Top Asian News 1:31 p.m. GMT

Court suspends Thailand’s prime minister to investigate a leaked phone call

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Tuesday, pending an ethics investigation over accusations that she was too deferential to a senior Cambodian leader when the two discussed a recent border dispute in a phone call that was leaked. Paetongtarn has faced growing dissatisfaction over her handling of the dispute, which involved an armed confrontation on May 28, in which one Cambodian soldier was killed. In a call with Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen, she attempted to defuse tensions — but instead set off a string of complaints and public protests by critics who accused her of being too fawning.

The suspension of Thailand’s prime minister over a leaked phone call stirs familiar turmoil

BANGKOK (AP) — The Constitutional Court’s suspension of Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has raised questions about whether her family’s political comeback last year would end with another downfall. Paetongtarn was the third prime minister in her family, after her father, Thaksin Shinawatra, a telecom billionaire who has been one of Thailand’s top political operators, and her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, who was the country’s first female prime minister. Thaksin was ousted by a military coup in 2006 and Yingluck by a court ruling in 2014. Thaksin remained beloved after his ouster among voters who saw in him and his allies a government that looked after their interests.

A look at soaring border tensions between Cambodia and Thailand

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Constitutional Court suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra from office Tuesday pending an ethics investigation over a leaked phone call with a senior Cambodian leader that followed a border row that erupted on May 28. The leaked call has set off political turmoil in Thailand as Paetongtarn faces growing dissatisfaction over her handling of the conflict. Here’s what to know about the latest controversy and the dispute between the two Southeast Asian neighbors. The phone call between Paetongtarn and Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen was reportedly made on June 15 and was leaked days after. Hun Sen said on his Facebook post that he recorded the conversation and had shared it with at least 80 people.

Death toll rises to 36 after explosion at a pharmaceutical factory in southern India

HYDERABAD, India (AP) — The death toll from Monday’s massive explosion and fire at a pharmaceutical factory in India’s southern state of Telangana has risen to at least 36 while about three dozen were left injured, authorities said Tuesday. The fire department recovered the charred bodies of 34 workers from the accident site in an industrial area about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the state capital Hyderabad, the state’s fire services director G.V. Narayana Rao told The Associated Press. Two other workers succumbed to burns and were pronounced dead in hospital, Rao said, adding that debris of the gutted pharmaceutical unit of Sigachi Industries was still being removed to find out if any more workers were trapped.

Ancient Himalayan village relocates as climate shifts reshape daily life

SAMJUNG, Nepal (AP) — The Himalayan village of Samjung did not die in a day. Perched in a wind-carved valley in Nepal’s Upper Mustang, more than 13,000 feet (3,962 meters) above sea level, the Buddhist village lived by slow, deliberate rhythms — herding yaks and sheep and harvesting barley under sheer ochre cliffs honeycombed with “sky caves” — 2,000-year-old chambers used for ancestral burials, meditation and shelter. Then the water dried up. Snow-capped mountains turned brown and barren as, year after year, snowfall declined. Springs and canals vanished and when it did rain, the water came all at once, flooding fields and melting away the mud homes.

Militants in Pakistan storm a police station and set fire to banks, killing a boy

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Dozens of militants armed with guns and rockets stormed a police station and set fire to two banks in restive southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing a boy and wounding nine others before fleeing, officials said. The boy died when the attackers fired on civilians indiscriminately during the attacks in Mastung, a district in Balochistan province, said Jan Mohammad, a local government administrator. Mohammad said some of the insurgents were also killed in the shootout with security forces. A provincial government spokesman, Shahid Rind, said a security operation had been launched to pursue the assailants. No group immediately claimed responsibility, though suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, which often targets security forces and civilians in Balochistan and elsewhere.

Heavy floods in central and southern China kill at least 9 and displace tens of thousands

BEIJING (AP) — Heavy flooding in central and southern China has killed at least nine people with and displaced tens of thousands as more rainfall was forecast on the way, state media reported Tuesday At least eight people were listed as missing in the worst-hit provinces of Henan, Hubei and Guizhou, where rivers overtopped dikes and poured into city streets, housing complexes and shopping malls. Although China experiences flooding each summer, the images were some of the most dramatic in years, many of them spread on social media to avoid official censors. Rapid urban development appears to have worsened the problem, and the Communist Party authorities who control all media have been especially reticent in their news releases about the toll floods have taken.

Jury deliberates for 2nd day in the triple murder trial of Australian accused of mushroom poisonings

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A jury was deliberating for a second day Tuesday in the triple murder trial of an Australian woman accused of killing her estranged husband’s relatives by deliberately serving them poisonous mushrooms for lunch. The jurors who began deliberating Monday are sequestered, a rarity in Australia that reflects public and media fervor about the case against Erin Patterson, with several news outlets publishing live blogs that covered every moment of the two-month trial. The jurors will remain secluded until they reach a unanimous decision on the charges of murder and attempted murder. Three of Patterson’s four lunch guests — her parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson — died in the hospital after the 2023 meal, at which she served individual beef Wellington pastries containing death cap mushrooms.

China sanctions former Filipino lawmaker who defended Philippines’ South China Sea claims

BANGKOK (AP) — China sanctioned a former Filipino lawmaker Tuesday over perceived “anti-China” positions, including his authorship of bills that marked out the Philippines’ territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea. Francis Tolentino, who has just finished serving his term as majority leader of the Philippine Senate, is prohibited from entering China as well as the territories of Hong Kong and Macao, according to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “For some time, some anti-China politicians in the Philippines have adopted a series of malicious words and deeds on issues related to China for their own selfish interests, which have harmed China’s interests and undermined China-Philippines relations,” said the statement.

Hong Kong’s security net extends beyond arrests as small businesses pressured

HONG KONG (AP) — It’s been years since mass arrests all but silenced pro-democracy activism in Hong Kong. But a crackdown on dissent in the semiautonomous Chinese city is still expanding, hitting restaurants, bookstores and other small businesses. Shops and eateries owned by people once associated with the largely subdued pro-democracy movement are feeling a tightening grip through increased official inspections, anonymous complaint letters and other regulatory checks. Those critical of the city’s political changes say it’s a less visible side of a push to silence dissent that began five years ago when Beijing imposed a national security law to crush challenges to its rule, under which opposition politicians were jailed and pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily was shuttered.