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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez inaugurated India's first private military aircraft plant Monday, boosting New Delhi's ambitions of growing local manufacturing in its defense and aerospace industries. Sanchez was welcomed to the country with a roadshow in Gujarat state's Vadodara city where hundreds of people cheered and waved banners. The two leaders then launched the Tata Aircraft Complex, the manufacturing hub which will produce the Airbus C-295 transport military aircraft in collaboration with Airbus Spain and to be deployed by the Indian air force. Sanchez said the project was a triumph of Modi's vision “to turn India into an industrial powerhouse and a magnet for investment and business-to-business collaboration." “This partnership between Airbus and Tata will contribute to the progress of the Indian aerospace industry and will open new doors for the arrival of other European companies,” he added. The chairman of Tata conglomerate, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, hailed it as a historic day for the country's defense sector and credited the late Ratan Tata, the industrialist and former chairman who died earlier this month, for conceiving the idea more than a decade ago. Under a $2.5 billion deal signed in 2021, Airbus will deliver the first 16 of the aircraft from its final assembly line in Seville, Spain — six of them have been delivered to the Indian air force so far. Tata Advanced Systems Ltd will produce 40 of the aircraft in the Vadodara plant, which is expected to roll out the first C-295 aircraft made in India in 2026. The aircraft can transport up to 71 troops or 50 paratroopers and will be able to access remote locations. It can also be used for medical evacuations and aid in disaster response and maritime patrol duties. Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has vowed to turn India into a global manufacturing hub, including in infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and defense. As part of an effort to modernize and reform military equipment, the government has sought to grow the private defense manufacturing sector, a space previously occupied solely by the government-run organizations, and has eased foreign direct investment regulations to try and encourage companies to establish themselves in India. Expelled Indian high commissioner denies involvement in murder of Sikh leader in Canada The visit marks the first by a Spanish leader to India in 18 years. Modi and Sanchez have previously met on the sidelines of global summits in 2018 and 2021. During the two-day visit, Sanchez will hold talks with Modi to review ties between the countries and also speak with Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar Subrahmanyam. On Tuesday, Sanchez will travel to Mumbai, India's financial capital and home to Bollywood, where he is expected to interact with trade and industry leaders, and also visit film studios in an effort to grow collaboration between the Indian and Spanish entertainment industry. Their bilateral trade stood at nearly $10 billion as of 2023. According to the Indian foreign ministry, more than 200 Spanish companies actively operate in India and around 80 Indian companies in Spain. The two leaders are expected to sign agreements that will further boost ties and cooperation in various areas such as trade, information technology, renewable energy and defense, according to an Indian government statement.  

Three well-armed militias launched a surprise joint offensive in northeastern Myanmar a year ago, breaking a strategic stalemate with the regime's military with rapid gains of huge swaths of territory and inspiring others to attack around the country. The military's control had seemed firmly ensconced with vast superiority in troops and firepower, plus material support from Russia and China. But today the government is increasingly on the back foot, with the loss of dozens of outposts, bases and strategic cities that even its leaders concede would be challenging to take back. “The military is on the defensive all over the country, and every time it puts its energy into one part of the country, it basically has to shift troops and then is vulnerable in other parts,” said Connor Macdonald of the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar advocacy group. “To us it doesn't look like there's any viable route back for the military to recapture any of the territory that it's lost.” The military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, triggering intensified fighting with long-established armed militias organized by Myanmar's ethnic minority groups in its border regions, which have struggled for decades for more autonomy. The army's takeover also sparked the formation of pro-democracy militias known as People's Defense Forces. They support the opposition National Unity Government, which was established by elected lawmakers barred from taking their seats after the army takeover. Political uncertainty creates in Japan as ruling coalition loses majority in the election But until the launch of Operation 1027, eponymously named for its Oct. 27 start, the military, known as the Tatmadaw, had largely been able to prevent major losses around the country. Operation 1027 brought coordinated attacks from three of the most powerful ethnic armed groups, known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance: the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army. The alliance quickly captured towns and overran military bases and outposts along the Chinese border in northeastern Shan state. Two weeks later, the Arakan Army launched attacks in its western