Top Asian News 3:57 a.m. GMT

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko arrived in North Korea's capital on Wednesday for an official visit during which he is to hold talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Lukashenko was greeted at Pyongyang's airport by North Korean vice premier Kim Tok Hun and later in the day by Kim Jong Un himself during a pomp-filled ceremony at the Kim Il Sung Square, named after his state-founding grandfather, according to the Belarusian president's press service. North Korean state media said Kim and Lukashenko laid flowers at a memorial honoring Soviet soldiers who died during the 1950-53 Korean War. The conflict mainly pitted North Korean and Chinese forces against South Korea and U.S.-led United Nations troops, though Moscow also provided ammunition, warplanes and pilots to support the North.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - A bus carrying about 50 people plunged into a major river in central Bangladesh as it was driving onto a ferry, leaving at least 18 people dead, authorities said Thursday. The bus plunged into the River Padma Wednesday afternoon in Rajbari district, about 84 kilometers (52 miles) from the capital, Dhaka, said fire official Dewan Sohel Rana. The bus was traveling to the capital from the southwestern district of Kushtia as people return to work after the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr. Rana said many of the passengers swam to safety after the accident but others got trapped.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's Taliban authorities on Tuesday released American academic Dennis Coyle after holding him for over a year, with the Foreign Ministry saying the release came on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. A statement from the ministry said the academic researcher had been released in Kabul, the country's capital, following an appeal from his family and after Afghanistan's Supreme Court "considered his previous imprisonment sufficient." Coyle was detained in January 2025. Afghan authorities accused him of violating laws, but never specified which ones. U.S.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Renewed fighting erupted along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday after a temporary ceasefire expired, killing at least two civilians and wounding others in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan Taliban officials said. The brief truce had been announced by the two sides ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Ziaur Rahman Speenghar, a director at the information and culture department in Afghanistan's Kunar province, said Pakistani forces fired dozens of artillery shells into the Narai and Sarkano districts, killing two civilians and wounding eight others after the ceasefire expired. Afghan border forces returned fire, he said, claiming they destroyed three Pakistani military posts and killed one person.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - A Cambodian man deported by the United States to the African kingdom of Eswatini under the Trump administration's third-country program was released on Wednesday to be repatriated to Cambodia after spending five months in detention at a maximum-security prison with other deportees, his lawyer said. Pheap Rom was deported to the southern African nation in October and held at the Matsapha Correctional Center. After his release, he took a commercial flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, to start his journey to Cambodia, his U.S.-based lawyer, Tin Thanh Nguyen, told The Associated Press. The U.S. has sent 19 migrants from other countries to Eswatini in three batches since July.

HONG KONG (AP) - A Hong Kong bookstore owner and his staff were reportedly arrested on suspicion of selling seditious publications, including a biography of jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai, sparking fresh concerns about the city's eroding freedoms. Separately, officials on Tuesday ordered three companies linked to Lai's now-shuttered newspaper, Apple Daily, removed from the city's companies registry. A government statement said the companies were dissolved and became "prohibited organizations," warning that anyone associating with them would violate a national security law introduced in 2024. Lai and the three newly de-registered companies - Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited, and AD internet Limited - were convicted in December of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security.

SRINAGAR, India (AP) - More than a thousand miles from the Iran war, Muslim residents in Indian-controlled Kashmir are collecting donations for Iranians: gold, cash, even utensils and livestock. Community leaders and elders have set up stalls in this part of the disputed Himalayan region, which is overwhelmingly Muslim and split between India and Pakistan but coveted in its entirety by both. Young volunteers go door-to-door to collect contributions. Women are donating their gold jewelry, bangles and earrings. Many households have offered their traditional copperware or livestock, and children have brought in their savings - some carrying piggy banks to collection points.

BANGKOK (AP) - A Thai court on Tuesday ruled that the operator of a major gold mine in northern Thailand is responsible for environmental damage and health impacts on nearby villagers, in a long-awaited verdict that could set a precedent for climate litigation in the country. The case stems from a 2016 class action lawsuit filed by hundreds of villagers in Phichit province, who accused the Australian-owned Chatree Gold Mine of causing toxic contamination through its operations. The Bangkok Civil Court found the company liable and ordered compensation for affected residents. The ruling could shape whether communities view the courts as "a pathway or a dead end," said Emilie Palamy Pradichit of the Bangkok-based human rights group Manushya Foundation that has been supporting the villagers in the lawsuit.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - The European Union and Australia on Tuesday agreed on the final text of a free trade agreement, some two years after negotiations broke down over Australian demands for more red meat market access and complaints about Australian products labeled with traditionally European names such as prosecco. The breakthrough comes as both the EU and Australia seek to diversify their trading networks and reduce their economic reliance on China and exposure to uncertain U.S. tariffs. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signed the agreement at the Australian Parliament House after protracted negotiations that began in 2018.

BANGKOK (AP) - Asian countries are turning to coal as the Iran war disrupts oil and gas shipments. The continent is exposed because it relies on imported fuel, much of it passing through the Strait of Hormuz - a chokepoint for about a fifth of global oil and natural gas trade. LNG is a natural gas cooled to liquid form for easy storage and transport. It has been promoted as a bridge fuel in the shift from oil and coal to cleaner energy sources. The U.S. has sought to expand exports of LNG across Asia. It burns cleaner than coal, but still emits climate change -causing gases, especially methane.