Top Asia and Pacific Breaking News

NEW DELHI (AP) – Recent remarks about pollution from two Indian officials have increased frustration among residents who say policymakers are unwilling to acknowledge the severity of India’s air quality crisis. When Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav told Parliament earlier this month that India’s capital, New Delhi, has seen 200 days with good air quality readings, pollution experts and opposition leaders said he chose a figure that overlooked the worst pollution months. A week later, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the air quality index – a measure of air pollution – was similar to a temperature reading and could be dealt with by spraying water.

SYDNEY (AP) – Hundreds of mourners bearing bright bouquets and clutching each other in grief gathered at a funeral in Sydney on Thursday for a 10-year-old girl who was gunned down in an antisemitic massacre during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach. Matilda, whose last name is being withheld at the request of her family, was enjoying a petting zoo at the festivities on Sunday just before she was killed along with 14 other people in a mass shooting targeting Jews. The suspects, a father and son, were inspired by the Islamic State group, Australian authorities have said. Beaming photos of Matilda have become a focal point for Australia’s grief at one of the worst hate-fueled attacks ever committed in the country.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) – The southern Philippines once drew small numbers of foreign militants aligned with al-Qaida or the Islamic State group to train in a secessionist conflict involving minority Muslims in the largely Catholic nation. That backdrop prompted an investigation this week by Australian and Filipino into a recent trip to the southern Philippine region of Mindanao by the father and son accused of gunning down 15 people at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday. Australian police said the attack was inspired by the Islamic State group. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday the IS link assessment was based on evidence obtained, including “the presence of Islamic State flags in the vehicle that has been seized.” The Bureau of Immigration in Manila said Tuesday that the suspects stayed in the Philippines from Nov.

VIENNA (AP) – In the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion earlier this year that the U.S. would resume nuclear testing, a U.S. government representative defended the stance at a global nuclear arms control meeting and pointed to nuclear provocations from Russia, China and North Korea. U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to the International Organizations in Vienna Howard Solomon made the previously unpublished comments, which were obtained by The Associated Press, at the Preparatory Commission of the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization on Nov. 10. “As President Trump indicated, the United States will begin testing activities on an equal basis with other nuclear-armed states.

NEW DELHI (AP) – India’s Parliament approved new legislation Thursday that enables opening the tightly controlled civil nuclear power sector to private companies. The government termed it a major policy shift to speed up clean energy expansion while the opposition political parties argued that it dilutes safety and liability safeguards. The lower house of parliament passed the legislation Wednesday and the upper house on Thursday. It now needs the assent from the Indian president, which is a formality, to come into force. The move carries global significance as India seeks to position itself as a major player in the next wave of nuclear energy, including with small modular reactors at a time many nations are reassessing nuclear power to meet climate targets and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) – Thailand on Thursday carried out more airstrikes on Cambodia, claiming its jet fighters struck a warehouse where the Cambodian army had stored rockets that have been deployed to deadly effect in combat that began last week. The two nations have been fighting over patches of territory along the border that both claim. Several disputed areas contain the remains of centuries-old temples that have been damaged by the fighting, with Thailand claiming Cambodian forces had used them as bases. The latest round of widespread fighting began on Dec. 8, a day after a border skirmish wounded two Thai soldiers.

BANGKOK (AP) – Thailand on Thursday helped launch a global effort to fight the spread of online scams that include criminal enterprises based largely in Southeast Asia estimated to bilk billions of dollars annually from victims around the world. Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime hosted a conference in Bangkok on Wednesday and Thursday culminating in the announcement of the new initiative called the Global Partnership Against Online Scams. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in his keynote speech Wednesday that online scams “reveal a deeper problem – a collective vulnerability that no country can address alone.” The partnership agreement signed by conference participants Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Peru and the United Arab Emirates will include political commitment, law enforcement, victim protection and public awareness and cross-border collaboration, a statement said.

LONDON (AP) – Police in London arrested two people who called for “intifada” during a pro-Palestinian protest, which followed a decision by authorities to toughen enforcement of hate speech laws after a deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Australia. The arrests Wednesday came hours after police in London and Manchester, England, announced a crackdown on protesters using slogans such as “globalize the intifada.” The Arabic word intifada is generally translated as “uprising.” While pro-Palestinian demonstrators say the slogan describes the worldwide protests against the war in Gaza, Jewish leaders say it inflames tensions and encourages attacks on Jews, including the attack that killed 15 people on Sunday at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea’s Constitutional Court on Thursday formally removed the country’s impeached police chief for deploying hundreds of officers to support ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s brief imposition of martial law in December 2024. The court said Cho Ji-ho “actively disrupted” legislative activities by sending police forces to the National Assembly and trying to block lawmakers from reaching the main chamber to vote to lift Yoon’s decree. Cho also infringed upon the independence of the National Election Commission, the court said, by dispatching police to help the military’s seizure of two NEC offices. Yoon said the actions were intended to investigate unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Peter Arnett, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who spent decades dodging bullets and bombs to bring the world eyewitness accounts of war from the rice paddies of Vietnam to the deserts of Iraq, has died. He was 91. Arnett, who won the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his Vietnam War coverage for The Associated Press, died Wednesday in Newport Beach and was surrounded by friends and family, said his son Andrew Arnett. He had been suffering from prostate cancer. “Peter Arnett was one of the greatest war correspondents of his generation – intrepid, fearless, and a beautiful writer and storyteller.