Philippines
The death toll from a typhoon in the Philippines has soared to a horrific 375, with more than 50 people missing and 500 wounded. People were killed by falling trees, flash floods and landslides. Power is down in 227 cities and towns, according to officials, and many people are struggling for food and water. Typhoons plague the Philippines but this is by far the biggest storm to batter the country this year.
More from AP via Yahoo News here.
Egypt
Alaa Abdel Fattah, a leading activist in Egypt, has been jailed for five years for spreading “fake news.” Abdel Fattah came to prominence as one of the leading lights of the 2011 revolution that toppled then president Hosni Mubarak, attracting a huge following on social media. He has been imprisoned several times before for participating in protests. Blogger Mohamed Ibrahim and lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer were jailed for four years, charged with the same offences as Abdel Fattah.
More from Middle East Eye here.
Hong Kong
No surprises in Hong Kong as pro-Communist Party candidates won a landslide victory in legislative elections after opposition figures were either jailed or barred from running. Electoral reform laws were passed last May that prevented anyone a pro-China panel considered "unpatriotic” from running. Turnout was just 30.2 percent - the lowest since the British handed Hong Kong over to Beijing in 1997. China has now all but dismantled Hong Kong’s status as an autonomous region.
More from Nikkei Asia here.