Top Asian News 4:58 a.m. GMT

South Korea’s impeached President Yoon detained in massive law-enforcement effort

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was detained in a massive law enforcement operation at the presidential compound Wednesday, defiantly insisting the anti-corruption agency didn’t have the authority to investigate his actions but saying he complied to prevent violence. In a video message recorded before he was escorted to the headquarters of the anti-corruption agency, Yoon lamented the “rule of law has completely collapsed in this country.” Yoon, the country’s first sitting president to be apprehended, had been holed up in the Hannam-dong residence in the capital, Seoul, for weeks while vowing to “fight to the end” the efforts to oust him.

Millions of pilgrims and naked, ash-smeared ascetics take holy dips in India’s mega Hindu festival

PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) — Tens of thousands of naked Hindu ascetics and millions of pilgrims took dips in freezing water at the confluence of sacred rivers in northern India on Tuesday, in the first of a series of major baths in the Maha Kumbh festival, the largest religious congregation on Earth. Holding tridents, swords, spears and small two-headed drums, ash-smeared Hindu holy men marched and rode chariots at sunrise toward the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers in the northern city of Prayagraj. The men — with matted dreadlocks and crowns of marigolds — chanted religious slogans praising Hindu deity Lord Shiva on the way to the bathing site in a large procession with singing, drumming and blowing of horns.

China is pushing the Philippines `to the wall’ with aggression in the South China Sea, Manila says

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine security official said Tuesday that China is “pushing us to the wall” with growing aggression in the disputed South China Sea and warned that “all options are on the table” for Manila’s response, including new international lawsuits. A large Chinese coast guard ship patrolled hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal in recent days and then sailed toward the northwestern coast of the Philippines on Tuesday, coming as close as 77 nautical miles (143 kilometers), Philippine officials said in a news conference. “The presence of the monster ship in Filipino waters … 77 nautical miles from our shoreline, is unacceptable and, therefore, it should be withdrawn immediately by the Chinese government,” Jonathan Malaya, assistant director-general of the National Security Council, said at the news conference alongside senior military and coast guard officials.

Australia’s prime minister demands Russia explain what happened to Australian POW

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday his government will take the “strongest action possible” if Russia has harmed an Australian who was taken prisoner while fighting for Ukraine. Video posted on social media in December showed Oscar Jenkins, 32, dressed in a military uniform with his hands bound being questioned and struck by a Russian interrogator. Australian authorities were seeking comment from Russia on reports that the Melbourne school teacher had been killed since he became a prisoner of war. Albanese said Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials were seeking “urgent clarification” of Jenkins’ circumstances.

Vietnam and Russia sign an agreement to expand cooperation on nuclear energy

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam and Russia inked Tuesday an agreement to boost cooperation on nuclear energy during Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s two-day visit to Hanoi. The Southeast Asian country has been trying to revive its nuclear energy plans — after it shelved building two nuclear power plants in 2016 due to ballooning costs and concerns around safety — hoping it will help it become energy-sufficient and reach its goal of curbing additional greenhouse emissions by 2050. The agreement was signed between Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom and Vietnam’s state-owned power utility EVN. Mishustin also held bilateral talks with his counterpart Pham Minh Chinh and met Vietnam’s Communist Party chief To Lam and the chairman of Vietnam’s National Assembly Tran Thanh Man.

UK minister quits while facing questions over links to ousted Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Hasina

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s anti-corruption minister resigned on Tuesday, bowing to mounting pressure over her links to her aunt, ousted Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Tulip Siddiq said that she had been cleared of wrongdoing but was quitting as economic secretary to the Treasury because the issue was becoming “a distraction from the work of the government.” Siddiq, 42, is a former local councilor who was elected lawmaker for a north London district in 2015. She was appointed to the government after Prime Minister Keir Starmer ‘s center-left Labour Party won a landslide election victory in July. Starmer has been under growing pressure to remove Siddiq from her post since she referred herself to the government’s ethics watchdog in early January following reports that she lived in London properties linked to her aunt.

North Korea launches missiles toward eastern waters in 2nd launch of year, South says

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Tuesday test-fired multiple missiles toward its eastern waters, South Korea’s military said, as it continued its weapons demonstrations ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the short-range ballistic missiles were fired from a northern inland area and flew about 250 kilometers (155 miles) before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The joint chiefs said the South Korean military has strengthened surveillance while sharing the launch information with the U.S. and Japanese militaries. It said it strongly condemns the test, describing it as a “clear provocation” that poses a serious threat to the region’s peace and stability.

Pakistani security forces kill 8 militants in raids in northwest

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani security forces killed eight militants in two raids targeting militant hideouts in restive northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, the military said Tuesday. The raids were conducted Monday in the Tank and Tirah Valley districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, it said in a statement. The military described the dead militants as “Khwarij,” a phrase the government uses for Pakistani Taliban. It gave no further details. Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, are allies of the Afghan Taliban but are a separate group. They have stepped up their assaults in the region since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.

AP PHOTOS: Young people in sumptuous kimonos and sober suits mark Coming of Age Day in Japan

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Japan’s Coming of Age Day is a sure sign of winter, arriving after New Year celebrations and before the cherry blossom parties of early spring. The national holiday is held on the second Monday of January. People turn out to admire the elaborate outfits young people don to celebrate the transition from child to adult. The age of adulthood has been lowered from 20 to 18, but many of the participants are still 20-year-olds. The men usually wear sober black suits, but the women are resplendent in kimonos woven in lustrous patterns — often of flowers — and a bright array of colors, many with elaborately constructed hairdos and fancy handbags.

India’s Modi inaugurates a strategic tunnel in disputed Kashmir

JAMMU, India (AP) — India’s prime minister marked Monday the opening of a tunnel in the northeast of disputed Kashmir that will grant all-year accessibility to a town that is isolated by heavy snow each winter. The $932 million project includes a second tunnel and a series of bridges and high mountain roads that will link Kashmir with Ladakh, a cold desert region nestled between India, Pakistan and China that has faced territorial disputes for decades. Amid high security, Narendra Modi visited the resort town of Sonamarg where he inaugurated the 6.5-kilometer (4-mile) tunnel. The town denotes the end of the conifer-clad mountains of the Kashmir Valley before Ladakh begins across the rocky Zojila mountain pass.