Top Asian News 1:26 a.m. GMT

Canada-India dispute over assassination allegations could impact Modi’s global ambitions

NEW DELHI (AP) — A diplomatic row that has strained bilateral relations between India and Canada for over a year has boiled over as the countries expelled each other’s top diplomats over the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada and allegations of other crimes there. Experts say the standoff will make it difficult for both countries to move forward with a once-promising partnership, and could impact India’s ambitions as it tries to project itself as a rising world power. “India-Canada bilateral relations, which have been on a downslide since last year, will take a further hit, which will take a long time to repair,” said Praveen Donthi, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group.

How did a killing at a Sikh temple lead to Canada and India expelling each other’s diplomats?

NEW DELHI (AP) — Relations between India and Canada are at a low point as the countries expelled each other’s top diplomats over an ongoing dispute about the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada. Canada said it had identified India’s top diplomat in the country as a person of interest in an assassination plot and expelled him and five other diplomats Monday. India has rejected the accusations as absurd, and its foreign ministry said it was expelling Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats in response. It’s the latest in an escalating dispute over the June 2023 killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Head of Myanmar’s military government urges ethnic rebels to join peace talks

BANGKOK (AP) — The head of Myanmar’s military government on Tuesday invited ethnic rebels to hold peace talks to end armed conflict across the country, the second time in less than a month that the ruling generals have publicly promoted negotiations. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing’s proposal was broadcast on state television on the ninth anniversary of the signing of its nationwide cease-fire agreement. About half of the nation’s 21 established ethnic armed organizations agreed to the pact but some no longer honor it. Last month, the military announced its most direct invitation for peace talks since it seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

Violence-hit Pakistan locks down its capital for an Asian security meeting

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Shaken by multiple militant attacks, Pakistani authorities have locked down the capital in a major security move as senior officials from several nations arrive for an Asian security group meeting. A three-day holiday started Monday in normally bustling Islamabad and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi. The government deployed troops and blocked key roads, making it difficult even for ambulances to pass through. Some doctors asked police to remove barricades so they could go to hospitals but were instead asked to take longer routes. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met Tuesday with leaders and officials attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting.

Japan’s Toho acquires North American animation company GKIDS, Studio Ghibli’s US steward

The Japanese entertainment giant Toho has reached an agreement to acquire the Oscar-winning animation outfit GKIDS, the companies said Tuesday. The deal gives Toho an established North American distributor and sales operation in GKIDS, which has become a force in animation since its founding in 2008. As producer and distributor of artist-driven animation, GKIDS has brought acclaimed films like “Song of the Sea,” “The Breadwinner” and “Wolfwalkers” to North American audiences and operated as the domestic stewards of the Studio Ghibli catalog. After 13 best animated feature Oscar nominations, GKIDS won the award earlier this year for Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli’s “The Boy and the Heron.” Toho, meanwhile, is home to internationally recognized brands, from Godzilla to popular anime franchises like “My Hero Academia” and “Jujutsu Kaisen.” The company is hoping to grow and expand outside of Japan and had already worked with GKIDS for years, on releases like “Weathering With You” and “Spirited Away: Live on Stage.” Toho president and CEO Hiro Matsuoka said in a statement that GKIDS’ unique position in the U.S.

A South Korean adoptee needed answers about the past. She got them — just not the ones she wanted

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Rebecca Kimmel sat in a small room, stunned and speechless, staring at the baby photo she had just unearthed from her adoption file. It was a black-and-white shot of an infant, possibly taken at an orphanage in Gwangju, the South Korean city where Kimmel had heard all her life that she’d been abandoned. But something about the photo — the eyes, the ears, an uneasy feeling deep in her gut — confirmed what she’d long suspected: This baby was not her. Overcome, she started howling like a strange, wounded animal. This photo meant that the stories she had been told about herself were a lie.

Campaigning begins for Japan’s parliamentary election

TOKYO (AP) — Official campaigning for Japan’s Oct. 27 parliamentary election began Tuesday with new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba seeking a mandate for his policies and for reforms after the governing party’s political funds scandal. More than 1,300 candidates were expected to enter the races for the 465-seat Lower House before registration closes later Tuesday. Ishiba called the snap election after he took office as prime minister on Oct. 1. As customary for Liberal Democratic Party leaders over the past decade, he was to start his campaign in Fukushima to renew his pledge to support the area’s recovery from the 2011 nuclear disaster.

China unveils its plans to turn its feats in space exploration into scientific advances

BEIJING (AP) — China has made great strides in exploring space in recent years, rocketing astronauts to its own space station and bringing back rocks from the moon. Now it wants to turn those feats into scientific advances. The nation’s leading scientific institute laid out an ambitious plan Tuesday to become a global leader in space science by 2050. It listed a wide range of research areas including black holes, Mars and Jupiter, and the search for habitable planets and signs of extraterrestrial life. “Our country’s space science research in general is still in an initial stage,” Ding Chibiao, a vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said at a news conference.

An inmate convicted of the 1994 killing of a Japanese psychic was found dead in a Hawaii prison cell

HONOLULU (AP) — A Hawaii inmate convicted of the 1994 murder of a Japanese psychic and her son was killed in prison, authorities said. Staff at the Halawa Correctional Facility in Aiea, outside Honolulu, found Raita Fukusaku, 59, bleeding on the floor of his cell with head and neck trauma early Monday, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. “It was determined that the victim had been assaulted and stabbed by his cellmate, a 38-year-old male,” Honolulu police said in a public information bulletin. The cellmate was immediately removed and placed in a holding unit, the corrections department said.

A Hong Kong zoo seeks answers after 9 monkeys die in 2 days

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s oldest zoo is seeking answers in a monkey medical mystery after nine animals died in two days, including three members of a critically endangered species. Part of the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens has been sealed off and disinfected, and experts have been called in to conduct necropsies and toxicological tests, Hong Kong leader John Lee said in his weekly press briefing Tuesday. Eight monkeys were found dead on Sunday, and another died Monday after displaying unusual behavior. The deceased animals are a De Brazza’s monkey, a common squirrel monkey, four white-faced sakis and three cotton-top tamarins — a species listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.