Jonathan Miller , Foreign Affairs Correspondent

The heir to South Korea’s massive Samsung business empire has been sentenced to five years in jail for his role in a bribery scandal that’s already toppled the country’s former president. Billionaire Lee Jae-Yong, who’s the firm’s acting chair, was found guilty of crimes including offering bribes and perjury. Lee’s lawyers said they’d appeal, meaning…

After weeks of threats, the war of words between President Trump and the leader of North Korea seemed to have gone quiet. Last night, the President told supporters: “I respect the fact that I believe he is starting to respect us.” But earlier today during a tour of the North Korean academy of defence, Kim…

North Korea has vowed “merciless retaliation”, but senior US commanders are pressing ahead with their joint military exercises with South Korea, saying it’s vital to maintain readiness in the face of Pyongyang’s aggression. At a time when hostility between the two countries has risen to worrying levels, there have been calls to postpone or modify…

US and South Korean troops have begun their annual war game exercises at a time of rising tension with Pyongyang. The mostly computer-simulated drills are held every summer, but North Korea has called them a “reckless” move, warning they could trigger “the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war”.

20-year-old Joshua Wong has been jailed along with two other student leaders for their roles in huge pro-democracy protests almost three years ago. On Twitter Wong said they would never give up fighting for democracy, declaring: “You can lock up our bodies, but not our minds!”

It was the deadliest night in a deadly war on drugs, as Philippine police killed 32 people alleged of involvement in the drugs trade, the highest death toll in a single day of police operations since President Duterte took office. Amnesty International declared the shootings in Bulacan province had plumbed “new depths of barbarity”. A warning:…

It was on this day in 1945 as the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki President Truman spoke of a ‘rain of ruin’. The bomb’s code name was ‘fat man’. In what may be an uncanny or deliberate echo of that. 72 years later President Trump has threatened North…

North Korea has responded to new, tougher international sanctions by pledging to boost its nuclear arsenal and threatening the United States with a “thousand fold” revenge. There were strong words from North Korea’s foreign minister who’s in Manila for a security summit of regional leaders. His country, he warned, was ready to teach the US…

China has urged North Korea to end its nuclear missile activities – and stop provoking the international community’s goodwill.

The US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, says China and Russia bear “unique and special responsibility for North Korea’s growing threat to regional and global stability”.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has resigned after the Supreme Court court disqualified him from office because of corruption allegations. Opposition supporters danced in the streets as the court also ordered criminal charges against Sharif and his family, who’ve all denied any wrongdoing. Mr Sharif is the latest victim claimed by the Panama Papers, millions of documents…

Two Israeli police officers have died after they were attacked by gunmen near one of Jerusalem’s holiest shrines. The three attackers were shot dead by police near the Temple Mount compound, also known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. Friday’s noon prayers had to be cancelled for the first time in years. Israel’s Prime Minister…

The Nobel prize-winner and Chinese political prisoner Liu Xiaobo has died. He was several years into his 11 year sentence for his contribution to a pro-democracy manifesto which called for the end to China’s one-party rule.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the fighting in Mosul, Iraq, with medical charities saying the population, including thousands of children, has been traumatised by the ‘brutal and horrific conflict’. A seemingly unlikely band of foreign men – led by an American Christian missionary – is fighting against IS, and helping rescue some of those…

The United Nations Security Council is due to hold an emergency session in an attempt to ratchet down tensions in the Korean peninsula. Yesterday, North Korea tested a long-range missile which may be capable of reaching Alaska. The US and South Korea carried out their own missile drills in response, with the US Secretary of…