Top Asian News 3:56 a.m. GMT

New Zealand’s Parliament will debate suspending Māori lawmakers who performed a protest haka

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A New Zealand parliamentary committee has recommended the unprecedented suspensions of three Māori lawmakers for performing a protest haka in the debating chamber last year. The haka is a chanting dance of challenge of great cultural importance in New Zealand, and the three lawmakers from Te Pāti Māori, the Māori party, performed one to oppose a controversial bill that would have redefined the country’s founding document. A committee Wednesday recommended record suspensions and severe censure — the harshest penalties ever assigned to New Zealand parliamentarians — after finding the trio in contempt of Parliament. Government bloc lawmakers, who hold the majority, are expected to endorse the penalties in a vote Tuesday.

In India, Indigenous women and their ‘dream maps’ seek to protect lands from climate change

KORAPUT, India (AP) — At a small stream in India’s eastern state of Odisha, Indigenous villagers catch eels and fish for a dinner celebrating an annual harvest festival. The bounty of communal farming, foraging and fishing marks the start of a new season. But the fish and other resources have been dwindling. “Nowadays, the rains come late, affecting our farming, leading to a decrease in production,” said Sunita Muduli, a Paraja tribeswoman from Putpondi village. She stood on freshly tilled fields that would be sown again with millet before the increasingly unpredictable monsoon rains. The Indigenous Adivasis have lived in these villages for millennia.

Australian leader visits Indonesia seeking deeper economic and defense ties

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Australia’s newly reelected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Thursday, in a visit aiming to strengthen his country’s economic and defense ties with its closest major neighbor. Albanese arrived in the capital, Jakarta, on Wednesday evening, a day after his new government was sworn in, to promote the importance of building stronger ties with Southeast Asia’s largest economy. “That is … a signal to our region of the importance that we place on this region. We will be in the fastest growing region of the world in human history,” Albanese said in an interview last week with the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Thai officials seize over 200 tons of electronic waste illegally imported from the US

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai officials said Wednesday they seized 238 tons of illegally imported electronic waste from the United States at the port of Bangkok, one of the biggest lots they’ve found this year. The waste, which came in 10 large containers, was declared as mixed metal scrap but turned out to be circuit boards mixed in a huge pile of metal scrap, said Theeraj Athanavanich, director-general of the Customs Department. It was found Tuesday in a random inspection. A U.N. report last year said electronic waste is piling up worldwide. Some 62 million tons of electronic waste was generated in 2022 and that figure is on track to reach 82 million tons by 2030, the report said.

Chinese businesses view tariff pause with caution and uncertainty

BANGKOK (AP) — While U.S. President Donald Trump has talked of victory after reaching a weekend deal with China to reduce the sky-high tariffs levied on each others’ goods, businesses in China are reacting to the temporary deal with caution. The U.S. and China have cut the tariffs levied on each other in April, with the U.S. cutting the 145% tax Trump imposed last month to 30%. China agreed to lower its tariff rate on U.S. goods to 10% from 125%. The lower tariff rates came into effect on Wednesday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, announcing the reduction in tariff rates this weekend in Geneva, had said, “We do want trade.” While the markets have responded to the agreement with gusto, rebounding to the levels before Trump’s tariffs, business owners remain wary.

Australian locality removing often-vandalized monument to British explorer James Cook

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An Australian local government has decided against repairing an often-vandalized monument to renowned British explorer James Cook because it would be destroyed again. But the mayor on Wednesday rejected accusations that the vandals have won. Statues and monuments to the 18th century naval officer are common in Australia and are often defaced by opponents of Britain’s settlement of the country without a treaty with its Indigenous people. In 1770, then Lt. Cook charted the Australian east coast where Sydney would become the first British colony on the continent. The granite and bronze monument to the master navigator and cartographer in an inner-city Melbourne park was vandalized days after the anniversary of the first British settlers’ arrival at Sydney Cove was commemorated on Jan.

How ancient reptile footprints are rewriting the history of when animals evolved to live on land

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists in Australia have identified the oldest known fossil footprints of a reptile-like animal, dated to around 350 million years ago. The discovery suggests that after the first animals emerged from the ocean around 400 million years ago, they evolved the ability to live exclusively on land much faster than previously assumed. “We had thought the transition from fin to limb took much longer,” said California State University paleontologist Stuart Sumida, who was not involved in the new research. Previously the earliest known reptile footprints, found in Canada, were dated to 318 million years ago. The ancient footprints from Australia were found on a slab of sandstone recovered near Melbourne and show reptile-like feet with long toes and hooked claws.

Families of victims in South Korea plane crash file complaint against 15 officials

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Families of victims of December’s devastating plane crash in South Korea have filed a complaint against 15 people including the transport minister and the airline chief who they believe are responsible for the disaster that killed all but two of the 181 people on board. Police and government officials have already been investigating the Jeju Air crash, so the complaint is largely seen as a symbolic step calling for a swifter and more thorough probe. Many bereaved families complain of what they see as a lack of meaningful progress in efforts to determine what caused the disaster and who is responsible.

Cambodia hosts China for their latest and largest joint military exercise

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s armed forces on Wednesday launched their latest — and largest — Golden Dragon joint military exercise with China, with land, sea and air operations planned over the next two weeks. The initial exercise was in 2016, marking deepening relations between Cambodia and China while Cambodia canceled similar exercises with the United States. Cambodian officials recently proposed reviving exercises with U.S. forces, after Washington in the past year has sent several high-ranking military and civilian officials in an effort to increase its influence. Cambodia is China’s closest ally in Southeast Asia, while Beijing is Cambodia’s most important ally and benefactor, whose aid and investment have fueled Cambodia’s rapid growth in recent decades.

Japan grounds military training aircraft after crash leaves 2 crew members missing

TOKYO (AP) — Japan grounded most of its aging military training aircraft on Wednesday after one of the planes crashed minutes after take off. Two crew are missing after the T-4 training aircraft operated by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force crashed after taking off from Komaki Air Base, in the central Japanese prefecture of Aichi, officials said. The force said the plane was lost from radar two minutes after departure. The authorities are searching for the missing aircraft and its crew in an area near a reservoir known as the Iruka pond, officials said. The reservoir, in the city of Inuyama, is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northeast of the air base.