Top Asian News 4:52 a.m. GMT

Tents arrive for survivors of earthquake in high-altitude, wintry Tibet that killed 126

BEIJING (AP) — Rescue workers in the cold, high-altitude Tibet region in western China searched for more survivors and victims Wednesday, one day after a strong earthquake leveled thousands of houses and killed at least 126 people. Tents, quilts and other relief items were being delivered to provide shelter for those whose homes are uninhabitable or unsafe. Temperatures fell well below freezing overnight in an area with an average altitude of about 4,200 meters (13,800 feet). The confirmed death toll stood at 126 with another 188 injured as of Tuesday evening. The earthquake struck about 75 kilometers (50 miles) from Mount Everest and the border with Nepal, where the shaking sent people running out of their homes in the capital Kathmandu.

A look at recent deadly earthquakes in China

BEIJING (AP) — A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 that killed at least 126 people in western China near Nepal on Tuesday was one of the country’s deadliest in recent years. Earthquakes in China happen most frequently on the Tibetan Plateau or its fringes. The seismically active area is where the India and Eurasia plates clash and cause uplifts that can be strong enough to change the heights of Himalayan peaks. In May 2008, a 7.9 earthquake in Sichuan province in the southwest killed nearly 90,000 people. The collapse of schools and other buildings led to a yearslong effort to rebuild using more quake-resistant materials.

Wild weather halted ferries between New Zealand’s main islands again. Why isn’t there a tunnel?

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Wild weather during New Zealand ’s peak summer holiday period has disrupted travel for thousands of passengers on ferries that cross the sea between the country’s main islands. The havoc wrought by huge swells and gales in the deep and turbulent Cook Strait between the North and South Islands is a recurring feature of the country’s roughest weather. Breakdowns of New Zealand’s aging ferries have also caused delays. But unlike in Britain and Japan, New Zealand has not seriously considered an undersea tunnel beneath the strait that more than 1 million people cross by sea each year.

A seaplane crashes off an Australian tourist island, killing 3 and injuring 3 others

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A seaplane crashed during takeoff from an Australian tourist island, killing three people including Swiss and Danish tourists and injuring three others. Only one of the seven people aboard the Cessna 208 Caravan was rescued without injury after the crash Tuesday afternoon on Rottnest Island, police said. The plane owned by Swan River Seaplanes was returning to its base in Perth, the Western Australia state capital 30 kilometers (19 miles) east of Rottnest Island, which is also known by its Indigenous name Wadjemup. The dead were a 65-year-old Swiss woman, a 60-year-old man from Denmark and the 34-year-old male pilot from Perth, Western Australian Premier Roger Cook said.

South Korean anti-corruption agency receives new court warrant to detain impeached President Yoon

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s anti-corruption agency said it received a new court warrant on Tuesday to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after its previous attempt was blocked by the presidential security service last week. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which plans to question the embattled president on rebellion allegations over his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3, didn’t immediately confirm how long the warrant would remain valid. The agency’s chief prosecutor, Oh Dong-woon, refused to answer when asked by lawmakers when the warrant would expire, saying such information is sensitive as the agency and police contemplate ways to execute it.

Bangladesh’s ailing former premier Khaleda Zia leaves country to undergo medical treatment in London

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s ailing former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia left the nation’s capital for London on Tuesday for medical treatment, said one of her advisers. Zahiruddin Swapan, an adviser to Zia, told The Associated Press by phone that the three-time former premier and head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport late Tuesday on an air ambulance. “Our senior leaders left the airport seeing her off,” Swapan said. Her ailments include liver cirrhosis, cardiac disease and kidney problems, according to her physician. Zia left behind a South Asian nation grappling with uncertainty over its political future after her archrival, former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was ousted in a student-led mass uprising in August.

US rejection of Nippon Steel’s bid for US Steel rankles Washington’s key ally in Asia

BANGKOK (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to reject a bid by Nippon Steel to acquire U.S. Steel on national security grounds isn’t the first time friction over trade and investment has irked Washington’s closest ally in Asia. There have been plenty of scraps over trade in the past few decades, and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken sought to smooth ruffled feathers in a visit to Tokyo on Tuesday. Nippon Steel Chief Executive Eiji Hashimoto said the top Japanese steelmaker was standing firm on its proposed $15 billion friendly acquisition. Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s decision.

Nippon Steel stands firm on a US Steel takeover and denies risks cited by Biden

TOKYO (AP) — Nippon Steel was standing firm on its proposed $15 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel, Chief Executive Eiji Hashimoto said Tuesday after President Joe Biden’s blocked the top Japanese steelmaker’s move. “There is no reason or need to give up,” he told reporters at company headquarters in Tokyo. “We are convinced it’s clearly beneficial for both nations.” While acknowledging the effort may take time, he stressed the companies’ latest legal action in the U.S. was a key development. Nippon Steel Corp. and U.S. Steel filed federal lawsuits Monday challenging the Biden administration’s decision as ignoring “the rule of law.” In separate lawsuits in the U.S.

At least 9 miners are trapped in a coal mine in India’s northeastern Assam state

GUWAHATI, India (AP) — At least nine workers are trapped inside a flooded coal mine in India’s northeastern Assam state, officials said Tuesday, as authorities summoned the army to help in the rescue operation. The miners became trapped on Monday morning in the Umrangso area in Dima Hasao district, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) south of the state capital, Guwahati. The workers are “feared trapped 300 feet below the ground after water gushed in from a nearby unused mine. We are mobilizing resources to rescue them,” said Kaushik Rai, a local government minister who is monitoring the rescue efforts. Army soldiers and a national disaster management team at the site used ropes and cranes to assist the ongoing operation.

What to know about the siege outside South Korea’s presidential compound

TOKYO (AP) — For weeks, impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has holed up inside his guarded residential compound, as government officials try to figure out how to detain him and search the premises. Scuffles broke out late last week as dozens of investigators were stopped from entering the compound by hundreds of presidential security forces and a barricade. Hundreds of anti-Yoon and pro-Yoon supporters have held competing rallies in the streets near the residence in anticipation of another attempt to bring the president into custody on Wednesday. One side called for Yoon’s ouster and arrest; the other vowed to protect him.