Top Asian News 4:54 a.m. GMT

South Korea’s impeached president defies warrant after hourslong standoff

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean investigators failed to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after a nearly six-hour standoff with the presidential security service, in the latest confrontation of a political crisis that has paralyzed South Korean politics and seen two heads of state impeached in under a month. The country’s anti-corruption agency said it withdrew its investigators after they were blocked from entering Yoon’s official residence due to concerns about the safety of its members. It says it expresses “serious regret about the attitude of the suspect, who did not respond to a process by law.” The office said it will discuss further actions, but did not immediately say whether it would make another attempt to detain Yoon.

Bangladesh court again rejects bail for Hindu leader who led rallies

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A court in southeastern Bangladesh on Thursday rejected a plea for bail by a jailed Hindu leader who led large rallies in the Muslim-majority country demanding better security for minority groups. Krishna Das Prabhu, 39, faces sedition charges after he led huge rallies in the southeastern city of Chattogram. Hindu groups say there have been thousands of attacks against Hindus since early August, when the secular government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was overthrown. Prabhu didn’t appear at the hearing, during which Chattogram Metropolitan Sessions Judge Saiful Islam rejected the bail plea, according to Public Prosecutor Mofizul Haque Bhuiyan.

A missing surfer in Australia is believed dead in a shark attack, police say

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A surfer missing in Australia is believed to have died in a shark attack, authorities said Friday, as they searched the waters where the man disappeared. The 28-year-old was in the sea at a popular surf beach in South Australia where another man was killed by a white shark in 2023. A witness who saw the shark attack on Thursday evening at Granites Beach, near the coastal town of Streaky Bay, rode into the sea on a jet ski and retrieved the man’s surfboard, Senior Constable Rebecca Stokes told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. “But there was just no sign of this young man, there’s just been no sign of him,” Stokes told the ABC.

5 things we know and still don’t know about COVID, 5 years after it appeared

Five years ago, a cluster of people in Wuhan, China, fell sick with a virus never before seen in the world. The germ didn’t have a name, nor did the illness it would cause. It wound up setting off a pandemic that exposed deep inequities in the global health system and reshaped public opinion about how to control deadly emerging viruses. The virus is still with us, though humanity has built up immunity through vaccinations and infections. It’s less deadly than it was in the pandemic’s early days and it no longer tops the list of leading causes of death. But the virus is evolving, meaning scientists must track it closely.

South Korea air crash investigators extract black box data as grieving families mourn the victims

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Grieving relatives of the victims of the South Korea plane crash gathered at the site to pay respects to their loved ones on New Year’s Day, as officials said they’ve extracted data from one of the retrieved black boxes to find the exact cause of the crash. All but two of the 181 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air died when it crashed at Muan International Airport, in southern South Korea, on Sunday. Video showed the aircraft without its landing gear deployed landing on its belly at high speed and then skidding off the end of the runaway into a concrete fence and bursting into flames.

Taiwan president vows to boost the island’s defense budget as China threats rise

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te pledged to strengthen the island’s defenses in the face of escalating Chinese threats, saying in a New Year’s address on Wednesday that Taiwan was a crucial part of the “line of defense of democracy” globally. China claims Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy, is part of its territory and has vowed to annex the island by force if necessary. “Authoritarian countries such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran are still collaborating to threaten the international order that is based on rules. This has severely influenced the Indo-Pacific region and the world’s peace and stability,” Lai said in his address.

Driver runs down 2 New Zealand police officers, killing 1

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. Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming was the first female officer in New Zealand’s history killed by a criminal act while at work, police said Thursday. In Wednesday’s attack, 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.

Elders in Pakistan broker a peace deal between Sunni and Shiite tribes after deadly clashes

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Tribal elders backed by local authorities in restive northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday brokered a peace deal between minority Shiites and majority Sunni tribes, weeks after deadly clashes that killed at least 130 people, officials said. The violence had flared on Nov. 21, when gunmen ambushed a convoy of vehicles and killed 52 people, mostly Shiite Muslims. The argument was said to be over a land disute, at least initially. No group claimed responsibility for the assault, which triggered retaliatory attacks by rival groups in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. The violence left at least 130 people dead over the past two months.

Pakistan and India conduct annual exchange of lists of nuclear assets under bilateral pact

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan and India on Wednesday exchanged lists of their nuclear assets as part of a bilateral pact that bars them from attacking each other’s nuclear facilities. The two sides exchange such lists on the first day of January every year. In a statement on Wednesday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the lists were simultaneously handed over through their respective diplomats in Islamabad and New Delhi. The exchange is part of the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations and Facilities pact, which was signed by the two countries in December 1988. It was implemented in January 1991. Pakistan and India have had strained relations since their independence from colonial British rule in 1947 over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Japanese emperor and his family greet flag-waving crowd at the palace for New Year’s

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and his family greeted throngs of New Year’s well-wishers from a balcony window at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Thursday. Some shouted “banzai” — “long live” — while others waved small paper Japanese flags. “I feel for those who are still greatly suffering,” Naruhito said, referring to the quake in western Japan that struck a year ago, as well as flooding and other natural disasters throughout the nation. Last year, his appearance was canceled at the last minute because of a devastating quake in the Noto Peninsula that killed hundreds of people. In the royal family’s New Year video message for this year, released earlier in the week, Naruhito showed a beautifully crafted mask from the Noto area, which are worn by drummers who perform in a traditional style called gojinjo daiko.