Top Asian News 4:38 a.m. GMT

Public mourns 35 killed in attack at sports complex in southern Chinese city

ZHUHAI, China (AP) — Members of the public paid their respects Wednesday to people killed by a driver who rammed into people exercising a sports complex in southern China, as the country mourned, but little information was available about the suspect or the victims in the attack. The crash Monday night in Zhuhai killed 35 people and severely injured 43 others, and the driver was detained as he was trying to escape. Authorities said the 62-year-old man with the surname Fan was upset over his divorce settlement. Members of the public had started bringing flowers in honor of the victims Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday.

Welcome to China’s underground raves, from street techno to quotes from Chairman Mao

CHANGCHUN, China (AP) — Crouch through the small metal door and walk down the dark tunnel, and even before you step into the abandoned air raid shelter, the air reverberates with pounding techno beats. Young Chinese holding booze and cigarettes shake and sway in a red-lit passageway, below a big screen rolling through quotations from Chairman Mao. This is an underground rave in China, part of a subculture growing in hidden corners of the nation’s cities, even as its political and cultural mainstream grow increasingly controlled, staid and predictable. For Chinese ravers, these gatherings — often called “ye di,” or “wild dances” — not only offer a rare space for unfettered fun, but signal resistance to the narrowly prescribed future a rigid society expects for them.

South Korean president takes up golf again to forge a bond with Trump

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has dusted off his golf clubs in an attempt to forge a bond with President-elect Donald Trump, an avid lover of the game. The presidential office said Tuesday that Yoon began practicing the game for the first time in eight years in preparation for a possible round of golf with Trump. Since his election, Trump’s “America first” approach has raised concerns it could negatively affect the U.S. defense commitment to South Korea and hurt the trade interests of the Northeast Asian country in various ways, including increased tariffs. Some experts say it’s important to build a close personal friendship with Trump during the transition period before he formally takes office in January.

Chinese hackers target Tibetan websites in malware attack, cybersecurity group says

BANGKOK (AP) — A hacking group that is believed to be Chinese state-sponsored has compromised two websites with ties to the Tibetan community in an attack meant to install malware on users’ computers, according to findings released Wednesday by a private cybersecurity firm. The hack of the Tibet Post and Gyudmed Tantric University websites appears geared toward obtaining access to the computers of people visiting to obtain information on them and their activities, according to the analysis by the Insikt Group, the threat research division of the Massachusetts-based cybersecurity consultancy Recorded Future. The hackers, known in the report as TAG-112, compromised the websites so that visitors are prompted to download a malicious executable file disguised as a security certificate, Insikt Group said.

Sri Lankan president seeks party win in parliamentary election to help him push his economic reforms

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is looking to consolidate his party’s power in Thursday’s parliamentary election to help him implement his election pledges to solve the country’s economic woes and foster good governance. The Marxist-leaning Dissanayake won the presidential election on Sept. 21 in a victory that marked a rejection of the traditional political parties that have governed the island nation since its independence from British rule in 1948. However, Dissanayake’s failure to secure more than 50% of the vote has fueled concerns over his party’s outlook in the parliamentary election. His National People’s Power party must increase its votes significantly — from the 42% it won in the presidential election — if it is to secure a minimum of 113 seats to take control of the 225-member Parliament.

North Korea ratifies major defense treaty with Russia

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea ratified a major defense treaty with Russia stipulating mutual military aid, the North’s state media reported Tuesday, as the U.S., South Korea and Ukraine say North Korea has sent thousands of troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine. Russia had completed the ratification of the treaty last week after it was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June. It is considered both countries’ biggest defense deal since the end of the Cold War. The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership treaty will take effect when both sides exchange documents on the ratification, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

‘A hollow and limited apology.’ New Zealand survivors of abuse in care speak in their own words

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Hundreds of survivors of abuse in state, foster and faith-based care arrived at New Zealand’s Parliament in Wellington on Tuesday, each representing thousands more. They came to hear the government formally apologize for the “unimaginable” horrors they suffered as children and vulnerable adults, after a long-running inquiry made its final report about the scale of the abuse in July. “You deserved so much better and I am deeply sorry that New Zealand did not do better by you,” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told them in Parliament hours later. Many had T-shirts specially printed. Some used canes or wheelchairs because of the abuse they suffered in hospitals, institutions and care homes after they were taken from their families.

New Zealand’s leader formally apologizes to survivors of abuse in state and church care

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made a “formal and unreserved” apology in Parliament on Tuesday for the widespread abuse, torture and neglect of hundreds of thousands of children and vulnerable adults in care. “It was horrific. It was heartbreaking. It was wrong. And it should never have happened,” Luxon said, as he spoke to lawmakers and a public gallery packed with survivors of the abuse. An estimated 200,000 people in state, foster and faith-based care suffered “unimaginable” abuse over a period of seven decades, a blistering report released in July said at the end of the largest inquiry ever undertaken in New Zealand.

Bangladesh asks Interpol for help in arresting ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Tuesday asked the international police organization Interpol to issue a red notice for the arrest of ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in connection with the deaths of hundreds of protesters during a mass uprising against her. Hasina fled to India on Aug. 5 with her close aides and former ministers, ending a 15-year rule. Nobel Peace laurate Muhammad Yunus took over as the interim leader of the South Asian nation on Aug. 8, and later reconstituted the tribunal that once handled charges of crimes against humanity during the country’s 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

Earth’s biggest polluters aren’t sending leaders to UN climate talks in a year of weather extremes

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — World leaders converged Tuesday at the United Nations annual climate conference with plenty of big names and powerful countries noticeably absent. Past talks often had the star power of a soccer World Cup. But the meeting just getting underway in Azerbaijan won’t have the top leaders of the 13 largest carbon dioxide-polluting countries — a group responsible for more than 70% of the heat-trapping gases emitted last year. “The people who are responsible for this are absent,” Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said during his speech at the summit. “There’s nothing to be proud about.” The world’s biggest polluters and strongest economies — China and the United States — aren’t sending their No.