South Korean Parliament Votes to Impeach President

South Korean Parliament Votes to Impeach President
South Korean lawmakers have voted to impeach President Park Geun-hye, the country's first female leader, who has been embroiled in a political scandal.
With Park's powers now suspended, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn is the interim head of government following Friday's vote.
The timeline for impeachment could take six to nine months. First, the Constitutional Court must review the impeachment motion; a process that could take up to 180 days. If approved, lawmakers would then have 60 days to schedule a new election.
This is the first time in South Korean history prosecutors had named the sitting president as a subject in a criminal investigation.

interim:  temporary and intended to be used or accepted until something permanent exists:


Strained US-Philippine Ties Show Signs of Improvement
Relations between the United States and one of its oldest allies, the Philippines, show signs of returning to normal after a crisis in September when the president in Manila demanded Washington withdraw military support and talked of a deeper break in ties with the Western superpower.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump congratulated Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in a call this month on his deadly campaign to squelch the drug trade. The government of U.S. President Barack Obama had angered Duterte, who took office in June, by criticizing the effort due to suspected extrajudicial killings.
Trump also invited Duterte to visit the White House, part of a chain of overtures to traditional U.S. allies in Asia, including Japan.
In September, Duterte called Obama a dirty name, suggested scaling back economic ties and demanded that U.S. military personnel leave the country.
Manila has been one of Washington’s chief Asian allies since the two sides signed a mutual defense treaty in 1951.

campaign: 运动，战役，竞选运动
squelch: 1 to make a sucking sound like the one produced when you are walking on soft, wet ground:  2 US to quickly end something that is causing you problems: 
overture:  a piece of music that is an introduction to a longer piece, especially an opera: 
scale sth back: Reduce something in size, number, or extent, especially by a constant proportion across the board: