Top Asian News 3:43 a.m. GMT

Philippine ex-leader Duterte is being flown to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte in Manila on Tuesday and sent him by plane to the Netherlands to face charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, President Ferdinand Marcos said. The global court in The Hague had ordered Duterte’s arrest through Interpol after accusing him of crimes against humanity over deadly anti-drug crackdowns he oversaw while in office, Marcos said in a late-night news conference. Duterte had been arrested at the Manila international airport Tuesday morning when he arrived with his family from Hong Kong. Walking slowly with a cane, the 79-year-old former president turned briefly to a small group of aides and supporters, who wept and bid him goodbye, before an escort helped him into the plane.

Pakistani insurgents attack a train carrying hundreds of people and take hostages

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani insurgents attacked a passenger train carrying several hundred people as it passed through a tunnel on Tuesday and claimed to have taken more than 100 hostages, though officials later said at least 104 were rescued. The fate of the other passengers wasn’t immediately known. Security officials said the attackers blew up the railroad track in southwestern Balochistan province, and exchanged fire with security guards aboard the train while using women and children as human shields. Officials said some passengers, including women and children, were wounded in the attack. The train was traveling from the provincial capital, Quetta, to the northern city of Peshawar when it came under attack in Bolan district, government spokesman Shahid Rind said, calling it “an act of terrorism.” Rind said access to the area wasn’t easy because of the rugged, mountainous terrain.

Arrested Philippine ex-President Duterte to face legacy of thousands killed in drug crackdown

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, who left a savage legacy from his deadly anti-drugs crackdown, was arrested on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity for the thousands killed in a war he waged against drugs in a political career spanning decades. His detention capped an international investigation into the killings, which unfolded for more than a dozen years. Duterte again came under the spotlight during a weekend trip to Hong Kong when the trip sparked speculation that he may have gone into exile to evade arrest. He had appeared as the main speaker on Sunday at a gathering of thousands of cheering and flag-waving Filipino expatriates, who jammed Southorn Stadium in downtown Wan Chai district.

Australia won’t retaliate against ‘unjustified’ US tariffs on steel and aluminum

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Wednesday that U.S. tariffs on Australian steel and aluminum were unjustified, but his government would not retaliate with its own tariffs. U.S. President Donald Trump said last month he was considering a tariff exemption for Australia, a free trade treaty partner that has traded with the United States at a deficit for decades. A former Australian government secured an exemption with the previous Trump administration in 2018 based on arguments including that Australian steelmaker BlueScope employs thousands of workers in the U.S. Albanese said he would continue to pursue an Australian exemption.

China is ending its annual Congress with questions open over how to revive its slowing economy

BEIJING (AP) — China wrapped up its biggest political event of the year on Tuesday leaving one question unanswered: How far will it go to try to revive economic growth in 2025? A recurring theme throughout the weeklong meeting of the nearly 3,000-member National People’s Congress was the need to boost investment and consumer spending. How much will be done to translate words into action will only become clear in the months ahead as the ruling Communist Party juggles priorities. What is clear is that a burgeoning trade war with the United States has left the outlook for the coming months uncertain.

AP Photos: China wraps up its National People’s Congress in a sea of red

BEIJING, China (AP) — China wrapped up the National People’s Congress — its biggest political event of the year — on Tuesday. The color red is the common visual characteristic, from the color of the national flag and seal, standing high above participants on the Great Hall of the People to the carpets rolled out for delegates. Red has been synonymous with the Communist Party since before the 1949 revolution and traditionally has been the color of auspiciousness and hope for the future, particularly around holidays such as last month’s Lunar New Year. The annual major political event brought together the nation’s top leaders and thousands of provincial leaders to endorse decisions already made by the all-powerful Chinese Communist Party.

Activist groups urge UN probe of its Myanmar envoy after report alleges ties to Chinese companies

BANGKOK (AP) — Activist groups are calling for the United Nations to investigate its special envoy to Myanmar over possible conflicts of interest, after a report detailed her consulting company’s alleged ties to Chinese mining and construction companies with interests in the country. Justice for Myanmar wrote to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres following a report in Australia’s The Saturday Paper outlining what it said were Julie Bishop’s links to Chinese state-owned companies that operate in Myanmar. Since then, multiple other groups have joined the call for a probe. Bishop, a former Australian foreign minister and current chancellor of the Australian National University, has not commented on those links.

‘Nervous and rushed': Massive Fukushima plant cleanup exposes workers to high radiation and stress

OKUMA, Japan (AP) — The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s radiation levels have significantly dropped since the cataclysmic meltdown 14 years ago Tuesday. Workers walk around in many areas wearing only surgical masks and regular clothes. It’s a different story for those who enter the reactor buildings, including the three damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. They must use maximum protection — full facemasks with filters, multi-layered gloves and socks, shoe covers, hooded hazmat coveralls and a waterproof jacket, and a helmet. As workers remove melted fuel debris from the reactors in a monumental nuclear cleanup effort that could take more than a century, they are facing both huge amounts of psychological stress and dangerous levels of radiation.

A social worker who tried to mediate during the 2019 protests in Hong Kong is convicted of rioting

HONG KONG (AP) — A social worker who tried to mediate during the height of the 2019 anti-government protests in Hong Kong was convicted of rioting Tuesday in the latest case that signaled the tough stance the authorities have taken toward political cases. Jackie Chen was part of a group of social workers who often carried a loudspeaker seeking to mediate between police and protesters during the social unrest. She was freed at her first trial in September 2020, but the secretary of justice appealed and a court ordered a retrial by another judge. In the retrial, the prosecution accused Chen, who used a loudspeaker to ask police officers to calm down and not to use their guns to fire non-lethal bullets, of participating in a riot during a protest in August 2019.

FBI joins search for US college student who vanished in Dominican Republic on spring break

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The FBI has joined the search for a 20-year-old University of Pittsburgh student who went missing nearly a week ago while on spring break in the Dominican Republic tourist town of Punta Cana, police said Tuesday. Dominican police said they are re-interviewing people who were with Sudiksha Konanki before she vanished in the predawn hours of March 6 at a beach in front of the Riu República Hotel. The hotel said in a statement that Konanki’s disappearance coincided with a power outage that prompted multiple guests to head to the beach. Dominican President Luis Abinader told reporters that he lamented the situation.