Top Asian News 3:45 a.m. GMT

South Korea’s Constitutional Court will rule Friday on Yoon’s impeachment

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s Constitutional Court will rule Friday on whether to formally dismiss or reinstate impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol — a decision that either way will likely deepen domestic divisions. The court has been deliberating his political fate after conservative Yoon was impeached by the liberal opposition-controlled National Assembly in December over his brief imposition of martial law that has triggered a massive political crisis. Millions of people have rallied around the country to support or denounce Yoon. Police said they’ll mobilize all available personnel to preserve order and respond to possible acts of vandalism, arson and assault before and after the court’s ruling.

Chinese military launches large-scale drills around Taiwan in warning against island’s independence

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The Chinese military announced large-scale drills in the waters around Taiwan on Tuesday, as it warned the self-ruled island against seeking independence. The joint exercises involve navy, air ground and rocket forces and are meant to be a “severe warning and forceful containment against Taiwan independence,” according to Shi Yi, a spokesperson for the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command. China considers Taiwan a part of its territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary, while most Taiwanese favor their de facto independence and democratic status. Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence said it had tracked 19 Chinese navy vessels in the waters surrounding the island in a 24-hour period from 6 a.m.

Earthquake compounds Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis as the death toll passes 2,000

BANGKOK (AP) — The death toll in last week’s massive earthquake in Myanmar has passed 2,000, state media said Monday, as accounts of some people’s last moments emerged: Two hundred Buddhist monks crushed by a collapsing monastery. Fifty children killed when a preschool classroom crumbled. Seven hundred Muslims struck while praying at mosques for Ramadan. The quake could exacerbate hunger and disease outbreaks in a country that was already one of the world’s most challenging places for humanitarian organizations to operate because of civil war, aid groups and the United Nations warned. The 7.7 magnitude quake hit Friday, with the epicenter near Myanmar’s second-largest city of Mandalay.

Bangkok reviews construction safety after a high-rise was crumpled by an earthquake 800 miles away

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai authorities said Monday they are investigating why a single office tower block under construction in Bangkok collapsed during Friday’s earthquake that otherwise caused limited damage in the capital. Bangkok Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt visited the site as heavy equipment pulled away rubble from the 30-story State Audit Office building in hopes of finding the 78 people still missing. “Even one life saved is worth all the effort, so I think we have to move on, carry on,” he said. But in the longer run it’s important to ensure building safety in the city, where millions of people live and work in thousands of high-rise buildings.

Families awaits news of missing workers at site of Bangkok building collapse

BANGKOK (AP) — When the earthquake that hit Myanmar sent its tremors to Thailand, Naruemon Thonglek didn’t immediately know it also had collapsed a high-rise building under construction in Bangkok. Seeing images of the debris on television news later, Naruemon immediately recognized the building where her long-time Burmese partner, his son and four of her friends had worked for the past month. “My legs gave up. I lost all strength in my hands,” she said. “After the quake stopped I called him, messaged him, but there was no response. I couldn’t contact him. I sent him voice messages and he never read it.

A colossal fire erupts in Malaysia, apparently from a burst gas pipe

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A colossal fire erupted Tuesday in a Malaysian suburb outside Kuala Lumpur, prompting evacuations of nearby homes. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights in central Selangor state was visible for kilometers (miles). Dozens of Selangor firefighters were sent to the scene. Department director Wan Mohamad Razali Wan Ismail was cited by The Star English-language newspaper as saying that firefighters on the ground identified a burst pipeline as the cause of the fire. No further details were immediately available. Pictures and videos of the fireball went viral on social media, with some residents saying they felt the doors and windows of their homes shaking believed to be due to the fire explosion earlier.

US sanctions 6 Chinese and Hong Kong officials, drawing backlash from the city’s government

HONG KONG (AP) — The United States sanctioned six Chinese and Hong Kong officials who it alleged were involved in “transnational repression” and acts that threaten to further erode the city’s autonomy, drawing condemnation from the territory’s government Tuesday. The six officials included Justice Secretary Paul Lam, security office director Dong Jingwei and police commissioner Raymond Siu. The sanctions are expected to further escalate tensions between Washington and Beijing, who are already locked in friction over trade tariffs and other issues like Taiwan. “Beijing and Hong Kong officials have used Hong Kong national security laws extraterritorially to intimidate, silence, and harass 19 pro-democracy activists who were forced to flee overseas, including a U.S.

A former South Korean lawmaker accused of sexual assault has been found dead

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A former South Korean lawmaker who had been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 2015 has been found dead in Seoul, police said Tuesday. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Chang Je-won was found dead in a studio in the eastern part of the capital Monday night and that a note was discovered at the scene. Police didn’t provide further details, citing the investigation into his death. Chang served three terms as a conservative lawmaker and was a key ally of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. He had been accused of sexually assaulting the woman at a hotel in November 2015, when he was vice president at a university in Busan.

Pakistan plans to expel 3 million Afghans from the country this year

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan plans to expel 3 million Afghans from the country this year, as a deadline for them to voluntarily leave the capital and surrounding areas expired on Monday. It’s the latest phase of a nationwide crackdown launched in October 2023 to expel foreigners living in Pakistan illegally, mostly Afghans. The campaign has drawn fire from rights groups, the Taliban government, and the U.N. Arrests and deportations were due to begin April 1 but were pushed back to April 10 because of the Eid al-Fitr holidays marking the end of Ramadan, according to government documents seen by The Associated Press.

Bitcoin investor buys an entire SpaceX flight for the ultimate polar adventure

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A bitcoin investor who bought a SpaceX flight for himself and three polar explorers blasted off Monday night on the first rocket ride to carry people over the North and South poles. Chun Wang, a Chinese-born entrepreneur, hurtled into orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX’s Falcon rocket steered southward over the Atlantic, putting the space tourists on a path never flown before in 64 years of human spaceflight. Wang won’t say how much he paid Elon Musk’s SpaceX for the 3 ½-day ultimate polar adventure. The first leg of their flight — from Florida to the South Pole — took barely a half-hour.