Top Asia Pacific Breaking News Stories

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Voters went to the polls Sunday for the initial phase of Myanmar’s first general election in five years, held under the supervision of its military government while a civil war rages throughout much of the country. Final results won’t be known until after two more rounds of voting are completed later in January. It’s widely expected that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who has governed Myanmar since an army takeover in 2021, will then assume the presidency. The military government has presented the vote as a return to democracy, but its bid for legitimacy is marred by the absence of formerly popular opposition parties and reports that soldiers used threats to force voters’ participation.

BEIJING (AP) – Top diplomats from Thailand and Cambodia kicked off two days of talks in China on Sunday as Beijing seeks to strengthen its role in mediating the two countries’ border dispute, a day after they signed a new ceasefire. The ceasefire agreement calls for a halt to weeks of fighting along their contested border that has killed more than 100 people and displaced over half a million in both countries. Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow and Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn were set to meet in China’s southwestern Yunnan province for talks mediated by their Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

BANGKOK (AP) – Political parties in Thailand on Sunday registered their candidates for the next prime minister, marking the unofficial start of campaigning for the Feb. 8 general election. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul dissolved Parliament earlier this month to call early polls, after the main opposition party prepared to seek a no-confidence vote over constitutional change. Calling a new election allows Anutin and his Bhumjaithai Party to build up their numbers in the House of Representatives to gain a more secure grip on government. Voters will simultaneously cast ballots in a referendum asking whether they want a new constitution, a move promoted by progressive parties who claim the current powers held by the bureaucracy and unelected bodies are undemocratic.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Officials from Myanmar’s Union Election Commission prepped polling stations on Saturday for the following day’s election. In these images from photographer Thein Zaw at one school-turned-polling place in the capital, Yangon, workers tested voting machines and made sure everything was ready. Myanmar will hold the first phase of the general election on Sunday, its first vote in five years and an exercise that critics say will neither restore the country’s fragile democracy, undone by a 2021 army takeover, nor end a devastating civil war triggered by the nation’s harsh military rule. Voting will be held in three phases, with the second on Jan.

BANGKOK (AP) – Thailand and Cambodia signed a ceasefire agreement on Saturday to end weeks of fighting along their border over competing territorial claims. The agreement took effect at noon and calls for a halt in military movements and airspace violation for military purposes. Only Thailand has carried out airstrikes, hitting sites in Cambodia as recently as Saturday morning, according to the Cambodian Defense Ministry. The deal also calls for Thailand, after the ceasefire has held for 72 hours, to repatriate 18 Cambodian soldiers it has held as prisoners since earlier fighting in July. Their release has been a major demand of the Cambodian side.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Indonesian rescuers searched for a Spanish soccer coach and his three children on Saturday after a tour boat carrying 11 people sank overnight near Padar Island, a popular destination within Komodo National Park, officials said. The boat was carrying a family of six, four crew members and a local guide when it went down on Friday evening after suffering engine failure on a trip from Komodo Island to Padar, said Fathur Rahman, who heads the Maumere Search and Rescue Office. He said three people were rescued by a passing vessel, and four others were picked up by a search and rescue team.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – For 10 hours a day, Rahimullah sells socks from his cart in eastern Kabul, earning about $4.5 to $6 per day. It’s a pittance, but it’s all he has to feed his family of five. Rahimullah, who like many Afghans goes by only one name, is one of millions of Afghans who rely on humanitarian aid, both from the Afghan authorities and from international charity organizations, for survival. An estimated 22.9 million people – nearly half the population – required aid in 2025, the International Committee for the Red Cross said in an article on its website Monday.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit Taiwan just off its northeast coast late Saturday. The earthquake took place at 11:05 p.m. local time, 32 kilometers (20 miles) from the coastal town of Yilan. Tremors were felt across the island, including in the capital of Taipei, where buildings shook from the shock. One resident in Yilan County described how a building shook first vertically and then horizontally. “It kept on shaking for a while. Then I ran out, but most people did not run out. I was scared,” he said. The epicenter was 70 kilometers (43 miles) deep, and there were no immediate reports of widespread damage or casualties.

TOKYO (AP) – A massive crash involving 67 vehicles in snowy weather killed two people and injured 26 on an expressway in Japan late on Friday as the country kicked off its end-of-year holiday season. The Gunma prefectural highway police said Saturday that the pileup on the Kan-etsu Expressway started with a collision between two trucks in the town of Minakami, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) northwest of Tokyo. The initial crash blocked parts of the expressway, and cars coming from behind them were unable to brake on the snowy surface. A fire erupted at the far end of the pileup, spreading to 20 vehicles, some of which were completely burned.

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) – Imprisoned former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was sentenced to 15 years and a hefty 13.5 billion ringgit ($3.3 billion) in fines and assets after being convicted Friday in his biggest corruption trial tied to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund. The nation’s High Court found Najib, 72, guilty on four counts of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering related to more than $700 million channeled into his personal bank accounts from the 1MDB fund. Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah sentenced Najib to 15 years in prison for each charge of abuse of power, and five years for each of the money laundering charges.