Top Asian News 3:25 a.m. GMT

China says it’s evaluating US overtures for trade talks, but tariffs remain an obstacle

BEIJING (AP) — China’s Commerce Ministry said Friday that Beijing is evaluating multiple approaches by the Trump administration for trade talks. However, in a ministry statement it said one-sided tariffs of up to 145% remain an obstacle, undermining trust. The statement reiterated China’s stance that is open to talks, but also that Beijing is determined to fight if it must. “The tariff and trade wars were unilaterally initiated by the U.S., if the U.S. side wants to talk, it should show its sincerity, and be ready to take action on issues such as correcting wrong practices and canceling the unilateral imposition of tariffs,” it said.

Singapore’s long-ruling party seeks stronger election victory in test for new prime minister

SINGAPORE (AP) — Singaporeans will vote Saturday in a general election that is set to return to power the city-state’s long ruling party, and it will be closely watched as a gauge of public confidence in Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s leadership. The People’s Action Party has won every election since the Asian financial hub gained independence in 1965. Wong, who took office last year, hopes to clinch a stronger mandate after the PAP suffered a setback in 2020 polls over voters’ rising discontent with the government. Here’s what to know about the Singapore election. Singapore holds a general election every five years and voting is compulsory.

South Korea’s ex-Prime Minister Han says he will seek the presidency in June election

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Friday he will run in next month’s presidential election and would seek to lessen the powers of the office and ease strife-ridden domestic politics if he wins. Han’s entry heats up the scramble among conservatives to unify behind a candidate to compete with liberal front-runner Lee Jae-myung, whose campaign recently was set back by a court decision to open a new trial on election law violation charges. “I’ve determined to find what I can do for the future of the Republic of Korea that I love and for all of us,” Han told a press conference at the National Assembly.

Rubio calls India and Pakistan in effort to defuse crisis over Kashmir attack

NEW DELHI (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called senior officials in India and Pakistan in an effort to defuse the crisis that followed last week’s deadly attack in Kashmir, the State Department said. Rubio urged Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to de-escalate tensions on Wednesday. India has vowed to punish Pakistan after accusing it of backing the attack, which Islamabad denies. The nuclear-armed rivals have since expelled each other’s diplomats and citizens, ordered the border shut and closed their airspace to each other. New Delhi has suspended a crucial water-sharing treaty with Islamabad.

Threat of war with India leaves a scenic Pakistani tourist spot empty

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Neelum Valley in northern Pakistan attracts some 300,000 tourists each summer who marvel at its natural beauty. But the threat of war with nearby India has emptied its hotels. Gunmen last week killed 26 people in the Indian resort town of Pahalgam, fueling tensions between the nuclear-armed nations after India blamed Pakistan for the attack, a charge Pakistan denies. Neelum Valley is less than 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the Line of Control, the de facto border that divides the disputed region of Kashmir, making it vulnerable to any military activity. Hotel owner Rafaqat Hussain said Thursday the crisis has hit the tourism industry hard.

Australians rescue a 10-foot great white shark stranded in shallow water

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Tourist Nash Core admits he felt some fear when he and his 11-year-old son waded into the ocean off the Australian coast to help rescue a 3-meter (10-foot) great white shark stranded in shallow water. Three local men managed to return the distressed animal from a sand bank into deeper water after an almost hour-long rescue effort on Tuesday near the coastal town of Ardrossan in South Australia state. “It was either sick or … just tired,” said Core, who was visiting with his family from Gold Coast in Queensland state. “We definitely got it into some deeper water, so hopefully it’s swimming still.” Core came across the unusual human-shark interaction while traveling around Australia with his wife Ash Core and their sons Parker, 11, and Lennox, 7.

Prosecutors in Thailand say they won’t pursue royal defamation case against US scholar

BANGKOK (AP) — State prosecutors in Thailand announced Thursday that they don’t intend to press charges against an American academic arrested for royal defamation, an offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The arrest last month of Paul Chambers, a political science lecturer at Naresuan University in the northern province of Phitsanulok, had drawn concern from the academic community, especially from Asian studies scholars around the world, as well as the U.S. government The decision not to prosecute the 58-year-old Oklahoma native doesn’t immediately clear him of the charge of insulting the monarchy— also known as “lèse majesté” — or a related charge of violating the Computer Crime Act, which covers online activities.

India will include caste details in its next census

NEW DELHI (AP) — India will include caste details in its next census, in a move likely to have sweeping socio-economic and political ramifications for the world’s most populous country. Information Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw didn’t say when the census would begin when he announced it would include caste information Wednesday. He said the decision demonstrated New Delhi’s commitment to the “values and interests of the society and country.” The count is likely lead to demands to raise the country’s quotas that reserve government jobs, college admissions and elected offices for some categories of castes, especially for a swathe of lower and intermediate castes that are recognized as Other Backward Classes.

10 killed in Philippines after passenger bus slams into vehicles at a toll booth

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A speeding passenger bus slammed into a row of vehicles lined up at a highway toll booth Thursday in the northern Philippines, killing 10 people, including children, police said. More than two dozen others were injured in the multiple-vehicle collision in Tarlac city, north of Manila, at a heavy travel time on May Day holiday, police said. The bus driver, who was among the injured, was taken into custody and initially told investigators that he dozed off shortly before the crash, Tarlac police chief Lt. Col. Romel Santos told reporters. The bus crashed into a van, which was lined up with three other vehicles at the toll booth.

Car ramming in Japan injures 7 schoolchildren and suspect is arrested on the scene

TOKYO (AP) — A man in Japan was arrested on suspicion of driving his car into seven schoolchildren who were walking home, injuring them, one seriously, police said. Police were handling the case as attempted murder rather than reckless driving because the suspect, Yuki Yazawa, 28, told investigators that he was “sick and tired of everything” and on Thursday drove his car into the children to kill them, officials said. Osaka prefectural police said Yazawa was arrested at the scene and is facing charges of attempted murder. The injured schoolchildren were aged 7 and 8 and were walking home from an elementary school nearby, police said.