Top Asian News 1:03 p.m. GMT

Black boxes analyzed for cause of Air India crash that killed 270

NEW DELHI (AP) — Investigators in India are studying the black boxes of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner after recovering them from the aircraft wreckage to ascertain the cause of last week’s plane crash that left at least 270 people dead. The black boxes will provide cockpit conversations and data related to the plane’s engine and control settings to investigators and help them in determining the cause of the crash. The London-bound Air India aircraft, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, crashed on a medical college hostel soon after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad. Only one passenger survived the crash, while 241 people on board and 29 on the ground were killed in one of India’s worst aviation disaster in decades.

Russian media says North Korea to send military construction workers and deminers to Russia

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea will send thousands of military construction workers and deminers to support reconstruction work in Russia’s Kursk region, Russian state media reported, another sign of expanding military partnership between the two nations. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti cited top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu as saying that North Korea will dispatch 1,000 deminers as well as 5,000 military construction workers to the Kursk region. The agency said Shoigu spoke during a visit to Pyongyang for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Following the expulsion of invaders from Russian soil, we’ve agreed to continue our constructive cooperation, with the Korean side providing assistance in the restoration of the Kursk region,” Shoigu said, according to RIA Novosti.

Airports close across the Mideast as the Israel-Iran conflict shutters the region’s airspace

BEIRUT (AP) — After Israeli strikes landed near the hotel where he was staying in the Iranian province of Qom, Aimal Hussein desperately wanted to return home. But the 55-year-old Afghan businessman couldn’t find a way, with Iranian airspace completely shut down. He fled to Tehran after the strike Sunday, but no taxi would take him to the border as the conflict between Iran and Israel intensified. “Flights, markets, everything is closed, and I am living in the basement of a small hotel,” Hussein told The Associated Press by cellphone on Monday. “I am trying to get to the border by taxi, but they are hard to find, and no one is taking us.” Israel launched a major attack Friday with strikes in the Iranian capital of Tehran and elsewhere, killing senior military officials, nuclear scientists, and destroying critical infrastructure.

South Korea ratifies treaty aimed at safeguarding international adoptions

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — After years of delay, South Korea has ratified the Hague Adoption Convention, an international treaty meant to safeguard international adoptions, marking a significant policy shift decades after sending tens of thousands of children to the West through an aggressive but poorly regulated adoption system. The government’s announcement Tuesday came as it faces growing pressure to address widespread fraud and abuse that plagued its adoption program, particularly during a heyday in the 1970s and 1980s when the country allowed thousands of children to be adopted every year. Many adoptees have since discovered their records were falsified to portray them as abandoned orphans, carelessly separated or even stolen from their birth families.

Two suspects detained in the killing of an Australian tourist in Bali

DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — Authorities have detained two suspects in the fatal shooting of an Australian tourist on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, the national police chief said Tuesday. “One of the suspects is now in Jakarta and while another one is traveling from abroad to Jakarta,” National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo told reporters. One suspect is detained in the capital and the other was detained overseas and is being returned to Indonesia under the supervision of authorities. Prabowo did not provide further details regarding the detention of the two suspects. The arrest was a collaboration between Indonesian police and immigration agencies and the Australian Federal Police, Prabowo said.

Alert raised to the highest level after Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano erupts

LEMBATA, Indonesia (AP) — Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano in south-central Indonesia erupted on Tuesday, spewing towering columns of hot ash into the air. Authorities raised the eruption alert to the highest level and expanded the danger zone to 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) from the crater. Indonesia’s Geology Agency said in a statement it recorded the volcano unleashing 10,000 meters (about 32,800 feet) of thick grey clouds on Tuesday afternoon, following significant volcanic activities, including 50 in two hours, rather than the usual daily 8 to 10 activities. The ashes expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud that could be seen from the cities located 90 kilometers (about 56 miles) to 150 kilometers (nearly 93 miles) from the mountain.

Thai police arrest 13 foreigners in an alleged $1.2M investment scam targeting Australians

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai police said Tuesday over a dozen foreigners, mostly Australians and British, were arrested for allegedly running an online investment fraud that had duped people out of at least 1.9 million Australian dollars (about $1.2 million). Police raided Monday a rental house in the province of Samut Prakan, neighboring Bangkok, and arrested 13 people, said Jirabhob Bhuridej, chief of the police’s Central Investigation Bureau, at a press conference in the Thai capital. Jirabhob said the Australian Federal Police (AFP) informed Thai authorities last year of a scam group led by an Australian and a British, and a joint investigation was launched.

Cambodia threatens Thai fruits ban as tensions over border disputes continue to soar

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia on Monday said it would stop importing Thai fruits and vegetables if Thailand refused to lift border restrictions imposed following a deadly clash in one of the disputed areas between the two countries. An armed confrontation at the border on May 28 left one Cambodian soldier dead. The incident, which each side blamed on the other, reportedly took place in a relatively small “no man’s land” along their border that both countries claim as their own. Cambodian and Thai authorities have engaged in saber-rattling since last week, and continue to implement or threaten measures short of armed force, keeping tensions high.

A blast at a fireworks factory in central China kills 9 people

BEIJING (AP) — An explosion at a fireworks factory in central China has killed nine people and injured 26 others, state media said Tuesday. A huge plume of smoke could be seen rising into the sky after the Monday morning blast in a video posted online by state media. The Shanzhou Fireworks Co. factory is in a mountainous part of Linli county, north of the city of Changde in Hunan province. The risk of further explosions and the lack of a major water source complicated the firefighting and the search for victims, state broadcaster CCTV said in an online report around midday Tuesday.

India and Cyprus to step up defense, maritime and cybersecurity cooperation, Indian PM says

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — India will step up its defense ties with Cyprus through collaboration between the two countries’ respective defense industries, the Indian prime minister said Monday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn’t offer details, but he said talks would begin on boosting bilateral maritime and cybersecurity cooperation. He said after talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides that the two countries would also set up an information exchange mechanism geared toward combatting the threat of terrorism. Modi’s two-day visit to Cyprus, ahead of his trip to Canada for the G7 summit, is the first by an Indian prime minister in more than two decades.