A factory fire reveals a shocking secret – The EU’s newest member bucks the trend towards marriage equality – Japan and the US don’t seem to be on the same page when it comes to dealing with China’s new Air Defense Zone.

Fire swept through a Chinese-owned clothing factory in the Italian town of Prato, killing seven people in an illegal loft where workers were sleeping.  Although the cause is under investigation, the disaster is revealing the labor abuses by Chinese-owned workshops outside Florence.  A local labor union official says a number of people are “living and working in conditions of near-slavery,” and the regional governor alleges times to Chinese organized crime. 

Croatian voters have backed proposals to ban same-sex marriages in a referendum.  About two-thirds of those who voted approved changes to Croatia's constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.  Opponents of the referendum, which included the President and Prime Minister, will now work for laws guaranteeing greater rights for same-sex couples.

Japanese commercial aircraft will not notify Chinese authorities when flying through China's newly and unilaterally claimed air defense identification zone, according to a Japanese official who says that policy has not and will not change.  China last month claimed a giant chunk of the East China Sea has its air defense zone, an area that includes Japanese territory and South Korea’s defense zone.  Tokyo, meanwhile, is playing down a major difference with its US allies;  Washington told its commercial fliers to comply with Chinese demands to identify themselves and give their flight plans.

Canadian authorities are charging a man with spying for China.  53-year old Qing Quentin Huang worked for a firm involved in ship design.  Police say he is accused of seeking to sell information about Canada's warship procurement strategy.  If convicted, Huang faces life imprisonment.

China launched its first lunar probe.  The lander is called the Jade Rabbit, and if all goes according to plan, it will be the first moon landing in forty years – after the US and the former Soviet Union conducted their moon missions.  The Chang'e-3 blasted off from Sichuan province and is expected to land on the moon's surface in mid-December.

Tens of thousands of people protested in the center of Mexico City against President Enrique Pena Nieto's plans to privatize the energy sector, which has been protected from private involvement for 75 years.  Pena Nieto claims its necessary to boost the economy.  A recent poll says Pena Nieto's approval rating had fallen to 44 percent, with a larger 48 percent of those polled disapproving of his administration.

Honduras’ Leftist opposition carried the casket of a murdered activist before them at massive a demonstration against the result of the recent presidential elections.  Xiomara Castro and her supporters do not believe the official count showing her losing by eight points, and claim the victory was “stolen” from her.  Pre-election polls suggested that Castro was in a much tighter race for the presidency with the eventual winner, conservative Juan Orlando Hernandez.  International election monitors did not find any problems with the election.

Five East African countries are laying the groundwork for a monetary union they expect will expand regional trade. Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi already have a customs union.  Within a decade, the new East African Community (EAC) nations aim to harmonize monetary and fiscal policies and establish a common central bank.