Top Asian News Stories

SURIN, Thailand (AP) – Cambodia’s powerful Senate President Hun Sen on Tuesday vowed a fierce fight against Thailand as a second day of widespread renewed combat between the Southeast Asian neighbors drove tens of thousands of people to flee border areas. Fighting broke out following a skirmish on Sunday during which two Thai soldiers were injured, derailing a ceasefire that ended fighting over competing territorial claims in July. The five days of fighting then left dozens dead on both sides, and forced the evacuation of over 100,000 civilians. In a sign that neither side was willing to back down, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Tuesday that Cambodia had not yet contacted Thailand about possible negotiations and the fighting would continue.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Riley Allen, a 15-year-old schoolboy living on an Outback sheep ranch, doesn’t know how he’ll keep in touch with his circle of far-flung friends once Australia’s world-first social media ban takes effect on Wednesday. Riley’s family lives 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Wudinna, a community of just over 1,000 in South Australia state. But some of his school friends live as far as 70 kilometers (43 miles) away. “I don’t think the impact will be very positive for us. We don’t have a lot out here to get in contact with each other,” Riley said. “I’m not sure how we’re going to keep in touch over the holidays with each other,” he said, referring to the Southern Hemisphere summer break that starts on Thursday.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – A fire ripped through an office building in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, on Tuesday, killing at least 22 people, including a pregnant woman, police said. Flames engulfed the seven-story building, sending thick black smoke billowing into the sky and causing panic among nearby residents and workers in a neighborhood in central Jakarta. The fire, which broke out around midday, is believed to have started on the first floor of the building in the Kemayoran neighborhood before spreading to other floors, Central Jakarta police chief Susatyo Purnomo Condro said. Hundreds of personnel and 29 fire trucks were deployed to try to contain the blaze.

NEW DELHI (AP) – Microsoft on Tuesday announced its biggest-ever Asia investment, amounting to $17.5 billion, in India over the next four years to advance the country’s cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. CEO Satya Nadella revealed this in an X post after meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. Nadella said that Microsoft was committing the investments to help India build the “infrastructure, skills and sovereign capabilities” needed for its AI future. The announcement underscores the growing global competition among major technology companies to expand in India, which has become one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets. In October, Google said it will invest $15 billion in India over the next five years to establish its first AI hub in the country.

ISLAMABAD (AP) – The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday approved the release of $1.2 billion to Pakistan, giving the cash-strapped country a fresh boost as it works to recover from one of its worst economic crises in years. The IMF in a statement said its executive board completed two reviews of Pakistan’s economic programs, clearing about $1 billion under its main loan facility and another $200 million from a separate climate-focused program. With the latest approval, Pakistan has received about $3.3 billion from the IMF since last year. Under the bailout, Islamabad will receive loan installments over 37 months if it meets the agreed conditions.

TOKYO (AP) – Japan issued a megaquake advisory Tuesday after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Aomori, the northernmost prefecture of Japan’s main island of Honshu, and just south of the northern island of Hokkaido. Damage from this quake was modest – 34 mostly mild injuries and some damage to roads and buildings. Officials said the advisory is not a prediction and the probability of a magnitude 8 or larger quake is only about 1%. But there’s hope the advisory will serve as a wake-up call for a quake that could have the devastation of the 2011 disaster that killed nearly 20,000 people and destroyed a nuclear plant.

TOKYO (AP) – Japan was assessing damage Tuesday and cautioning people of potential aftershocks after a late-night 7.5 magnitude earthquake caused injuries, light damage and a tsunami in Pacific coastal communities. At least 34 people were injured, one seriously, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. Most of them were hit by falling objects, public broadcaster NHK reported. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told reporters an emergency task force was formed to urgently assess damage. “We are putting people’s lives first and doing everything we can,” she said. At a parliamentary session Tuesday, Takaichi pledged the government would continue its utmost effort and reminded people they have to protect their own lives.

BANGKOK (AP) – A history of enmity between Thailand and Cambodia over competing territorial claims has broken into open combat again, just a few months after the two sides agreed to a ceasefire promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump to end their border fighting. The two Southeast Asian nations fought in July for five days in and around disputed frontier territory, causing dozens of civilian and military deaths and the evacuation to safety of tens of thousands of villagers on both sides. On Monday, the heaviest fighting since the ceasefire erupted. While it is unclear who took the first shot, Thailand launched airstrikes along the border as ground combat also broke out.

BANGKOK (AP) – An air strike last week by Myanmar’s military on a tea shop in the country’s upper-central region of Sagaing killed at least 18 civilians and wounded 20 others, a local villager and Myanmar’s independent online media said Monday. The attack is the latest in a series of frequent and deadly aerial strikes targeting armed pro-democracy forces as the country approaches elections scheduled for later this month. The strikes often cause civilian casualties. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, 2021, triggering widespread popular opposition.

A continent as large as Asia rarely speaks in a single tone. Its 2025 played out in polyphony – with chords of devotion, chaos, spectacle and fatigue – each a reminder of how much can, and does, coexist. AP photographs, taken from the Himalayas to the Java Sea, recorded all of them. Some moments are quiet. From above, the Rohingya refugee camps at Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar appear as calm, tidy rows – a quiet geometry that masks the dirge of a people in exile. In the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, a dove settles on a soldier’s hat during an independence day ceremony.