AFP, Seoul
Prosecutors demanded 20 years in prison for former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, the most recent of the country’s ex-leaders to be embroiled in a criminal inquiry. The 76-year-old former CEO turned president – who served from 2008 to 2013 – faces multiple charges including bribery, abuse of power, embezzlement and tax evasion.
Cambodian PM voted in by one-party Parliament
AP, Penh
Cambodia’s lawmakers on Thursday (Sep 6) voted in a new parliamentary leadership and government, led by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling party, after a July general election that was derided internationally because it was largely uncontested.
Hun Sen, 66, said his government would serve “the nation and the people” after the vote extended his 33-year rule by five more years. The few changes he made to his cabinet highlight his family’s growing political influence.
Landmark India ruling ends gay sex ban
AFP, New Delhi
India’s Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a ban on gay sex after a decades-old campaign against a colonial-era law used to hold back LGBT rights.
Members of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender groups held tearful celebrations in cities across the South Asian nation of 1.25 billion people as the historic verdict was read out.
Two Koreas agree to hold September summit
AFP, Seoul
Kim Jong Un will meet the South’s President Moon Jae-in at a summit in Pyongyang in September to discuss nuclear disarmament, Seoul said Thursday.
This would be the third meeting this year between the two leaders, who will discuss “practical measures to denuclearise” the flashpoint peninsula during the September 18-20 summit, South Korean National Security Advisor Chung Eui-yong told reporters.
14 killed in twin blasts in Kabul
AFP, Kabul
At least 14 people have been killed after twin blasts at a Kabul wrestling club on Wednesday that left another 25 wounded, including four journalists, officials said, in the latest assault on the Afghan capital. The second bomb detonated an hour after a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the sports hall in a heavily Shiite neighbourhood, as journalists and security forces gathered at the scene.
Japan quake, landslides leave 8 dead
AFP, Tokyo
A powerful 6.6-magnitude quake rocked the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido Thursday, killing at least eight people, collapsing homes, and triggering landslides that left dozens missing. Multiple, large-scale landslides struck the sparsely populated countryside, which was also hit by the edge of a powerful typhoon that surged through Japan earlier this week.
Aerial views showed dozens of houses destroyed at the bottom of a hill that was engulfed by a landslide, with a rescue helicopter winching a resident to safety.
