Top Asian News 3:49 a.m. GMT

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus takes the helm in Bangladesh, to seek peace and prepare elections

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took the oath of office as head of Bangladesh’s interim government Thursday after protests forced out former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina this week. The key tasks for Yunus now are restoring peace in Bangladesh and preparing for new elections following the ouster of Hasina, who fled to India after weeks of student protests over job quotas grew into an uprising against her increasingly autocratic 15-year rule. The figurehead President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath to Yunus for his role as chief adviser, which is the equivalent to a prime minister, in the presence of diplomats, civil society members, top businessmen and members of the former opposition party at the presidential palace in Dhaka.

AP PHOTOS: Bangladesh’s turbulent half-century, from coups to climate shocks

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh has had a turbulent existence since gaining independence in 1971 following a war with Pakistan. Its first coup occurred in 1975, when President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated. Two more coups that year ended with Ziaur Rahman seizing power. In 1981, Rahman was assassinated by rebels who stormed a government guest house. In 1982, successor Abdus Sattar was overthrown in a coup led by Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who later assumed the presidency. Power was then traded between two formidable women, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina. Hasina was toppled this week by a student-led uprising. Her archrival Zia was freed this week from house arrest.

Those Samsung smartphones given to Olympic athletes? They may violate sanctions on North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean officials on Thursday said providing Samsung smartphones to North Korean athletes at the Paris Olympics would violate U.N. Security Council sanctions against the country over its nuclear and missile program. The South Korean technology giant is a major Olympic partner, and its newest Galaxy Z Flip 6 smartphones are being given to all athletes competing at the Games. The International Olympic Committee confirmed that the phones were sent to the Olympic village, then later said the North Korean athletes had not received them. It’s unclear where the phones might have went. South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said smartphones are among the items banned under Security Council Resolution 2397 passed in 2017, which prohibits the supply, sale or transfer to North Korea of “all industrial machinery.” The resolution doesn’t make a distinction between North Korea’s government and its people, and South Korean officials made clear the smartphones would be banned however they entered the country.

South Korean authorities question individual who crossed the border from the North

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean authorities on Thursday were questioning a suspected North Korean resident who crossed into the South, according to South Korea’s military. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message to reporters that South Korean soldiers secured an unidentified individual who was likely North Korean and handed that person over to relevant authorities for questioning. The joint chiefs didn’t immediately provide details on how the person crossed the border, from where and whether it was an attempt to defect to the South, citing the ongoing investigation. The military statement came after South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, citing anonymous military sources, reported that a North Korean resident crossed an estuary where the Han River meets the Yellow Sea and was taken by South Korean troops at the South’s western border island of Gyodong.

A powerful quake hits off Japan’s coast, causing minor injuries but prompting new concerns

TOKYO (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck off southern Japan on Thursday, causing mostly minor injuries but raising the level of concern over possible major quakes stemming from an undersea trough east of the coast. Officials said nine people were injured on Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu, but the injuries were mostly minor, there were no reports of serious damage and tsunami advisories for the quake were later lifted. However, the quake prompted seismologists to hold an emergency meeting in which they reassessed and raised the level of risk of major quakes associated with the Nankai Trough east of southern Japan.

China hits back at the US in response to doping allegations dogging its swimmers

BEIJING (AP) — China is trying to fight fire with fire in the face of persistent doping allegations that have dogged its swimmers at the Paris Olympics. The China Anti-Doping Agency called Thursday for more intensive testing of American track and field competitors, citing in a news release past doping scandals and questioning how the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency handled them. Repeated blasts from the Chinese agency have been echoed by reports in the government-controlled state media complaining about double standards applied to Chinese competitors. The reports have highlighted the more than 600 tests undergone by Chinese swimmers at the Paris Games with no violations found.

Meet America’s newest giant pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao

SAN DIEGO (AP) — California’s governor flew in for the young bears’ debut. Throngs of media gathered inside the zoo, while the city of San Diego warned of traffic jams ahead of the much-anticipated event Thursday. The San Diego Zoo rolled out the red carpet for the first public showing of its celebrity residents, who were already dressed in black-and-white attire. The two giant pandas, the first to enter the U.S. in two decades, seemed unfazed by all the attention, sunbathing and chowing down on bamboo in their new home. For years, the Chinese government has loaned pandas to zoos around the world in a practice called “panda diplomacy.” These fuzzy ambassadors have long been a symbol of the U.S.-China friendship, ever since Beijing gifted a pair of pandas to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., in 1972.

Death toll rises to 156 as weeks of heavy monsoon rains wreak havoc in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The death toll from nearly six weeks of monsoon rains and flash floods across Pakistan has risen to 156, officials said Thursday, as downpours continued in much of the country, inundating some villages and causing landslides. More than 1,800 homes have been damaged since July 1, when the monsoon rains began, the National Disaster Management Authority said. Orchards in remote areas of the southwestern Baluchistan province have also been damaged, and rains flooded many streets in the eastern city of Lahore. Pakistan is in the middle of the annual monsoon season, which runs from July through September. Scientists and weather forecasters blame climate change for heavy rains in recent years.

A 13-month streak of global temperature records just ended. Here are five takeaways

NEW YORK (AP) — After 13 months of what felt like an endless breaking of heat records, the streak came to an end last month — just barely. The European climate agency Copernicus said Thursday that July 2024’s average heat just missed surpassing July of last year. While the slightly cooler month is good news and could provide some minor relief for people exposed to extreme heat, scientists warned that the root cause of the rising temperatures, climate change, remains the same. Here are five takeaways from the 13-month heat streak that just ended: One factor in the slight cooling is the ebbing of El Nino, a naturally occurring pattern of warming in part of the Pacific that shifts weather patterns around the world.

Ouster of Bangladesh’s prime minister will test India’s regional power, with Beijing’s on the rise

NEW DELHI (AP) — The dramatic resignation of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina poses a dilemma for India’s government, and the South Asian powerhouse could even see its influence in the region wane, according to experts. During her 15-year rule, Hasina cultivated deep ties with India, her biggest backer, as she oversaw an economic boom and drew the two countries closer on business, energy and defense. Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia, with bilateral trade of just under $16 billion. “India will need much political and diplomatic skill in dealing with the consequences of the fall of Sheikh Hasina, which could rattle the geopolitics of the subcontinent, if not reshape it,” C.