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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 | Eight dead in New York City "act of terror", ISIS claims responsibility
In what New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called a "cowardly act of terror," a man driving a rental truck struck and killed eight people on a jogging and bike path Tuesday afternoon.
The sprawling crime scene runs about 10 blocks along the West Side Highway, a few blocks away from One World Trade Center. Witnesses described the chaos at the scene. "Everybody started running," one said.
The 29-year-old man accused of driving a Home Depot rental truck into a group of pedestrians and cyclists in New York is an Uzbekistan national who lived in New Jersey and drove for Uber. The Islamic State claimed responsibility on Thursday for the deadly Halloween day terror attack.
Top 2 | Trump’s former campaign manager to surrender to FBI
US President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was told to surrender to federal authorities on Monday in the first charges stemming from a special counsel investigation of possible Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Manafort and his longtime business associate were indicted on 12 counts, including conspiracy against the US, money laundering and other charges, according to a federal special counsel statement.
The charges are the first from the investigation led by Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller, who was appointed to look into alleged Russian interference to sway the election in favor of Trump.
Top 3 | Catalonia crisis: Protests as ex-ministers held in Spanish custody
Thousands of Catalans have protested against the detention of eight regional ministers sacked over Catalonia's push for independence from Spain.
The officials - who appeared in Spain's high court - are accused of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds.
European arrest warrant has been issued for ex-Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont.
Top 4 | Trump's Asia tour: what lies ahead – and the countries he visits
Trump arrives in Asia on Sunday, beginning his first trip to the region as president in Japan before heading to South Korea and China, then Vietnam and the Philippines.
A series of missile tests by DPRK and its sixth and largest nuclear test have fueled the most critical international challenge of Trump’s presidency.
The goal of Trump’s visit will be to increase international support for efforts to deprive DPRK of resources as leverage to coerce it to give up nuclear weapons, U.S. officials said.
Top5 | Japan's Abe reelected as prime minister after election victory
Shinzo Abe, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), was reelected as Japan's prime minister on Wednesday in both chambers of parliament.
Abe's continued tenure as the nation's premier was guaranteed by a majority vote in the lower house which he secured, with the lower chamber having final authority on the matter as decreed by Japan's constitution.
The LDP's solid performance in the Oct. 22 lower house election has raised the chances that Abe will run in the LDP leadership contest next September and upped the premier's chances of becoming the longest serving prime minister since World War II.
Top 6 | Trump nominates Jerome Powell for Federal Reserve chair
In an address from the Rose Garden at the White House Thursday, President Donald Trump has announced his nomination of Jerome H. Powell as the next chair of the Federal Reserve.
Powell is known as a centrist Republican who is not expected to lead any sharp change of direction for the Fed at a time when the stock market is strong and unemployment is at a 16-year low.
As a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve since 2012, Powell has supported the Fed's ongoing strategy of gradually raising interest rates and may be friendly to the Trump administration's plan to roll back regulations on financial firms.
Top 7 | Facebook: Russia-linked posts may have reached 126M
Facebook has given new details of the extent of the estimated reach of Russian-linked material during the 2016 US presidential election.
Ahead of congressional testimony, the social media platform said a Russian group posted more than 80,000 times on its service during and after the election, potentially reaching as many as 126 million users.
Twitter plans to tell the same committee that it has uncovered and shut down 2,752 accounts linked to the same group, Russia’s Internet Research Agency, which AP said is known for promoting pro-Russian government positions.
Top 8 | Syrian army takes control of Deir al-Zor from ISIL
The Syrian army and its allies have taken full control of Deir al-Zor – the largest and most important city in eastern Syria – from ISIL, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday.
The Syrian army launched its attack against ISIL there in September, backed by Russian air strikes and fighting alongside Iran-backed militias and the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah.
ISIL had held most of the city since 2014, except for one large pocket where Syrian army troops and 93,000 civilians had been holed up for three years.
Top 9 | Kevin Spacey comes out as gay in apology for advance on boy, 14
After years of refusing to address rumours about his sexuality, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey said on Sunday he has chosen to live his life as a gay man.
Spacey, 58, who won Oscars for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty, made the declaration in a post on Twitter.
He apologized to fellow actor Anthony Rapp in the same post for an incident Rapp said occurred in 1986.
Spacey said he was “horrified” to hear Rapp’s story of the encounter, which he said “I honestly do not remember” because it occurred more than 30 years ago. He also said he owed Rapp a “sincere apology” for what he said would have been “deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour.”
Top 10 | U.S. House Republicans unveil long-awaited tax cut bill
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday unveiled the long-awaited bill to overhaul the U.S. tax code in decades by significantly cutting individual and corporate income taxes.
The bill, called the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act," was largely in line with the unified framework for tax reform that the Trump administration and congressional Republican leaders released in late September.
It would reduce the number of personal income tax brackets from seven to four, while keeping the top individual income tax rate at 39.6 percent. It would also cut the corporate income tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent.
Related:
Trump in Asia | Trump’s Asia tour agenda full of thorniest issues
APD Review | Nuclear peril in a time of insanity
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
