1. S. Korea PM faces bribery allegation

    South Korean President Park Geun-hye said she would have zero tolerance for corruption. Her prime minister quit over an allegation that he took illegal campaign money from a businessman. The businessman was found dead last week in an apparent suicide.

    The scandal threatens to weaken Park politically in the third year of a single five-year term and could damage her ruling Saenuri Party, which faces a parliamentary general election next year for control of the 300-seat assembly.

    Prime Minister Lee Han-koo faced a second day of intense questions in parliament on April 15 over whether he took 30 million won (US$27,000) in 2013 from businessman Sung Wan-jong, who was found a week ago hanging by his necktie from a tree while under investigation for fraud and bribery.

    2. Iran dismisses U.S. Congress pressure

    Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed pressure from the U.S. Congress over a preliminary deal on Iran’s nuclear program, saying that Tehran is dealing with world powers — not American lawmakers.

    Rouhani spoke on April 15 in the northern city of Rasht, saying that Iran is pursuing a “dignified” agreement with the six-member group — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

    The speech came after President Barack Obama bowed to pressure from Republicans and Democrats and agreed to sign compromise legislation giving the Congress the right to reject a nuclear deal with Iran.

    3. Asiana plane skids off runway in Japan

    An Asiana Airways plane smashed into a communications antenna* as it came in to land at a Japanese airport on April 16, injuring 27 people in an accident that echoed the airline’s fatal 2013 crash in San Francisco.

    All 73 passengers and eight crew evacuated safely, and no one was killed, but 27 people were injured, Japanese officials said.

    An aviation* safety official at the transport ministry in Tokyo said that teams of investigators were on their way.

    The South Korean carrier said 18 passengers — 14 Japanese, two Koreans and two Chinese — had been hurt.

    4. 700 feared dead after boat sinks off Libya

    As many as 700 people are feared dead after a boat carrying migrants capsized* off the Libyan coast overnight in one of the worst disasters seen in the Mediterranean migrant crisis, officials said on Sunday.

    Twenty-eight people were rescued in the incident, which happened in an area just off Libyan waters, south of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, an Italian coast guard official said.

    5. Zuma seeks to reassure foreigners

    President Jacob Zuma pleaded with foreigners to stay in South Africa as he canceled a state visit to Indonesia to deal with a wave of deadly xenophobic* violence at home.

    Three weeks of escalating anti-foreigner violence in South Africa have claimed at least six lives and forced more than 5,000 immigrants to seek refuge in makeshift* camps.

    The unrest, which began in the eastern port city of Durban before spreading to other parts of the country, carries echoes of the xenophobic riots that gripped South Africa in 2008 when 62 people were killed.

    6. France provides weapons to Lebanon

    The first French weapons from a US$3 billion Saudi-funded program arrived in Lebanon on Monday as allies seek to bolster* the country’s defenses against the Islamic State group and other jihadists pressing along its Syrian border.

    France is expected to deliver 250 combat and transport vehicles, seven Cougar helicopters, three small corvette warships and a range of surveillance and communications equipment over four years as part of the US$3 billion modernization program.(SD-Agencies)

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