Top Asia Pacific Breaking News Stories

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – A man accused of shooting dead 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in an antisemitic attack faced a lengthy delay in getting a gun license because of a bureaucratic mishap, not because he raised suspicions, a state government leader said on Tuesday. Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the attack, and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram are accused of assailing hundreds of Jews celebrating Hanukkah on Dec. 14, in Australia’s worst mass shooting since 1996. Questions have been raised about how the 50-year-old father came to legally own six rifles and shotguns. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns on Tuesday confirmed that the father applied for a state license to own firearms in 2000, three years before it was granted.

NEW DELHI (AP) – A protest erupted in India’s capital Tuesday in response to the death of a Hindu man who was lynched and burned by an angry mob in neighboring Bangladesh, a new sign of strain in relations between the neighboring countries. The protest in New Delhi, mainly led by Hindu nationalist organization Vishva Hindu Parishad, highlights the fragility in the relationship between India and Bangladesh, which often is held up as a rare example of stability in South Asia. Bangladeshi student leader Sharif Osman Hadi died in a hospital in Singapore on Thursday after being shot on Dec. 12 in Dhaka.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea’s legislature on Tuesday passed a bill mandating specialized panels in Seoul’s district and high courts for cases involving rebellion, treason and foreign subversion after complaints about the pace of the rebellion trial of jailed former President Yoon Suk Yeol. But the bill, which is likely to be signed into law by President Lee Jae Myung, would fall short of the effect the Democratic Party initially sought from the liberal-led legislature. Lawmakers altered the wording to ensure the measure would not apply to ongoing trials. Critics have said the original draft risked infringing on judicial independence.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) – Suspected militants opened fire on a police vehicle in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing five officers before fleeing, officials said, part of a surge in violence in the region bordering Afghanistan. The attack took place in the Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province while police were on routine patrol near an oil and gas field, said local police chief Noor Wali told The Associated Press. He said the assailants, after killing the officers, poured gasoline on the vehicle and torched it. A large police contingent cordoned off the area and launched a search operation during which eight suspects involved in the assault were killed, according to a police statement.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – President Donald Trump said he will be extending invitations to next year’s U.S.-hosted Group of 20 summit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as the Republican administration looks to deepen its relationship with the Central Asian nations. Trump announced the plan on Tuesday after holding separate phone calls with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Neither country is a member of the G20, but the host country of the annual leaders’ gathering of major economies often invites non-members to attend the summit. The 2026 gathering is planned for Trump’s golf club in Doral, Florida, near Miami.

TOKYO (AP) – The governor of Niigata on Tuesday formally gave local consent to put two reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in the north-central prefecture back online, clearing a last hurdle toward restarting the plant idled for more than a decade following the 2011 meltdowns at another plant managed by the same utility. Gov. Hideyo Hanazumi, in his meeting with Economy and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa, conveyed the prefecture’s “endorsement” to restart the No. 6 and No. 7 reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, accepting the government’s pledge to ensure safety, emergency response and understanding of the residents. Restart preparations for No.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Thailand and Cambodia will resume talks later this week to work toward a more durable ceasefire along their border, Thailand’s foreign minister said Monday, stressing that progress depends on detailed bilateral negotiations rather than public declarations that internationalize the dispute. A ceasefire agreement in October was rushed to ensure it could be witnessed by U.S. President Donald Trump and lacked sufficient details to ensure the deal to end the armed conflict would hold, Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said after an Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur. While Cambodia has publicly said it is ready for an unconditional ceasefire, Bangkok never received any direct proposal and Thailand believed such statements were aimed at increasing international pressure rather than resolving the issue, Sihasak said following the ASEAN meeting that was arranged to seek ways to end the crisis.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Communications Commission on Monday said it would ban new foreign-made drones, a move that will keep new Chinese-made drones such as those from DJI and Autel out of the U.S. market. The announcement came a year after Congress passed a defense bill that raised national security concerns about Chinese-made drones, which have become a dominant player in the U.S., widely used in farming, mapping, law enforcement and filmmaking. The bill called for stopping the two Chinese companies from selling new drones in the U.S. if a review found they posed a risk to American national security.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Through the dust kicked up by the pounding hooves of a scrum of horses and riders, a winner emerges. The victorious team gallops around the playing field, holding a flag aloft. The final of Afghanistan’s hugely popular annual tournament of buzkashi, a traditional equestrian sport with few formal rules that is known for its often violent scrums, was played Monday. Traditionally, riders from two opposing teams would compete to score goals using a goat carcass as a ball. A fake carcass is now used, made of leather and rope and stuffed with straw and weights to simulate the size and weight of a dead animal.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Riders from different Afghan provinces compete in the final of Afghanistan’s annual buzkashi tournament on the outskirts of Kabul, as spectators, including Taliban authorities, attend the event. Buzkashi is a traditional equestrian sport in which riders score points by carrying a goat carcass – nowadays replaced by a fake goat carcass – across a goal. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.