Top Asian News 4:45 a.m. GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An undersea 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck off the southern Philippines on Saturday and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that it has a potential to generate a tsunami. No casualties or damage have been reported immediately. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in an initial report that the quake was detected at a depth of 49 kilometers (30 miles) and a magnitude of 7.1 about 162 kilometers (100 miles) off Davao Oriental province. It said that it could generate aftershocks but the agency did not expect any damage. The Philippine agency did not mention any tsunami threat.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — To judge by the stream of extraordinary images on the Korean Peninsula, you might think 2018 marked the beginning of an elusive peace in one of the world's last vestiges of the Cold War. Just months after a barrage of threats of missile strikes and personal insults had many fearing the worst, President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un strode toward each other on a sultry June day in Singapore and grasped hands, vowing to upend decades of animosity and pursue a nuclear settlement. About a month earlier, Kim walked across the cracked concrete block that marks the Korean border, the world's most heavily armed, and then, with a grin, guided a delighted South Korean President Moon Jae-in back into northern territory for a quick photo-op.

OTTAWA (AP) — Canada's government says a Canadian teacher detained in China over a problem with her work permit has been released. Albertan Sarah McIver was arrested earlier this month for issues related to her teaching job, but Global Affairs Canada spokesman Richard Walker said Friday that she has returned home. McIver's detention followed the arrests of two other Canadians on allegations they were harming China's national security. China detained Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor separately after Canada arrested a top executive for the Chinese technology company Huawei for possible extradition to the U.S. Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou is sought by the U.S.

CAIRO (AP) — A roadside bomb hit a tourist bus on Friday near the Giza Pyramids, killing three Vietnamese and their Egyptian guide, officials said. The bus was traveling in the Marioutiyah area near the pyramids when the crude roadside bomb, concealed by a wall, went off, Egypt's chief prosecutor Nabil Sadeq said in a statement. The blast wounded 11 other Vietnamese tourists as well as the Egyptian driver. The bus was carrying a total of 15 Vietnamese tourists, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It said that 10 were seriously injured. Vietnamese Ambassador to Egypt Tran Thanh Cong visited the scene of the attack and Al Haram Hospital, where the victims were being treated, the ministry said.

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia said Saturday it stripped a suspected militant held in Turkey of citizenship because he fought for the Islamic State group. Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton said that Neil Prakash was in the service of a "terrorist organization" and acted "inconsistently" with his allegiance to Australia. He became the 12th person to be stripped of Australian citizenship because of militant links, based on a 2007 law. "This government is determined to deal with foreign terrorist fighters as far from our shores as possible," Dutton told News Corp Australia. "Islamic State is opposed to Australia, our interests, values, democratic beliefs, rights and liberties." Australia is demanding Turkey extradite Prakash, who faces allegations of inciting a terror plot in his home state of Victoria.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is poised to win a record fourth term in Sunday's elections, drumming up support by promising a development bonanza as her critics question if the South Asian nation's tremendous economic success has come at the expense of its already fragile democracy. The polls, the 11th since Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971, pit 71-year-old Hasina against a united opposition helmed by Kamal Hossain, 82, an Oxford-educated lawyer and former foreign minister. Notably absent is former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, 74, Hasina's archrival and the head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Courts ruled she was ineligible to run from her colonial-era Dhaka jail cell, where she's serving a 17-year sentence for corruption.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Bad weather and a massive ash column hampered efforts to assess whether Indonesia's Anak Krakatau volcano island could trigger another deadly tsunami as authorities said Friday the search for victims in the worst-affected province will continue into January. Indonesia's disaster agency said that 426 people died in the Sunda Strait tsunami that struck Sumatra and Java without warning on Saturday. That was slightly lower than previously announced due to some victims being recorded twice. It said 23 are missing and more than 40,000 displaced. High seas, clouds and constant eruptions have hindered attempts to visually inspect Anak Krakatau, the offspring of the infamous Krakatau volcano whose eruption in 1883 caused a period of global cooling.

LONDON (AP) — British divers who rescued young soccer players trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand are among those being recognized in Britain's New Year's Honors List, along with 1960s model Twiggy and Monty Python star Michael Palin. Twiggy, a model who shot to stardom during the Beatles era, will become a "dame" — the female equivalent of a knight — while Palin, whose second career has seen him become an acclaimed travel documentary maker, receives a knighthood. Jim Carter, who played the acerbic Mr. Carson in "Downton Abbey," was also recognized, as was filmmaker Christopher Nolan, director of "Inception" and "Dunkirk," and best-selling author Philip Pullman, creator of the Dark Materials trilogy.

JINAN, China (AP) — Cui Haoxin is too young to remember the days of his people's oppression under Mao Zedong. The 39-year-old poet was born after the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, when the Hui — China's second-largest Muslim ethnic group — were among the masses tormented by the Red Guard. In the years since, the Hui (pronounced HWAY) generally have been supportive of the government and mostly spared the kind of persecution endured by China's largest Muslim group, the Uighur. There are signs, though, that that is changing. Cui fears both that history may be repeating itself and for his own safety as he tries to hold the ruling Communist Party accountable.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Despite the unwanted publicity of a criminal trial for one of their main suppliers, business is booming at Pyongyang's 'Singapore shops,' which sell everything from Ukrainian vodka to brand-name knock-offs from China. The stores stock many of the very things United Nations' sanctions banning trade in luxury goods are intended to block and provide a nagging reminder that not all potential trade partners are lining up behind the U.N.'s pronouncements or the Trump administration's policy of maximum pressure on the North. Especially when there's a buck — or a few million bucks — to be made.