Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan military authorities say they have begun carrying out strikes against Pakistan in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes days ago. A statement issued by the media office of Afghanistan's military corps in the east said "heavy clashes" had begun Thursday night "in response to the recent airstrikes carried out by Pakistani forces in Nangarhar and Paktia" provinces. There was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan and no immediate information on casualties. On Sunday, Pakistan's military carried out strikes along the border with Afghanistan, saying it had killed at least 70 militants. Afghanistan rejected the claim, saying dozens of civilians had been killed, including women and children.

HONG KONG (AP) - A Hong Kong court sentenced the father of a U.S.-based activist to eight months in prison Thursday for attempting to withdraw some funds from his daughter's insurance policy, in the first case against a family member of a pro-democracy advocate wanted by the city's authorities brought under a national security law. Kwok Yin-sang, 69, was found guilty earlier this month of attempting to deal with financial assets belonging to an "absconder" under the 2024 security law, locally known as Article 23 legislation. His daughter Anna Kwok, who is the executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, slammed his conviction as "transnational repression."

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un claimed his nuclear-armed country could "completely destroy" South Korea if its security were threatened, reiterating his refusal to engage with Seoul, state media said Thursday. However, he left the door open to dialogue with Washington as he concluded a ruling party congress outlining his policy goals for the next five years. Kim in recent years has sharpened his rhetoric toward Seoul and underscored his rejection of inter-Korean diplomacy. Experts say that most likely doesn't presage military clashes, but is intended to advance a broader effort to assert a more forceful regional role backed by Kim's nuclear arsenal and ties with Moscow and Beijing.

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's government said Wednesday that a Japanese national has been detained in Tehran since January and demanded the Iranian authorities release them swiftly. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki, asked about foreign media reports on the case, confirmed only that the Japanese citizen was taken into custody on Jan. 20 but gave no further details, citing privacy issues. Ozaki said the government is in contact with the detainee and their family members, while providing necessary support. Foreign Ministry officials said the detainee is believed to be in good health, although Japanese officials have not been granted a meeting in person.

HONG KONG (AP) - A Hong Kong appellate court on Thursday quashed fraud convictions against onetime media magnate Jimmy Lai, a rare victory in the prominent activist's legal battles. Lai, 78, an outspoken critic of China's ruling Communist Party who founded the now-defunct Apple Daily, will stay in prison because he was sentenced to 20 years weeks ago after being convicted in another case brought under a China-imposed national security law. That came more than five years after he was arrested under the law, which was used in a yearslong crackdown on many of Hong Kong's leading activists. His plight has evoked grief over the city's loss of press freedom and sparked an international outcry, though the city's authorities insist his case had nothing to do with media independence.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea has relaunched a fact-finding commission into its past human rights violations, with a key focus on the extensive fraud and malfeasance that corrupted the nation's historic foreign adoption program. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the third in the country's history, began accepting new cases Thursday, months after the previous one's mandate ended in November with more than 2,100 complaints unresolved. The new commission will inherit those cases, including 311 submissions by Korean adoptees from the West that were either deferred or incompletely reviewed before the second commission halted a landmark investigation into adoptions in April last year, following internal disputes over which cases warranted recognition as problematic.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - A court in Bangladesh's capital on Thursday ordered authorities to request that Interpol issue a red notice for the arrest of a British lawmaker on charges of corruption in a private real estate project. Tulip Siddiq, a former British minister and an MP from Hampstead and Highgate in London, faces charges of corruption in Bangladesh as the country's Anti-corruption Commission pursues a case against her. Siddiq has already been sentenced to six years in jail in Bangladesh in three other corruption cases all involving her powerful aunt, the country's former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina was ousted in 2024 in a student-led mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule, and has been in exile in India since Aug.

JERUSALEM (AP) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to stand with Israel in "opposing terrorism and its supporters" as he wrapped up a two-day visit on Thursday focused on boosting cooperation on security issues and defense. The two countrues also announced they would hold discussions on a possible free trade agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a news conference with Modi that "the limitations that constrained us in previous times no long constrain us." "The future belongs to those who innovate and Israel and India are bent on innovation," he added. India - a nuclear power and the world's fourth largest economy - has grown closer to Israel under Modi, whose rise helped mainstream Hindu nationalism in a country where roughly 14% of the population is Muslim.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The U.S. and South Korean militaries said on Wednesday they will conduct their annual springtime exercises next month to bolster their countries' combined defense capabilities against a backdrop of a deepening diplomatic freeze with nuclear-armed North Korea. The Freedom Shield drills is set for March 9-19, according to the announcement. North Korea has long described the allies ' joint exercises as invasion rehearsals and used them as a pretext to dial up its own military demonstrations and weapons testing activity. The allies say the drills are defensive in nature. The announcement came as North Korea is holding a major political conference where authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un is expected to outline his key domestic, foreign policy and military goals for the next five years.

JERUSALEM (AP) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a rousing welcome from Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday at the start of a two-day visit as he promised "friendship, respect and partnership" with Israel at a time when its world standing has suffered because of the war in Gaza. "Let us ensure that the friendship between India and Israel remains a source of strength in an uncertain world," Modi said in an address to the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, where he received a standing ovation from lawmakers after a 30-minute speech. The enthusiastic greeting underscored how much closer Israel-India relations have grown under Modi, whose embrace of Israel has marked a shift in the foreign policy of India which has historically supported the Palestinians.