Source: euronews.com

An Iraqi from the Islamic State jihadist group was sentenced by a German court for genocide over the murder of Yazidis.

The Frankfurt court judges found Taha Al-Jumailly "guilty of genocide, of a crime against humanity resulting in death".

This is the first time that a court has ruled that the atrocities committed against the Yazidis amount to genocide, already recognised as such by UN investigators.

Prosecutors said the former IS member and his wife enslaved a Yazidi girl and her mother in Iraq. He then left the young girl chained in the open sun where he let her die of heat and malnourishment.

Read more: https://www.euronews.com/2021/11/30/iraqi-jihadist-handed-life-sentence-for-yazidi-genocide

For more than two decades, Taiwan tried to buy a fleet of modern conventional submarines to fend off an existential threat — invasion by China. There were no takers.

The United States, Taiwan’s main ally, has a nuclear-powered fleet and hadn’t built diesel-powered subs in decades. Other nations balked, fearful of angering Beijing.

Now, as China under President Xi Jinping steps up its military intimidation of Taiwan, an array of foreign submarine-technology vendors, with the approval of their governments, are aiding a secretive program to build subs in Taiwan. Taipei has stealthily sourced technology, components and talent from at least seven nations to help it build an underwater fleet with the potential to exact a heavy toll on any Chinese attack, a Reuters investigation has found.

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Taipei has also succeeded in hiring engineers, technicians and former naval officers from at least five other countries: Australia, South Korea, India, Spain and Canada. Based at a shipyard in the port city of Kaohsiung, the experts have advised the Taiwanese Navy and state-backed shipbuilder CSBC Corporation Taiwan, the company building the new submarines.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/11/30/asia-pacific/taiwan-allies-submarine-project/

A teenager has been charged with the murder of a 12-year-old girl in Liverpool city centre, police have said.

Ava White had been in the city with friends on Thursday after the switching on of Christmas lights when she suffered “catastrophic injuries” in an assault at 8.39pm, Merseyside police said.

A 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has now been charged with murder and possession of a bladed article.

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Ava, who has been described as popular and bright, was involved in a “verbal argument” which escalated into an “assault on her with a knife”, police said.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/28/boy-14-charged-with-of-ava-white-in-liverpool

3 other boys are on conditional bail over the attack

On an industrial park about an hour’s drive toward the South China Sea coast from Ho Chi Minh City sit giant mounds of raw metal shrouded in black tarpaulin. Stretching a kilometer in length, the much-coveted hoard could be worth about $5 billion at current prices.

In the esoteric world of aluminum, those in the know say the stockpile in Vietnam is the biggest they have ever seen — and that’s in an industry that spends a lot of time building stockpiles while analysts spend a lot of time trying to locate them. But as far as the increasingly under-supplied market is concerned, it’s one that may never be seen again.

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While there used to be millions of tons of aluminum at ports from Detroit and New Orleans in the U.S. to Rotterdam in Europe and Malaysia’s Port Klang, market watchers say the stockpile 50 kilometers from Vietnam’s biggest city is likely the only notable one left.

To put it in perspective, it’s equivalent to the entire annual consumption of India, the world’s second-most populous country, said Duncan Hobbs, a London-based analyst at commodities trader Concord Resources who has been covering metals markets for 25 years.

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The hoard was seized as part of a U.S.-led anti-dumping investigation in 2019 focusing on a Chinese billionaire. The Vietnamese authorities say it was accumulated from China by Global Vietnam Aluminium Ltd., known as GVA. They haven’t concluded their investigation, though the initial probe into GVA was dropped because of a lack of evidence.

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The blistering rally in prices means the value of the metal has risen more than 50% since it was impounded. If the stockpile ever started moving, the impact could be seismic. It would be more than enough to erase a global deficit that has emerged in the aluminum market this year, and a fire sale could send prices crashing.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/11/22/business/aluminum-supply-vietnam/

Source: Yonhap

Former President Chun Doo-hwan, a general-turned strongman widely criticized for seizing power through a 1979 military coup and ruthlessly quelling a pro-democracy civil uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju the following year, died Tuesday at the age of 90.

Chun died at his home in western Seoul around 8:40 a.m. after battling chronic ailments, aides said.

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The former Army general rose to power after staging a coup in the wake of the assassination of then President Park Chung-hee in 1979 and ruled the country until 1988.

One of his biggest and darkest political legacies is his deadly crackdown on the Gwangju pro-democracy civil uprising in 1980, which left more than 200 dead and 1,800 others wounded, according to conservative official data.

Read more: https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20211123002452315?section=national/politics

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May he rot. He was a horrible person all the way around
Best moment after he was out of office was, while being questioned by the National Assembly for his crimes, future Korean President Roh Moo-hyun threw a nameplate at him (still a great moment in Korean history) -- too bad he missed

I was at Wash State at the time and it was the same day the Cougars beat the fuskies for the 1st time in about ever
My parents were at the Cal-Stanford game -- my father graduated Law School at Cal.
So it was a great day for the family

There is no test on this planet that is more difficult and more stressful than the KSAT.
Considered the most important test any student will take in Korea, the country celebrates and goes out of its way to help on this day.

Out in front of numerous high schools, 1st and 2nd year boys will stand shirtless cheering on those taking the tests
During the Korean and English listening portions of the test no planes will land or take off anywhere in the country
Afraid you may be late to the test? Don't worry. You call the local police department and they will provide you with a driver (police officer) to get you there on time
Traffic is curtailed, redirected and halted starting an hour before the test. (One year I was sitting on a bus, not moving for almost an hour because I had forgotten it was test day)
Elementary and middle schools start their days after 10, instead of at 9.
When we lived in Korea, our elementary school did not have the kids arrive until 10:30. The school was locked up so they didn't come early to keep noisy children off the street

The test is extremely difficult.
If you think it's an exaggeration, go to the Korean Englishman and watch the videos on British high school students, University students and adults trying to take the English portion of the test. And have fun watching native English speaking Brits look confused and feel stressed about a test that has no effect on them
Our oldest graduates in 2022-3. Fortunately, we're in Japan, so she's spared the test.
Again, best of luck to all the Korean 3rd year students (Seniors) taking their College Standardized Test. Hopefully you do well.

Jakucho Setouchi used to say “To live is to love,” and that is exactly how the Buddhist nun and author lived her life to the fullest before she died last week at age 99.

Setouchi, known for her charm and flair for wit, spent the latter half of her life as a nun, delivering inspirational sermons and carving out a reputation as a popular orator and TV guest. But prior to beginning her religious journey in 1973, the Tokushima native established herself first and foremost as a writer — and a controversial one at that — who penned a number of biographical novels about feminist activists and women who fought the powers that be.

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As an author, though, she got off to a rocky start. In 1957, she published “Kashin” (“A Flower Aflame”), a novel noted for its unbridled depiction of love and sex that scandalized Japan’s literary world so much that she was essentially “ostracized,” as she put it later, from major literature magazines for the next five years.

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The obvious turning point for her was in 1973 when she, in the middle of her very successful career as an author, surprised the nation by suddenly committing herself to Buddhism. Not that this foray into religion stopped her from writing, producing more than 400 works in her lifetime.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/11/14/national/jakucho-setouchi-freewheeling-nun-bucked-conventional-norms-women-dies-age-99/

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https://twitter.com/i/status/1460143071174164482