surrendered to the BKC police on Saturday, was remanded in seven days’ police custody by the Bandra holiday court on Sunday. Charged with sedition for insulting national symbols through his cartoons, he refused to engage a lawyer in protest. The cartoons in question are on the theme Cartoons Against Corruption and one of them depicts the national emblem as comprising wolves in place of lions and the slogan Bhrashtameva Jayate in place of Satyameva Jayate.

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