Colombia’s newly-elected President Iván Duque took office on Tuesday, pledging to unite the country and improve economic growth.
The conservative political newcomer was elected in June after a divisive election campaign where he saw off left-wing rival Gustavo Petro.
In his inaugural address, the former lawyer pledged changes to tackle corruption and invigorate the economy.
The leader has also vowed to change the peace deal with the Farc rebel group.
The outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos has urged Mr. Duque to respect the deal, which was negotiated in 2016 to bring an end to the country’s brutal five-decade civil conflict.
The Farc, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is now a political party known as the Revolutionary Alternative Common Force.
A number of its members took up seats in parliament last month as part of the terms which guarantee it political representation.
Mr. Duque has said he remains committed to Colombia’s peace process, but has accused the Farc of being too lenient on former guerrilla fighters accused of war crimes.
“We will deploy corrective measures to ensure that the victims get the truth, proportional justice, reparations and no repetitions of the past,” the new president said in his address on Tuesday.
Mr. Duque also spoke about the need to heal the country after a divisive election campaign earlier this year.
The Centro Democrático (Democratic Centre) party candidate beat opponent Gustavo Petro by 12 points in June – winning the run-off election with 54% of the final vote.
“I want to govern Colombia with unbreakable values and principles, overcoming the divisions of left and right, overcoming with popular dialogue the prickly feelings that invite social fracture, I want to govern Colombia with a spirit to build, never to destroy,” President Duque said in his address.
His political platform is considered business-friendly after he pledged to cut taxes and boost investment in Colombia’s economy.
Mr. Duque, who at 42 is the youngest elected Colombian president ever, was handpicked as party leader by founder Álvaro Uribe Velez, who himself was president from 2002 to 2010.
Mr. Uribe remains active in politics, but resigned from his Senate seat in July to face a bribery and fraud investigation in the Supreme Court.
Mr. Duque’s running mate, Marta Lucía Ramirez, has become the country’s first ever female vice-president.
The new president assumes power at a time of heightened tension with neighbours Venezuela.
Earlier this week President Nicolas Maduro accused the outgoing Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos of being responsible for an apparent attempt to assassinate him at a military event in Caracas.
The allegation was described as “baseless” by Bogota.
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Malaysia ex-PM Najib charged with money laundering
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been charged with three counts of money laundering linked to a multi-million dollar corruption scandal.
He is accused of having received 42m ringgit ($10m; £8m) from state fund 1MDB in his personal bank account.
Mr. Najib was arrested in July and has already been charged with breach of trust and abusing his position.
The new investigation into 1MDB began after his shock election loss in May.
He has always denied any guilt and had been cleared by Malaysian authorities while in power
Mr. Najib, members of his family and several allies are accused of embezzling huge sums allegedly used to buy everything from artwork to high-end real estate around the globe.
The allegations played a central role in his defeat to a reformist alliance led by 93-year old political veteran Mahathir Mohamad.
Raids have been carried out in recent weeks at properties linked to Mr. Najib and his wife.
Police say the seizure of valuables – including designer handbags, jewellery and cash – was the biggest in Malaysian history.
1MDB, set up by Mr. Najib in 2009, was meant to turn the capital, Kuala Lumpur, into a financial hub and boost the economy through strategic investments.
It started to attract negative attention in early 2015 after it missed payments for some of the $11bn it owed to banks and bondholders.
Then the Wall Street Journal reported it had seen a paper trail that allegedly traced close to $700m from the fund to Mr. Najib’s personal bank accounts.
Billions of dollars are still unaccounted for.
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Tokyo Medical University apologises for changing female exam scores
One of Japan’s most prestigious medical universities has apologised for tampering with entrance exam scores to limit its intake of female students.
An internal investigation found that Tokyo Medical University (TMU) had been manipulating the scores of female applicants from as early as 2006.
It also marked down the scores of male applicants who had taken the entrance test at least four times.
TMU has said the alterations should never have happened.
The university also admitted to adding extra points to the scores of 18 students who had made donations to the school.
“We betrayed the public trust. We want to sincerely apologise for this,” TMU Managing Director, Tetsuo Yukioka, told reporters at a press conference on Tuesday.
Keisuke Miyazawa, vice-president of TMU also pledged that next year’s entrance exams would be fair.
The story was first reported last week by Yomiuri Shimbun, the country’s biggest daily paper and has since sparked national outrage.
The report had quoted an unnamed source saying officials adopted a “silent understanding” to reduce the number of female entrants over concerns female graduates were not going on to practice medicine in employment.
“Many female students who graduate end up leaving the actual medical practice to give birth and raise children,” the source told the newspaper.
