Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

BANGKOK (AP) – A military airstrike this week on a village in Myanmar sheltering displaced people from the northern township of Bhamo, where a final round of the country’s three-phase election is to be held this weekend, killed 21 people, an ethnic rebel group and local media said Friday. The strike took place at on Hteelin village, west of Bhamo.

US hits 9 tankers with sanctions over Iranian oil

WASHINGTON (AP) – The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a fleet of nine ships and their owners accused of transporting hundreds of millions of dollars in forbidden Iranian oil to foreign markets.

Envoys travel the globe to push a US plan for ending Russia's war in Ukraine

The U.S.-led push to end Russia’s nearly 4-year-old war in Ukraine gained momentum late last year and is moving ahead in 2026, with leaders, diplomats and envoys traveling to a flurry of meetings to discuss a potential deal.

Editorials from The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and others

Jan. 19 – The Washington Post says Congress has dropped the ball regarding oversight of ICE, DHS. Geraldo Lunas Campos died at a Texas detention center on Jan. 3 while pleading for air as guards choked him, according to a fellow detainee. The local medical examiner’s office is considering classifying his death as a homicide, The Post reports.

Minnesota gears up for a mass anti-immigration enforcement

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A vast network of labor unions, progressive organizations and clergy urged Minnesotans to stay away from work, school and stores Friday to protest immigration enforcement operations, even as subzero temperatures beset the state.

EU Ready to Implement Mercosur Trade Deal

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – The European Union is willing to implement a sweeping free trade agreement with the Mercosur group of South American countries on a provisional basis, the head of the EU’s executive commission said Friday, despite a vote by the EU parliament to delay ratification for legal review.

Collins, Mills take different tacks on ICE's sweeping enforcement in Maine

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Maine’s leading Republican and Democratic officials, now engaged in one of the nation’s highest profile Senate races, offered starkly different comments on Friday as a surge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents racked up their arrest totals.

Myanmar military strike on village sheltering displaced people killed 21

BANGKOK (AP) – A military airstrike this week on a village in Myanmar sheltering displaced people from the northern township of Bhamo, where a final round of the country’s three-phase election is to be held this weekend, killed 21 people, an ethnic rebel group and local media said Friday.

Japan records a 5th straight yearly trade deficit

TOKYO (AP) – Japan posted a trade deficit for the fifth straight year in 2025, according to government data released Thursday, as exports were hit by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and a diplomatic rift with neighboring China.