1. Japanese kills himself for pacifism

    A Japanese man died after setting himself on fire in a downtown Tokyo park in an apparent protest against the country’s shift away from postwar pacifism* under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, NHK national television said on November 12.

    Abe’s Cabinet in July freed up constraints* that had kept the military from fighting abroad in a major political victory, even though it was widely opposed by voters.

    Police responding to an emergency call on November 11 found the man on fire in Hibiya Park, which is near parliament and government offices. He was pronounced dead soon after being taken to hospital.

    2. Russia’s nuke deal creates concern

    Russia signed a nuclear deal with Iran on November 11 that prompted anxiety in the West.

    Officials of Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear company, said they had agreed to build two more reactor* units at the Russian-built nuclear power plant at Bushehr, Iran.

    In a separate agreement, the two countries said they might later build two more units at Bushehr and four more elsewhere in the country.

    3. Riots mar Polish Independence Day

    Police in Warsaw have detained at least 280 people on November 11 after a rally* marking Poland’s Independence Day.

    As many as 47 people have been injured, German weekly Der Spiegel reported.

    Clashes began between participants and the police as some of the demonstrators in the crowd started hurling* stones and firecrackers at security officers.

    4. Man cured after HIV virus injection

    An American man who was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of cancer two years ago is now amazingly in remission* thanks to a revolutionary treatment that involved receiving an infusion* of the virus that causes AIDS.

    Marshall Jensen, of Utah, was one of 30 leukemia patients to undergo a trial treatment at Penn Medicine recently, in which white blood cells are implanted with a harmless form of HIV programed to target and kill cancer.

    5. Indian doctor arrested over deaths

    The doctor who conducted sterilization* procedures after which 13 women died in central India was arrested, but insisted he didn’t do anything wrong.

    Dr. R.K. Gupta, who had been in hiding since the operations on November 8, was arrested at a relative’s home near Bilaspur city on November 12.

    Gupta denied responsibility for the deaths and blamed medication given to the women after the surgery.

    6. Militants claim beheading of aid worker

    Islamic State (IS) militants claimed to have executed Peter Kassig, a U.S. aid worker kidnapped in Syria, as a warning to the United States.

    The same video showed the beheadings* of at least 18 men described as Syrian military personnel, the latest in a series of mass executions and other atrocities carried out by IS.

    7. Six killed in Mexico plane crash

    Six people were killed when the small Cessna plane they were in crashed in northeastern Mexico, authorities said on November 15.

    The plane crashed on November 16 near the U.S. border in Hidalgo, Tamaulipas state.

    An official from the Tamaulipas prosecutors’ office later said, “There were six killed in the small plane crash.”

    The plane was headed from Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, to the city of Monterrey in the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon.(SD-Agencies)