Michel Aoun elected president of Lebanon

Michel Aoun, the former Lebanese army chief, has been elected president of Lebanon, ending more than two years of deadlock surrounding the vacancy.

Aoun, 81, secured the presidency by winning the support of 83 MPs, well above the absolute majority of 65 needed to win, according to a tally of votes read out in a televised broadcast from parliament on Monday.

Fireworks echoed across Beirut as the tally showed Aoun the winner.

Aoun, an MP, was shown smiling in his seat. The Lebanese presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian in the country's sectarian power-sharing system.

Lebanon had been without a head of state for 29 months after Michel Suleiman stepped down as president at the end of his term in May 2014.

Since then, 45 sessions to elect a new leader have failed due to political infighting that led to of a lack of quorum.

Around noon on Monday, more than 100 of the 128-member legislature arrived at the parliament building guaranteeing the needed quorum for the session to start.

Lebanon had been without a head of state for 29 months after Michel Suleiman stepped down as president at the end of his term in May 2014.

Since then, 45 sessions to elect a new leader have failed due to political infighting that led to of a lack of quorum.

Around noon on Monday, more than 100 of the 128-member legislature arrived at the parliament building guaranteeing the needed quorum for the session to start.

Key figure in South Korea political crisis says she 'deserves death'

The woman at the centre of a political scandal in South Korea has made a rare public appearance, saying through tears that she "deserves death".

Choi Soon-sil appeared at the office of prosecutors investigating allegations she used her friendship with President Park Geun-hye to influence state affairs and amass an illicit fortune.

The scandal has roiled South Korea and piled pressure on the president to resign.

"Please, forgive me," Ms Choi said, as she tried to enter the prosecutors' building in Seoul surrounded by hundreds of reporters.

"I committed a sin that deserves death," the 60-year-old added.

Wearing a hat and scarf and covering her face with her hand, she pushed her way through the crowd of journalists and people demanding her arrest and Ms Park's resignation.

She was nearly knocked off her feet several times and reportedly lost her shoe amid the scrum, while one protester tried to enter the building with a bucket full of animal faeces. 

The scandal exploded last week when Ms Park acknowledged that Ms Choi, who has no official ties to the administration, edited some of her speeches and provided public relations help. 

According to reports, Ms Choi also used her connections with the president to pressure businesses to give money - possibly as much as 80bn South Korean won (£57m) - to two non-profit organisations she controls, and then allegedly used some of those funds for personal purposes.

Thousands of South Koreans held a protest at the weekend, saying Ms Park had betrayed public trust and mismanaged the government.

Ms Choi insists she did not benefit financially from her friendship with Ms Park or influence state affairs.

Ms Park, who was elected in 2012, has apologised for giving her friend access to draft speeches during the first months of her presidency.

Ms Choi, a cult leader's daughter with a decades-long connection to the Park family, returned home on Sunday from seclusion in Germany.

Ms Choi's father gained Ms Park's trust by reportedly convincing her that he could communicate with her assassinated mother.

He denied this in a 1990 media interview.

A34 crash lorry driver jailed for killing family while on phone

A motorist who smashed into a family's car while looking at his mobile phone has been jailed for 10 years for killing a mother and three children.

Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons Ethan, 13, and Josh, 11, and stepdaughter Aimee Goldsmith, also 11, died in the crash on the A34, near Newbury in Berkshire, on August 10.

Lorry driver Tomasz Kroker ploughed into the family's stationary car at 50mph while scrolling through music on his mobile phone.

Image Caption:Tomasz Kroker was using his mobile phone when he ploughed into the family's car

Their car was shunted underneath the back of a heavy goods vehicle and crushed to a third of its size.

The family, from Bedfordshire, who were making their way home from a camping holiday in Devon, were killed instantly.

Kroker, from Andover in Hampshire, broke down at the scene, crying and saying to himself: "I've killed them."

But he also tried to claim his brakes had failed, telling officers the traffic in front of him "just stopped - I hit my brakes but just couldn't stop".