home state of Rakhine, and since then other militia groups and PDFs have joined in around the country. Myanmar's military has been pushed back to the country's centerA year after the offensive began, resistance forces now fully or partially control a vast horseshoe of territory. It starts in Rakhine state in the west, runs across the north and then heads south into Kayah and Kayin states along the Thai border. The Tatmadaw has pulled back toward central Myanmar, around the capital Naypyidaw and largest city of Yangon. “I never thought our goals would be achieved so quickly,” Lway Yay Oo, spokesperson for the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, told The Associated Press. “We only thought that we would attack the military council together to the extent we could, but it has been easier than expected so we’ve been able to conquer more quickly.” Along the way, the Tatmadaw has suffered some humiliating defeats, including the loss of the city of Laukkai in an assault in which the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army captured more than 2,000 troops, including six generals; and of the city of Lashio, which had been home to the military's Northeast Command. “The 1027 offensive was a highly impressive operation, quite complex, and the use of drones played a big role because basically they were able to dismantle the military's network of fire-support bases across northern Shan,” said Morgan Michaels, a Singapore-based analyst with the International Institute of Strategic Studies who runs its Myanmar Conflict Map project. “And then, once the military's artillery support eroded, they were able to overrun harder targets like towns and battalion headquarters.” A year later, the military is “substantially weakened,” he said, but it's too early to write it off. The military has been weakened, but not defeatedThe Tatmadaw has managed to claw back the town of Kawlin in the Sagaing region, which had fallen in the first days of the 1027 offensive, stave off an attack by three ethnic Karenni militias on Loikaw, the capital of Kayah state, and has retained administrative control of Myawaddy, a key border crossing with Thailand, after holding off an assault by one ethnic group with the assistance of a rival militia. Many expect the military to launch a counteroffensive when the rainy season soon comes to an end, bolstered by some 30,000 new troops since activating conscription in February and its complete air superiority. But at the same time, resistance groups are closing in on Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, in the center of the country. And where they might be out-gunned, they have gained strength, hard-won experience and confidence over the last year, said the Ta’ang National Liberation Army's Lway Yay Oo. “We have military experience on our side, and based on this experience we can reinforce the fighting operation,” she said. 19 militants killed in separate shootouts in Pakistan Thet Swe, a spokesperson for the military regime, conceded it will be a challenge for the Tatmadaw to dislodge the Three Brotherhood Alliance from the territory it has gained. “We cannot take it back during one year,” he told the AP in an e-mailed answer to questions. “However, I hope that I will give you a joyful message ... in (the) coming two or three years.” Civilian casualties rise as the military turns more to indiscriminate strikesAs the military has faced setbacks in the fighting on the ground, it has been increasingly relying on indiscriminate air and artillery strikes, resulting in a 95% increase in civilian deaths from airstrikes and a 170% increase in civilians killed by artillery since the 1027 offensive began, according to a report last month by the United Nations' Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Tatmadaw has been accused of deliberately targeting civilians whom it believes support the resistance militias, a tactic that is only turning more against them, said Isabel Todd, coordinator for the SAC-M group. “It doesn't seem to be having the effect that they want it to have,” she said. “It’s making them even more hated by the population and really strengthening the resolve to ensure that this is the end of the Myanmar military as it’s known.” Military spokesperson Thet Swe denied targeting civilians, saying it was militia groups that were responsible for killing civilians and burning villages. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the fighting, and there are now more than 3 million internally displaced people in Myanmar overall, and some 18.6 million people in need, according to the U.N. At the same time, the 2024 humanitarian response plan is only 1/3 funded, hindering the delivery of aid, said Sajjad Mohammad Sajid, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs operation in Myanmar. “The humanitarian outlook for the next year is grim, and we anticipate that the deteriorating situation will have a massive impact on the protection of civilians," he said in an interview. In some areas, however, the offensive has eased pressure, like northwestern Chin state, which borders Bangladesh and India and had previously been the focus of many of the Tatmadaw's operations, said Salai Htet Ni, a spokesperson for the Chin National Front whose armed wing has been involved in fighting the military. “In October of last year the military convoys that were going up into the Chin mountains were withdrawn,” he said. “As a result of the 1027 operation there have been almost no major military activities.” Success brings new tensions between resistance groupsAs the front has expanded it has seen militias advancing out of their own ethnic areas, like when Rakhine-based Arakan Army