Top Asian News 3:59 a.m. GMT

Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida steps down to make way for likely successor Shigeru Ishiba

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida resigned with his Cabinet on Tuesday, paving the way for his likely successor Shigeru Ishiba to take office. Kishida took office in 2021 but is leaving so his party can have a fresh leader after his government was dogged by scandals. Ishiba plans to call a parliamentary election for Oct. 27 after he is formally chosen as prime minister later in the day. “I believe it is important to have the new administration get the public’s judgment as soon as possible,” Ishiba said Monday in announcing his plan to call a snap election.

China marks 75 years of Communist Party rule as economic challenges and security threats linger

BEIJING (AP) — China is marking the 75th year of Communist Party rule as economic challenges and security threats linger over the massive state. No festivities have been announced for the occasion Tuesday, save for a flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square, with an honor guard marching from the entrance of the sprawling palace that in past centuries was the home of Chinese emperors. The entirely state-controlled media ran constant reports on China’s economic progress and social stability, with no mention of challenges ranging from a declining birth rate to the disruption in supply chains that has harmed the largely export-driven economy.

China’s Communist Party has ruled for 75 years. Will it make it to 100?

More than three decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of China retains a firm grip on power. The powerful and feared organization has ruled the nation — home to close to one-fifth of the world’s population — for 75 years, surpassing the 74-year Soviet era in Russia. The party survived years of self-inflicted tumult after it took control in 1949. A major course correction in 1978 transformed the country into an industrial giant with an economy second in size only to the United States. Party leaders now want to build an even stronger China to achieve what they call the “rejuvenation” of the nation by 2049, which would mark the centennial of communist rule.

South Korea unveils its most powerful missile, which could reach North Korea’s underground bunkers

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea unveiled its most powerful ballistic missile and other weapons targeting North Korea during a massive Armed Forces Day ceremony Tuesday, as the president warned the North’s regime would collapse if it attempts to use nuclear weapons. South Korea’s weapons displays and warning against North Korea came after its northern rival recently rose regional animosities by disclosing its uranium-enrichment facility and tested missiles ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. “If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the (South Korea)-U.S. alliance,” President Yoon Suk Yeol told thousands of troops gathered at a military airport near Seoul.

Taiwan shuts schools and offices ahead a direct hit from powerful typhoon

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan closed schools and offices and evacuated hundreds from vulnerable areas around the island Tuesday ahead of a strong typhoon expected to hit its populated western coast after lashing northern Philippine islands. More than 500 people were moved from mountainous regions prone to landslides. Nearly 40,000 troops were mobilized to help with rescue efforts, according to the Defense Ministry. Typhoon Krathon is expected to hit the major port city of Kaohsiung in the island’s southwest on Wednesday morning then move across the center of Taiwan and northeast toward the East China Sea, according to the Central Weather Administration.

Indian-controlled Kashmir votes in final phase of polls to elect local government

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Voting in the final phase of the election to choose a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir began Tuesday in the first such vote since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago. Over 3.9 million residents are eligible to cast their votes to choose 40 lawmakers out of 415 candidates in the region’s seven districts during the third — and last — phase of the election. It’s the first such vote in a decade and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s semi-autonomy in 2019.

3 police officers sentenced to prison over the Halloween crush in South Korea that killed nearly 160

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court gave three police officers prison sentences on Monday over their botched handling of a 2022 Halloween crush in a Seoul nightlife district that killed nearly 160 people. It was the first conviction of officials over the failure by authorities to prevent or adequately respond to the overcrowding that occurred in the popular Itaewon district. No top-level officials have been charged or held accountable, prompting criticism from bereaved families and opposition politicians. The crush, one of the biggest peacetime disasters in South Korea, caused a nationwide outpouring of grief. The victims, who were mostly in their 20s and 30s, had gathered in Itaewon for Halloween celebrations.

Knife attack in Shanghai supermarket kills 3, injures 15 others

BEIJING (AP) — A knife attack at a supermarket in Shanghai killed three people and injured 15 others, local police said. A 37-year-old man surnamed Lin was taken into custody by police responding to the report of the attack Monday evening, the local Songjiang police branch said in a statement Tuesday. Eighteen people were sent to hospital for treatment, and three later died. An investigation is underway, the statement said.

Leaders depart UN facing prospect of a wider Mideast war — but with a blueprint for a better future

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — They gathered at the United Nations surrounded by unsettling warnings of an escalating conflict that could engulf the Middle East and further shatter international relations that are based on “multilateralism” — nations working together and sharing power. A week later, world leaders headed home with the prospect of a broader war intensifying and global divisions front and center, not only in the Mideast but elsewhere. There was no expectation of major breakthroughs in the public and private meetings at the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting of presidents, premiers and other leaders. There rarely is. But this year was especially grim, with no end in sight to the three major conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, and Israeli military action in Lebanon escalating.

As big supermarkets pursue profits, new research shows growing exploitation of shrimp farmers

BANGKOK (AP) — Indonesian shrimp farmer Yulius Cahyonugroho operated more than two dozen ponds only a few years ago, employing seven people and making more than enough to support his family. Since then, the 39-year-old says the prices he gets from purchasers have fallen by half and he’s had to scale back to four workers and about one-third the ponds, some months not even breaking even. His wife has had to take a job at a watermelon farm to help support their two children. “It is more stable than the shrimp farms,” said the farmer from Indonesia’s Central Java province. As big Western supermarkets make windfall profits, their aggressive pursuit of ever-lower wholesale prices is causing misery for people at the bottom end of the supply chain — people like Cahyonugroho who produce and process the seafood, according to an investigation by an alliance of NGOs focused on three of the world’s largest producers of shrimp provided to The Associated Press ahead of its publication on Monday.