Image Caption:Tracy Houghton died in the crash with her two sons and stepdaughter

The court heard the 30-year-old was so distracted by his phone he barely looked at the road for almost a kilometre.

Sentencing Kroker on Monday at Reading Crown Court, Judge Maura McGowan told him his attention to the road was so poor, he "might as well have had his eyes closed".

Just an hour before the pile-up he had signed a declaration to his employer, promising he would not use his phone at the wheel.

Image Caption:Brothers Josh, 11, and 13-year-old Ethan Houghton

His truck smashed into a stationary queue of two lorries and four smaller vehicles which were stuck behind a slow-moving articulated lorry near the villages of East and West Ilsley at around 5.10pm.

A man was seriously injured and four other people hurt in the crash.

Dash-cam footage showed Kroker using his phone less than a second before impact, looking up with sudden horror on his face.

His lorry ploughed into a Mazda which was thrown onto its roof, before smashing into a Citroen driven by Ms Houghton's partner Mark Goldsmith, who was with his 13-year-old son Jake.

Their car was shunted into Ms Houghton's Vauxhall Corsa.

Image Caption:The crash scene after Kroker caused the pile-up

Prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson said: "It is a particularly distressing feature that the two surviving members of the family were in the car behind, and a 13-year-old boy was forced to witness at close range the deaths of four members of close family."

Aimee's mother Kate Goldsmith said the prison term "does not do justice to the crime committed".

In a family statement outside the court, she said Kroker's actions turned his lorry into a "lethal weapon".

"He was so distracted, he made no attempt to slow down. The sentence of 10 years in prison will not ease our pain and suffering," she said.

A34 crash lorry driver jailed for killing family while on phone

A motorist who smashed into a family's car while looking at his mobile phone has been jailed for 10 years for killing a mother and three children.

Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons Ethan, 13, and Josh, 11, and stepdaughter Aimee Goldsmith, also 11, died in the crash on the A34, near Newbury in Berkshire, on August 10.

Lorry driver Tomasz Kroker ploughed into the family's stationary car at 50mph while scrolling through music on his mobile phone.

Image Caption:Tomasz Kroker was using his mobile phone when he ploughed into the family's car

Their car was shunted underneath the back of a heavy goods vehicle and crushed to a third of its size.

The family, from Bedfordshire, who were making their way home from a camping holiday in Devon, were killed instantly.

Kroker, from Andover in Hampshire, broke down at the scene, crying and saying to himself: "I've killed them."

But he also tried to claim his brakes had failed, telling officers the traffic in front of him "just stopped - I hit my brakes but just couldn't stop".

Image Caption:Tracy Houghton died in the crash with her two sons and stepdaughter

The court heard the 30-year-old was so distracted by his phone he barely looked at the road for almost a kilometre.

Sentencing Kroker on Monday at Reading Crown Court, Judge Maura McGowan told him his attention to the road was so poor, he "might as well have had his eyes closed".

Just an hour before the pile-up he had signed a declaration to his employer, promising he would not use his phone at the wheel.

Image Caption:Brothers Josh, 11, and 13-year-old Ethan Houghton

His truck smashed into a stationary queue of two lorries and four smaller vehicles which were stuck behind a slow-moving articulated lorry near the villages of East and West Ilsley at around 5.10pm.

A man was seriously injured and four other people hurt in the crash.

Dash-cam footage showed Kroker using his phone less than a second before impact, looking up with sudden horror on his face.

His lorry ploughed into a Mazda which was thrown onto its roof, before smashing into a Citroen driven by Ms Houghton's partner Mark Goldsmith, who was with his 13-year-old son Jake.

Their car was shunted into Ms Houghton's Vauxhall Corsa.

Image Caption:The crash scene after Kroker caused the pile-up

Prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson said: "It is a particularly distressing feature that the two surviving members of the family were in the car behind, and a 13-year-old boy was forced to witness at close range the deaths of four members of close family."

Aimee's mother Kate Goldsmith said the prison term "does not do justice to the crime committed".

