Top Asian News 4:17 a.m. GMT

The Australian Senate debates the world’s first social media ban for children under 16

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian Senate was debating a ban on children younger than 16 years old from social media Thursday after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly supported the age restriction. The bill that would make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts. It is likely to be passed by the Senate on Thursday, the Parliament’s final session for the year and potentially the last before elections, which are due within months. The major parties’ support for the ban all but guarantees the legislation will become law.

ICC prosecutor requests arrest warrant for the head of Myanmar’s military regime

THE HAGUE (AP) — The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor asked judges on Wednesday to issue an arrest warrant for the head of Myanmar’s military regime for crimes committed against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who seized power from elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, is accused of crimes against humanity for the persecution of the Rohingya. Nearly a million people were forced into neighboring Bangladesh to escape what has been called an ethnic cleansing campaign involving mass rapes, killings and the torching of homes. From a refugee camp in Bangladesh, the court’s top prosecutor, Karim Khan, said in a statement that he intended to request more warrants for Myanmar’s leaders soon.

3 Americans held for years in China have been released, the White House says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three American citizens imprisoned for years by China have been released and are returning to the United States, the White House said Wednesday, announcing a rare diplomatic agreement with Beijing in the final months of the Biden administration. The three are Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung, all of whom had been designated by the U.S. government as wrongfully detained by China. Swidan had been facing a death sentence on drug charges while Li and Leung were imprisoned on espionage charges. “Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years,” the White House said in a statement.

Philippine police file criminal complaints against Sara Duterte and her security aides

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police officials on Wednesday filed criminal complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte and her security staff for allegedly assaulting authorities and disobeying orders in a recent altercation in Congress. The criminal complaints filed by the Quezon City police were separate from any legal action that may arise after she publicly threatened to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife and the speaker of the House of Representatives assassinated if she were killed herself in an unspecified plot. She has not provided details of that plot. A presidential adviser, Larry Gadon, separately filed a Supreme Court petition on Wednesday to disbar the vice president as a lawyer, citing her assassination threats, which he said were “illegal, immoral and condemnable.” The Marcos administration’s legal offensive against Duterte, her father and their allies is a critical juncture in a conflict that has seethed over the last two years between the two most powerful families in the Philippines.

Lawyers in southeastern Bangladesh boycott courts after violence kills 1

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Lawyers in southeastern Bangladesh boycotted courts Wednesday to protest the killing of a colleague in a daylong violence over the arrest of a prominent minority Hindu leader. Hundreds of followers of Krishna Das Prabhu clashed with security officials and Muslims after a magistrate denied him bail and ordered him detained on sedition charges Tuesday pending further proceedings. Since the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Aug. 5, an interim government has been struggling to ease tension in the South Asian nation. Hindus and members of other minority groups say they have faced more attacks than ever since Hasina fled to India following a massive uprising against her 15-year rule.

Police car crashes into New Zealand prime minister’s limousine, but no one is hurt

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A police car collided with the rear of an official limousine transporting New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Finance Minister Nicola Willis and no one was hurt, officials said Thursday. The minor crash occurred Wednesday afternoon on the main road to the airport in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, where the parliament is located. Police are investigating the crash. The Department of Internal Affairs — the agency that manages official vehicles — says the rear of the limousine was damaged. Luxon told reporters in Auckland on Thursday that the crash was a “bit of a shock” but he was “fine.” The prime minister said he did not know if the car would be written off.

An Australia police officer who shocked a 95-year-old woman with a Taser is guilty of manslaughter

SYDNEY (AP) — A police officer who shocked a 95-year-old nursing home resident with a Taser was found guilty of manslaughter in an Australian court Wednesday. A jury found Kristian James Samuel White guilty in the trial in Sydney after 20 hours of deliberation. White, who is on bail, could get up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced later. Clare Nowland, a great-grandmother who had dementia and used a walker, was refusing to put down the steak knife she was holding when the officer discharged his Taser at her in May 2023. Nowland fell backward after White shocked her and died a week later in hospital.

South Korea’s central bank cuts a key rate to nurse a slower economy

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s central bank on Thursday lowered its key policy rate for the second straight month and said the country’s economy will grow at a slower pace than it initially anticipated. Following a meeting of its monetary policymakers, the Bank of Korea cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 3%. The bank lowered its outlook for the country’s economic growth from 2.4% to 2.2% for 2024 and from 2.1% to 1.9% for 2025. It was the second straight month that the bank took steps to lower borrowing costs and expand money supply, despite the lingering effects of high inflation and alarming levels of household debt, as concerns grow about a faltering economy.

Malaysian court drops one of the graft cases against jailed former premier Najib Razak

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Malaysian court on Wednesday dropped charges against jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak over criminal breach of trust linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of a state fund. Najib had already been convicted in his first graft case tied to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund, or 1MBD, scandal and began serving time in 2022 after losing his final appeal in his first graft case. But he faces other graft trials including Wednesday’s case in which he was jointly charged with ex-treasury chief Irwan Serigar Abdullah with six counts of misappropriating 6.6 billion ringgit ($1.5 billion) in public funds.

Biggest November snowstorm in half century hits Seoul and grounds flights

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The biggest November snowstorm to hit South Korea’s capital in more than a half century blanketed the capital on Wednesday, grounding hundreds of flights, disrupting commuter traffic and leaving at least two dead. South Korea’s weather agency said 20 to 26 centimeters (7.8 to 10 inches) of snow fell in northern areas of Seoul and nearby areas. The agency said it was the heaviest snowstorm Seoul has experienced in November in 52 years. A storm on Nov. 28, 1972, dumped 12 centimeters (4.7 inches). South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said one person died and four others were injured in a five-vehicle accident in the eastern town of Hongcheon.