Author: admin@primenews

A South Korean court has ordered Japan to compensate a group of women who were forced to work in military brothels during World War Two. The 16 women, who were kept as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers, previously had their case dismissed. They filed a lawsuit in 2016 but Seoul Central District Court dismissed it five years later, citing sovereign immunity. The Seoul High Court have now overturned the ruling. In a statement the court said it recognises South Korea’s jurisdiction over the Japanese government because the women lived in the country and sought compensation for acts deemed “unlawful”. “It…

The world’s biggest iceberg is on the move after more than 30 years being stuck to the ocean floor. A23a, as it’s called, calved from the Antarctic coastline in 1986, but almost immediately grounded in the Weddell Sea to become, essentially, an ice island. At almost 4,000 sq km (1,500 sq miles) in area, it’s more than twice the size of Greater London. The past year has seen it drifting at speed, and the berg is now about to spill beyond Antarctic waters. A23a is a true colossus, and it’s not just its width that impresses. This slab of ice…

Rescue work to save 41 workers trapped in a tunnel in India’s Uttarakhand state has been delayed again after a drilling machine developed a snag. The US-made machine is being used to drill through the debris to create an escape route for the workers. Officials say the machine is being repaired and that drilling work is likely to restart on Friday. The workers have been stuck inside the tunnel for 12 days after a portion of it collapsed due to a landslide. A section of the 4.5km (3 miles) Silkyara tunnel in the Indian Himalayas caved in on 12 November.…

China has reported no “unusual or novel pathogens” in clusters of child pneumonia cases, the World Health Organization has said. Beijing has attributed a rise in flu-like illnesses to the lifting of Covid curbs, said the WHO, which had requested for more data on the cases. Still it urged residents in China to take precautions, like getting vaccinated and wearing masks. Local media had in recent days reported hospitals being overwhelmed. In a statement on Wednesday, the WHO said it requested China for more information on reports in the media and from ProMed – a global outbreak surveillance system – of “clusters…

At just nine years old, Devika Rotawan survived the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Shot in the leg, she later identified the lone surviving gunman in court. Fifteen years on, the BBC’s Soutik Biswas reconnects with her to explore the changes in the life of a survivor living in the aftermath of the massacre. I first met Devika Rotawan in a slum in Mumbai in 2010. Barely two years had passed since the frail girl survived the deadly terror attacks that had convulsed India’s financial and entertainment capital. The 60-hour siege of Mumbai had begun on 26 November 2008. Attacks…

Rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is being sued by a woman who says he drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1991. In a lawsuit seen by the BBC, the plaintiff says the assault took place during a date with the rapper. Mr Combs recently settled a sexual assault suit brought by R&B singer and former partner Casandra “Cassie” Ventura. A representative for the rapper called the latest allegations “made up and not credible”. “This is purely a money grab and nothing more,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the BBC on Thursday. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff, Joi Dickerson-Neal,…

Electric cars are supposed to be the future, but they still have issues that are keeping away many car buyers. The range is too short. The batteries are too heavy and expensive. They take too long to charge. But a number of companies say they have the technology to solve many — maybe even all — of these problems. Toyota, in particular, has said it might be on the cusp of such a breakthrough. Other automakers are also working with various battery companies on versions of this new technology. The would-be breakthrough is called a “solid state battery,” and the…

Palestinian educator Tarik Betar has known only a life of repression and indignity, he told CNN, with longstanding restrictions, checkpoints and curfews, put in place by the Israeli military in the 1990s, meaning he is unable to walk across his street in the West Bank city of Hebron. Betar, who works at the local polytechnic college, said those restrictions became a chokehold the day Hamas militants from Gaza attacked Israel, killing at least 1,200 people. The 47-year-old is one of thousands of Palestinians living in nearly a dozen neighborhoods in Israeli-controlled areas of Hebron, who have been effectively “imprisoned at home” by the…

The operation to rescue 41 workers trapped inside a tunnel in India’s Uttarakhand state has resumed after hitting a snag, officials say. They hope to free the workers in the next 10-12 hours if things go to plan. The workers have been inside the tunnel since 12 November after a part of it caved in due to a landslide. Late on Wednesday, the operation to rescue them was slowed down after a drilling machine encountered a steel structure it could not cut through. Rescuers had drilled through three-quarters of the debris trapping the workers by that point, and hopes had…

How creative would you get to shave $500 off a flight? For those kinds of savings, some flyers engage in the practice known as skiplagging. Also called hidden-city ticketing or throwaway ticketing, it’s a way some travelers work around an often-counterintuitive airline booking system, shaving money off the price of their trip. Sometimes, airlines actually charge more for a direct flight than they do for a flight with one or more connecting cities. Typically, a skiplagger books a less expensive flight that has two or more legs rather than buy the more costly direct flight. But it’s a connecting city…