in January seized the Chin town of Paletwa, which has given rise to some friction between groups, foreshadowing possible future strife should the Tatmadaw eventually fall. In the case of Paletwa, Salai Htet Ni said his group was happy that the AA took it from the Tatmadaw, but added that there should have been negotiations before they began operating in Chin territory and that the AA should now bring Chin forces in to help administer the area. “Negotiations are mandatory for these regional administration issues,” he said. “But we will negotiate this case through dialogue, not military means.” At the moment there is a degree of solidarity between the different ethnic groups as they focus on a common enemy, but Aung Thu Nyein, director of communications for the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar think tank said that does not translate to common aspirations. Should the Tatmadaw fall, it could lead to the fragmentation of Myanmar unless the groups work hard to resolve political and territorial differences. “As far as I see, there is no established mechanism to resolve the issues,” he said. “The resistance being able to bring down the junta is unlikely, but I cannot discount this scenario, (and) if we cannot build trust and common goals, it could lead to the scenario of Syria.” Chinese interests and ties with both sides complicate the pictureComplicating the political picture is the influence of neighboring China, which is believed to have tacitly supported the 1027 offensive in what turned out to be a successful bid to largely shut down organized crime activities that had been flourishing along its border. In January, Beijing used its close ties with both the Tatmadaw and the Three Brotherhood groups to negotiate a ceasefire in northern Shan, which lasted for five months until the ethnic alliance opened phase two of the 1027 offensive in June, accusing the military of violating the ceasefire. China has been displeased with the development, shutting down border crossings, cutting electricity to Myanmar towns and taking other measures in a thus-far unsuccessful attempt to end the fighting. Its support for the regime also seems to be growing, with China's envoy to Myanmar urging the powerful United Wa State Army, which wasn't involved in the 1027 offensive or related fighting, to actively pressure the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and Ta’ang National Liberation Army to halt the renewed offensive, according to leaked details of an August meeting widely reported by local media. There is no evidence that the UWSA has done that, however. “The idea that the northern groups and the Three Brotherhood Alliance etc. are somehow just agents of China is a complete misconception,” Todd said. “They have their own objectives which they are pursuing that are independent of what China may or may not want them to do, and that's apparent in the incredible amount of pressure that China has put on them recently.” Because of the grassroot support for the resistance, it is less vulnerable to outside influence, said Kyaw Zaw, a spokesperson for the opposition National Unity Government. “No matter who is putting pressure on us, we are winning because of the power of the people,” he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’ s ruling coalition lost a majority in the 465-seat lower house in a key parliamentary election Sunday, a punishment by voters' outrage over the governing party’s extensive financial scandals. Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party remains the top party in Japan's parliament, and a change of government is not expected. But the results create political uncertainty. Falling short of a majority makes it difficult for Ishiba to get his party’s policies through parliament, and he may need to find a third coalition partner. The LDP’s coalition retains a majority in the less powerful upper house. All told, the ruling coalition with junior partner Komeito secured 215 seats, down sharply from the majority of 279 it previously held, according to Japanese media. It is the coalition's worst result since briefly falling from power in 2009. Ishiba took office on Oct. 1 and immediately ordered the election in hopes of shoring up support after his predecessor, Fumio Kishida, failed to address public outrage over the LDP’s scandals. “The results so far have been extremely severe, and we take them very seriously," Ishiba told Japan's national NHK television late Sunday. “I believe the voters are telling us to reflect more and become a party that lives up to their expectations." Ishiba said the LDP would still lead a ruling coalition and tackle key policies, compile a planned supplementary budget and pursue political reform. He indicated that his party is open to cooperating with opposition groups if that suits the public's expectations. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, led by centrist leader Yoshihiko Noda, made huge gains to 148 seats, from its previous 98. “We accomplished our goal of preventing the ruling coalition from a majority, which was a major achievement,” Noda said. Noda called the election a rare chance for a change of government, and said he seeks to lead a coalition with other opposition groups to do so. But his party has had trouble finding partners, and many voters were skeptical about the opposition’s ability and inexperience. For Ishiba, potential additional partners include the Democratic Party of the People, which calls for lower taxes, and the conservative Japan Innovation Party. DPP head Yuichiro Tamaki said he was open to “a partial alliance.” Innovation Party chief Nobuyuki Baba has denied any intention to cooperate. The centrist DPP