In a family statement outside the court, she said Kroker's actions turned his lorry into a "lethal weapon".

"He was so distracted, he made no attempt to slow down. The sentence of 10 years in prison will not ease our pain and suffering," she said.

A34 crash lorry driver jailed for killing family while on phone

A motorist who smashed into a family's car while looking at his mobile phone has been jailed for 10 years for killing a mother and three children.

Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons Ethan, 13, and Josh, 11, and stepdaughter Aimee Goldsmith, also 11, died in the crash on the A34, near Newbury in Berkshire, on August 10.

Lorry driver Tomasz Kroker ploughed into the family's stationary car at 50mph while scrolling through music on his mobile phone.

Image Caption:Tomasz Kroker was using his mobile phone when he ploughed into the family's car

Their car was shunted underneath the back of a heavy goods vehicle and crushed to a third of its size.

The family, from Bedfordshire, who were making their way home from a camping holiday in Devon, were killed instantly.

Kroker, from Andover in Hampshire, broke down at the scene, crying and saying to himself: "I've killed them."

But he also tried to claim his brakes had failed, telling officers the traffic in front of him "just stopped - I hit my brakes but just couldn't stop".

Image Caption:Tracy Houghton died in the crash with her two sons and stepdaughter

The court heard the 30-year-old was so distracted by his phone he barely looked at the road for almost a kilometre.

Sentencing Kroker on Monday at Reading Crown Court, Judge Maura McGowan told him his attention to the road was so poor, he "might as well have had his eyes closed".

Just an hour before the pile-up he had signed a declaration to his employer, promising he would not use his phone at the wheel.

Image Caption:Brothers Josh, 11, and 13-year-old Ethan Houghton

His truck smashed into a stationary queue of two lorries and four smaller vehicles which were stuck behind a slow-moving articulated lorry near the villages of East and West Ilsley at around 5.10pm.

A man was seriously injured and four other people hurt in the crash.

Dash-cam footage showed Kroker using his phone less than a second before impact, looking up with sudden horror on his face.

His lorry ploughed into a Mazda which was thrown onto its roof, before smashing into a Citroen driven by Ms Houghton's partner Mark Goldsmith, who was with his 13-year-old son Jake.

Their car was shunted into Ms Houghton's Vauxhall Corsa.

Image Caption:The crash scene after Kroker caused the pile-up

Prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson said: "It is a particularly distressing feature that the two surviving members of the family were in the car behind, and a 13-year-old boy was forced to witness at close range the deaths of four members of close family."

Aimee's mother Kate Goldsmith said the prison term "does not do justice to the crime committed".

In a family statement outside the court, she said Kroker's actions turned his lorry into a "lethal weapon".

"He was so distracted, he made no attempt to slow down. The sentence of 10 years in prison will not ease our pain and suffering," she said.

A34 crash lorry driver jailed for killing family while on phone

A motorist who smashed into a family's car while looking at his mobile phone has been jailed for 10 years for killing a mother and three children.

Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons Ethan, 13, and Josh, 11, and stepdaughter Aimee Goldsmith, also 11, died in the crash on the A34, near Newbury in Berkshire, on August 10.

Lorry driver Tomasz Kroker ploughed into the family's stationary car at 50mph while scrolling through music on his mobile phone.

Image Caption:Tomasz Kroker was using his mobile phone when he ploughed into the family's car

Their car was shunted underneath the back of a heavy goods vehicle and crushed to a third of its size.

The family, from Bedfordshire, who were making their way home from a camping holiday in Devon, were killed instantly.

Kroker, from Andover in Hampshire, broke down at the scene, crying and saying to himself: "I've killed them."

But he also tried to claim his brakes had failed, telling officers the traffic in front of him "just stopped - I hit my brakes but just couldn't stop".

Image Caption:Tracy Houghton died in the crash with her two sons and stepdaughter

The court heard the 30-year-old was so distracted by his phone he barely looked at the road for almost a kilometre.

