Top Asian News Stories

TOKYO (AP) – A powerful 7. 6-magnitude earthquake struck late Monday off northern Japan, triggering a tsunami of up to 70 centimeters (27 inches) in Pacific coast communities and warnings of potentially higher surges, the Japanese Meteorological Agency said. Several people were injured, media reports said. The quake struck at about 11:15 p.m. (1415 GMT) in the Pacific Ocean about 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of Aomori, the northernmost prefecture of Japan’s main Honshu island, the agency said. A tsunami of 70 centimeters was measured in Kuji port in Iwate prefecture, just south of Aomori, and tsunami levels of up to 50 centimeters struck other coastal communities in the region, the agency said.

BANGKOK (AP) – Thailand launched airstrikes along the disputed border with Cambodia on Monday as both sides accused the other of breaking a ceasefire that halted fighting earlier this year. Longstanding border disputes erupted into five days of combat in July that killed dozens of soldiers and civilians. U.S. President Donald Trump pushed the Southeast Asian neighbors to sign a truce agreement in October, but tensions have continued to simmer. The Thai army said that more than 50,000 people have left areas near the border for shelters, while Cambodia’s Information Minister Neth Pheaktra said that tens of thousands of residents had been displaced from several villages near the border.

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.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are meeting their Australian counterparts Monday in Washington for annual talks expected to focus on Indo-Pacific security and countering China’s increasing assertiveness in the region, including in the South China Sea and directed at Taiwan. Rubio, Hegseth, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles gathered at the State Department, with many eyes also on the Russia-Ukraine war, fragile ceasefire in Gaza and U.S. military strikes against alleged drug traffickers in the Western Hemisphere that have raised questions about the use of force there. “This is a very strong partnership, it’s a strong alliance, and what we want to do is continue to build on it.

HONG KONG (AP) – About a third of Hong Kong ‘s registered voters elected a new 90-member legislature Sunday, a turnout that avoided an embarrassment for the government but fell short of a ringing endorsement of an electoral system revamp that eliminated the once feisty opposition in the Chinese territory. The turnout rate reached 31.9%, surpassing the 30.2% in the 2021 election, the first held under the new system. It was much lower than before the electoral changes, when turnout topped 50%. Many of the city’s 4.1 million eligible voters, especially democracy supporters, have turned away from politics since a crackdown that has stifled dissent.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – A firefighter has died battling blazes that have destroyed around 40 homes in two Australian states, officials said Monday. The 59-year-old man was struck by a falling tree Sunday night while fighting a wildfire near the New South Wales town of Bulahdelah that had razed 3,500 hectares (8,650 acres) of woodlands and destroyed four homes over the weekend, Rural Fire Service Commissioner Trent Curtin said. The man could not be resuscitated. Firefighters expected to be battling that blaze for days, Curtin said. There were 52 wildfires burning across New South Wales on Monday and nine remained out of control.

ISLAMABAD (AP) – Pakistan’s newly appointed armed forces chief called on Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Monday to choose between maintaining ties with Islamabad or supporting the Pakistani Taliban, the militant group blamed for a surge in deadly attacks in recent years. Gen. Asim Munir made his remarks at his headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where he received a guard of honor from all three branches of the military, marking the launch of Pakistan’s new joint military command. His appointment was confirmed last week in what officials said would improve coordination among the army, navy and air force, amid shifting regional security dynamics.

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.

NEW DELHI (AP) – A fire ripped through a popular nightclub in India’s Goa state, killing 25 people, including tourists, the state’s chief minister said Sunday. The blaze occurred just past midnight in Arpora village in North Goa, a party hub, some 25 kilometers (15-miles) from the state capital, Panaji. Goa’s Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said most of the dead were the club’s kitchen workers, as well as three to four tourists. Six people were injured and are in stable condition, he said. All the bodies have been recovered. The fire was caused by a gas cylinder blast and has been extinguished, the Press Trust of India news agency reported, quoting local police.

BENGALURU, India (AP) – Climate change is battering Asia’s water and power systems and putting millions in harm’s way, forcing countries to pour billions into shoring up basic services, according to two recent reports. Water-related disasters are rising across the region even as spending to protect communities falls short. Asian nations will need $4 trillion for water and sanitation between 2025 and 2040 – about $250 billion a year, the Asian Development Bank said in a report released Monday. Governments are under growing pressure to protect power systems people rely on every day. By 2050, extreme weather could leave listed power companies in Asia-Pacific with about $8.4 billion a year in damage and lost revenue, a third higher than now, according to recent research by the Hong Kong-based non-profit Asia Investor Group on Climate Change and the New York-based MSCI Institute, a sustainability think tank.