The heir to the huge Samsung business empire is getting out of jail sooner than expected.

Lee Jae-yong, a 49-year-old billionaire, was found guilty of bribery and other corruption charges in August and sentenced to five years in prison. But a higher court on Monday cut the sentence to two and a half years and suspended it for four years.

Dubbed the "trial of the century," Lee's case gripped South Korea for months. It was part of a huge influence-peddling scandal that brought down the government of former President Park Geun-hye.

Fears over a dengue vaccine in the Philippines have led to a big drop in immunisation rates for preventable diseases, officials have warned.

Health Under-Secretary Enrique Domingo said many parents were refusing to get their children vaccinated for polio, chicken pox and tetanus.

The fears centre on Dengvaxia, a drug developed by French company Sanofi.

A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck northern Afghanistan, the USGS said, sending people in the Afghan capital, Kabul, rushing to the streets on Wednesday, with tremors felt as far as Delhi, the Indian capital and Islamabad in Pakistan. The quake hit at 0707 GMT near Afghanistan’s northern border with Tajikistan in the Hindu Kush mountains at a depth of 191 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.

Christians In Syria Have First Service In 6 Years

On Saturday, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Aphrem II, led a prayer service in the damaged St Mary’s church at Deir Ezzor.

Deir Ezzor, North-East of capital Damascus, experienced the rise of Islamic State in 2014.

The US has levied sanctions against people and businesses in Sierra Leone, Ghana and Lebanon over their alleged links to Hezbollah.

The six individuals and seven businesses affected are believed to be employed and owned by Adham Tabaja, one of Hezbollah's most senior financiers.

A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck northern Afghanistan, the USGS said, sending people in the Afghan capital, Kabul, rushing to the streets on Wednesday, with tremors felt as far as Delhi, the Indian capital and Islamabad in Pakistan. The quake hit at 0707 GMT near Afghanistan’s northern border with Tajikistan in the Hindu Kush mountains at a depth of 191 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said.