Top Asian News 12:17 a.m. GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that "things are going very well with North Korea" and he plans a second summit with leader Kim Jong Un to try to broker a deal that would entice the North to give up its nuclear weapons. "We've agreed to meet sometime probably the end of February. We've picked a country, but we'll be announcing it in the future. Kim Jong Un is looking very forward to it and so am I," the president told reporters Saturday at the White House. The initial news of a second meeting with the reclusive North Korean leader came after Trump's 90-minute session Friday in the Oval Office with a North Korean envoy, Kim Yong Chol, who traveled to Washington to discuss denuclearization talks.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An Islamic cleric who was the ideological leader of the Bali bombers and other Indonesian militants is being released early from a 15-year prison sentence after the country's president relented on a condition that he renounce radical beliefs, lawyers confirmed Saturday. Abu Bakar Bashir had previously been ineligible for parole because of his refusal to recognize the secular government's authority. He insists he is only answerable to God and that Indonesia should be governed by Islamic law. His planned release comes during campaigning for a presidential election due in April in which opponents of President Joko Widodo have tried to discredit him as insufficiently Islamic.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who won a third straight term with an overwhelming majority in last month's election, sought the people's support at a victory rally Saturday amid international calls for an investigation into alleged irregularities during the polls. The opposition is demanding a new election, saying the Dec. 30 polls were rigged, an allegation the Election Commission and Hasina have rejected. On Saturday, Hasina told tens of thousands of her supporters in a park in Dhaka, the capital, that she would "work for all" amid criticism that she could become increasingly authoritarian. A Hasina-led alliance won 288 seats in the 300-seat Parliament in the election.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A 20-year-old man appeared in an Australian court on Saturday charged with murder and rape in the death of an Israeli student in the city of Melbourne in a savage attack that shocked Australia. Codey Herrmann, an aspiring rapper who performs as M.C. Codez, did not apply for bail when he appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court accused of slaying Aiia Maasarwe in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The 21-year-old victim had been studying at La Trobe University in Melbourne for the past five months as an exchange student from Shanghai University in China. She was on her way home from a Melbourne comedy club and was speaking to her younger sister in Israel on FaceTime with her cellphone when she was attacked shortly after stepping off from a tram in the suburb of Bundoora.

TOKYO (AP) — Representatives from a Pacific Rim trade bloc geared up to roll out and expand the market-opening initiative as they met Saturday in Tokyo, reaffirming their commitment to open and free trade and inviting new membership. The Pacific Rim free trade agreement, rejected by President Donald Trump after he took office in 2017, took effect at the end of last year after Australia became the sixth nation to ratify it. So far, seven of the 11 member countries have done so, and the others are expected to follow through soon. Known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, the agreement aims to streamline trade and slash tariffs to facilitate more business among member nations with a combined population of nearly 500 million and GDP of $13.5 trillion.

HAT YAI, Thailand (AP) — Gunmen presumed to be Muslim insurgents stormed a Buddhist temple in southern Thailand, killing two monks and wounding two others, police said Saturday. The Friday night attack in Narathiwat province was the latest in a recent upsurge of violence in the area, which since 2004 has been plagued by a separatist insurgency that has claimed about 7,000 lives. Narathiwat is one of Thailand's three southernmost provinces, the only ones with Muslim majorities in the Buddhist-dominated country. Witnesses described seeing armed men arrive at the temple on motorcycles, open fire with automatic weapons and then storm inside where they shot the monks in their quarters, according to Thai news report.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Belarusian model and self-styled sex instructor who last year claimed to have evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election said Saturday that she apologizes to a Russian tycoon for the claim and won't say more about the matter. Anastasia Vashukevich made the statement in a Moscow court that was considering whether to keep her in jail as she faces charges of inducement to prostitution. The court extended her detention for three more days. Vashukevich's statement appears to head off any chance of her speaking to U.S. investigators looking into possible collusion between Russia and President Donald Trump's campaign.

TORONTO (AP) — Canada's public safety minister said Friday that the country won't be deterred by Chinese pressure after China threatened reprisals if Huawei was banned from supplying equipment for 5G networks, highlighting the growing rift between America's neighbor and the emerging superpower. There are accusations that the telecom giant is controlled by China's ruling Communist Party or is required to facilitate Chinese spying. The U.S., Australia, Japan and other governments have imposed curbs on use of its technology. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said Canada has been abundantly clear it will not compromise national security. "It's a difficult challenge but we'll not be deterred by what we believe to be right and what we believe to be in the interests of Canada," Goodale said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As trade talks between the U.S. and China move to Washington later this month, President Donald Trump is hopeful that the economic powers can find a way to end a costly tariff fight. Trump tells reporters that "we've really had a very extraordinary number of meetings and a deal could very well happen with China." U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer (LYT'-hy-zur) and China's economy czar, Vice Premier Liu He, are expected to hold talks at the end of January. Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping (shee jihn-peeng) agreed on Dec. 1 to suspend further tariff increases for 90 days while they negotiate.

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's military announced Friday that the Arakan Army, a Buddhist rebel group in Rakhine state, has been classified a terrorist organization after mounting a flurry of recent attacks. The state earlier was the site of a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by the military against the Muslim Rohingya minority, causing more than 700,000 to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. Military officers said at a news conference in the capital, Naypyitaw, that leader Aung San Suu Kyi ordered security forces to launch the offensive against the Arakan Army. The insurgent group, which seeks autonomy from the central government, killed 13 police officers and wounded nine in attacks on Jan.