Top Asian News 4:21 a.m. GMT

Peace prospects look bleak in Myanmar as a civil war rages

BANGKOK (AP) — Peace prospects look bleak in Myanmar as a civil war rages despite international pressure on the military four years after it seized power from an elected civilian government. The political situation remains tense with no negotiation space in sight between the military government and the major opposition groups fighting against it. The four years after the army’s takeover on Feb. 1, 2021, have created a profound situation of multiple, overlapping crises with nearly half the population in poverty and the economy in disarray, the U.N. Development Program said. The U.N. Human Rights Office said the military ramped up violence against civilians last year to unprecedented levels, inflicting the heaviest civilian death toll since the army takeover as its grip on power eroded.

18 Pakistani soldiers killed in fighting with separatist rebels in Balochistan

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani troops fought separatist insurgents who set up roadblocks in the restive northwestern region of Balochistan, leaving 18 paramilitary security forces and 23 rebels dead in some of the heaviest clashes in recent years, officials said Saturday. The military said troops suffered casualties when they engaged the insurgents who erected barricades on a key highway in Kalat, bordering Afghanistan. The security forces “successfully removed the roadblock” following the fighting overnight into Saturday morning, the military said in a statement. It said 18 security personnel died during the operation and vowed that “the perpetrators, facilitators and abettors of this heinous and cowardly act, will be brought to justice.” Security forces recovered the bodies of 12 insurgents, the military said.

The Taliban have no legal right to multibillion dollar Afghan fund, says US watchdog

The watchdog for U.S. assistance to Afghanistan said the Taliban have no legal right to billions of dollars in funding set aside for the country because they are not recognized as its government and are under sanctions. In its latest report issued Friday, the office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, also said President Donald Trump’s administration and Congress may want to examine returning nearly $4 billion earmarked for Afghanistan to the “custody and control” of the U.S. government. In 2022, the U.S. transferred $3.5 billion in Afghan central bank assets previously frozen in America to the Swiss-based Fund for the Afghan People.

Trump puts tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, spurring trade war as North American allies respond

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday signed an order to impose stiff tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China, drawing swift retaliation and an undeniable sense of betrayal from the country’s North American neighbors as a trade war erupted among the longtime allies. The Republican president posted on social media that the tariffs were necessary “to protect Americans,” pressing the three nations to do more to curb the manufacture and export of illicit fentanyl and for Canada and Mexico to reduce illegal immigration into the U.S. The tariffs, if sustained, could cause inflation to significantly worsen, threatening the trust that many voters placed in Trump to lower the prices of groceries, gasoline, housing, autos and other goods as he promised.

The Taliban take over Afghanistan’s only luxury hotel, more than a decade after attacking it

The Taliban are taking over the operations of Afghanistan’s only luxury hotel in Kabul, more than a decade after they launched a deadly attack there that killed nine people. The Serena Hotel said Friday it was closing its operations in the Afghan capital on Feb. 1, with the Hotel State Owned Corporation taking over. The corporation is overseen by the finance ministry. The finance ministry wasn’t immediately available for comment. Neither the Serena nor the government clarified the terms under which the hotel was changing hands. The Taliban first targeted the Serena in 2008 and again in 2014. Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani acknowledged planning the 2008 attack, which killed eight, including U.S.

Takeaways from India’s budget that slashes income tax on the salaried middle class to spur growth

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government presented an annual budget to Parliament on Saturday that focused on wooing the salaried middle class with tax cuts and spurring economic growth by boosting agriculture and manufacturing. In her budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is focused on boosting private investment to strengthen growth, increasing funding in the agriculture sector and enhancing the spending power of India’s middle class. “The focus of the budget is taking everyone together on an inclusive path,” Sitharaman said, adding that the government is aiming for a fiscal deficit of 4.4% of India’s gross domestic product for the 2025-26 financial year.

AP PHOTOS: Tens of thousands of migratory birds have made this Indian lake their winter home

NAGROTA SURIYAN, India (AP) — Before the day breaks on a winter morning at the Pong Lake wetland in northern India, muffled honks of geese are heard in the distance. A lone fisherman wrapped in a blanket rides his bicycle in the darkness, relying on his familiarity with the landscape. The air is heavy with water vapor and headlights of motorbikes zigzag across the swampy plain as more fishermen arrive, two on each vehicle. Before the sun rises, the fishermen’s creaky wooden boats are specks in the distance. In the soft light of dawn, a large flock of bar-headed geese at the water’s edge becomes visible.

Sacred strokes of color on foreheads are a major display of Hinduism at India’s Maha Kumbh festival

PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) — The pilgrims come and go as strangers. They march like a sea of people, walking toward the spot where they take holy baths, drawn by the hope that the bathing would bring them salvation. But when they leave — believing their sins have been cleansed by the redemptive bath — they leave with one thing in common: their foreheads display a sacred stroke of color. This sacred stroke, called tilak, is ubiquitous to the millions of Hindu pilgrims attending the Maha Kumbh festival in India’s northern Prayagraj city, where faithful gather at the spot where the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers converge.

Pakistan’s favorable trade status depends on progress in human rights, media freedom, EU says

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The European Union on Friday warned Pakistan that its status as a duty-free exporter to the bloc will continue to depend on the progress it makes in addressing concerns over civil and labor rights, and freedom of speech. The warning came at the end of a visit to Islamabad by Olof Skoog, the EU’s special representative for human rights, which the EU said was aimed at engaging Pakistan on “the most pressing human rights and labor rights issues and discussing Pakistan’s plans to address them.” It said that trade benefits provided to Pakistan under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) depend on the “progress made on addressing a list of issues, including on human rights,” adding that “tangible reforms remain essential.” Pakistan’s exports to Europe have doubled since 2014 when it was awarded the status of duty-free exporter under GSP+.

Tens of thousands of Muslims attend annual Biswa Ijtema event in Bangladesh

TONGI, Bangladesh (AP) — Tens of thousands of people gathered on a riverbank near Bangladesh’s capital on Friday to listen to sermons by Islamic scholars at the Biswa Ijtema, or global congregation of Muslim devotees. The three-day annual event will end Sunday when hundreds of thousands of Muslims are expected to join final prayers like every year. This is the first phase of Biswa Ijtema, while the second phase will be held Feb. 3-5. The third phase will be held Feb. 14-16. Biswa Ijtema is one of the largest gatherings of Muslim devotees, held on the sandy banks of the Turag River in Tongi, just north of Dhaka, the capital.