In 2010, before the measure was allegedly introduced, female student participation was about 40%.
The newspaper reported that after the two-round application process earlier this year, only 30 female applicants were accepted to study, versus 141 men.
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New South Wales drought now affects entire state
Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), is now entirely in drought, officials have confirmed.
A dry winter has intensified what has been called the worst drought in living memory in parts of eastern Australia.
NSW produces about a quarter of Australia’s agricultural output. It was officially listed as “100% in drought” on Wednesday.
The state and federal governments have provided A$576m (£330m; $430m) in emergency relief funding.
“There isn’t a person in the state that isn’t hoping to see some rain for our farmers and regional communities,” said NSW Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair.
Southern Australia has just experienced its second-driest autumn on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with rainfall 57mm (2.24in) below average.
Less than 10mm of rain was recorded in parts of NSW in July, and drier than normal conditions are forecast in coming months.
On Wednesday, officials said 23% of NSW was classified as being in “intense drought,” with the remainder in drought or drought-affected.
But the problem is not confined to NSW – more than half of neighbouring Queensland is in drought.
Parts of Victoria and South Australia are also experiencing dry conditions.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull warned that the country had become a “land of drought.”
Farmers have told harrowing stories of failing crops, severe water shortages and being unable to feed livestock.
Some people had spent up to A$10,000 per truckload of hay just to feed their animals, Mr. Turnbull said.
“It’s like you are in jail every day,” Queensland farmer Ashley Gamble told the Nine Network. “You turn up here because you’ve got to turn up. It’s just depressing.”
Stock agent, Simon Bourke told the ABC: “We’re selling livestock we don’t want to sell… down the track there’s really not going to be too many cattle or sheep left.”
Suicide rates in rural regions are on average about 40% higher than in urban areas, mental health group Sane Australia has said.
Farmers are already eligible for annual relief payments of up to A$16,000 each.
Earlier this week, Mr. Turnbull announced additional payments of up to A$12,000.
The prime minister said that although drought was considered “part of the Australian climate,” farmers needed help.
“What we have to do is make sure we [the government] back them when the times get as tough as they are now,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation earlier this week.
However, some have criticised the measure as “too little, too late” and too onerous to claim.
Almost 20,000 eligible people are yet to apply for the grant.
Earlier this year, meteorologists rated Australia as having a 50% chance of experiencing an El Nino in its spring beginning in September.
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Manafort team attacks ‘secret life’ of star witness Rick Gates
Ex-Trump aide, Paul Manafort’s lawyer, has told a court his deputy led a “secret life” and told so many lies he could not keep track of them all.
Mr. Manafort’s defence team was cross-examining his former right-hand man, Rick Gates, who is now star witness for the prosecution.
Gates told the court on Monday that Mr. Manafort ordered him to commit fraud.
This is the first criminal trial to come from the Department of Justice-led inquiry into alleged Russian meddling.
Mr. Manafort, 69, has pleaded not guilty to bank fraud and tax fraud.
Gates, 46, struck a plea deal with prosecutors in February, admitting two charges of conspiracy and lying to the FBI.
The case arises from the pair’s consultancy work for Russian-backed Ukrainian politicians.
Mr. Manafort’s legal team sought to undercut Gates’ credibility on Tuesday, day six of the trial.
Defence attorney Kevin Downing asked about the witness’s co-operation with special counsel, Robert Mueller, who is leading the Russia probe.
“After all the lies you told you expect this jury to believe you?” Mr. Downing asked Gates.
“I’m here to tell the truth,” the witness replied. “Mr. Manafort had the same path. I’m here.”
The defence lawyer pointed out Gates had lied to investigators before entering his guilty plea.
“Have they confronted you with so many lies that you can’t remember?” Mr. Downing added.
The defence lawyer also pressed Gates on his adultery.
“There was another Richard Gates, isn’t that right?” Mr. Downing asked. “A secret Richard Gates?”
The witness responded that he had had an extramarital affair over 10 years ago.
Gates acknowledged keeping a flat in London for two months during those trysts, and listing luxury hotels as a business expense.
He also said he had possibly submitted personal expenses to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee for his work on the election campaign.
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And he conceded he had penned a fraudulent letter to prospective investors for a movie project.
The two former business partners were indicted last October for hiding millions of dollars they made lobbying for Russian-backed Ukrainian politicians.
The charges relating to the pair’s political consulting largely predate the Trump 2016 election campaign they worked on together.
Gates told the Alexandria, Virginia, court on Monday he was helping prosecutors in the hope of leniency.
Gates still faces up to six years in prison under the terms of his plea deal.
