Top Asia and Pacific Breaking News

It looked like a turning point in the global fight against scams. Myanmar’s military leadership, under growing international pressure, vowed to wipe out the industrial-scale cyberscam centers that have taken root in the country. They started by raiding and then bombing KK Park – a notorious compound that has become a symbol of impunity in the battle against one of the most lucrative criminal industries in the world. It’s too early to say whether KK Park will be abandoned, repurposed or rebuilt over time. But even if KK Park were to close, it’s just one of around 30 scam compounds along Myanmar’s border with Thailand – one indication that the crackdown may not turn out to be as deep or long-lasting as Myanmar’s military rulers would like it to appear.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The southern Philippines once drew small numbers of foreign militants aligned with al-Qaida or the Islamic State group to train in a secessionist conflict involving minority Muslims in the largely Catholic nation. That backdrop prompted an investigation this week by Australian and Filipino into a recent trip to the southern Philippine region of Mindanao by the father and son accused of gunning down 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday. Australian police said the attack was inspired by the Islamic State group and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday the IS link assessment was based on evidence obtained, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized.” The Bureau of Immigration in Manila said Tuesday that the suspects stayed in the Philippines from Nov.

Kyrgyzstan’s newly elected parliament convened on Wednesday for the first time since a snap election last month cemented the grip of President Sadyr Zhaparov, who has sought to suppress dissent in what was once Central Asia’s most democratic country. Results announced last week showed that no opposition candidate won a seat in the Nov. 30 vote, in which hundreds of candidates vied for the 90 seats in the one-chamber parliament, the Jogorku Kenesh. A total of 87 lawmakers were chosen in a new electoral system in which 30 constituencies elect three individual lawmakers each, instead of party ticket voting. In one constituency, results were nullified because of violations, and a new election will be held for the three remaining seats.

BANGKOK (AP) – Myanmar’s military government has charged more than 200 people with violating the Southeast Asian country’s voting law ahead of a general election at the end of the month, keeping up pressure on opponents of the polls. Critics of the election – which starts on Dec. 28 – claim it will be neither free nor fair and that it is designed to add the facade of legitimacy to military rule that began after the army in February 2021 ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The takeover triggered widespread popular opposition that has grown into a civil war, which has complicated holding the polls in many contested areas.

SYDNEY (AP) – An accused gunman in Sydney’s Bondi Beach massacre was charged with 59 offenses including 15 charges of murder on Wednesday, as hundreds of mourners gathered in Sydney to begin funerals for the victims. Two shooters slaughtered 15 people on Sunday in an antisemitic mass shooting targeting Jews celebrating Hanukkah at Bondi Beach, and more than 20 other people are still being treated in hospitals. All of those killed by the gunmen who have been identified so far were Jewish. As investigations unfold, Australia faces a social and political reckoning about antisemitism, gun control and whether police protections for Jews at events such as Sunday’s were sufficient for the threats they faced.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – Like many Australians strolling at Bondi Beach on long, warm summer evenings, Ahmed al Ahmed just wanted a cup of coffee with a friend. Around him, a bloody massacre erupted as two gunmen targeted Jews during Hanukkah festivities at a park close to the shore. Soon al Ahmed was creeping, bent over, between two parked cars, before barreling directly toward one of the unsuspecting shooters. In footage that has been viewed millions of times around the world, the 44-year-old father can be seen tackling one of the gunmen, wrestling the man’s shotgun from his grip and turning it on the attacker.

SYDNEY (AP) – Before the bloodshed and broken hearts, there was a little girl with a gentle soul, a loving grandmother who delivered meals to the needy and a young man dubbed a “golden person” for his kindness. And there was an 87-year-old grandfather who sought solace in Australia after surviving the Holocaust, only to die in what officials have called antisemitic terrorism. They are among the 15 people killed Sunday evening by two gunmen during a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach. Australia’s federal police commissioner said it was a terrorist attack inspired by the Islamic State group.

UKHIYA, Bangladesh (AP) – In moments when she is alone, when there is a break in the beatings from her husband, the girl cries for the school that was once her place of peace in a world that has otherwise offered her none. Ever since the military in her homeland of Myanmar killed her father in 2017, forcing her to flee to neighboring Bangladesh with her mother and little sisters, the school had protected Hasina from the predators who prowl her refugee camp, home to 1.2 million members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority. It had also protected her from being forced into marriage.

UKHIYA, Bangladesh (AP) – Deep cuts to foreign aid by U.S. President Donald Trump this year, compounded by reductions from other donor countries, have led to the closure of thousands of schools and youth centers in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, severely weakening child protection programs. As a result, girls have been forced into marriage, children as young as 10 have been pushed into hard labor and some girls as young as 12 have been forced into prostitution. The U.S. State Department said it has provided more than $168 million in aid to the Rohingya since Trump took office, citing efforts to improve efficiency and share the burden among donors.

GENEVA (AP) – More than 17 million people in Afghanistan are facing crisis levels of hunger in the coming winter months, the leading international authority on hunger crises and the U.N. food aid agency warned Tuesday. The number at risk is some 3 million more than a year ago. Economic woes, recurrent drought, shrinking international aid and and influx of Afghans returning home from countries like neighboring Iran and Pakistan have strained resources and added to the pressures on food security, reports the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, known as IPC, which tracks hunger crises. “What the IPC tells us is that more than 17 million people in Afghanistan are facing acute food insecurity.