Nov 22, 2013

Nov. 22 Daily Brief: Volcano erupts in Japan, downtown Ho Chi Minh, oil pipeline explodes killing dozens

Japanese shoemakers challenge world shoe-polishing record, the state of China’s economy and more in today’s daily brief.

: Commuters travel on the Star Ferry (R) in Victoria Harbour from Kowloon to Hong Kong island (background) on November 21, 2013. Hong Kong’s economy grew “moderately” year-on-year in the third quarter as domestic demand and “resilient” growth in the mainland Chinese market offset a weaker environment in the West, officials said on November 15. (Anthony Wallace/AFP/Getty Images)

: This handout picture taken by the Japan Coast Guard on November 21, 2013 shows white smoke rising from a newly created islet from a volcano near the Ogasawara island chain in Japanese waters, 1,000 kms (600 miles) south of Tokyo. Video footage showed plumes of smoke and ash billowing from the 200-metre island, and Japan’s coast guard said it was warning vessels to use caution in the area until the eruption cools off. (Japan Coast Guard)

: Some 800 participants polish their leather shoes on a street in Tokyo’s Taito ward, a district famous for its shoemakers in Japan, to challenge the record of “most people polishing shoes” for the Guinness Book of World Records on November 22, 2013. Participants established a new world record over the previous one, made with 451 people in the UAE in 2011. (Yoshikazu Tsunoyo/AFP/Getty Images)

: This picture taken on November 20, 2013 shows a motorbike taxi driver napping in front of a property advertising poster in downtown Ho Chi Minh city. The newly built luxury shopping mails and residential buildings in this Vietnam’s largest city do underscore the gap between rich and poor in the Southeast communist nation. (Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP/Getty Images)

: Damaged vehicles lie by a street after an oil pipeline exploded, ripping roads apart, turning cars over and sending thick black smoke billowing over the city of Qingdao, east China’s Shandong province on November 22, 2013, killing 22 people, authorities said, in the latest deadly industrial accident in the country. The pipeline, run by state-owned oil giant Sinopec, sprang a leak earlier in the day and exploded several hours later as workers sought to repair it, the Qingdao municipal government said in its verified account on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter. (Getty Images)

: Pakistani seminary students listen to speeches during a protest against last week’s sectarian violence in Islamabad on November 22, 2013. Pakistan boosted security across the country after Sunni Muslim groups called for protests against sectarian violence in the garrison city of Rawalpindi that killed 11 people on 15 November. (Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images)

: Syrian refugee children play at the recently opened Vrazhdebna shelter in Sofia during the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the EU Aid Commisioner’s visit on November 22, 2013. Bulgaria pushed on November 20 for an EU-wide refugee strategy as it struggles to cope with a mass influx of asylum-seekers, the majority of them Syrian. Bulgaria — the poorest country in the bloc and its outermost border to the southeast — has found itself grossly unprepared to welcome the more than 10,000 refugees, including Syrians fleeing conflict at home, who have entered the country illegally so far this year from Turkey. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images)

: A Palestinian protester covers his face with a national flag as he stands on a concrete slab at a crossroad near the West Bank village of Tuqua on November 22, 2013, during a demonstration against Israeli settlers who set up tents at the main entrance of the village in protest against Palestinians attacking Israeli passing by cars. (Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images )

: Protesters wearing masks of U.S. President Barack Obama (L-R), Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France’s President Francois Hollande, hold a map and a sign in front of the national stadium on the last day of the 19th conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP19) in Warsaw November 22, 2013. The event staged by Oxfam called on more decisive action from world leaders in 2014 after few concrete steps have emerged from two weeks of climate talks in Warsaw, according to media reports. (Kacper Pempel/REUTERS)

: Supporters and opponents of ousted president Mohamed Mursi throw stones near burning tyres during clashes at Nasr City district, Cairo, November 22, 2013.Mursi’s supporters have staged frequent protests across Egypt, many of them after Friday prayers, since the army deposed him on July 3 in response to mass protests against his rule, and arrested most of the top leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood. (Mohamed Abd El Ghany/REUTERS)

: Young Libyans practise parkour on the beach in Benghazi November 22, 2013. (Esam Omran Al-Fetori/REUTERS)

: A typhoon survivor plays his guitar outside a makeshift shelter among the ruins of a residential neighbourhood that was devastated by super Typhoon Haiyan two weeks ago in Tacloban city, central Philippines November 22, 2013. (Erik De Castro/REUTERS)

: A U.S. military truck delivering relief supplies to typhoon survivors goes past a boy scout statue that was damaged by Typhoon Haiyan in Palo, Leyte in central Philippines November 22, 2013. Typhoon Haiyan smashed through the country on November 8, laying waste to just about everything in its path, and killing more than 4,000 people. (Erik De Castro/REUTERS)

: A Free Syrian Army fighter moves inside a damaged house in the Harasta area in eastern al-Ghouta, near Damascus November 22, 2013. (William Ismail/REUTERS)

: Children interact with a protester dressed as a polar bear against the Keystone XL oil pipeline project, as a cut-out of U.S. President Barack Obama is seen nearby outside the White House in Washington, November 22, 2013. TransCanada Corp has waited more than five years for the Obama administration to make a final decision on the controversial project, which will take oil from the Alberta oil sands and North Dakota’s Bakken field as far as the Cushing, Oklahoma, storage hub. (Jason Reed/REUTERS)