Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

HONG KONG (AP) - Hong Kong officials on Saturday unveiled resettlement plans for thousands of people who were displaced by the deadliest blaze in decades last November, proposing to buy back the homeownership rights from the fire victims. Almost three months after the massive blaze spread across seven apartment buildings in Wang Fuk Court, its former occupants have been living in uncertainty about when they would find somewhere they could call home again. Many of them are adjusting to new lives in their temporary homes scattered across various districts, with the government offering rental grants to help homeowners pay for the short-term accommodation.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean trade officials scrambled Saturday to assess the impact of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling to invalidate some Trump administration tariffs, as business and governments around the world pored over the possible fallout from moves in Washington on the global economy. The emergency meeting announced by the Trade Ministry in Seoul came as officials from South Korea to South America and beyond acknowledged tariffs would remain on some specific exports to the U.S., like automobiles and steel, that aren't affected by the U.S. high court decision. It marked yet another swoon in the U.S. tariff posture since President Donald Trump returned to office 13 months ago, upending dozens of trading relationships with the world's biggest economy.

MOSCOW (AP) - A tour bus carrying Chinese tourists plunged through the ice on Russia's Lake Baikal, killing eight people, officials said. One of the Chinese tourists managed to escape from the bus, which was crossing the frozen lake on Friday, Irkutsk regional Gov. Igor Kobzev wrote in a Telegram post on Saturday. He said the dead included seven Chinese tourists and the driver. The bus plunged into a 3-meter (10-foot) -wide ice crevasse, Russia's Emergencies Ministry reported. The lake is 18 meters (59 feet) deep at the site of the accident, it said. The ministry said rescuers used underwater cameras before embarking on a diving operation.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - A suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a security convoy in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan on Saturday, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel, the Pakistani military said. It said the attack took place in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where security forces have battled militants for years. The military said Pakistan would not "exercise any restraint" and that operations against those responsible for the violence would continue "irrespective of their location," language that appeared to signal rising tensions between Islamabad and Kabul. No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban who have been blamed for previous such attacks.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lauded his nation's improving economy and regional standing as he opened the country's most important political event, where he is expected to set his domestic and foreign policy agenda for the next five years and further entrench his family's authoritarian rule. The Workers' Party congress, which will likely run for days in Pyongyang, comes as Kim carves out a more forceful regional presence, leveraging an advancing nuclear arsenal and a growing alignment with Moscow that have deepened his standoffs with Washington and Seoul. The meeting will likely provide the stage for Kim to unveil his key political and military objectives and further consolidate his authoritarian grip before thousands of ruling party delegates.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday remained defiant in his first reaction to a life sentence for rebellion handed down by a Seoul court the previous day. In a statement released by his lawyers, Yoon maintained that his abrupt and short-lived declaration of martial law in December 2024 was done "solely for the sake of the nation and our people," and dismissed the Seoul Central District Court as biased against him. Yoon, who was removed from office amid a political crisis set off by his unsuccessful power grab, has long rejected the eight criminal cases brought against him for what prosecutors described as a coup attempt and other allegations.

TOKYO (AP) - Osaka has received a hefty gift of gold bars worth 560 million yen ($3.6 million) from an anonymous donor asking for its specific use: to fix the Japanese city's dilapidated water pipes. The gold bars weighing 21 kilograms (46 pounds) in total were given to the Osaka City Waterworks Bureau in November by the donor who wants to help improve aging water pipes, Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama told reporters Thursday. "It's a staggering amount and I was speechless," Yokoyama said. "Tackling aging water pipes requires a huge investment, and I cannot thank enough for the donation." The mayor said his city will respect the donor's wishes and use the gift to improve waterworks projects.

NEW DELHI (AP) - India joined a U.S.-led initiative to strengthen technology cooperation among strategic allies in a move Friday that underscores the nations' warming ties after a brief strain over New Delhi's unabated purchase of discounted Russian oil. The decision aligns India closely with Washington's efforts to build secure supply chains for semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and critical technologies at a time geopolitical competition with China is intensifying. It also signals a reset in relations following friction over energy trade and tariffs. Nations that have joined the Pax Silica framework include Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and Israel. "Pax Silica will be a group of nations that believe technology should empower free people and free markets.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House announced a reciprocal trade agreement with Indonesia on Thursday while President Prabowo Subianto was in Washington to attend the first meeting of President Donald Trump's Board of Peace. Under the agreement, Southeast Asia's largest economy will eliminate tariffs for 99% of American goods while the U.S. will maintain tariffs on most Indonesian goods at 19%, the White House said. That is the same rate the U.S. has set for Cambodia and Malaysia. Indonesia also agreed to address non-tariff barriers to U.S. goods and to remove restrictions on exports to the U.S. for critical minerals and other industrial commodities, the White House said.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Two Cambodian journalists have appealed their convictions on treason charges and 14-year prison sentences for posting photographs on Facebook related to border clashes with Thailand last year, the spouse of one and a court official said Friday. Phorn Sopheap of Battambang Post TV Online and Pheap Pheara of TSP 68 TV Online were arrested in separate locations on July 31 while returning from reporting trips. Authorities say they took photographs in a restricted military zone, and one showed land mines, which appeared to discredit official Cambodian denials of using such weapons. They were convicted and sentenced by the Siem Reap Provincial Court in December on charges of "supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defense." Treason convictions carry prison sentences of seven to 15 years.