quadrupled to 28 seats, while the conservative Innovation Party slipped to 38. Ishiba may also face backlash from a number of scandal-tainted lawmakers with former leader Shinzo Abe's faction, whom Ishiba had un-endorsed for Sunday's election in an attempt to regain public support. The LDP is less cohesive now and could enter the era of short-lived prime ministers. Ishiba is expected to last at least until the ruling bloc approves key budget plans at the end of December. “The public’s criticisms against the slush funds scandal has intensified, and it won’t go away easily,” said Izuru Makihara, a University of Tokyo professor of politics and public policy. “There is a growing sense of fairness, and people are rejecting privileges for politicians.” Makihara suggested Ishiba needs bold political reform measures to regain public trust. A total of 1,344 candidates, including a record 314 women, ran for office in Sunday's election. In another blow to the ruling coalition, a number of LDP veterans who have served in Cabinet posts, as well as Komeito's new leader, Keiichi Ishii, lost seats. Experts say a CDPJ-led government is not in the picture because of its lack of viable policies. “If they take power and try to change the economic and diplomatic policies of the current government, they will only end up collapsing right away,” Makihara said. Realistically, Ishiba's ruling coalition would seek a partnership with either the Innovation Party or the Democratic Party of the People, he said. At a downtown Tokyo polling station, a number of voters said they had considered the corruption scandal and economic measures in deciding how to vote. Once a popular politician known for criticism of even his own party’s policies, Ishiba has also seen support for his weeks-old Cabinet plunge. Ishiba pledged to revitalize the rural economy, address Japan’s falling birth rate and bolster defense. But his Cabinet has familiar faces, with only two women, and was seen as alienating members of the faction led by late premier Shinzo Abe. Ishiba quickly retreated from earlier support for a dual surname option for married couples and legalizing same-sex marriage, an apparent compromise to the party’s influential ultra-conservatives. His popularity fell because of “the gap in what the public expected him to be as prime minister versus the reality of what he brought as prime minister,” said Rintaro Nishimura, a political analyst at The Asia Group.

The number of dead and missing in massive flooding and landslides wrought by Tropical Storm Trami in the Philippines has reached nearly 130 and the president said Saturday that many areas remained isolated with people in need of rescue. Trami blew away from the northwestern Philippines on Friday, leaving at least 85 people dead and 41 others missing in in one of the Southeast Asian archipelago’s deadliest and most destructive storms so far this year, the government’s disaster-response agency said. The death toll was expected to rise as reports come in from previously isolated areas. Dozens of police, firefighters and other emergency personnel, backed by three backhoes and sniffer dogs, dug up one of the last two missing villagers in the lakeside town of Talisay in Batangas province Saturday. A father, who was waiting for word on his missing 14-year-old daughter, wept as rescuers placed the remains in a black body bag. Distraught, he followed police officers, who carried the body bag down a mud-strewn village alley to a police van when one weeping resident approaching him to express her sympathies. The man said he was sure it was his daughter, but authorities needed to do checks to confirm the identity of the villager dug up in the mound. In a nearby basketball gym at the town center, more than a dozen white coffins were laid side by side, bearing the remains of those found in the heaps of mud, boulders and trees that cascaded Thursday afternoon down the steep slope of a wooded ridge in Talisay's Sampaloc village. President Ferdinand Marcos, who inspected another hard-hit region southeast of Manila Saturday, said the unusually large volume of rainfall dumped by the storm — including in some areas that saw one to two months’ worth of rainfall in just 24 hours — overwhelmed flood controls in provinces lashed by Trami. "The water was just too much,” Marcos told reporters. “We’re not done yet with our rescue work,” he said. “Our problem here, there are still many areas that remained flooded and could not be accessed even big trucks." His administration, Marcos said, would plan to start work on a major flood control project that can meet the unprecedented threats posed by climate change. More than 5 million people were in the path of the storm, including nearly half a million who mostly fled to more than 6,300 emergency shelters in several provinces, the government agency said. In an emergency Cabinet meeting, Marcos raised concerns over reports by government forecasters that the storm — the 11th to hit the Philippines this year — could make a U-turn next week as it is pushed back by high-pressure winds in the South China Sea. The storm was forecast to batter Vietnam over the weekend if it would not veer off course. The Philippine government shut down schools and government offices for the third day on Friday to keep millions of people safe on the main northern island of Luzon. Inter-island ferry services were also suspended, stranding thousands. Weather has cleared in many areas on Saturday, allowing cleanup work in most areas. Each year, about 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines, a Southeast Asian archipelago which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and flattened entire villages.

