TOKYO (AP) — Japan is set to approve legislation that would officially open the door to foreign workers to do unskilled jobs and possibly eventually become citizens.

Lawmakers were due to vote late Friday on a government proposal to allow hundreds of thousands of foreign laborers to live and work in a country that has long resisted accepting outsiders.

It’s seen as an unavoidable step as the country’s population rapidly ages and shrinks.

Motihari/Lucknow, Dec 6 (PTI) The BJP suffered twin setbacks Thursday as its Dalit MP Savitribai Phule quit the party, accusing it of practising "divisive politics" while its ally Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) chief and Union minister Upendra Kushwaha appeared set to sever the ties by declaring a war on the ruling NDA alliance.

Jalpaiguri (WB), Dec 7 (PTI) The police and BJP workers fought a pitched battle in a forested area of Jalpaguri district on Friday injuring 12 policemen, including an additional SP.

The addtional superintendent of police was seriously injured after a stone hit him in the eye, Jalpaiguri SP Amitabha Maiti said.

The incident occurred near Dhupjhora under Dhupguri police station when the BJP activists were going to a public meeting of senior party leaders in neighbouring Cooch Behar district.

7 Dec 2018; AFP: Thousands of vulnerable women and girls from northern Myanmar are being trafficked to China and forced to marry, a study said Friday, offering a rare look at an issue that grips the conflict-hit borderlands.

China has around 33 million fewer women than men due to the decades-long one-child policy.

To plug the gap, tens of thousands of poor women from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam are sold as brides each year, some going willingly, while others are tricked or trafficked.

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The second-largest Ebola outbreak in history has spread to a major city in eastern Congo, as health experts worry whether the stock of an experimental vaccine will stand up to the demands of an epidemic with no end in sight.

Butembo, with more than 1 million residents, is now reporting cases of the deadly hemorrhagic fever. That complicates Ebola containment work already challenged by rebel attacks elsewhere that have made tracking the virus almost impossible in some isolated villages.

RIYADH, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia launched two aerial survey satellites from China-based Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Friday, Al Arabiya TV reported.

The two satellites, named Saudi SAT 5A and Saudi SAT 5B, were manufactured by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, a Saudi government scientific institution, in October.

Jaipur, Dec 7 (PTI) Over 72 per cent of the 4.74 crore registered voters had cast their vote by 5 pm in Rajasthan where elections were held Friday for 199 of the 200 assembly seats.

Polling was set to end at 5 pm but officials said those already in the queue at the booths by then were being allowed to vote.

The voting percentage till this time was 72.37, according to the Election Commission website.

Polling began at 51,687 booths across the state began at 8 am and was largely peaceful, officials said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s health care tab hit $3.5 trillion last year, or $10,739 per person, the government reported Thursday. But behind those staggering figures was some fairly good news:

The rate of growth slowed for the second year in a row, according to economic experts at the federal Health and Human Services department.

Health care spending increased by 3.9 percent in 2017, following a 4.8 percent increase in 2016.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The second storm in a week brought record-breaking rainfall to parched Los Angeles on Thursday, jamming traffic on Southern California highways and prompting evacuations in wildfire-scarred areas.

A mudslide shut down Pacific Coast Highway and surrounding roads in and around Malibu neighborhoods charred by last month’s massive fire that destroyed hundreds of homes.

Mumbai, Dec 7 (PTI) The Maharashtra government has told the Bombay High Court that it has ordered demolition of fugitive jeweller Nirav Modi's illegal bungalow built along the beach at Alibaug in adjoining Raigad district.

Government counsel advocate P B Kakade told a bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice M S Karnik on Thursday that it had served demolition notices to another 58 private properties in the area constructed in violation of the state's rules and coastal zone norms.

Mehsana, Dec 7 (PTI) Unidentified robbers looted parcels of cash, gold and diamonds worth lakhs of rupees on a state transport bus on Mehsana-Ahmedabad highway in Gujarat Thursday night, police said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Manjita Vanzara said Friday that a complaint has been lodged with Langhnaj police station in Mehsana district and further probe was on.

Kolkata, Dec 7 (PTI) The BJP on Friday moved an appeal

before a division bench of the Calcutta High Court against refusal of permission for its Rath Yatra.

Granting leave to the BJP to file the appeal, a division bench comprising Justices B Somadder and A Mukherjee said it will hear the matter at 12.30 pm.

The bench directed BJP's lawyers to serve copy of the appeal to the West Bengal government and other respondents before the matter is taken up for hearing.