Top Asian News 1:50 a.m. GMT

Bangladesh’s interim government bans the former ruling party of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — The interim government in Bangladesh on Saturday banned all activities of the former ruling Awami League party headed by former influential Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted last year in a mass uprising. Asif Nazrul, the country’s law affairs adviser, said late Saturday the interim Cabinet headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus decided to ban the party’s activities online and elsewhere under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act. The ban would stay in place until a special tribunal completes a trial of the party and its leaders over the deaths of hundreds of students and other protesters during an anti-government uprising in July and August last year.

India and Pakistan accuse each other of violating ceasefire hours after reaching deal

ISLAMABAD (AP) — India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire Saturday after U.S.-led talks to end the most serious military confrontation between the nuclear-armed rivals in decades but accused each other of violating the deal just hours later. The ceasefire had been expected to bring a swift end to weeks of escalating clashes, including missile and drone strikes, triggered by the mass shooting of tourists last month that India blames on Pakistan, which denies the charge. But multiple explosions were heard in two large cities of Indian-controlled Kashmir hours after the countries agreed to the deal. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said late Saturday that “there had been repeated violations of the understanding arrived between the two countries” and accused Pakistan of breaching the agreement.

India’s clash with Pakistan sees use of Chinese missiles, French jets, Israeli drones and more

BANGKOK (AP) — India’s missile and bomb strikes on targets in Pakistan and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir have spiked tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, with Pakistan’s leader calling the attacks an act of war. Claims about the initial attack and the aftermath have differed widely, with neither India nor Pakistan releasing many specific details. Making the ongoing conflict even more confusing, the internet has been “flooded with disinformation, false claims, and manipulated photos and videos,” the Soufan Center think tank said. “This information warfare is compounded by both sides’ commitment to save face,” it said. With ongoing fighting, it has been impossible to independently verify many of the claims, but some information can be gleaned from official statements and paired with what is known to gain greater insight into the clash: Pakistan on Saturday said it launched hypersonic missiles from a JF-17 Thunder jet, an aircraft built by China in collaboration with Pakistan, and destroyed a Russian-built S-400 air defense system in India’s border Punjab state.

Nuclear rivals India and Pakistan step back from brink of war. Here’s a timeline of how it happened

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — A gun massacre of tourists on April 22 pushed India and Pakistan a step closer to war, marking the biggest breakdown in relations since 2019. Conflict between India and Pakistan is not rare, with the two countries having periodically engaged in wars, clashes and skirmishes since gaining independence from British India in 1947. The difference with this escalation was the frequency and intensity of strikes and retaliation. Although the U.S. previously said it would not step in, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he and Vice President JD Vance talked to senior government and military officials on both sides, with the two countries agreeing to an immediate ceasefire.

The Latest: India accuses Pakistan of ceasefire breaches in Kashmir

South Korean conservative party fails in a bid to switch presidential candidates

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s embattled conservative party canceled then reinstated the presidential candidacy of Kim Moon Soo within hours as internal turmoil escalated ahead of the June 3 election. Saturday’s chaotic U-turn, after a failed attempt to replace Kim with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, underscored the People Power Party’s leadership crisis following the ouster of former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his martial law imposition in December, which possibly doomed the conservatives’ chances of winning another term in government. Kim, a staunch conservative and former labor minister under Yoon, was named the PPP’s presidential candidate on May 3 after winning 56.3% of the primary vote, defeating a reformist rival who had criticized Yoon’s martial law.

Myammar’s military government chief has first meeting with China’s leader since taking power in 2021

BANGKOK (AP) — The chief of Myanmar’s military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, has for the first time since seizing power four years ago met with President Xi Jinping of China, a top ally of his military government, state-run media in the Southeast Asian nation reported Saturday. The Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that Xi pledged to provide assistance for recovery after Myanmar’s devastating earthquake in March and aid in efforts to end the country’s civil war. The two leaders met Friday in Moscow on the sidelines of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

India and Pakistan have been in conflict since 1947 Partition. A look at its troubled legacy

NEW DELHI (AP) — India and Pakistan have agreed to a ceasefire following U.S.-led talks to end the most serious military confrontation between the nuclear-armed rivals in decades. The ceasefire deal on Saturday follows weeks of clashes, missile and drone strikes across their borders that were triggered by a gun massacre of tourists last month that India blames on Pakistan, which denies the charge. Dozens of civilians have been killed on both sides. The fresh round of confrontation was yet another escalation of a decades-long conflict over the disputed Kashmir region that began after a bloody partition of India in 1947.

India and Pakistan don’t fight wars like other countries. Here’s why

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — India and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947. They’ve also had dozens of skirmishes and conflicts, including one atop a glacier dubbed the coldest and highest-altitude battlefield in the world. The latest escalation follows a deadly gun attack on tourists that India blames Pakistan for — Islamabad denies any connection. But they don’t fight wars like other countries. The dominant factor is their nuclear weapons arsenal, a distinct way of deterring major attacks and a guarantee that fighting doesn’t get out of hand, even when the situation is spiraling.

Australian prime minister says reducing student debt is his re-elected government’s first priority

MELBOURNE, Austalia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told his government colleagues on Friday that reducing student debt would be the first legislative priority for his administration that was returned to power in the nation’s first election in which the Baby Boomer generation was outnumbered by younger voters. Albanese addressed a crowded room full of center-left Labor Party lawmakers in Parliament House for the first time since his government won an emphatic election victory on May 3. The struggle a growing number of young Australians — particularly those burdened with student loans — face to buy their first home, due to soaring real estate prices and a lack of new housing construction was a major election issue.