Asia Pacific Daily News - Focus on Asia-Pacific Development, Daily News Express, Scholar Creation Center

Every Saturday, Asia Pacific Daily will provide you with a run-down of the latest hot news.

This week, the following hot news you should know:

Top 1 | US Donald Trump claims he is 'totally' vindicated by Nunes memo

Amid swirling partisan rancor in Washington, mere days after Donald Trump appealed for unity in his State of the Union address, the president fired yet another broadside at special counsel Robert Mueller and the investigation into Russian election meddling.

In a Saturday morning tweet, Trump continued to attack the FBI, claiming a contentiously published memo as supposed proof that the Russia investigation is a witch-hunt.

“This memo totally vindicates ‘Trump’ in probe,” the president wrote, oddly placing his own name in quotation marks. “But the Russian Witch Hunt goes on and on.

“Their [sic] was no collusion and there was no Obstruction (the word now used because, after one year of looking endlessly and finding NOTHING, collusion is dead). This is an American disgrace!”

Top 2 | Maldives president declares emergency, former leader arrested

The Maldives government has declared a state of emergency for 15 days amid a political crisis in the island nation.

Security forces have entered the Supreme Court and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the ex-president, has been arrested.

The government has already suspended parliament and ordered the army to resist any moves by the Supreme Court to impeach President Abdulla Yameen.Mr Yameen, in power since 2013, has defied a court ruling that jailed opposition leaders should be freed.

Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen.

The state of emergency gives security officials in the Indian Ocean state extra powers of arrest, reports say.

Top 3 | Samsung chief Lee Jae-yong released after appeals trial

A South Korean appeals court handed down a suspended sentence to Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and ordered his released from prison on Monday, Yonhap has reported.

The court said Samsung did not make any explicit or implicit request to ousted president Park Geun-hye for Lee’s succession, however the heir to the South Korean tech behemoth was found guilty of bribing the daughter of Park’s longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil by sponsoring her equestrian career.

Lee Jae-yong, serving as de facto head of the tech giant Samsung Group, was found guilty on counts including bribery, embezzlement and concealment of illegal proceeds by a lower court last August and sentenced to five years in prison.

However, both Lee and the prosecution appealed the ruling, the former insisting that he is not guilty while the latter holding that the five-year sentence is lenient.

Top 4 | Elon Musk's Falcon Heavy rocket launches successfully

US entrepreneur Elon Musk has launched his new rocket, the Falcon Heavy, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The mammoth vehicle - the most powerful since the shuttle system - lifted clear of its pad without incident to soar high over the Atlantic Ocean.

It was billed as a risky test flight in advance of the lift-off.

The SpaceX CEO said the challenges of developing the new rocket meant the chances of a successful first outing might be only 50-50. With this debut, the Falcon Heavy aims to become the most capable launch vehicle available.

Top 5 | US Vice President Pence says US to unveil ‘toughest’ sanctions on DPRK

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the U.S. is preparing to announce the “toughest and most aggressive” economic sanctions against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK) in the coming days, boosting pressure on the bellicose government during the Winter Olympics.

Pence, who is set to lead the U.S. delegation at the opening ceremonies Friday, made the announcement in Japan on Wednesday, following meetings with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“The United States of America will soon unveil the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea(DPRK) ever — and we will continue to isolate North Korea(DPRK) until it abandons its nuclear and ballistic missile programs once and for all,” Pence said.

Top 6 | Kim Jong Un's sister arrives in South Korea

DPRK leader Kim Jong Un's sister landed in the South Friday, the first member of Pyongyang's ruling dynasty to set foot in its rival since the Korean War.

Kim Yo Jong was part of a high-level diplomatic delegation led by the DPRK's ceremonial head of state Kim Yong Nam -- its highest-level official ever to go to the South -- as the Winter Olympics trigger a diplomatic rapprochement between the rivals.

Their white Ilyushin-62 jet, marked in Korean script "Democratic People's Republic of Korea", the DPRK's official name, and its tailfin emblazoned with a DPRK emblem, touched down at Incheon airport near Seoul.

The last member of the Kim family to set foot in Seoul was Yo Jong's grandfather Kim Il Sung, the DPRK's founder, after his forces invaded in 1950 and the capital fell.

Top 7 | The 2018 Winter Olympics are here

It will be cold and colorful, dramatic and dangerous, exciting and emotional -- the 2018 Winter Olympics is set to burst into life in South Korea.

Some events have already begun, but an opening ceremony full of pride, passion, tradition and most probably a bit of politics will get the PyeongChang Games officially under way Friday.

Nearly 3,000 athletes from 93 countries are set to compete for a record of 102 medals across 15 different sports from February 9-25.

From the participation of Russian athletes in the wake of doping scandals, and icy Siberian winds potentially rendering it the coldest Games ever, to DPRK's inclusion and free condoms, here are five things to know about PyeongChang 2018.

Top 8 | Update | 10 dead, 265 injured, 56 missing in M6.5 Taiwan quake

The death toll has risen to 10 as of 12:00 p.m. local time on Thursday, after a 6.5-magnitude earthquake rattled Taiwan's east coast on Tuesday night.

Four tourists from the Chinese mainland were confirmed dead as of Thursday morning, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The quake injured 265 people, and 56 were still missing.

According to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC), the earthquake struck waters near Hualien County at around 11:50 p.m. Tuesday at a depth of 11 kilometers.

Top 9 | German coalition agreement reached after months of wrangling

More than four months after the federal elections, Germany's two biggest parties have agreed to form a coalition government.

That so-called "Grand Coalition" – the same government which has led the country since 2013 – would end the long period of instability in Europe's largest economy.

German chancellor Angela Merkel would continue to lead the country under the new agreement. But her conservatives were forced to make concessions to the center-left Social Democrats who initially rejected rejoining the Merkel-led government.

Top 10 | Palestinians urge UN to halt Israel's "military, settlement escalations"

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah urged Thursday the UN Middle East Peace Envoy Nikolay Mladenov to intervene to halt Israel's military and settlement "escalations" against Palestinians.

"The international institutions, particularly the UN, must take serious steps to press Israel to halt its military and settlement escalations," Hamdallah said in an press statement.

The prime minister also called for international protection for the Palestinians and the Islamic and Christian holy sites from the violations of Israel's occupation and settlement.

Tensions have been rising recently in the West Bank, as three Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the past two days. Israel has withheld bodies of two killed Palestinians, to raise the number of bodies it withheld to 19.