12 things you need to know this morning

 

Asia is in the spotlight with Japan and Korea settling their dispute over 'comfort women'. Photo / Thinkstock

1. Japan and South Korea have finally reached a deal to settle their dispute over 'comfort women' forced to work in Japanese brothels during World War II. Japan has apologised and will pay US$8.3 million to help victims. Up to 200,000 women are estimated to have been sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during the war. Many were Korean, the BBC reports, others were from China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan.

2. The cost of the floods in northern England could hit 1.5 billion pounds. Prime Minister David Cameron was heckled during a visit to flood-hit York where hundreds of homes have been evacuated. David Rooke, deputy chief executive of the Environment Agency, said: "We will need to have a complete rethink". Experts say that extreme weather on at least five continents at the moment is driven by a combination of El Nino and climate change, AFP reports.

3. A woman in her 80s was shot dead at a retirement care home in Essex, Britain, apparently by a fellow resident. A man in his 80s has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Police said the victim and suspect were known to each other and both residents of the home in Walton-on-the-Naze.

4. A German man has died after blowing up a condom machine with a homemade bomb in a botched robbery, police say. The 29-year-old was struck in the head by debris from the explosion in Schoppingen.

5. Buses and ambulances have evacuated about 450 Islamist fighters and civilians from two rebel-held areas surrounded by regime forces in Syria. They were taken into Turkey and Lebanon under a UN-sponsored agreement which is part of efforts to set up local deals on truces and safe passage, Reuters reported.

6. Japan, famously the land of massive sumo wrestlers, has launched a style magazine for the larger man called Mr Babe.

The magazine "by chubby men, for chubby men" is aimed at readership its editor believes has been ignored by the country's fashion and lifestyle industry, the Guardian reports.

7. Milan in Italy has been brought to a standstill after traffic was banned from the city because of poor air quality. All vehicles are barred during the daytime until Thursday. Rome is also having problems - issuing a nine-hour ban on all cars with odd-numbered registration plates today while even-numbered plates will be barred tomorrow.

8.Copies of a 15m arch from Palmyra in Syria are to be built in Trafalgar Square in London and Times Square in New York. The arch is one of the surviving pieces of the Temple of Bel. Isis (Islamic State) fighters destroyed other parts of the temple. The replicas will be built as part of world heritage week in April.

9. AFP reports that China has given itself the legal right to mount anti-terror operations abroad. Under the legislation passed at the weekend, Beijing "may send personnel outside the border to carry out anti-terror activities" when the "relevant country" agrees.

10. Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise has put a 4.95 million pound mansion in West Sussex, Britain, up for sale. The Daily Telegraph says the six-bed estate in East Grinstead includes a private dance studio, gym and cinema. It is located a few kilometres from the UK headquarters of the Church of Scientology.

11. A woman who objected to a man sitting next to her on a Sydney train threatened to stab him with a chisel, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. A witness recorded the incident on the Bankstown line on her phone. The woman yells "I'll stab you, dog!" before another passenger tackles and disarms her.

12. The Washington Post reports that 27 people were killed and 63 injured in shooting incidents on Christmas Day in the US. It says the 27 figure is equal to the total number of people killed in gun homicides in an entire year in New Zealand, Austria, Norway, Slovenia, Estonia, Bermuda, Hong Kong and Iceland combined.