Briefly

SOLOMON ISLANDS

Jeremiah Manele elected new PM

Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele was elected the new prime minister of the Solomon Islands by members of parliament on Thursday, Governor General of the Solomon Islands David Vunagi said. Manele defeated opposition leader Matthew Wale in a 31-to-18 vote in the newly elected 50-seat parliament, Vunagi said following a secret ballot. "I will discharge my duties diligently and with integrity," Manele told journalists.

SOUTH KOREA

Probe into crowd crush gets parliament nod

South Korea's National Assembly voted on Thursday to approve a bill backed by the ruling and opposition parties to launch a fresh probe into the crowd crush in Seoul's Itaewon district in 2022 that killed nearly 160 people. An earlier bill was vetoed by President Yoon Suk-yeol in January. The latest bill is a compromise that removes granting full investigative power to the panel, to which Yoon had objected, his office said. The passage of the bill came after Yoon met opposition leader Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party for talks on Monday.

Agencies - Xinhua