Kazakh president sacks mayor after outrage over school latrine rape
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has sacked the mayor of the southern city of Taraz after a 12-year-old student was raped in a school latrine this month, prompting public outrage over officials’ negligence and poor education funding.
Trump urges Cambodia to return to ‘democratic path’ after crackdown
U.S. President Donald Trump has written to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen urging him to put the Southeast Asian nation back on a democratic path and seeking to improve ties with one of China’s closest regional allies.
Hong Kong hospitals find themselves on protest frontlines
Hong Kong’s public hospitals, long known for professionalism, have become a new front in the anti-government protests that have engulfed the city for more than five months.
Dispute between Japan and South Korea overshadows G20 meetings
Japan seized the last event of its G20 presidency on Friday to reject a South Korean warning about radiation from the ruined Fukushima nuclear plant as a dispute between the neighbors threatened to overshadow the meetings.
Australia bushfire smoke shoots Sydney into top 10 global pollution index
The Australian state of New South Wales was gasping under the worst levels of air pollution ever recorded on Friday as smoke from widespread bushfires caused a spike in hospital visits and hazards including poor visibility for drivers.
Pope urges Thais not to see Christianity as ‘foreign’
Pope Francis paid tribute on Friday to Catholics in Thailand who suffered or were killed for their faith in the past and urged today’s Thais not to consider Christianity a “foreign” religion.
U.S. says it is concerned by China’s attempts to influence Taiwan election
The United States is concerned about China’s attempts to influence Taiwan’s presidential election, the top U.S. official in Taiwan said on Friday, as China stepped up pressure on the self-ruled island ahead of the vote in January.
Handful of Hong Kong protesters surrender as university siege nears end
At least eight protesters who had been holding out at a trashed Hong Kong university surrendered early on Friday, while others searched for escape routes past riot police who surrounded the campus but said there was no deadline for ending the standoff….
Hong Kong police chief urges protesters to leave university campus
Protesters holed up at a Hong Kong university campus should leave and there is no deadline to clear them, the city’s police chief said on Friday, adding that he hoped for a peaceful resolution to the standoff.
Sri Lanka’s new leader appoints his PM brother as Finance Minister
Sri Lanka’s newly-elected leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed his brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, the current Prime Minister, as the interim government’s new finance minister, state television showed in a live telecast on Friday.
