SEOUL -- Kim Keon-hee, wife of the impeached former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, was sentenced to 20 months in prison for taking bribes, live footage showed Wednesday.
The Seoul Central District Court handed down the prison sentence with a forfeiture of 12.81 million won (about 9,010 U.S. dollars), saying Kim exploited her position as the first lady for private profit. (South Korea-Wife of Impeached President)
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YANGON -- The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has won a majority of seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) of Myanmar's Union Parliament, according to data released by the Union Election Commission (UEC) on Wednesday.
UEC's figures showed that the USDP secured 231 of the 263 elected seats in the lower house. The Shan and Nationalities Democratic Party won seven seats, while the Mon Unity Party and the Pa-O National Organization party each secured five seats. The remaining elected seats were shared among nine other political parties. (Myanmar-USDP-Lower House, 1ST LD WRITETHRU)
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NEW DELHI -- Five people, including the deputy chief minister of India's western state of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, and two pilots, on board an aircraft were killed Wednesday in a crash, officials said.
The small aircraft crashed while attempting to land at Baramati airport in Pune district, about 249 km southeast of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra. (India-Plane Crash, 1ST LD WRITETHRU)
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JAKARTA -- Rescue teams in Indonesia have recovered a total of 53 bodies from a landslide in West Java province, as search operations entered the fifth day on Wednesday amid rain and unstable ground conditions.
The landslide struck the Cisarua region in West Bandung regency early last Saturday, burying dozens of homes under soil and mud. Of the 53 bodies recovered, the police disaster victim identification team has identified 35, the country's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a statement on Wednesday. (Indonesia-Landslide-Deaths)
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TOKYO -- Campaigning for Japan's Feb. 8 House of Representatives election officially kicked off across the country on Tuesday, setting the stage for a high-stakes contest that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has explicitly tied to her political survival.
Speaking at a street rally on the first day of the campaign, Takaichi reiterated her pledge to step down if the ruling coalition fails to secure a majority. How does the election work, what's at stake, and why has Takaichi chosen to take such a bold gamble? (Japan-Takaichi-Election, EXPLAINER) ■
