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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 | China: Xi presents new CPC central leadership, roadmap for next 5 years
Xi Jinping was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee for the second term at the first plenary session of the 19th CPC Central Committee on Wednesday.
Soon after being re-elected general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Xi Jinping on Wednesday presented the new CPC central leadership to the press and laid down a roadmap for the next five years.
Members of the newly elected Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 19th CPC Central Committee are Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng.
Top 2 | Pakistani court issues arrest warrants for former PM Sharif
A Pakistani court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif in two cases of corruption arising from the Panama Papers leak, his lawyers said.
"The accountability court issued bailable warrants for the former prime minister in two cases of alleged corruption today and adjourned (the) hearing until November 3," one of his defense lawyers, Zafir Khan, said.
In late July, the Supreme Court sacked Sharif following an investigation into corruption allegations against his family, making him the 15th premier in Pakistan's 70-year history to be ousted before completing a full term.
Top 3 | Catalan parliament declares independence from Spain
The Catalan regional parliament has voted to declare independence from Spain, just as the Spanish government appears set to impose direct rule.
The move was backed 70-10 in a ballot boycotted by opposition MPs.
The Catalan government said that of the 43% of potential voters who took part in the referendum, 90% were in favour of independence. But Spain's Constitutional Court had ruled the vote illegal.
Top 4 | Abe to push reform of Japan's pacifist constitution after election win
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc scored a big win in Sunday’s election, bolstering his chance of becoming the nation’s longest-serving premier and re-energizing his push to revise the pacifist constitution.
Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party-led (LDP) coalition won a combined 312 seats, keeping its two-thirds “super majority” in the 465-member lower house, local media said.
A hefty win raises the likelihood that Abe, who took office in December 2012, will secure a third three-year term as LDP leader next September and go on to become Japan’s longest-serving premier. It also means his “Abenomics” growth strategy centered on the hyper-easy monetary policy will likely continue.
Top5 | U.S. CIA director says DPRK nearly capable of nuclear attack
U.S. CIA director Mike Pompeo has said the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK) is a few months away from perfecting its nuclear weapons capabilities.
“They are close enough now in their capabilities that from a US policy perspective we ought to behave as if we are on the cusp of them achieving” their objective of being able to strike the United States, Pompeo told a national security forum in Washington.
Pompeo said intelligence on DPRK was imperfect and “when you’re now talking about months, our capacity to understand that at a detailed level is in some sense irrelevant”, he said.
Top 6 | Thailand grieves former king at lavish cremation ceremony
Thousands of Thais dressed in black prostrated themselves and wept as the funeral urn for their former king Bhumibol Adulyadej, a man revered as a demigod who became the world’s longest-reigning monarch, was carried by chariot to his cremation pyre.
A day-long grand procession of royal chariots and palanquins included the great victory chariot, a four-wheeled, 13-tonne vehicle that transported the king’s body to the crematorium, pulled by more than 200 men.
The junta had set aside 3bn baht (£70m) for the lavish funeral of a man viewed as a beacon of stability and peacemaker in a nation that has suffered repeated violent coups and counter-coups since his coronation in 1950.
Top 7 | White House releases some JFK docs, keeps others secret
US President Donald Trump on Thursday approved the release of 2,800 documents about the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, but delayed the publication of some "sensitive" files, administration officials said. Officials said Trump delayed the release of some documents at the request of the CIA, FBI and other agencies.
More than 50 years after US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the United States has started releasing the final documents regarding his death. Over the years, the US government generated about five million pages of documents pertaining to the assassination. Most have been made public in full or part, but about 1% of those remain classified. A 1992 law requires all documents be released within 25 years.
Top 8 | Syrian forces close in on last IS key stronghold in al-Bukamal
The Syrian government forces are advancing in the countryside of Deir al-Zour province in eastern Syria in fighting the Islamic State (IS) in al-Bukamal, the last major IS stronghold near the Iraqi border, a military source told Xinhua on Wednesday.
The Syrian troops are now fighting to retake the T2 oilfield all the way to reach al-Bukamal, just days after the government forces dislodged IS from the city of al-Mayadeen, which was deemed as the IS' capital in Deir al-Zour, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Top 9 | Kim Jong Nam trial sees airport video of male suspects
Prosecutors in Kim Jong Nam’s murder trial presented airport CCTV footage on Thursday, showing four male suspects were also involved at the crime scene.
Wan Azirul, the investigating officer, testified one of the men was believed to have been the "mastermind" in the killing of Kim Jong Nam on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
The charge sheet says four other individuals still at large are suspected of murdering Kim along with the women, and Wan Azirul previously said the four were known to the women by pseudonyms —Mr. Y, Mr. Chang, Hanamori and James.
Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong are currently the only two suspects facing trial. They both pleaded not guilty.
Top 10 | US imposes new sanctions on DPRK individuals, entities
The US Department of Treasury on Thursday issued new sanctions on seven individuals and three entities of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) over what it called human rights abuses.
"Today's sanctions target the North Korean (DPRK) military and regime officials engaged in flagrant abuses of human rights," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.
The DPRK successfully tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles and a hydrogen bomb this year, triggering two new economic sanctions by the UN Security Council.
**Related: **
APD Review | How far's Abe from constitutional amendment
APD Review | Trump may hurt his own DPRK plan by embarrassing Iran
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
