SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s government said Friday it will promote civilian efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to North Korea in hopes of softening a diplomatic freeze deepened by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s growing nuclear ambitions.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea condemned on Friday the decision by the United States to supply Ukraine with advanced battle tanks to help fight off Russia's invasion, saying Washington is escalating a sinister “proxy war” aimed at destroying Moscow.
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong will ban CBD starting Wednesday, categorizing it as a “dangerous drug" and mandating harsh penalties for its smuggling, production and possession, customs authorities announced Friday.
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong has protested President Joe Biden’s two-year extension of a program that protects residents of the semi-autonomous Chinese city living in the U.S.
The world has enough rare earth minerals and other critical raw materials to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy to produce electricity and limit global warming, according to a new study that counters concerns about the supply of such minerals.
TOKYO (AP) — A senior EU official said Friday that Russia has taken its war against Ukraine to “a different stage” by making indiscriminate attacks on civilians and non-military targets, while criticizing Moscow for triggering recent moves by Germany and the United States to send advanced tanks to Ukraine.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Shares in India’s Adani Group plunged up to 20% on Friday and the company said it was considering legal action against U.S.-based short-selling firm Hindenburg Research for allegations of stock market manipulation and accounting fraud that have led investors to dump its stocks.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says it will continue to restrict the entry of short-term travelers from China through the end of February over concerns that the spread of COVID-19 in that country may worsen following the Lunar New Year’s holidays.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Torrential rain and wild weather in Auckland on Friday caused disruptions throughout New Zealand's largest city.
Video posted online showed waist-deep water in some places, and authorities were asking residents in flood-prone areas to be prepared in case they needed to evacuate.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Malnutrition rates in Afghanistan are at record highs with half the country enduring severe hunger throughout the year, a spokesman for the World Food Program said Thursday.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — As Hurricane Ida struck the Louisiana Gulf Coast in August 2021, Renato Decena and Rosel Hernandez watched the storm punch a hole in the roof of the bunkhouse where they were sheltered — abandoned, they allege, by their offshore oil industry employer as the hurricane bore down.
NEW DELHI (AP) — India will receive 12 cheetahs from South Africa next month that will join eight others it received from Namibia in September as part of an ambitious plan to reintroduce the cats in the country after 70 years.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine justice secretary said Friday that any investigation violating the country's sovereignty by the International Criminal Court into the widespread killings of suspects during an anti-drug crackdown under former President Rodrigo Duterte would be “totally unacceptable.”
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani court on Friday sent to jail for two weeks a senior ally of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, after his arrest over allegations that he threatened the chief of the elections oversight body and other government officials.
Jan. 20-26, 2023
This photo gallery highlights some of the most compelling images made or published by Associated Press photographers in Asia and Pacific.
The gallery was curated by AP photo editor Hiro Komae in Tokyo.
BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Thailand sentenced a 27-year-old political activist to 28 years in prison on Thursday for posting messages on Facebook that it said defamed the country’s monarchy, while two young women charged with the same offense continued a hunger strike after being hospitalized.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday signed off on a two-year extension of a program that protects Hong Kong residents in the U.S. from deportation, renewing the protection until January 2025.
BANGKOK (AP) — The production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the military's seizure of power, with the cultivation of poppies up by a third in the past year as eradication efforts have dropped off and the faltering economy has led more people toward the drug trade, according to a United Nations report released Thursday.
NEW YORK (AP) — An Islamic extremist who killed eight people with a speeding truck in a 2017 rampage on a popular New York City bike path was convicted Thursday of federal crimes and could face the death penalty.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Boeing pleaded not guilty Thursday to a charge that it misled regulators who approved its 737 Max, the plane that was involved in two crashes that killed 346 people.
Family members of passengers who died gave emotional testimony, calling for criminal prosecution of top Boeing officials.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI and international partners have at least temporarily disrupted the network of a prolific ransomware gang they infiltrated last year, saving victims including hospitals and school districts a potential $130 million in ransom payments, Attorney General Merrick Garland and other U.S.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — International Criminal Court judges on Thursday cleared the way for the court's prosecution office to resume its investigation into the so-called war on drugs in the Philippines.
