Top Asian News 4:49 a.m. GMT

Australia appalled at China’s suspended death sentence for writer Yang Hengjun

SYDNEY (AP) — Australia said Monday it was appalled at China’s suspended death sentence for writer and democracy blogger Yang Hengjun. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement it was “harrowing news for Dr Yang, his family and all who have supported him.” Yang has been detained in China since Jan. 19, 2019, when he arrived in Guangzhou from New York with his wife and teenage stepdaughter. He received a closed-door trial on an espionage charge in Beijing in May 2021 and was awaiting a verdict. The details of his case have not been disclosed. Yang has denied he has worked as a spy for Australia or the United States.

Tensions run high in New Zealand ahead of national day over government’s relationship with Maori

WAITANGI, New Zealand (AP) — In a fiery exchange at the birthplace of modern New Zealand, Indigenous leaders on Monday strongly criticized the government’s approach to Maori, ahead of the country’s national day. The holiday, known as Waitangi Day, is held on Feb. 6 to mark the anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi, a foundation document signed by British colonists and Maori chiefs in 1840 that establishes and guides the relationship between New Zealand’s government and its Indigenous population. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and other members of his right-leaning coalition government visited the historic treaty grounds for a public meeting with Maori leaders on Monday.

Pakistan’s former premier Imran Khan and wife convicted of marriage law violation in a fourth case

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani court on Saturday convicted and sentenced former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife to seven years in prison on a charge that their 2018 marriage violated the law, officials and a lawyer said. The latest verdict follows another case in which Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were sentenced to 14 years in prison on Wednesday for corruption. It comes ahead of Feb. 8 parliamentary elections in which Khan has already been disqualified because of graft convictions while his party is struggling to run an election campaign. It was Khan’s fourth conviction since 2022, when he was ousted from power.

Debt-laden Sri Lanka marks Independence Day with Thai prime minister as guest of honor

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin was the guest of honor at Sri Lanka’s 76th Independence Day celebrations on Sunday, as the island nation struggles to emerge from its worst economic crisis. Srettha joined Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe at a low-key ceremony near the country’s main seaside esplanade that included a military parade and parachute jumps. The holiday commemorates Sri Lanka’s independence from British rule in 1948. Sri Lanka declared bankruptcy in April 2022 with more than $83 billion in debt, more than half of it to foreign creditors. The economic upheaval led to a political crisis that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign in 2022.

Brides, biryani and marriage multiplexes: Pakistan’s wedding season heats up in cool weather

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — There’s a scrum of people trying to get photos with the married couple at the Radiance banquet hall, and you can barely hear someone talk above the din of 400 guests tucking into biryani and chicken tikka, music and the drone whirring around the room. The bejeweled bride and her natty groom are beaming. Outside, the street is jammed with cars heading to wedding parties in neighboring banquet halls, L’Amour, Candles and Hill Top. Hill Top, a multiplex, has three weddings going on at once. It’s winter in Pakistan, and that means weddings. Lots of weddings. During the cooler weather between November and February, millions of people attend weddings every week.

North Korea says it tested cruise missiles with ‘super-large’ warheads in its latest weapons display

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said it tested cruise missiles outfitted with new “super-large” warheads as well as a new type of anti-aircraft missile, extending a streak in weapons demonstrations that has rival South Korea worried. The report Saturday by North Korean state media came a day after South Korea’s military said it detected the North launching multiple cruise missiles into waters off its western coast. It’s the country’s fourth round of launches of such weapons in 2024. North Korean photos of the test showed a low-flying cruise missile striking a target built on a coastal shore, and another projectile soaring into the air after being launched from ground.

Maldives government asks India why its coast guard boarded 3 fishing boats

MALE, Maldives (AP) — The Maldives government says it has asked for clarification of why Indian coast guard personnel boarded three Maldivian fishing vessels operating within its economic zone earlier this week without consultation. The Maldives defense ministry said in a statement Friday night that its military was informed on Wednesday that personnel from a foreign military had boarded a Maldives fishing vessel, and on reaching the location it was found that they were from the Indian coast guard. The Maldives military also found that Indian coast guard personnel had boarded two more boats, the statement said without explaining what they did on the boats.

Indonesians flock to presidential campaign rallies as criticism against the government mounts

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Tens of thousands of Indonesians flocked to presidential campaign rallies on Saturday to air their concerns over the state of democracy in the country. President Joko Widodo is facing mounting criticism over his lack of neutrality after he threw his support behind frontrunner Prabowo Subianto, who has picked Widodo’s son as his running mate. Widodo has distanced himself from the governing Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, under whose banner he ran in 2014 and 2019. The party’s presidential candidate, Ganjar Pranowo, the former governor of Central Java province, addressed a crowd of more than 130,000 supporters and stressed the need for government neutrality in managing military and police forces and civil servants.

Papua separatist rebels appeal to New Zealand pilot’s captor to let him go after a year

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Separatist rebels asked for the immediate release Saturday of the New Zealand pilot who’s been held hostage for almost a year in Indonesia’s restive Papua region. Egianus Kogoya, a regional commander in the Free Papua Movement, took Philip Mark Mehrtens, a pilot from Christchurch who was working for Indonesian aviation company Susi Air, on Feb. 7 2023. In a statement, Sebby Sambom, spokesperson of the West Papua Liberation Army — the armed wing of the Free Papua Movement — said they have asked Kogoya to release Mehrtens on a humanitarian basis. “Using the pilot as a guarantee for an independent Papua at a fixed price is absolutely impossible to happen,” Sambom said.

Japan wants everyone to know: Taylor Swift will make it in time for the Super Bowl

TOKYO (AP) — Taylor Swift, who is holding concerts in Japan through Feb. 10, will make it in time for the Super Bowl to see her partner and football superstar Travis Kelce play. To make sure all her fans know, the Japanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. has sent a message on X, formerly Twitter, alluding to her hit songs in bold letters. “Despite the 12-hour flight and 17-hour time difference, the Embassy can confidently Speak Now to say that if she departs Tokyo in the evening after her concert, she should comfortably arrive in Las Vegas before the Super Bowl begins,” it said.