Young Magazine pulls ‘inappropriate’ AKB48 breast pic

Image shows a topless Tomomi Kasai being fondled from behind by a young Caucasian boy

A weekly comic book magazine has delayed the release of its upcoming issue after editors deemed a lurid photo of a member pop group AKB48 to be “inappropriate,” reports the Sankei Shimbun (Jan. 11).

Shukan Young Magazine, which is published by Kodansha, announced on Friday that its issue originally scheduled to hit newsstands on January 12 will be delayed over the inclusion of an image featuring a topless Tomomi Kasai being fondled from behind by a young Caucasian boy.

The magazine, which typically features gravure (pin-up) idols in bathing suits on its covers, offered readers an apology on its Web site. “The photo contains an inappropriate expression,” read a statement from the editorial staff. The message also said that the site would provide an update as to the publication date of its next issue.

India and Pakistan in Kashmir border skirmish

 6 January 2013 Last updated at 06:54 GMT

Indian and Pakistani troops have exchanged fire across the Line of Control in the disputed Kashmir region.

Pakistan said Indian troops had raided a military post in the Haji Pir sector of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, killing a soldier and injuring another.

An Indian army spokesman said Pakistan had “initiated unprovoked firing” at Indian military posts.

Kashmir is claimed by both nations in its entirety and has been a flashpoint between them for more than 60 years.

Exchanges are not uncommon but rarely result in fatalities.

‘Small arms’

The Pakistani military’s public relations office said the two sides were still exchanging fire in the area.

Japan’s Top 10 Cosplay Costumes of 2012

With the myriad of cosplay costumes available in Japan, first-time cosplayers must be overwhelmed with all the choices. Luckily, Cospa, a major cosplay costume company in Japan, has narrowed down the choices, releasing the 2012 costume sales rankings. Coming in at number one is everyone’s favorite vocaloid, Hatsune Miku.

History of gun control is cautionary tale for those seeking regulations after Conn. shooting

 By Scott Higham, Sari Horwitz, David S. Fallis and Joel Achenbach, Sunday, December 23, 6:44 AM

 At 3 a.m. on July 2, 1993, Steve Sposato sat down in his darkened living room to write, by hand, a letter to the president of the United States. His life had just been shattered.

Hours earlier, in the afternoon, a deranged man armed with semiautomatic weapons had gone on a rampage, slaughtering eight people at an office building in downtown San Francisco. The gunman’s motive would remain forever a mystery. Among the slain: Steve’s wife, 30-year-old Jody Jones Sposato, the mother of his 10-month-old daughter, Meghan.

His anguished letter to the president asked how it was possible for someone to possess rapid-fire weapons with 30-round magazines, seemingly designed to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible. “Now I’m left to raise my 10-month-old daughter on my own,” he told the president. “How do I find the strength to carry on?”

U.S. Election Speeded Move to Codify Policy on Drones

By SCOTT SHANE

Published: November 24, 2012

Facing the possibility that President Obama might not win a second term, his administration accelerated work in the weeks before the election to develop explicit rules for the targeted killing of terrorists by unmanned drones, so that a new president would inherit clear standards and procedures, according to two administration officials.

The matter may have lost some urgency after Nov. 6. But with more than 300 drone strikes and some 2,500 people killed by the Central Intelligence Agency and the military since Mr. Obama first took office, the administration is still pushing to make the rules formal and resolve internal uncertainty and disagreement about exactly when lethal action is justified.

As demand for rhino horns increases dramatically Jonah Hull examines the poaching industry from South Africa to Asia.

The winter of 2010 brought the kind of South African weather no visitor expects. It was bitterly cold. People came in their hundreds of thousands anyway, defying the scary crime statistics, resisting the media’s foreboding.

They came for football, or ‘soccer’ as South Africans know it. This was, after all, the World Cup.

I was thrilled to be sent home for the occasion, to join Al Jazeera’s reporting teams in South Africa. I did not particularly mind that our brief was to look for stories of organisational chaos and disaster, half-filled stadiums, mugged and murdered foreign fans. I just hoped none of it would happen.

Tony Harris takes a personal look at Baltimore’s inner city and an education system failing black Americans.

 Baltimore, Maryland has come to be known as ‘Charm City’ because of its harbour, which attracts a vibrant nightlife and thriving tourism business.

But just beyond the harbour’s calm waters is one of the toughest and most violent inner cities in the US.

Baltimore is also home to Al Jazeera presenter Tony Harris and in this episode of Al Jazeera Correspondent he takes us on an up close and personal journey to his old neighbourhood to witness the challenges facing black youth today as they struggle to get out of the dead end of life on inner city streets.

Most of the crime in Baltimore is committed by black males with other blacks as victims, making black males an easy target for the police.

And many believe that the stereotyping of black kids starts at an early age in the US – as early as grade school. In this film, Harris examines how the education system has failed black boys and reflects upon why he managed to make it out successfully while so many of his friends did not.

Legal drugs, deadly outcomes

Prescription overdoses kill more people than heroin and cocaine.

An L.A. Times review of coroners’ records finds that drugs prescribed by a

small number of doctors caused or contributed to a disproportionate number of deaths.

BY SCOTT GLOVER, LISA GIRION. VIDEO AND PHOTOS BY LIZ O. BAYLEN

November 11, 2012

These six people died of drug overdoses within a span of 18 months. But according to coroners’ records, that was not all they had in common. Bottles of prescription medications found at the scene of each death bore the name of the same doctor: Van H. Vu.

After Finnila died, coroner’s investigators called Vu to learn about his patient’s medical history and why he had given him prescriptions for powerful medications, including the painkiller hydrocodone.

Investigators left half a dozen messages. Vu never called back, coroner’s records state.

Over the next four years, 10 more of his patients died of overdoses, the records show. In nine of those cases, painkillers Vu had prescribed for them were found at the scene.

This election took place against a background of rallies and conventions, social media, biting political satire, and billions of dollars of television commercials blanketing the airwaves. Through it all, the debate on the role of the federal government became increasingly polarised.

The US has not been this divided since perhaps the civil war. But this is a battle that has been brewing for decades.

In 1964, Democrat Lyndon Johnson painted Republican Barry Goldwater as a right-wing, small government extremist, and won in a historic landslide. The day after the election, the Republican base began organising for a rematch. With the Reagan revolution, the tide was turned.

Former President Ronald Reagan famously said: “Government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem

Close Army Ties of China’s New Leader Could Test the U.S.

By JANE PERLEZ

On one of his many visits abroad in recent years, Xi Jinping, the presumptive new leader of China, met in 2009 with local Chinese residents in Mexico City, where in a relaxed atmosphere he indirectly criticized the United States.

“There are a few foreigners, with full bellies, who have nothing better to do than try to point fingers at our country,” Mr. Xi said, according to a tape broadcast on Hong Kong television.  “China does not export revolution, hunger, poverty nor does China cause you any headaches. Just what else do you want?”

Mr. Xi is set to be elevated to the top post of the Chinese Communist Party at the 18th Party Congress scheduled to begin here on Nov. 8 – only two days after the American election. He will take the helm of a more confident China than the United States has ever known.