Top Asian News 3:16 a.m. GMT

Pope embarks on longest, farthest and most challenging trip to Asia, with China in the background

VATICAN CITY (AP) — If any evidence were needed to underscore that Pope Francis’ upcoming trip to Asia and Oceania is the longest, farthest and most challenging of his pontificate, it’s that he’s bringing along his secretaries to help him navigate the four-country program while keeping up with work back home. Francis will clock 32,814 kilometers (20,390 miles) by air during his Sept. 2-13 visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, far surpassing any of his previous 44 foreign trips and notching one of the longest papal trips ever, both in terms of days on the road and distances traveled.

Storm floods northern Philippine regions, including capital, disrupting schools, work and travel

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A slow-moving storm unleashed pounding rains that flooded many northern Philippine areas overnight into Monday, prompting authorities to suspend classes and government work in the capital region and warn thousands of residents to prepare to evacuate from flood-prone villages along a key river. Tropical Storm Yagi was blowing over the coastal waters of Vinzons town in Camarines Norte province, southeast of Manila, on Monday with sustained winds of up to 75 kilometers (47 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 90 kph (56 mph), according to the weather bureau. The storm, locally called Enteng, was moving northwestward at 10 kph (6 mph) near the eastern coast of the main northern region of Luzon, where the weather bureau warned of possible flash floods and landslides in mountainous provinces.

Taiwan investigators to rule on further detention of former presidential candidate amid graft probe

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Investigators were in talks early Monday on whether to further detain a former Taiwan presidential candidate amid graft allegations that have sparked minor street protests by his supporters. Ko Wen-je, chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party, was held in custody overnight Saturday and questioning resumed with no announcement as of early Monday morning. Supporters gathered outside the prosecutors office in Taipei, holding signs and chanting slogans demanding Ko’s release and alleging judicial oppression. Investigators refused Ko’s request to return home out of concern he would collude with others involved in the case. Ko, who trained as a doctor and also served as mayor of Taipei, and his TPP emerged as a third force in a sometimes rambunctious democracy.

Philippine authorities detain more than 160 people over suspected cybercrime operation

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine authorities raided a suspected illegal online gaming and cyberscam complex in a central province and took into custody more than 160 people — mostly Chinese and Indonesians — who were committing internet-based crimes, officials said Sunday. The raid on Saturday by more than 100 government agents, backed by military intelligence, on a resort compound in Lapu-Lapu city was part of an ongoing crackdown after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a ban in July on widespread — and mostly Chinese-run — online gaming operations that cater mostly to clients in China, where illegal gambling is banned.

Is Usha Vance’s Hindu identity an asset or a liability to the Trump-Vance campaign?

Usha Chilukuri Vance loves her “meat and potatoes” husband, JD Vance. She explained to a rapt Republican National Convention audience how their vice-presidential candidate adapted to her vegetarian diet and even learned to cook Indian food from her immigrant mother. That image of her white, Christian husband making the spicy cuisine of her parents’ native state in South India is atypical for the leaders of a party whose members are still largely white and Christian. Her presence at the RNC sparked enthusiasm on social media among some Indian American conservatives, particularly Hindu Americans, although most Indian Americans identify as Democrats.

A deadly storm sweeps through Japan and heavy rainfall could last for days

TOKYO (AP) — Tropical Storm Shanshan brought torrential rain Sunday to Japan ’s Shizuoka area southwest of Tokyo, as weather officials warned it would linger for several more days. Shanshan had packed maximum winds of 65 kph (40 mph) when it made landfall Thursday, leaving six dead and landslides, flooded rivers, torn branches and scattered debris in its path. In southwestern Japan, people were busy cleaning up muddied homes and throwing out broken appliances. One person was missing and 127 people were injured, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, which compiles reports from local governments. Shanshan was traveling extremely slowly and barely moving Sunday evening, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

AP PHOTOS: Pope Francis’ Asia trip marks 60 years of papal visits to the region

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Pope Francis’ visit to Southeast Asia, the longest trip in his papacy, is the latest in decades of regular papal visits to the Asia-Pacific region. Papal travel is a thing of the modern era, starting with Pope Paul VI, who became the first pontiff to leave Italy in more than 150 years when he made his famous pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1964, shortly after becoming pope. His next visit was to India later that same year, marking the first time a pope had ever visited Asia. It was one of many firsts for Paul VI, who was also the first pope to fly in an airplane, the first to leave Europe and the first to visit countries on six continents, earning him the nickname “the Pilgrim Pope.” Others by Paul VI, according to the Vatican, included a 1970 trip with stops in Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ceylon — today Sri Lanka — and the Philippines, where a would-be assassin unsuccessfully attempted to stab him at Manila airport.

Catholics face a shortage of priests. But one Indonesian seminary is overwhelmed with applicants

MAUMERE, Indonesia (AP) — Arnoldus Yansen thought for certain he was going to become a Catholic priest, just like his older brother, cousin and uncle. He attended St. Peter Major Seminary, a bastion of priestly vocations located in the middle of a jungle on Flores, a predominantly Catholic island in Muslim-majority Indonesia. Known familiarly as Ritapiret Seminary, St. Peter Major has produced 13 bishops, more than 580 diocesan priests and 23 deacons in nearly 70 years of existence. But Yansen won’t be among them. He tried to shake off what he thought were last-minute jitters before entering the priesthood. Instead, Yansen took off his clerical robes for good and joined the hundreds of prospective priests who resign or fail to take up Catholic vocations every year in Indonesia.

More Hong Kongers tune out the news as they adapt to Beijing’s tightening grip

HONG KONG (AP) — Hannah Wong cried when the Hong Kong government effectively forced Apple Daily and Stand News out of business three years ago. Among the last news outlets in the city willing to criticize the government openly, many saw their end as a sign that the old Hong Kong was gone for good. Today, the 35-year-old makeup artist says she’s gone from reading the news every day to reducing her intake drastically to protect herself from despair. Four years into a crackdown on dissent that’s swept up democracy-leaning journalists, activists and politicians in this autonomously-governed Chinese city, a lot of people are tuning out the news.

Chinese and Philippine vessels collide at a disputed atoll and governments trade accusations

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China and the Philippines accused each other of causing a collision between their two vessels Saturday in the latest flareup of tensions over disputed waters and maritime features in the South China Sea. In a statement posted on social media, Chinese coast guard spokesperson Liu Dejun was quoted as saying that a Philippine ship maneuvered and “deliberately collided” with a Chinese coast guard ship “in an unprofessional and dangerous manner.” Philippine officials in Manila said it was their coast guard ship, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, that was rammed thrice by the Chinese coast guard without any provocation, causing damage to the Philippine vessel.