Top Asian News 3:41 p.m. GMT

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.

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.

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.

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.

1 killed, 10 wounded in grenade attack on pro-army rally in Pakistan

A suspected militant on a motorcycle threw a hand grenade at participants of a pro-army rally in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least one person and wounding 10 others, police and hospital officials said. The attack occurred in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, said local police chief Mohammad Malghani. He said about 150 people in cars and on motorcycles were heading to a hockey ground in the city for a government-organized event to celebrate the military’s recent retaliatory strikes inside India when the man threw a grenade at them. Wasim Baig, a spokesman at the Civil Hospital, said at least two of those wounded were in critical condition.

Australian local government removes often-vandalized monument to renowned British explorer

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.

New Zealand’s unofficial fruit is the feijoa, not the kiwi. And part of the fun is in giving it away

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The unofficial national fruit of New Zealand isn’t native to the country – it’s South American. It isn’t exclusively found in New Zealand. And it’s not, perhaps surprisingly, the kiwi. It’s the feijoa. Known as pineapple guava elsewhere, the fruit — a green perfumed oval with a polarizing taste — can be purchased in California or Canberra. Yet no country has embraced the feijoa with quite the fervor or the fixation of New Zealanders. Due to its short shelf life, New Zealand — a nation of thriving fruit exports — has never been able to spin the feijoa (pronounced fee-jo-ah) into a global brand, as growers have done with apples and kiwi.

In one Indian city, reflective paint and bus stop sprinklers offer relief from killer heat

AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — For 20-year-old Mayank Yadav, riding a crowded bus in the summer months in this western Indian city can be like sitting in an oven. That makes it a treat when he steps off and into a bus stop outfitted with sprinklers that bathe overheated commuters in a cooling mist. “Everyone is suffering from the heat,” Yadav said. “I hope they do more of this across the city.” Rising heat is a problem for millions of people in India. In Ahmedabad, temperatures this year have already reached 42 degrees Celsius (107 Fahrenheit), a level usually not seen for several more weeks, prompting city officials to advise people to stay indoors and stay hydrated.

Māori lawmakers who performed a protest haka receive temporary bans from New Zealand’s Parliament

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Three New Zealand lawmakers from Te Pāti Māori, the Māori Party, will receive temporary bans from Parliament and severe censure, it was announced Wednesday, over their protest of a proposed law by performing a haka, a chanting dance of challenge, directed at their opponents. A committee of their peers recommended the penalties, understood to be the harshest ever assigned to New Zealand parliamentarians, in findings that said the trio’s actions could have intimidated other legislators and were in contempt of Parliament. Their temporary suspensions are expected to be affirmed by vote during a sitting of all lawmakers on Thursday.

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.