Briefly

MYANMAR

NLD wins enough seats to govern

Myanmar's ruling National League for Democracy party has won more than enough seats to form a new government in the general elections held on Nov 8, according to an announcement by the Union Election Commission on Friday. As of Friday morning, the NLD had won 346 seats in the Union Parliament－the House of Representatives and the House of Nationalities, which are the lower and upper chambers, respectively. That means the party has passed the target number of parliamentary seats for victory, the official figures indicated. Japan, India and Singapore have already congratulated NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party.

UNITED KINGDOM

PM's Brexit 'brain' to resign by year end

Dominic Cummings, one of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's most powerful advisers, will leave his position at the heart of Downing Street when Brexit is done at year-end, after an internal battle over who should be Johnson's chief of staff. Cummings, who masterminded the 2016 Brexit referendum vote and Johnson's 2019 landslide election bid, told the BBC that his position had not changed since January when he said he wanted to be largely redundant by the end of this year. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky that Cummings had planned not to stay in his position as Johnson's senior adviser for much more than a year, once Britain left informal membership of the European Union.

EGYPT

7 peacekeepers die in Sinai helicopter crash

The international force that monitors the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement said on Thursday that seven peacekeepers, including five US servicemen, were killed when one of its helicopters crashed during a routine mission in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. The Multinational Force and Observers said a French peacekeeper and a Czech member of the force were also killed. The MFO said the helicopter crashed during the mission near Sharm el-Sheikh, a popular Egyptian resort city on the Red Sea, and that a probe was underway.

SOUTH KOREA

Govt starts fining those without masks

South Korea has reported its biggest daily jump in COVID-19 cases in 70 days as the government began fining people who fail to wear masks in public. The 191 cases added to the country's caseload on Friday represented the sixth consecutive day of more than 100 and the highest daily increase since Sept 4 when authorities reported 198 new infections. From Friday, officials started to impose fines of up to 100,000 won ($90) for people who fail to properly wear masks in public transport and a wide range of venues, including hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacies and nightclubs.

Agencies - Xinhua