Enormous swathes of pristine forest are being cut down across Indonesia to supply the rapidly rising international demand for biomass material seen as critical to many countries' transitions to cleaner forms of energy. Nearly all of the biomass from forests destroyed for wood pellet production since 2021 has been shipped to South Korea and Japan, The Associated Press found in an examination of satellite images, company records and Indonesian export data. Both countries have provided millions of dollars to support the development of biomass production and use in Indonesia. Indonesia's state-run utility also has plans to dramatically increase the amount of biomass it burns to make electricity. Experts and environmentalists fear the rising international and domestic demand, coupled with weak domestic regulation, will accelerate deforestation at the same time it prolongs the use of highly polluting fossil fuels. Biomass is organic material like plants, wood and waste, and many coal-fired power plants can be easily modified to burn it alongside coal to make energy. “Biomass production — which is only recently starting to be seen on an industrial scale in Indonesia — is a dire new threat to the country's forests,” said Timer Manurung, director of Auriga Nusantara, an environmental and conservation organization in Indonesia. As countries accelerate their energy transitions, demand for biomass is growing: The use of bioenergy has increased an average of about 3% per year between 2010 and 2022, the International Energy Agency said. Experts including the IEA say it's important for that demand to happen in a sustainable way, such as using waste and crop residue rather than converting forest land to grow bioenergy crops. Deforestation contributes to erosion, damages biodiverse areas, threatens wildlife and humans who rely on the forest and intensifies disasters from extreme weather. And many scientists and environmentalists have rejected the use of biomass altogether. They say burning wood-based biomass can emit more carbon than coal and tree-cutting greatly reduces forests' ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Critics also say that using biomass to co-fire, instead of transitioning directly to clean energy, simply prolongs the use of coal. In Indonesia, biomass production is causing deforestation across the archipelago. Auriga Nusantara reports that more than 9,740 hectares (24,070 acres) of forest have been cleared in areas where biomass production is permitted since 2020. Permits have been issued for over 1.4 million hectares (3,459,475 acres) of energy plantation forests in Indonesia, with over one-third of that land being undisturbed forest. Over half of these concession areas are the habitat of flagship species such as sumatran rhino, elephants, orangutans and tigers, said Manurung. In the carbon-rich forests of Gorontalo, Sulawesi, the felling, shredding and shipping of old trees to make energy-dense wood pellets has been streamlined. Over 3,000 hectares (7,410 acres) of forest have been razed in a concession owned by Banyan Tumbuh Lestari, from 2021 to 2024, according to satellite analysis shared with AP by international environmental organization Mighty Earth. An additional 2,850 hectares (7,040 acres) were cleared for logging roads. After trees are cut down, they're turned into wood pellets at a facility near the concessions owned by Biomasa Jaya Abadi, the largest exporter of wood pellets from Indonesia from 2021-2023, according to data Auriga Nusantara compiled from the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry database. The database has no records of wood pellet exports prior to 2020. Biomasa Jaya Abadi did not respond to repeated requests for interviews or comment. Banyan Tumbuh Lestari do not have contact information publicly available; AP contacted their main shareholders seeking comment but got no response. Indonesia’s ministries of Environment and Forestry; Energy and Mineral Resources and Maritime Affairs and Investment did not respond to requests for comment. Nearly all of Indonesia's wood pellet production is shipped overseas to meet international demand, said Alloysius Joko Purwanto, an energy economist at the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia. Most of Indonesia's wood pellets went to South Korea (61%) and Japan (38%) from 2021-2023, according to government data. “It's clear that Japan and South Korea's governments are trying to buy more biomass from Indonesia to lower their own domestic emissions,” said Bhima Yudhistira, executive director of the Indonesia-based Center of Economic and Law Studies. Both countries have provided millions of dollars of financial support toward the development of biomass in Indonesia through research, policy, construction and other support, according to a review of publicly available business and government agreements by AP. South Korea's Forest Service, which drives South Korea's biomass expansion and policy, did not reply to requests for comment. Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries also did not respond to a request for comment. The promotion of biomass production and use has coincided with the ramping-up of Indonesia's domestic biomass use. The country's state electricity company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), plans to implement 10% biomass co-firing for 52 coal plants across the country. PLN estimates that would take 8 million tons of biomass a year — far greater than the wood pellet industry's capacity at the end of 2023 of less than 1 million tons, according to Indonesian civil society organization Trend Asia. To achieve PLN’s ambitions, a 66% increase in forest plantation land would be needed — “which would likely come at the expense of intact, carbon-rich and carbon-absorbing forests,” according to a report by Mighty Earth. PLN spokesperson Gregorius Adi Trianto told AP that the company's plan relied on biomass from “organic waste such as tree branches, rice waste, and wood industry waste ... rather than from actively logged forests.” With Indonesia lacking clear regulations and oversight of its expanding biomass industry, experts fear deforestation is likely to spike for years to come. “We're already far behind when it comes to monitoring and regulating issues around biomass production in Indonesia,” said Yudhistira. “There's definitely a lack of due diligence, and forests are suffering.”

