(BANGKOK) — Thailand’s newly crowned King Maha Vajiralongkorn made a spectacular public appearance in front of his countrymen Sunday, carried atop a golden palanquin by soldiers in ancient fighting uniforms in a procession through Bangkok’s historic quarter.

Hundreds of other soldiers marched in front, behind and alongside the palanquin in scorching heat as the procession set off from Bangkok’s Grand Palace just after 5 p.m. with a marching band setting the pace. Also taking part in the slow parade were the prime minister and other senior officials in the military government as well as the king’s wife, Queen Suthida, and one of his daughters, Princess Bajrakitiyabha.

Slightly more than five hours after starting the day-into-night, 7.15-kilometer (4.3-mile) journey, the king reached the last of three prominent Buddhist temples — the Temple of the Reclining Buddha — where he stopped to pay homage to Buddha images. At the two temples he visited earlier, he also paid homage to the relics..

Brunei will not enforce draconian anti-LGBT punishments it implemented last month as part of its rollout of Sharia law, the Sultan of Brunei said in a speech on Sunday.

In his first public comments since introducing the harsh new penal code, which would have made actions like adultery and sex between two men punishable by death by stoning, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah acknowledged that the laws had raised “many questions and misperceptions,” according to the BBC.

Despite moratorium, the Sultan defended the rules, saying they had “merit,” reports the BBC.

The enactment of the laws in the predominantly Muslim Asian nation of about 450,000 people sparked international outrage. The U.N. urged the country to suspend or repeal them, saying they “breach international human rights norms.” The U.S., Australia, the U.K. and France all voiced objections to the laws.

Read More: This Is What It’s Like to Be Gay in Brunei, Where Homosexuality Is Now Punishable by Being Stoned to Death

Several celebr..

(CARACAS, Venezuela) — Venezuelan authorities are investigating the cause of a helicopter crash that killed seven military officers while they were while heading to a state where President Nicolás Maduro was visiting troops.

The crash of the Cougar helicopter on the southeastern outskirts of Caracas on Saturday followed days of upheaval during which opposition leader Juan Guaidó called in vain for a military uprising to overthrow Maduro, and five people were killed in clashes between protesters and police.

The armed forces said the chopper was heading to San Carlos in Cojedes state, near a military base where Maduro addressed cadets on Saturday. The statement didn’t say if the aircraft was part of the presidential delegation.

In late April, a Venezuelan National Guard general and a pilot died in a police helicopter crash in the city of Maracaibo. Two other people were injured.

Meanwhile the Venezuelan opposition planned a memorial service Sunday for those killed in street fighting ..

(MOSCOW) — Thirteen people were killed Sunday in a fiery airplane accident at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, a spokeswoman for the Russian Investigative Committee said.

The Sukhoi SSJ100 operated by national airline Aeroflot had 73 passengers and five crew members on board when it touched down and sped down a runway spewing huge flames and black smoke.

Video footage showed desperate passengers leaping out of the plane onto an inflatable evacuation slide and staggering across the airport’s tarmac and grass, some holding luggage.

Two children were among the passengers who died, the Investigative Committee said. At least six people were reported injured.

The airport said in a statement that the plane, which had taken off from Sheremetyevo Airport for the northern city of Murmansk, turned back for unspecified technical reasons and made a hard landing that started the fire.

Some news reports cited sources as saying the plane bounced several times during the landing

“Investigators soon..