Top Asian News 4:25 a.m. GMT

US and Boeing investigators examine the site of a deadly South Korean plane crash

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A team of U.S. investigators including representatives from Boeing on Tuesday examined the site of a plane crash that killed 179 people in South Korea while authorities were conducting safety inspections on all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. All but two of the 181 people aboard the Boeing 737-800 operated by South Korean budget airline Jeju Air died in Sunday’s crash. Video showed the aircraft, without its landing gear deployed, crash-landed on its belly and overshoot a runaway at South Korea’s southern Muan International Airport before it slammed into concrete fence and burst into a flame.

The world welcomes 2025 with light shows, embraces and ice plunges

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — From Sydney to Mumbai to Nairobi, communities around the world welcomed 2025 with spectacular light shows, embraces and ice plunges. Auckland became the first major city to celebrate, as thousands thronged downtown or climbed the city’s ring of volcanic peaks for a fireworks vantage point. Countries in the South Pacific Ocean were the first to ring in the New Year, with midnight in New Zealand striking 18 hours before the ball drop in New York’s Times Square, where revelers donning silver top hats emblazoned with “2025” gathered hours early. Conflict muted acknowledgements of the start of 2025 in places like the Middle East, Sudan and Ukraine.

Driver runs down two New Zealand police officers, killing one

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A driver ran down two New Zealand police officers down as they patrolled on foot in the early hours of New Year’s Day, killing one and seriously injuring the other, the country’s police chief said. The attack jolted a country where the killing of police officers on duty is rare. The vehicle drove into the officers “at speed” as they performed a routine patrol of a parking lot, before the driver turned and rammed a police car, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers told reporters in the South Island city of Nelson. A 32-year-old man was arrested and charged over the incident shortly after it happened at about 2 a.m.

South Korean court issues warrants to detain impeached President Yoon and search his office

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court issued warrants Tuesday to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and search his office and residence over allegations of rebellion in connection with his short-lived declaration of martial law. It’s the first time a warrant has been issued to detain a sitting South Korean president. But experts say there is little chance of detention or searches unless Yoon is formally removed from office. The Seoul Western District Court issued warrants to detain Yoon and to search the presidential office and residence in central Seoul, according to a statement from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military authorities.

Thousands march in Bangladesh calling for the ousted prime minister’s prosecution

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Thousands of people led by students rallied in Bangladesh’s capital on Tuesday, calling for the prosecution of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and those responsible for hundreds of deaths in a mass uprising against her government in July. The Anti-Discrimination Student Movement organized the “March for Unity” at the Central Shaheed Minar, a national monument in Dhaka. Protesters chanted slogans calling for Hasina’s trial and the banning of her Awami League party. Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5 after weeks of violence in which authorities say hundreds of people were killed and thousands more injured on orders of her government.

South Korean adoptees and families rocked by fraud allegations

Her greatest fear, dormant for decades, came rushing back in an instant: had she adopted and raised a kidnapped child? Peg Reif’s daughter, adopted from South Korea in the 1980s, had sent her a link to a documentary detailing how the system that made their family was rife with fraud: documents falsified, babies switched, children snatched off the street and sent abroad. Reif wept. She was among more than 120 who contacted The Associated Press this fall, after a series of stories and a documentary made with Frontline exposed how Korea created a baby pipeline, designed to ship children abroad as quickly as possible to meet Western demand.

Initial results of imprecise census in Myanmar show a slight population drop

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government announced Tuesday that provisional results of a census taken in October put the Southeast Asian nation’s population at about 51.3 million, a slight drop from the last official nationwide count of about 51.5 million taken 10 years ago. The decrease was not directly explained in a report issued by the Ministry of Immigration and Population. However, it said the recent census was carried out successfully in less than half of the country’s 330 townships due to escalating armed conflict and other major constraints since the military took power in 2021. State-run MRTV said the reason for the population decrease will be investigated for the main report to be released in 2025.

Pakistani security forces suffer deadliest year for a decade while fighting insurgency, report finds

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani security forces in 2024 suffered the highest casualties in nearly a decade while battling insurgency, an Islamabad-based research group said. The Center for Research and Security Studies said in its report Tuesday that this year was the deadliest for Pakistani security forces in 9 years. “On average, nearly seven lives were lost daily,” according to the report which tallied “at least 685 fatalities and 444 terror attacks.” The data was released as militants mounted separate attacks on Tuesday on a security post, a government office and a police van in the country’s restive northwest, which borders Afghanistan, killing a policeman, and two civilians, including a child.

South Korean families pray for relatives who vanished into North Korean prisons a decade ago

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In the past year, Choi Jin-young has done everything he can to bring attention to his father, a missionary who’s serving a life sentence in North Korea. He’s met senior U.N., U.S. and other human rights officials, testified at public events, and accepted many media interviews. But as he marks 10 years since his father’s arrest this week, Choi doesn’t know where his father is, or even if he’s still alive. “I have some good memories of my dad. I’m his son so I must fight hard to get him returned,” Choi, a 34-year-old beer company official in South Korea, told The Associated Press.

Hotel fire in popular Bangkok tourist area kills 3 foreigners

BANGKOK (AP) — A fire broke out at a hotel near Bangkok’s Khao San Road, a popular tourist destination, killing three foreigners and injuring several other people, Thai police said Monday. The three who died in the fire on Sunday night were all foreign tourists, Police Colonel Sanong Saengmanee told The Associated Press. One was found dead at the scene and the other two died after being transported to the hospital. Police later identified the dead as a Brazilian woman, a Ukrainian man and an American man. Five people were hospitalized, including a Japanese woman in critical condition. The others were identified as a Japanese man, two Germans and a Thai electrician.