Top Asian News 4:45 a.m. GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Japanese stocks plunged Tuesday and other Asian markets declined following heavy Wall Street losses triggered by President Donald Trump's attack on the U.S. central bank. The Nikkei 225 fell by an unusually wide margin of 5.1 percent to 19,147.45 points. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 2.1 percent to 2,473.75. Benchmarks in Thailand and Taiwan also declined. Markets in Hong Kong, Australia and South Korea were closed for Christmas. Wall Street indexes fell more than 2 percent on Monday after Trump said on Twitter the Federal Reserve was the U.S. economy's "only problem." Efforts by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to calm investor fears only seemed to make matters worse.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday ordered North Korea to pay more than $500 million in a wrongful death suit filed by the parents of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died shortly after being released from that country. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell harshly condemned North Korea for "barbaric mistreatment" of Warmbier in agreeing with his family that the isolated nation should be held liable for his death last year. She awarded punitive damages and payments covering medical expenses, economic loss and pain and suffering to Fred and Cindy Warmbier, who alleged that their son had been held hostage and tortured.

SHANGHAI (AP) — It took less than 24 hours for all the Christmas trees, lights and bells to disappear from a 27-story shopping and office complex in the Chinese city of Nanyang. Even the giant teddy bear at the mall entrance wasn't spared, said Ma Jun, who works at a tutoring company in the building. "Everything is gone and cleaned," she said. Christmas continues to be a shopping festival across most of China, with huge trees adorning shopping malls in Shanghai and Beijing, but a growing emphasis on traditional culture by the ruling Communist Party and the systematic suppression of religion under President Xi Jinping are imperiling Santa Claus's position.

SUMUR, Indonesia (AP) — The Christmas holiday was somber with prayers for tsunami victims in the Indonesian region hit by waves that struck without warning Saturday night. Markus Taekz said his Rahmat Pentecostal Church in the hard-hit area of Carita did not celebrate with joyous music. Instead, he said only about 100 people showed up for the Christmas Eve service, usually attended by double that number, because many people had left the area for the capital, Jakarta, or other areas away from the disaster zone. "This is an unusual situation because we have a very bad disaster that killed hundreds of our sisters and brothers in Banten," he said, referring to the Javanese province.

TANJUNG LESUNG, Indonesia (AP) — As the white strobe lights flashed hypnotically, the band's lead singer screamed into the crowd: "We are! We are Seventeen! Seventeen!" He then let loose with a long note as the guitarist wailed behind him. Some in the audience clapped as they sat at beachside tables covered in crisp white linens. Others walked casually across the grass. A small boy wandered among the tables, and a woman in a headscarf moved closer to the stage, her cellphone out and ready to capture the memory of this perfect night, a year-end concert at a popular resort on Java island's west coast.

A look at major tsunamis in Indonesia in recent years: September 2018: In the eastern Indonesian city of Palu, on the Palu-Koro Fault, a 7.5 quake and the resulting tsunami kills nearly 2,000 with thousands more missing. October 2010: A 10-foot (three-meter) wave strikes the Mentawai Islands, off the western coast of Sumatra in Indonesia, just minutes after a massive offshore earthquake. More than 400 people are killed and hundreds of homes are destroyed. July 2006: A tsunami kills at least 668 people on Java's southern coast. December 2004: A massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake hits Indonesia, spawning a giant tsunami off Sumatra, killing more than 230,000 in a dozen countries — the majority in Indonesia.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — An anti-graft tribunal sentenced former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to seven years in prison for corruption on Monday, drawing criticism from his party, which said the decision was a "black stain" on the justice system. The verdict came after Sharif was removed from power last year over corruption allegations. Sharif, who was serving his third stint as prime minister, has denied any wrongdoing. He is accused of possessing assets beyond his known sources of income, and was arrested after the ruling was announced. He can appeal the verdict, under which he was also fined $25 million for not disclosing how his family set up the Al-Azizia Steel Mills when he was exiled to Saudi Arabia by Pervez Musharraf, a former dictator who toppled Sharif's government in 1999.

BEIJING (AP) — China's legislature is considering a law to ban local governments from forcing foreign companies to hand over technology, an issue that helped to spark Washington's tariff war with Beijing. Beijing rejects complaints companies are required to trade technology for market access. But officials including Premier Li Keqiang promised this year to crack down as tensions with Washington heated up. A proposed foreign investment law taken up Sunday by the legislature would make clear officials cannot "force the transfer of technology" as a condition of ventures, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Washington and Beijing have raised tariffs on billions of dollars of each other's goods in a dispute over American complaints China's industry plans are based on theft of technology and violate its market-opening obligations.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Thousands of army soldiers are being deployed across Bangladesh to provide security and help conduct national elections next Sunday. The deployment began early Monday and the soldiers will be on duty until Jan. 2, the military's public relations office said. The soldiers are setting up camps in 389 areas and navy personnel are fanning out across the coast, according to the statement. The air force is keeping helicopters ready for any urgent needs, and the soldiers will maintain order on important roads or highways whenever needed. Earlier this month, authorities deployed paramilitary border forces in 87 bordering areas.