A suicide attack at a checkpoint killed four Pakistani security personnel and injured five in the country’s northwest on Saturday, police said. The bombing was carried out in a rickshaw in the Mir Ali area of North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police officer Amjad Khanand said, adding that the injured were in critical condition. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, who operate out of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and target security personnel. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attack and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims. In a separate incident, a remote-controlled bomb struck a military convoy in Tank district, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. No casualties were reported.

Pakistani security forces faced off with insurgents in three separate shootouts, killing 19 militants, officials said Thursday. Troops killed 9 militants in the first overnight raid in Bajur, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said in a statement without providing further details. Weapons and ammunition were seized from a hideout in Bajur which used to be a base for militants until many were killed or forced out in multiple security operations. Meanwhile, police said an intense exchange of fire was still ongoing in another district, Dera Ismail Khan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in the volatile northwestern region that borders Afghanistan, is a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban. Also on Thursday, police said in a statement officers shot and killed 10 militants in Mianwali, a district in the eastern Punjab province. No details about the slain insurgents were shared. Pakistani Taliban in recent months have repeatedly attacked officers in Mianwali. The TTP is a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021. The Taliban takeover next door has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban who have stepped up attacks on Pakistani forces.

Imprisoned former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak issued a rare apology Thursday over the looting of a state investment fund worth billions of dollars "under my watch" while reiterating his innocence. Najib set up the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund, or 1MBD, shortly after taking power in 2009. Investigators allege more than $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by his associates to finance Hollywood films and extravagant purchases. The scandal upended Najib's government and he was defeated in the 2018 election. He faces a slew of legal cases and started serving time in 2022 after losing his final appeal in his first graft case. The apology comes ahead of Wednesday's court decision that will either acquit or order him to enter his defense in a second main graft trial, in which he faces four charges of abusing his power to obtain over $700 million from 1MDB and 21 charges of money laundering involving the same amount. “It pains me every day to know that the 1MDB debacle happened under my watch ... For that, I would like to apologize unreservedly to the Malaysian people,” Najib said in a statement, adding he was “still in deep shock knowing now the extent of the wretched and unconscionable shenanigans, and illegal things that happened in 1MDB.” He also said he should have “acted differently” but was misled. He reiterated he didn’t collaborate with Malaysian fugitive financier Low Taek Jho — identified by investigators as the mastermind behind the pilfering of the fund. Najib added he had been punished politically and should not also be “legally victimized”. Malaysia says it won't bow to China's demands to halt oil exploration in the South China Sea “Being held legally responsible for things that I did not initiate or knowingly enable is unfair to me, and I hope and pray that the judicial process will, in the end, prove my innocence,” he added. Najib's current trial began in August 2019. It is the most significant as it ties him directly to the 1MDB scandal that has prompted investigations in the U.S. and several other countries. Prosecutors allege Najib embezzled billions of dollars from 1MDB through an “elaborate charade” and then sought to cover his tracks. Najib says he was fooled into believing it was a donation from the Saudi Arabia royal family. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each count of abuse of power and up to five years for each of the money laundering charges. In addition, Najib still has a pending case involving a criminal breach of trust and another money laundering trial. His wife and other senior government officials are also facing corruption charges.

