Top Asian News 4:45 a.m. GMT

New Zealand reviews its aid to Kiribati after the Pacific island nation snubs an official’s visit

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand is reconsidering all development funding to the aid-dependent island nation of Kiribati, following a diplomatic snub from the island nation’s leader, government officials said. The unusual move to review all finance to Kiribati was prompted by the abrupt cancellation of a planned meeting this month between President Taneti Maamau and New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, Peters’ office told The Associated Press on Monday. It followed months of growing frustration from Australia and New Zealand — jointly responsible for more than a third of overseas development finance to Kiribati in 2022 — about a lack of engagement with the island nation.

What to expect after South Korea’s impeached president was indicted on rebellion charges

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has become the country’s first leader to be indicted, less than two weeks after he was the first to be detained. The impeached, jailed president, who had been holed up in his presidential compound for weeks after issuing a shocking martial law decree last month, now faces rebellion charges that are punishable by the death penalty or life in prison. It’s part of a tortuous saga that has plunged South Korea into political turmoil and further riven an already divided society. And it’s not the only legal headache Yoon faces.

Chinese tech startup DeepSeek says it was hit with ‘large-scale malicious attacks’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chinese tech startup DeepSeek said it was hit by a cyber attack on Monday that disrupted users’ ability to register on the site. The company, whose artificial intelligence chatbot has sent the tech world into a frenzy, said that it had suffered “large-scale malicious attacks” on its services. Registered users could log in normally, DeepSeek said. DeepSeek began attracting more attention in the AI industry last month when it released a new AI model that it boasted was on par with similar models from U.S. companies such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI, and was more cost-effective in its use of expensive Nvidia chips to train the system on huge troves of data.

Chinese and Indian diplomats call for warmer relations but make no public mention of border dispute

BEIJING (AP) — The top diplomats of China and India called for their nations to provide further mutual support, but avoided publicly mentioning a long-standing border dispute in the Himalayas when they met Monday in Beijing. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told top Indian foreign affairs official Vikram Misri that the sides “should seize the opportunity, meet each other halfway, explore more substantive measures, and strive to understand, support and achieve each other, rather than be suspicious of, alienate and consume each other,” China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. It cited Misri as saying the nuclear-armed Asian giants have “properly managed and resolved differences, and promoted the restart of practical cooperation in various fields.” India’s foreign ministry in a statement said the two sides also agreed to resume trips by Indian pilgrims to Tibet’s Mount Kailash, which is considered as one of the holiest sites in Hinduism and Buddhism.

AP PHOTOS: Indonesia welcomes the Year of the Snake with dragon puppets and drum displays

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — From narrow side streets to packed malls, the traditional music and dance of dragon puppet performances have filled Indonesia’s bustling capital of Jakarta to usher in the Lunar New Year. Asian communities across the world will begin ringing in the Lunar New Year on Jan. 29, with 2025 designated as the Year of the Snake in the Chinese zodiac. Fireworks, parades and other Lunar New Year rituals are centered around removing bad luck and welcoming prosperity. In Indonesia, where millions of people have Chinese ancestry, crowds gathered to watch as drummers interspersed around puppet performers display the traditional dragon and lion puppets, which stretched up to 65 feet (20 meters) long in interconnected segments held by about a dozen people walking beneath.

South Korean plane crash report says bird remains were found in engines, but no cause yet revealed

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The first report on last month’s Jeju Air crash in South Korea confirmed traces of bird strikes in the plane’s engines, though officials haven’t determined the cause of the accident that killed all but two of the 181 people on board. The preliminary accident report released by South Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board on Monday said that feathers and bird blood stains were found in both engines. “The samples were sent to specialized organizations for DNA analysis, and a domestic organization identified them as belonging to Baikal teals,” the report said, referring to a migratory duck.

Executives at Japan`s Fuji TV and parent firm resign over a sex scandal linked to a former star

TOKYO (AP) — The president and chairperson of Japanese network Fuji Television have resigned over a widening sex assault scandal linked to one of Japan’s top TV celebrities. The scandal centers on Masahiro Nakai, a former leader of Japan’s once-hugely popular boy band SMAP, and his costly settlement with a woman over the alleged sex assault at a 2023 dinner party that Fuji TV staff allegedly helped to organize. The allegations surfaced in magazine articles in December and have since triggered claims of systematic cover-ups by Fuji TV executives. The public outrage over the lack of transparency and explanation at the network’s earlier news conference this month have led to an avalanche of advertising losses at Fuji, one of the networks where Nakai worked.

Woman gets more than 3-year prison term for helping pregnant Chinese women get to US

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California woman was sentenced Monday to more than 3 years in prison in a long-running case over a business that helped pregnant Chinese women travel to the United States to deliver babies who automatically became American citizens. U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner gave Phoebe Dong a 41-month sentence and ordered her immediately taken into custody from his federal court in Los Angeles. Dong and her husband were convicted in September of conspiracy and money laundering through their company, USA Happy Baby. The sentencing came as birthright citizenship has been thrust into the spotlight in the United States with the return of President Donald Trump to the White House.

AP PHOTOS: Hong Kong’s snake soup is slithering away but still simmers in a decades-old kitchen

HONG KONG (AP) — As Hong Kong prepares to welcome the Year of the Snake on Wednesday, Chau Ka-ling displays a moving serpent with practiced ease, holding it like a pet in her decades-old restaurant in the city. As one of the last keepers of the city’s traditional snake soup industry, Chau saves three live snakes for occasional display in wooden drawers that once housed more serpents for cooking. The cuisine she makes, long cherished in southern Chinese culture for keeping people warm in the winter, is slithering away. Founded by Chau’s late father in the 1960s, Shia Wong Hip once slaughtered live snakes for its dishes.

Taliban ambassador warns Rubio against bounty threat over Americans detained in Afghanistan

A Taliban ambassador on Monday warned the new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio against making threats after saying he would place bounties on Afghanistan’s rulers for their continued detention of U.S. nationals. A prisoner swap between the U.S. and Afghanistan last week freed two Americans in exchange for a Taliban figure, Khan Muhammad. The deal to release Ryan Corbett and William McKenty was brokered by Joe Biden ’s administration before he left office. But two more Americans, George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi, remain in Taliban custody. The Taliban have not revealed how many foreigners are behind bars. “Just hearing the Taliban is holding more American hostages than has been reported,” Rubio said in a post on X Saturday.