Sentencing Kroker on Monday at Reading Crown Court, Judge Maura McGowan told him his attention to the road was so poor, he "might as well have had his eyes closed".

Just an hour before the pile-up he had signed a declaration to his employer, promising he would not use his phone at the wheel.

Image Caption:Brothers Josh, 11, and 13-year-old Ethan Houghton

His truck smashed into a stationary queue of two lorries and four smaller vehicles which were stuck behind a slow-moving articulated lorry near the villages of East and West Ilsley at around 5.10pm.

A man was seriously injured and four other people hurt in the crash.

Dash-cam footage showed Kroker using his phone less than a second before impact, looking up with sudden horror on his face.

His lorry ploughed into a Mazda which was thrown onto its roof, before smashing into a Citroen driven by Ms Houghton's partner Mark Goldsmith, who was with his 13-year-old son Jake.

Their car was shunted into Ms Houghton's Vauxhall Corsa.

Image Caption:The crash scene after Kroker caused the pile-up

Prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson said: "It is a particularly distressing feature that the two surviving members of the family were in the car behind, and a 13-year-old boy was forced to witness at close range the deaths of four members of close family."

Aimee's mother Kate Goldsmith said the prison term "does not do justice to the crime committed".

In a family statement outside the court, she said Kroker's actions turned his lorry into a "lethal weapon".

"He was so distracted, he made no attempt to slow down. The sentence of 10 years in prison will not ease our pain and suffering," she said.

A34 crash lorry driver jailed for killing family while on phone

A motorist who smashed into a family's car while looking at his mobile phone has been jailed for 10 years for killing a mother and three children.

Tracy Houghton, 45, her sons Ethan, 13, and Josh, 11, and stepdaughter Aimee Goldsmith, also 11, died in the crash on the A34, near Newbury in Berkshire, on August 10.

Lorry driver Tomasz Kroker ploughed into the family's stationary car at 50mph while scrolling through music on his mobile phone.

Image Caption:Tomasz Kroker was using his mobile phone when he ploughed into the family's car

Their car was shunted underneath the back of a heavy goods vehicle and crushed to a third of its size.

The family, from Bedfordshire, who were making their way home from a camping holiday in Devon, were killed instantly.

Kroker, from Andover in Hampshire, broke down at the scene, crying and saying to himself: "I've killed them."

But he also tried to claim his brakes had failed, telling officers the traffic in front of him "just stopped - I hit my brakes but just couldn't stop".

Image Caption:Tracy Houghton died in the crash with her two sons and stepdaughter

The court heard the 30-year-old was so distracted by his phone he barely looked at the road for almost a kilometre.

Sentencing Kroker on Monday at Reading Crown Court, Judge Maura McGowan told him his attention to the road was so poor, he "might as well have had his eyes closed".

Just an hour before the pile-up he had signed a declaration to his employer, promising he would not use his phone at the wheel.

Image Caption:Brothers Josh, 11, and 13-year-old Ethan Houghton

His truck smashed into a stationary queue of two lorries and four smaller vehicles which were stuck behind a slow-moving articulated lorry near the villages of East and West Ilsley at around 5.10pm.

A man was seriously injured and four other people hurt in the crash.

Dash-cam footage showed Kroker using his phone less than a second before impact, looking up with sudden horror on his face.

His lorry ploughed into a Mazda which was thrown onto its roof, before smashing into a Citroen driven by Ms Houghton's partner Mark Goldsmith, who was with his 13-year-old son Jake.

Their car was shunted into Ms Houghton's Vauxhall Corsa.

Image Caption:The crash scene after Kroker caused the pile-up

Prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson said: "It is a particularly distressing feature that the two surviving members of the family were in the car behind, and a 13-year-old boy was forced to witness at close range the deaths of four members of close family."

Aimee's mother Kate Goldsmith said the prison term "does not do justice to the crime committed".

In a family statement outside the court, she said Kroker's actions turned his lorry into a "lethal weapon".

"He was so distracted, he made no attempt to slow down. The sentence of 10 years in prison will not ease our pain and suffering," she said.