About 140 weak and hungry Rohingya Muslims, mostly women and children, were on a wooden boat anchored about 1 mile (0.60 kilometers) off the coast of Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh on Tuesday, officials said, and local residents refused to allow them onto land. The blue-painted boat has been floating off the coast since Friday. Three Rohingya died during the nearly two-week-long trip from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh to the waters off Labuhan Haji in South Aceh district, local police said. Five shot in clash at Ukhiya Rohingya Camp Authorities have transferred 11 Rohingya to a government hospital since Sunday after their health worsened. “Our community, the fishing community, refuses to let them land because of what happened in other places. They have caused unrest to local residents,” said Muhammad Jabal, the chief of the fishing community in South Aceh. A large banner hanging at the seaport read: “The people of South Aceh Regency reject the arrival of Rohingya refugees in the South Aceh Regency area." The group left Cox’s Bazar on Oct. 9, according to an Aceh police report, and intended to reach Malaysia. Some passengers on the boat had reportedly paid to be transported to other countries. Local residents have given the group food, Jabal said, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has also provided them food. There were 216 people on board when the boat departed Bangladesh and 50 of them reportedly disembarked in Indonesia’s Riau province, according to police. Aceh police have arrested three suspects for alleged people smuggling. About 1 million of the predominately Muslim Rohingya live in Bangladesh as refugees from Myanmar. They include about 740,000 who fled a brutal counterinsurgency campaign in 2017 by Myanmar’s security forces, who were accused of committing mass rapes and killings. The Rohingya minority in Myanmar faces widespread discrimination. Most are denied citizenship. Indonesia, like Thailand and Malaysia, is not a signatory to the United Nations’ 1951 Refugee Convention and is not obligated to accept them. However, the country generally provides temporary shelter to refugees in distress. In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from atop the overturned hull of a boat off the coast of Aceh. Another 67 passengers, including at least 28 children, had been killed when the boat capsized, according to the UNHCR. AP reported that the captain and crew had tortured women and girls before the the boat capsized.

Gunmen fatally shot at least seven people working on a strategic tunnel project in Indian-controlled Kashmir and injured at least five others, officials said on Monday. Police blamed militants who have been fighting against Indian rule for decades for the “terror attack” at a camp for construction workers near the disputed region’s resort town of Sonamarg. No rebel group immediately claimed responsibility. Kashmir gets largely powerless government after 5 years Police said at least two gunmen fired “indiscriminately” at officials and workers associated with the construction, leaving two dead on the spot. At least 10 others were taken to hospital, where five more died. The attack came shortly after workers returned to their lodgings on Sunday night. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the attack. The dead included five non-local laborers and officials, one Kashmiri worker and a Kashmiri doctor. Reinforcements of police and soldiers launched search operations in the area to nab the attackers. Omar Abdullah, the region's top elected official, condemned the attack in a post on social media platform X, calling it “dastardly & cowardly.” A key Kashmiri resistance leader said he was “deeply saddened by the outrageous killings.” “Another grim reminder of the unending cycle of violence and uncertainty we are suffering for decades,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq wrote on X. Hundreds of people, mostly non-local laborers, are working on the ambitious tunnel project that aims to connect the Kashmir Valley with Ladakh, a cold desert region that is isolated for half the year because of massive snowfalls. Experts say the tunnel project is important to the military, which will gain significantly improved capabilities to operate in Ladakh. The strategically important region shares de facto borders with Pakistan and China, and Indian and Chinese soldiers have been engaged in a military standoff there since 2020. Both countries have stationed tens of thousands of soldiers there, backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets. Sunday’s attack was the second attack on a non-local worker in the region since a largely powerless local government was sworn into office Wednesday, following the first local elections since India stripped the region of semi-autonomy five years ago. On Friday, body of a worker from eastern Bihar state, riddled with bullet wounds, was recovered from a maize field in southern Shopian district, police said. They blamed militants for the killing. Kashmir has witnessed a spate of killings, many targeting workers from other parts of India, since 2021. Police say the killings, which have also included local Muslim village councilors, police officials and civilians, have been carried out by anti-India rebels. India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since they gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. India insists that Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.