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (AP) — For decades, Monterey Park has been a haven for Asian immigrants seeking to maintain a strong cultural identity — and a culinary heaven worth visiting for anybody near Los Angeles craving authentic Asian cuisine.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Tens of thousands of people endured a winter chill and mist on Thursday as they watched a parade in the Indian capital showcasing the country's defense capability and cultural heritage on a newly revamped ceremonial boulevard.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Days after India blocked a BBC documentary that examines Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role during 2002 anti-Muslim riots and banned people from sharing it online, authorities were scrambling to halt screenings of the program at colleges and restrict clips of it on social media, a move that has been decried by critics as an assault on press freedom.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Cars slowed and stopped on icy roads and bundled-up commuters gingerly navigated snow-covered sidewalks as a snowstorm swept through the South Korean capital of Seoul and nearby regions on Thursday, extending a frigid cold spell that has the country in its grip.
HONG KONG (AP) — About 20% of the Americans in Hong Kong have left for various reasons over the past two years, the U.S. consul general in the semi-autonomous Chinese city said, drawing harsh criticism from Beijing for allegedly interfering in its affairs.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan successfully launched a rocket Thursday carrying a government intelligence-gathering satellite on a mission to watch movements at military sites in North Korea and improve natural disaster response.
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The black boxes recovered from the Jan. 15 plane crash in Nepal are being sent to Singapore for analysis to identify the cause of the crash that killed all 72 people on board, officials said Thursday.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australians marked the 235th anniversary of British colonization Thursday with a public holiday that evokes anger at Indigenous injustice, focusing national attention on a new government push to acknowledge Australia's first inhabitants in the constitution.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australians expect to vote this year in a referendum that would enshrine in the nation’s constitution a mechanism for Indigenous people to advise Parliament on policies that effect their lives known as the Voice.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The highest-ranking woman at the United Nations said Wednesday she used everything in her “toolbox” during meetings with Taliban ministers to try to reverse their crackdown on Afghan women and girls, and she urged Muslim countries to help the Taliban move from the “13th century to the 21st.”
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A senior Australian government minister said Wednesday that rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, could be refused a visa due to antisemitic comments if he attempts to visit Australia.
CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP) — Just a handful of Chinese visitors were posing for photos and basking in the sun this week in the market and plazas near Chiang Mai’s ancient Tha Phae Gate, one of many tourist hotspots still waiting for millions of Chinese travelers to return.
HOUSTON (AP) — An Afghan soldier seeking U.S. asylum who was arrested while trying to cross the Mexico border has been freed and reunited with his brother after spending months in immigration detention, his attorney said Wednesday.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis lamented that the use of guns by civilians to defend themselves is becoming a “habit.”
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The parents of a New Zealand scientist who was killed in Ukraine said Wednesday he helped save hundreds of people while volunteering in the dangerous Donbas region.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Police in Pakistan early Wednesday arrested a senior leader of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political party on charges of threatening the chief of the elections oversight body and other government officials.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Ships searching in wind-whipped waters between South Korea and Japan have picked up at least 14 of the 22 crew members from a cargo vessel that sank early Wednesday, killing at least two, officials said.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Frigid winter weather gripped East Asia for the second straight day on Wednesday, causing several deaths and multiple injuries in Japan and a scramble for flights out of South Korea's resort island of Jeju following delays by snowstorms.
NEW DELHI (AP) — India and Egypt agreed Wednesday to boost trade between their countries during a visit by the Egyptian president that underscores Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to fortify ties with other emerging economies.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Chris Hipkins was sworn in Wednesday as New Zealand's 41st prime minister, following the unexpected resignation last week of Jacinda Ardern.
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (AP) — For those who made their way to the Star Ballroom over the years, Ming Wei Ma was a bright light, always smiling and encouraging those who came to the Los Angeles area dance hall popular with older Asian Americans.
NEW YORK (AP) — The multiverse-skipping sci-fi indie hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once” led nominations to the 95th Academy Awards as Hollywood heaped honors on big-screen spectacles like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water” a year after a streaming service won best picture for the first time.