Top Asia Pacific Breaking News

NEWCASTLE, Australia (AP) – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans Thursday for a national bravery award to recognize civilians and first responders who confronted “the worst of evil” during an antisemitic terror attack that left 15 dead and has cast a heavy shadow over the nation’s holiday season. Albanese said he plans to establish a special honors system for those who placed themselves in harms way to help during the attack on a beachside Hanukkah celebration, like Ahmed al Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who disarmed one of the assailants before being wounded himself. Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the Dec.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea on Thursday displayed apparent progress in the construction of a nuclear-powered submarine, with state media photos showing a largely completed hull, as leader Kim Jong Un condemned rival South Korea’s push to acquire the technology. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Kim visited a shipyard to inspect the construction of what the North describes as an 8,700-ton-class nuclear-propelled submarine, which the leader has called a crucial step in the modernization and nuclear armament of North Korea’s navy. The North has indicated it plans to arm the submarine with nuclear weapons, calling it a “strategic guided missile submarine” or a “strategic nuclear attack submarine.”

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) – The son of a former prime minister of Bangladesh returned home Thursday, promising to work for a safe country after more than 17 years in self-imposed exile as a frontrunner to become the nation’s next leader in upcoming elections. Tarique Rahman moved to London in 2008 for medical treatment with permission after he was tortured while in custody during a military-backed government that ruled from 2006 to 2008. Rahman, 60, is the acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, one of two major political parties in the South Asian nation of more than 170 million people. His return is seen as politically significant ahead of the next election set for Feb.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea’s liberal-led legislature on Wednesday passed a bill allowing heavy punitive damages against traditional news and internet media for publishing “false or fabricated information,” brushing aside concerns the legislation could lead to greater censorship. Journalist groups and civil liberty advocates urged President Lee Jae Myung to veto the bill pushed by his Democratic Party. They say the wording is vague about what information would be banned and lacks sufficient protections for the press, potentially discouraging critical reporting on public officials, politicians and big businesses. The Democrats, who have failed to pass similar legislation under past governments, say the law is needed to counter a growing threat of fake news and disinformation that they argue undermine democracy by fueling divisions and hate speech.

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.