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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 | Trump signs tax, government spending bills into law
U.S. President Donald Trump signed Republicans’ massive $1.5 trillion tax overhaul into law on last Friday, cementing the biggest legislative victory of his first year in office, and also approved a short-term spending bill that averts a possible government shutdown.
The two pieces of legislation represent Trump’s most significant accomplishment with Congress since taking office in January, as well as a sign of what awaits when he returns from Florida after the Christmas holiday.
The tax package, the largest such overhaul since the 1980s, slashes the corporate rate from 35 percent to 21 percent and temporarily reduces the tax burden for most individuals as well.
Top 2 | Putin submits documents for 2018 presidential candidacy, opposition leader barred from running for president
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday submitted to the Central Election Committee (CEC) documents needed to officially start his 2018 presidential campaign.
The documents, as showed in the footage, include an application for registration of an initiative group of supporters, a statement of consent to running for president, confirmations of biographical data, as well as income and property ownership data.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is implicitly barred from running for office because of a conviction in a fraud case which has been viewed as political retribution. He could have run if he was given a special dispensation or if his conviction was cancelled.
Top 3 | US sanctions DPRK missile experts
The United States on Tuesday issued sanctions on two citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) over the alleged involvement in the country's ballistic missile programs.
As a result of the action, any property or interests of the designated persons in the United States will be blocked and transactions by Americans involving these persons are generally prohibited, said a U.S. Treasury Department statement.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have reached an unprecedented level this year as the DPRK launched a nuclear test and multiple missile launches and the United States and South Korea have constantly conducted joint military drills.
Top 4 | 40 dead, dozens wounded in multiple Kabul blasts
At least 40 people were killed and dozens more wounded in multiple blasts at a Shiite cultural centre in Kabul on Thursday, officials said, in the latest deadly violence to hit the Afghan capital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Taliban was quick to deny involvement in the assault near the Afghan Voice Agency, a media outlet which earlier reports had suggested could have been the target.
Kabul has become one of the deadliest places in war-torn Afghanistan for civilians in recent months, as the Taliban step up their attacks and the Islamic State group (IS) seeks to expand its presence in the country.
Top5 | Ex-footballer Weah wins landmark Liberia presidential vote
Ex-football superstar George Weah was announced the winner on Thursday of Liberia's presidential run-off, beating Vice President Joseph Boakai in the first democratic transfer of power in decades following two devastating civil wars.
Weah is set to replace incumbent Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who took over at the helm of Africa's oldest republic in 2006.
The National Election Commission (NEC) said Weah had won an insurmountable 61.5 percent of Tuesday's vote, which was delayed several weeks after a legal challenge from Boakai.
Top 6 | Peru's jailed ex-president Alberto Fujimori pardoned, sparking protests
Peru’s president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has pardoned the jailed former autocrat Alberto Fujimori in a Christmas Eve message that has sparked protests across the country.
The move comes a day after Fujimori, 79, who is serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and human rights crimes, was rushed to hospital on last Saturday after suffering a severe drop in blood pressure and abnormal heart rhythm. His doctor said he could die.
Alberto Fujimori on Tuesday asked the public for forgiveness, two days after receiving a presidential pardon that sparked street protests.
Alberto Fujimori, who governed Peru from 1990 to 2000, is the figurehead of the party which dominates Peru’s Congress and a deeply divisive figure in the country. He was jailed in 2009 for authorising death squads, overseeing rampant corruption and vote-rigging.
Top 7 | St Petersburg supermarket blast injures 13 shoppers, Putin calls 'act of terror'
13 people have been injured after an explosion at a supermarket in the Russian city of St Petersburg.
The incident, which occurred at the supermarket chain Perekrestok late on Wednesday, is being investigated as an attempted murder, officials said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called the explosion, "an act of terror."
Top 8 | S. Korea's Moon: Wartime sex slavery issue can't be resolved by 2015 deal
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that the wartime sexual slavery issue cannot be resolved by a 2015 deal with Japan.
Moon said though the deal was an official promise approved by the leaders of both countries, he, as the president of South Korea, should make it clear again that the comfort women issue cannot be resolved by the 2015 deal.
Moon's comments came a day after Seoul's foreign ministry confirmed a secret deal in the 2015 agreement between the then South Korean government under ousted President Park Geun-hye and the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Under the deal reached on Dec. 28, 2015, Japan agreed to offer 1 billion yen (9 million U.S. dollars) to a foundation dedicated to supporting the South Korean sex slavery victims in return for the final and irreversible agreement.
Top 9 | US, Turkey mutually lift visa restrictions, ending months-long row
The United States and Turkey lifted all visa restrictions on Thursday after Washington said Ankara had kept to assurances that no further US mission staff would be targeted for performing official duties, following detention of two earlier this year.
Relations between the two NATO allies have become strained in the last year with Turkey angered by what it sees as the US reluctance to hand over Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for the coup attempt in July of 2016.
Turkey was further annoyed by US military support for Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria, considered by Ankara to be an extension of the banned PKK which has waged an insurgency for three decades in southeast Turkey.
Top 10 | Apple apologizes for slowing iPhones, offers discounted batteries
Apple on Thursday apologized to its customers for slowing down performance of older iPhone models and said it would discount replacement batteries for some of its handsets.
The move by Apple responded to an uproar from iPhone users -- and a series of lawsuits -- after news of the battery problems stoked concerns the company was unfairly nudging consumers to upgrade.
Apple said it was reducing the price of an out-of-warranty iPhone battery replacement from $79 to $29 for anyone with an iPhone 6 or later whose battery needs to be replaced, starting in late January through December 2018. The company said it also would issue a software update to make it easier for customers to see if an aging battery is affecting performance.
Related:
Keywords of 2017 | Middle East and the heavy burdens in “post-Daash"
2017 APD Yearender | List of Top 10 Asia Pacific news
2017 APD Yearender | List of top 10 world news
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
