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Japan Distances Itself from 'Comfort Women' Comment

The Japanese government on Tuesday moved to distance itself from comments by a prominent politician that the so-called "comfort women" of WWII served a "necessary" role by keeping troops in check.

Outspoken Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said soldiers living with the daily threat of death needed some way to let off steam and the comfort women system provided this outlet.

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Poland Resumes Exhumation of Stalinist-Era Mass Grave

The exhumation of a Stalinist-era mass grave in the heart of the Polish capital Warsaw believed to contain the remains of around 200 victims of a post-war campaign of communist terror resumed on Monday following a winter break.

"During the first phase of work last summer we managed to exhume the remains of more than 100 victims," Krzysztof Szwagrzk, an official with Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) overseeing the project told Agence France Presse Monday at the site.

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Catholic Numbers on Rise in Africa and Asia

The number of Catholic priests and believers in the world is on the rise, a Vatican report showed on Monday, with gains in Africa and Asia offsetting a slump in Europe and the Americas.

The world's Catholics rose from 1.196 billion to 1.214 billion between 2010 and 2011, an increase of 1.5 percent, according to the Church's annual statistics report.

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Descendants Honor the Jews of Cape Verde's Past

Descendants of Cape Verde's Jewish community, a diverse, multi-cultural diaspora from around the world, stand in silent homage to the memory of their ancestors in a Catholic cemetery restored by a Muslim king.

The gathering in Praia, the capital of the west African archipelago, is more than just an emotional introduction among newly discovered family and friends. For its organizers, it is a potent symbol of religious tolerance.

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China Emperors Ruled via False Prophecies

China's ancient rulers misled their people by fabricating results of divination rituals used to help decide policy and shape public opinion, state media quoted researchers as saying Monday.

Emperors during the Shang dynasty (1600 BC-1046 BC) relied heavily on prophecy and divination, using techniques such as burning turtle shells or cattle bones and basing predictions on the pattern of cracks, the official Xinhua news agency said.

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Gandhi's Sandals Up for Auction in Britain

A pair of sandals formerly owned by India's independence hero Mahatma Gandhi is to go under the hammer in Britain later this month.

Auction house Mullock's said the battered leather shoes, due to be sold on May 21, were expected to fetch up to £15,000 ($23,000, 18,000 euros) despite being "in a bad state".

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Rare Coins Worth Millions Displayed in New Orleans

Coin enthusiasts are getting a glimpse of more than $100 million worth of rare money, including some of the crown jewels of money collecting at the National Money Show in New Orleans.

Among the attractions are two exceedingly rare 1913 Liberty Head nickels valued at more than $5 million. One was hidden in a Virginia closet for four decades before selling at auction last month for $3.17 million. The other was frequently carried in the pocket of a former owner from Wisconsin so he could show it to strangers.

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Officials: Greece Drafting Case on Antiquities Looted by Nazis

Greece is preparing a case for the return of antiquities looted by the Nazis during World War II, officials said on Friday.

"The entirety of the archaeological service's archives is under investigation" in a search for photographs and sketches of lost items, the general secretariat for culture said in a statement.

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Family Album of Last Tsar Surfaces in Russian Museum

Held a virtual prisoner by the Bolsheviks months before his execution, Russia's last tsar Nicholas II pasted informal snapshots of his family into an album which has now come to light in a Russian provincial museum.

The photographs, most of which have never been seen before, show the last of the Romanov rulers of Russia without pomp and in unguarded moments. Many were taken by Nicholas II himself.

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Castro Daughter Calls for Dance against Homophobia

Cuban leader Raul Castro's daughter, a sexologist and supporter of gay rights, has urged Cubans to join a traditional "conga" dance against homophobia taking place in Havana on Saturday.

"We are the heirs of a strongly patriarchal Spanish culture, very homophobic and very discriminating," said Mariela Castro, whose father succeeded her uncle and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro as the island's president in 2006.

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