SEOUL, South Korea (AP) South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday

that she'll resign if parliament comes up with a plan to transfer power, her latest
attempt to fend off impeachment efforts and massive street protests amid prosecution
claims that a corrupt confidante wielded government power from the shadows.
Opponents immediately called Park's conditional resignation offer a stalling tactic, and
analysts said her steadfast denial that she has done anything wrong could embolden
her enemies. The country's largest opposition party, the Minjoo Party, said it would not
let Park's "ploy to avoid impeachment" interfere with a planned vote on impeachment
on Friday.
BANGKOK (AP) Thailand's parliament on Tuesday named Crown Prince
Vajiralongkorn as the new king, completing a formal step for the heir to take the throne
following the death of his father last month. The Cabinet, following a 1924 law on
succession, submitted Vajiralongkorn's name to the National Assembly after a brief
meeting, where members formally acknowledged him as the new monarch. "I would
like everyone to stand up and give their blessings to the new king," said National
Assembly president Pornpetch Wichitcholchai. His statement was followed by a cheer
of "Long live the king" by all assembly members. Pornpetch said he would invite
Vajiralongkorn to take the throne, the 10th in the Chakri dynasty, which was founded in
1782.
WASHINGTON (AP) Two years after being brought to the U.S. to face charges in an
attempted attack on American forces in Afghanistan, Irek Hamidullin is arguing he
should never have been prosecuted at all. A federal court appeal from Hamidullin, a
former Russian army officer who later fought alongside Taliban-affiliated forces, raises
anew the question of how the U.S. government should handle people captured
overseas for acts of violence they commit against the American military. At issue is
whether Hamidullin should be regarded as an ordinary criminal or, as he contends, a
lawful combatant entitled to be treated as a prisoner of war and immune from the U.S.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) An Afghan official says Taliban fighters have killed four
border police in an ambush in the southern province of Zabul. Bismullah Afghanmal,
the provincial governor of Zabul, said the police were ambushed while on a foot patrol
in a mountainous area. He says several Taliban were also killed in Sunday's clash, but
had no additional details. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a police official says 30 Islamic
State militants have been killed in the eastern province of Nangarhar in the past 24
hours. Police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashraqiwal says the IS fighters, including a

senior judge for the extremist group, were killed in Afghan airstrikes and ground
attacks.
SRINAGAR, India (AP) Rebels fighting against Indian rule in the disputed Himalayan
region of Kashmir stormed an Indian military base Tuesday morning, triggering a fierce
gunbattle that left two army officers and a militant dead, officials said. The renewed
violence followed a five-day lull in fighting between Indian and Pakistani troops, who
have been exchanging heavy mortar and artillery fire for months across the de facto
border that divides Kashmir between the two nations. India has accused Pakistan of
helping anti-India rebels stage deadly attacks on its military compounds an
allegation Pakistan denies. Early Tuesday, at least two militants opened indiscriminate
fire on the military camp in Nagrota, a town on the main highway connecting Kashmir's
two main cities of Srinagar and Jammu, according to top police officer S.P.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) A former law firm receptionist who left school at 15 was
on Tuesday named the first woman to become Australia's highest ranking judge. High
Court Justice Susan Kiefel, 62, will in January become the senior judge on the sevenjudge bench with the retirement of Chief Justice Robert French, the government said.
She will become the 13th Chief Justice of Australia since the court first sat in 1903. In
announcing her appointment, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described Kiefel as an
inspiration and a reminder to lawyers that their own office secretary might one day
become Australia's most senior judge.
NEW DELHI (AP) An uneasy calm has fallen over the de facto border between the
Indian and Pakistani-controlled portions of Kashmir after months of deadly firing and
signs that the two countries were engaged in a brinkmanship not seen for decades.
Though guns have gone silent for the past five days, analysts say the two nucleararmed neighbors have displayed unprecedented aggression this year without pursuing
any real lines of diplomacy. They've amped up the artillery they've used and targeted
infrastructure instead of just military outposts. The corpses of soldiers killed in battle
have been found mutilated. "The level of retaliation was definitely more intense than
what India has done in the past," said defense analyst C.
YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) Nissan is going to offer internet access, safety technology
and myriad accessory options the Japanese automaker calls "hyper-personalization,"
not only in new models but also for vehicles people already own. That means more
than access to the music or seat colors of your choice. Advances in 3-D printing, for
instance, will make possible all kinds of designs for your car, based on practically
anything, such as Pokemon or images of your children, similar to how people can

customize their sneaker today, Nissan Motor Co. Corporate Vice President Kent
O'Hara, who oversees the after-sales business, said Tuesday. O'Hara is projecting that
his division's efforts in connectivity, accessories and personalization will deliver 25
percent of company's after-sales revenue by 2022, when it's negligible now.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) The new head of Pakistan's army takes over Tuesday
as tensions have jumped with arch-rival India over disputed Kashmir and as ties with
Afghanistan remain rocky. Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa will be installed at a ceremony in
the garrison town of Rawalpindi, replacing Gen. Raheel Sharif, who steps down after
completing his three-year term during which the military launched several operations
against al-Qaida, Taliban and local militants to dismantle their sanctuaries near
Afghanistan and elsewhere in the country. Bajwa was fourth in seniority on a list of five
army generals sent to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and had been little discussed until
Sharif picked him.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) The head of Malaysian electoral reform group
Bersih, which led a mass anti-government rally this month, has been freed after being
held for 10 days without trial under a security law meant for terrorists. Maria Chin was
detained Nov. 18 for "activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy," just a day
before thousands of protesters took to Kuala Lumpur's streets to demand the
resignation of Prime Minister Najib Razak over a financial scandal. Police said 15,500
people protested, but Bersih estimated the crowd at 120,000. Chin's release Monday
came a day before a court hearing to challenge her detention under the Security
Offences Act.