Top Asian News 3:06 a.m. GMT

Sri Lankans vote in a presidential election that will decide how it recovers from economic crisis

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankans began voting Saturday in a presidential election that will determine the course of the country’s recovery from its worst economic crisis and resulting political upheaval. The election, contested by 38 candidates, is largely a three-way race among incumbent liberal President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Marxist-leaning lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa. There are 17 million eligible voters, and final results are expected Sunday. The results will show whether Sri Lankans approve of Wickremesinghe’s leadership over the country’s fragile recovery, including restructuring its debt under an International Monetary Fund program after it defaulted in 2022.

Western nations were desperate for Korean babies. Now many adoptees believe they were stolen

Yooree Kim marched into a police station in Paris and told an officer she wanted to report a crime. Forty years ago, she said, she was kidnapped from the other side of the world, and the French government endorsed it. She wept as she described years spent piecing it together, stymied at every turn to get an answer to a simple question: How was she, a bright, diligent schoolgirl, with known parents whom she loved, documented as an abandoned orphan in South Korea in 1984 and sent to strangers in France? She believes the government of France — along with many Western nations — allowed families to “mail order children” through international adoption, and did nothing to protect them.

Takeaways from AP’s story on the role of the West in widespread fraud with South Korean adoptions

Western governments eagerly approved and even pushed for the adoption of South Korean children for decades, despite evidence that adoption agencies were aggressively competing for kids, pressuring mothers and bribing hospitals, an investigation led by The Associated Press has found. Now adults, many of those children have since discovered that their adoption paperwork was untrue. Their quest for accountability has spread far beyond Korea’s borders to the Western countries that claimed them, and is upending international adoption. The AP, in collaboration with Frontline (PBS), spoke with more than 80 adoptees in the U.S., Australia and Europe and examined thousands of pages of documents to reveal evidence of kidnapped or missing children ending up abroad, fabricated names, babies switched with one another and parents told their newborns were gravely sick or dead, only to discover decades later they’d been sent to new parents overseas.

New Zealand’s army chief: Pacific nations need tailored military training

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — As the U.S., China and other powers vie for strategic influence in Pacific Island militaries, the army chief of New Zealand told The Associated Press that not all of the larger nations bidding to offer support are supplying what tiny island nations find most helpful. New Zealand, which has trained Pacific soldiers for decades, has little military might and has instead long cultivated its reputation through a type of humble soft power when its armed forces are stationed abroad. It has drawn trust by encouraging frank relationships and “diversity of thought” among its training partners in the South Pacific Ocean, Maj.

Protests ousted Sri Lanka’s last president. Ahead of new election, many are still waiting for change

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Two years ago, tens of thousands of Sri Lankans rose up against their president and forced him to flee the country. As the country prepares for its first election since then, many say they’re still waiting for change. As Sri Lanka sank into economic collapse in 2022, people from various walks of life rallied to change a long-entrenched government they saw as responsible. The unprecedented island-wide public uprising they led was a moment of hope for the country long been fatigued by war and economic instability. Days ahead of Saturday’s presidential election, many still complain of corrupt leaders, economic mismanagement, and the entrenched power of the political old guard, but former protesters are having a hard time coming together behind a candidate.

Japan and China reach deal over Fukushima water release and move closer to resolving seafood ban

TOKYO (AP) — Japan and China announced Friday that they have reached a deal resolving their disputes over the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean and Beijing’s subsequent ban on Japanese seafood. Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said that the two sides have reached “a certain level of mutual understanding” that China will start working toward easing the import ban and will join the expanded monitoring of wastewater discharges from Fukushima Daiichi under the framework of the United Nations’ atomic agency. On Aug. 24, 2023 Japan began discharging treated radioactive wastewater from the plant, which suffered a nuclear meltdown in 2011.

Australian judge rules that a case against alleged Russian spies must be finalized by December

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — An Australian judge on Friday gave prosecutors until December to finalize their case alleging that an army private and her husband are Russian spies. Russian-born couple Kira and Igor Korolev in July became the first suspected foreign operatives to be charged under Australia’s modernized espionage laws since they were enacted in 2018. Prosecutor Ellie McDonald told Magistrate Peter Saggers in Brisbane city that investigators need more time to gather evidence from the Brisbane-based couple’s electronic devices. “There’s a significant volume of material in this matter. There’s 12 devices seized,” she said. Saggers ordered a full brief of evidence be provided to defense lawyers by Dec.

Philippine senator says China should do more to help fight cybercrime gangs

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — China should do more to battle the illegal online gambling and scam call centers run by Chinese criminal syndicates in Southeast Asian countries often using forced labor, a Philippine senator who led an investigation into the centers said Friday. The U.N. human rights office has said that such gangs have forced hundreds of thousands of people into participating in online scam operations, including false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes. Sen. Risa Hontiveros also called for stronger international cooperation to end cybercrime, saying that the gangs undermine the rule of law and could provide a platform for espionage activities, although she acknowledged there is no clear evidence linking the gambling hubs to Chinese surveillance operations.

AP PHOTOS: Cascading disasters push residents of a Nepalese valley to the brink

MELAMCHI, Nepal (AP) — In between the Himalayas’ towering mountains, the town of Melamchi is no stranger to extreme weather, and its landscape bears the scars of years of floods and landslides. Located just 50 kilometers (31 miles) outside Kathmandu, lush green mountainsides are dotted with landslips and rubble. Amid the debris, people live and work, and children play. Saroj Lamichane, a 24-year-old resident of the region, says he still remembers “the terrifying sound of the flood.” Lamichane fled that night, returning only to collect belongings wedged between boulders and broken walls. Many houses in Melamchi are on stilts to avoid the worst of the flooding.

Huge Australian king penguin chick Pesto grows into social media star

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A huge king penguin chick named Pesto, who weighs as much as both his parents combined, has become a social media celebrity and a star attraction at an Australian aquarium. Weighing 22 kilograms (49 pounds) at 9 months old, Pesto is the heaviest penguin chick the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium has ever had, its education supervisor Jacinta Early said on Friday. By contrast, his doting parents, Hudson and Tango weigh 11 kilograms (24 pounds) each. Pesto’s global fame has grown with his size. More than 1.9 billion people around the world had viewed him through social media, an aquarium statement said.