Top Asian News 3:58 a.m. GMT
Taiwan’s new president inherits a strong foreign policy position but political gridlock at home
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — In a campaign ad for Taiwan’s president-elect Lai Ching-te, incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen was shown driving with Lai in the passenger seat, exchanging reflections on their years governing together. Tsai later turned over the driving to Lai, who was joined by running mate Bi-khim Hsiao. The message was clear: Lai would steer the island in the direction set by Tsai, who after eight years in power was barred from running again. Lai, 64, will take office Monday. Continuing Tsai’s legacy means aiming to strike a balance between cultivating Taiwan’s unofficial alliance with the United States and maintaining peace with China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, to be retaken by force if necessary.
As ethnic armed group claims to have captured a town in western Myanmar, Muslim Rohingyas flee again
BANGKOK (AP) — A powerful ethnic armed group fighting Myanmar’s military government in the country’s western state of Rakhine claimed Saturday to have seized a town near the border with Bangladesh, marking the latest in a series of victories for foes of the country’s military government. Members of the state’s Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority, targets of deadly army-directed violence in 2017, appear to have been the main victims of fighting in the town of Buthidaung, where the Arakan Army claims to have chased out forces of the military government. There are contradictory accounts of who is to blame for the reported burning of the town, compelling its Rohingya residents to flee.
Flash floods due to unusually heavy seasonal rains kill at least 68 people in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Flash floods from heavy seasonal rains have killed at least 68 people in Afghanistan, Taliban officials said Saturday, adding the death toll was based on preliminary reports. Afghanistan has been witnessing unusually heavy seasonal rains. In the hard-hit western province of Ghor, 50 people were reported dead, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesman for the provincial governor. He also said the province has suffered significant financial losses after thousands of homes and properties were damaged and hundreds of hectares of agricultural land destroyed following Friday’s floods, including the capital city Feroz Koh. Meanwhile, 18 people in the northern province of Farayab were killed and two others injured on Friday, according to Esmatullah Moradi, the provincial governor’s spokesman.
Vietnam nominates its public security minister as new president
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam has nominated its Public Security Minister To Lam as its new president, state media said on Saturday, after his predecessor resigned in the ongoing anti-corruption campaign that has shaken up the country’s political establishment. The Communist Party’s Central Committee had agreed to the nomination of To Lam, a Politburo member, as president, state-run Vietnam News Agency reported. The nomination will likely be approved by Vietnam’s rubber-stamp National Assembly during its next session on Monday. Former President Vo Van Thuong resigned in March after a little over a year in the position. His predecessor had also resigned in 2023 while taking “political responsibility” for corruption scandals during the pandemic.
Elon Musk arrives in Indonesia’s Bali to launch Starlink satellite internet service
DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — Elon Musk arrived in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Sunday to launch Starlink satellite internet service in the world’s largest archipelago nation. The billionaire head of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of social platform X arrived by private jet on the idyllic “island of the gods,” which is renowned for its tropical beaches, terraced rice paddies, mystical temples and colorful spiritual offerings. Musk is slated to launch the service alongside Indonesian President Joko Widodo in a ceremony later Sunday at a public health clinic in Denpasar, the provincial capital of Bali. Musk will also sign an agreement on enhancing connectivity in the country’s health and education sectors, said Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who welcomed Musk at the airport.
Pakistan asks its nationals studying in Kyrgyzstan to stay indoors after mobs attacked foreigners
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan asked its nationals in Kyrgyzstan to stay indoors after mobs attacked foreigners in the capital Friday night over some unknown dispute with migrants, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday. It also repatriated 140 Pakistani students from Bishkek after the violence. A special flight bringing the Pakistani students home from Kyrgyzstan landed at an airport on Saturday in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, the Interior Ministry said. Pakistan plans to use more such flights to bring back all those who want to leave Bishkek following the violence in the central Asian country, the ministry added. According to local media, the violence began last week following a clash between Kyrgyz people and foreigners in the city.
3 Spaniards were among 6 people killed when gunmen opened fire in central Afghanistan, officials say
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Three Spanish citizens and three Afghans were killed when gunmen opened fire in central Afghanistan, Taliban and Spanish officials said Saturday. Officials had earlier said that four people died. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the Friday evening attack. Seven suspects were arrested at the scene in Bamiyan province, a major tourist area, and an investigation is underway, said Abdul Mateen Qani, a spokesman for the interior minister, on Saturday. He said seven other people were wounded. Qani did not give the nationality of the foreign citizens, but the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that three Spaniards had died in the attack and that at least one more had been wounded.
French authorities report a sixth fatality in New Caledonia violence
French security forces reported another death Saturday in armed clashes in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, the sixth fatality in nearly a week of violent unrest scorching the archipelago whose indigenous population has long sought independence. The person was killed in an exchange of fire at one of the many impromptu barricades blocking roads on the island, said a security official speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the situation publicly. Two other people were seriously injured in the clash, the official said, confirming French media reports. The official said the firefight erupted at a blockade in the north of the main island, at Kaala-Gomen.
Dead or alive? Parents of children gone in Sri Lanka’s civil war have spent 15 years seeking answers
MULLAITIVU, Sri Lanka (AP) — For 15 years, Rasalingam Thilakawathi has been trying to find out what happened to her daughter at the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war. Or if she might still be alive. The last evidence she has is a photo from a newspaper that shows her daughter, who was 19, sitting inside a bus along with others. The photo, according to the newspaper, shows captured Tamil Tiger fighters in the last stages of the war in May 2009. Now, 15 years after the end of the long battle between Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil Tiger separatists, Thilakawathi searches for answers.
As Japan’s yakuza weakens, police focus shifts to unorganized crime hired via social media
TOKYO (AP) — A senior member of yakuza was arrested for allegedly stealing Pokemon cards near Tokyo in April, a case seen as an example of Japanese organized crime groups struggling with declining membership. Police agents who were busy dealing with thousands of yakuza members just a few years ago have noticed something new: unorganized and loosely connected groups they believe are behind a series of crimes once dominated by yakuza. Police call them “tokuryu,” anonymous gangsters and tech-savvy young people hired for specific jobs. They often cooperate with yakuza, obscuring the boundary between them and making police investigations more difficult, experts and authorities say.