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South Korea is set to roll out a second batch of cash assistance for the bottom 70 percent of income earners in an effort to ease financial strain caused by rising fuel prices amid the war in the Middle East.

According to officials on Monday, the National Assembly approved a 26.2 trillion-won (17.8 billion dollars) supplementary budget bill to address the economic fallout from the Middle East conflict, including the introduction of the cash assistance plan.

Under the first programme launched in April, the government handed out up to 600,000 won to recipients of basic livelihood security and other vulnerable groups.

The government will begin accepting applications next Monday for the second round of the assistance programme.

Eligible individuals living in the broader Seoul area will receive 100,000 won, while those in areas with declining populations may receive up to 250,000 won each.

Assistance eligibility will be determined by a household’s national health insurance payment in March this year.

For single-person households, those who paid 130,000 won or less will be eligible.In terms of annual income, a single-person household earning 43.4 million won or less per year is expected to qualify for the assistance programme.

A welfare ministry official, however, noted that eligibility will primarily be based on national health insurance payments.

The Federal Government has hailed the election of Nigerian international legal expert, Taoheed Elias, into the United Nations International Law Commission during the commission’s 77th session held in Geneva.

Elias emerged successful in a competitive election conducted to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Kenya’s representative, Professor Phoebe Okowa. Candidates from Ghana and Botswana also contested the seat.

In a statement issued on Thursday by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, the government described the election as a recognition of Nigeria’s contributions to the development of international law and multilateral diplomacy.

The government said Elias brings decades of experience in international legal affairs to the commission, having previously served as Registrar of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals with the rank of United Nations Assistant Secretary-General.

CNN’s founder Ted Turner / AFP

Ted Turner, the flamboyant US entrepreneur who transformed television news with the creation of CNN in 1980, has died at the age of 87, the network said Wednesday.

The mustached southerner, yachting enthusiast and philanthropist, whose empire also included sports clubs, had been suffering from the degenerative disease Lewy Body Dementia.

Cable News Network upended established broadcasting with its dedication to around-the-clock breaking news and shot to global recognition with its coverage of the Gulf War in 1990-91.

The 24-hour network was the first in the United States to run non-stop news and quickly built a worldwide footprint.

Correspondents brought live coverage from major events ranging from the collapse of the Soviet Union to the Chinese crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests.

CNN’s decision to keep reporters in Baghdad amid US bombing on the Iraqi capital cemented the network’s reputation as an indispensable source of breaking news.