Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - When Tarique Rahman, the son of a former prime minister of Bangladesh, returned to the country in December after 17 years of self-imposed exile, he declared to his supporters: "I have a plan." Rahman returned at a time of upheaval. Bangladesh was seemingly adrift under an interim administration as it inched closer to a nationwide poll. Many Bangladeshis felt his return offered the country a new chance. His fiercest rival, the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, would be absent from the election after being toppled by a violent student-led revolt in 2024. Barely two months later, Rahman is widely seen as the front-runner in Thursday's election.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Bangladeshis will cast ballots on Thursday in a crucial national election, the first since a mass uprising ended the 15-year rule of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Public expectation is running high that the vote could help reset democratic norms after more than a decade of disputed elections and shrinking political space. The transition is being overseen by an interim administration led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, which has pledged a fair vote. Here's what to know about the polls in Bangladesh. The election of a new Parliament will involve more than 127 million eligible voters in the nation of some 170 million people, with 1,981 candidates contesting parliamentary seats nationwide.

HAT YAI, Thailand (AP) - A 17-year-old with a gun opened fire at a public high school in southern Thailand and briefly took people hostage Wednesday in a two-hour attack that left at least three people injured, police and local officials said. Police also wounded the assailant in a gunbattle at the Patongprathankiriwat School in Songkhla province before taking him into custody to end the standoff, the provincial government said in a statement. The attack took place in the late afternoon shortly after classes were dismissed. The school's director was severely wounded by gunshots in the attack, and a student also was injured by gunshots, while another student was injured while jumping off a building trying to flee the scene, the provincial government said.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Australia is demanding criminal charges over a 2024 Israeli airstrike on an aid convoy in Gaza that killed seven people, including an Australian aid worker, the country's prime minister said Wednesday in a case that has drawn sweeping condemnation and strained relations between the two countries. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he conveyed the request to visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a meeting earlier in the day. Australian Zomi Frankcom was one of four World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by an Israeli drone on April 1, 2024. The other aid workers were an American-Canadian dual citizen, a Palestinian and a Polish national.

HONG KONG (AP) - The father of a U.S.-based activist wanted by Hong Kong authorities was convicted Wednesday for attempting to deal with his daughter's financial assets in the city, in the first court case of its kind brought under a homegrown national security law. Kwok Yin-sang's daughter Anna is the executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council. Authorities in 2023 offered 1 million Hong Kong dollars (about $127,900) for information leading to her arrest and later banned anyone from handling any funds for her - widely seen as part of a yearslong crackdown on challenges against Beijing's rule following the massive, anti-government protests in 2019.

HONG KONG (AP) - A Chinese sea captain of a Hong Kong-flagged vessel accused of damaging undersea cables and a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea in 2023 pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a Hong Kong court. Wan Wenguo, captain of the Newnew Polar Bear container ship, appeared at a Hong Kong magistrate court and pleaded not guilty to one count of criminal damage. He also pleaded not guilty to two separate charges relating to violations of marine safety requirements for his vessel. Cases of critical undersea cable and gas pipelines sabotaged in the Baltic Sea since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have raised security concerns among governments.

BANGKOK (AP) - For many Thais, a meal doesn't feel complete without an iced coffee or tea so sugary it could pass for dessert. The government, concerned about the health consequences, wants them to dial it back. Starting Wednesday, nine major coffee chains across the country have pledged to cut the default sugar content in some of their drinks by half in a government initiative aimed at tackling excessive sugar consumption. According to the Health Department, Thais consume an average of 21 teaspoons of sugar per day, more than three times the World Health Organization's recommended limit of six teaspoons. Health officials warn that such high intake increases the risk of obesity, diabetes and other diseases.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - Militants ambushed a police vehicle in restive northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, killing four officers and wounding two others, officials said. The attack occurred in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as officers were heading to a nearby town to conduct an operation aimed at arresting a local Pakistani Taliban commander, senior police official Sajjad Khan said. Police returned fire and an exchange of gunfire was ongoing, he said. The Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, are separate from but allied with the Afghan Taliban and have been emboldened since the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan in 2021.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Bangladesh's election Thursday is the country's most consequential. It follows youth-led protests 18 months ago that overthrew the government of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and ushered Bangladesh into an interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. The vote, alongside a constitutional referendum on political reforms, will end the transition period and test the South Asian nation's democracy. Many voters hope the return to elections will restore law and order, protect civil liberties and bring accountable leadership. But there is also unease. Some fear political instability, the marginalization of women and minorities, and the rise of Islamists in a secular country.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - A Sri Lankan court on Wednesday sentenced 12 men to death for the killing of a lawmaker and his bodyguard in May 2022 during violence that erupted at the height of the island nation's economic crisis. The Gampaha High Court convicted the men for unlawful assembly, assault and the deaths of Amarakeerthi Athukorale and his bodyguard, who was a police officer, said senior state counsel Oswald Perera. Athukorale, who was a ruling party lawmaker, and his guard were attacked and killed in Nittambuwa, about 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, after the car they were travelling in was intercepted by a crowd.