Xinhua Asia-Pacific News Summary at 1000 GMT, Dec. 29

YANGON -- A moderate earthquake of 5.2 magnitude hit Monywa, Myanmar's northwestern part in the early hours of Friday, the Meteorology and Hydrology Department told Xinhua.

With a depth of 77 km, the earthquake struck at 02:53:34 hours local time (202334 GMT). (Myanmar-Quake)

----

NEW DELHI -- At least 14 people were killed and several others injured in India's financial hub Mumbai in the wee hours of Friday, when a fire broke out in a restaurant and spread to other areas in a multi-storey building.

The cause of the blaze could not be known yet. Fire-fighters took more than three hours to douse the fire, said media reports. (India-Fire)

----

SEOUL -- Chief of South Korea's ruling Democratic Party said Friday that a new deal with Japan is needed over wartime sex slavery victims to make the deal acceptable to the victims.

Choo Mi-ae, chairperson of the Democratic Party, told a party meeting that the 2015 deal was not an agreement as it was aimed to cover up truth, referring to the 2015 deal between then South Korean government under ousted President Park Geun-hye and the Japanese government led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (S.Korea-Comfort Women Deal)

----

PHNOM PENH -- A Cambodian court on Friday ordered exiled ex-opposition leader Sam Rainsy to pay 1 million U.S. dollars in compensation to Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen in a defamation case.

Hun Sen filed a defamation lawsuit against Sam Rainsy, former president of the now-defunct Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), in January after Sam Rainsy accused him of giving 1 million U.S. dollars to social media celebrity Thy Sovantha to attack the then-CNRP. (Cambodia-Opposition) Enditem