Top Asian News 11:23 a.m. GMT

In Afghanistan, jailed Taliban await peace, their freedom

PUL-E-CHARKHI, Afghanistan (AP) — Thousands of Taliban prisoners jailed in Afghanistan as insurgents see a peace deal being hammered out between the United States and the Taliban as their ticket to freedom. They know a prisoner release is a key pillar of any agreement that brings an end to Afghanistan’s 18-year war, Washington’s longest military engagement. A list of about 5,000 Taliban prisoners has been given to the Americans and their release has been written into the agreement under discussion, said a Taliban official familiar with the on-again, off-again talks taking place in Qatar. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

China convicts 3 researchers involved in gene-edited babies

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese scientist who set off an ethical debate with claims that he had made the world's first genetically edited babies was sentenced Monday to three years in prison because of his research, state media said. He Jiankui, who was convicted of practicing medicine without a license, was also fined 3 million yuan ($430,000) by a court in the southern city of Shenzhen, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported. Two other researchers involved in the project received lesser sentences and fines. The verdict said the three defendants had not obtained qualification as doctors, pursued fame and profits, deliberately violated Chinese regulations on scientific research and crossed an ethical line in both scientific research and medicine, according to Xinhua.

New Year's fireworks OK'd in Sydney as wildfire risk worsens

Kim calls for measures to protect North Korea's security

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for his military and diplomats to prepare unspecified “offensive measures” to protect the country’s security and sovereignty, the North’s state media said on Monday, before his end-of-year deadline for the Trump administration to make major concessions to salvage a fragile nuclear diplomacy. Kim during a ruling Workers’ Party meeting Sunday also “comprehensively and anatomically analyzed” problems arising in efforts to rebuild the North’s moribund economy and presented tasks for “urgently correcting the grave situation of the major industrial sectors,” the Korean Central News Agency said. The plenary meeting of the party’s Central Committee, which began on Saturday, is being closely watched amid concerns that Kim could suspend his deadlocked nuclear negotiations with the United States and take a more confrontational approach by lifting a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.

Trump faces raft of foreign policy challenges in new year

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump starts the new year knee-deep in daunting foreign policy challenges at the same time he'll have to deal with a likely impeachment trial in the Senate and the demands of a reelection campaign. American troops are still engaged in America's longest war in Afghanistan. North Korea hasn't given up its nuclear weapons. Add to that simmering tensions with Iran, fallout from Trump's decision to pull troops from Syria, ongoing unease with Russia and Turkey, and erratic ties with European and other longtime Western allies. Trump is not popular overseas, and being an impeached president who must simultaneously run for reelection could reduce the time, focus and political clout needed to resolve complex global issues like North Korea's nuclear provocations.

Taliban attack Afghan forces in country's north, killing 14

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban targeted a pro-government militia compound in northern Afghanistan before dawn on Monday, killing 14 members of the Afghan security forces, a local official. The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack came even as Taliban officials told The Associated Press just hours earlier that a temporary, nationwide cease-fire has been agreed upon among their council leaders. It wasn't clear when the cease-fire would go into effect. Of the 14 fatalities in the predawn attack in Jawzjan province, 13 were members of a pro-government militia and one was a policeman, said Abdul Maroof Azer, the governor's spokesman.

Hong Kong police accuse protesters of inciting youth crime

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong police on Monday accused activists in the long-running pro-democracy movement of inciting minors to commit crimes. The claim Monday comes two days before a planned New Year's Day march that is expected to attract tens of thousands of participants. Chief police spokesman Kwok Ka-chuen told reporters that the force was in close contact with the organizers of the Jan. 1 event, but would not tolerate threats to public safety. Kwok also said young people had been motivated to commit criminal acts during the protests, including dropping objects from the upper stories of apartment buildings. It wasn't clear whether those actions were directly tied to any specific demonstration.

China sentences pastor to 9 years on subversion charge

BEIJING (AP) — China on Monday sentenced a prominent pastor who operated outside the Communist Party-recognized Protestant organization to nine years in prison. The People's Intermediate Court in the southwestern city of Chengdu said Wang Yi was also convicted of illegal business operations, fined and had his personal assets seized. Wang had led the Early Rain Covenant Church and was arrested a year ago as part of an ongoing crackdown on all unauthorized religious groups in the country. The government requires that Protestants worship only in churches recognized and regulated by the party-led Three-Self Patriotic Movement. A separate body oversees the Catholic church, and China and the Vatican have no formal relations.

North India prepares for New Year's enveloped in cold smog

NEW DELHI (AP) — Opaque, chilly smog blanketed northern India on Monday as low temperatures collided with hazardous levels of air pollution. Across many cities in the region, including New Delhi, the capital, visibility was reduced to 200 meters (218 yards), according to the India Meteorological Department. With temperatures dropping in New Delhi to 1 degree Celsius (34 Fahrenheit), street vendors, auto rickshaw drivers and people who sleep on the streets of the capital wrapped themselves in hooded sweaters and blankets, and warmed their hands over small bonfires. The fires worsened New Delhi's notorious winter air pollution, with the air quality index — a measure of ozone, carbon dioxide and particulate matter — topping 500 at a monitor at the U.S.

Australian Jews decry Israeli health minister's appointment

JERUSALEM (AP) — Australia's Jewish community has slammed an Israeli government decision to promote to the post of health minister a legislator who is suspected of aiding an alleged sexual abuser wanted in Australia. The Israeli government on Sunday appointed Yaacov Litzman as health minister, sparking a litany of condemnations from Australia's staunchly pro-Israel Jewish community. In an open letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jeremy Leibler, the president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, called the decision "a slap in the face to the Australian Jewish community, the Australian people," as well as to the survivors of the alleged abuse.