Top Asian News 3:01 a.m. GMT

North Korea vows to arrest those responsible for failed ship launch

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday it began steps to arrest and investigate those responsible for the failed launch of its second naval destroyer after leader Kim Jong Un expressed fury over the incident that he said was caused by criminal negligence. The 5,000-ton-class warship was damaged when a transport cradle on the ship’s stern detached early during a launch ceremony at the northeastern port of Chongjin on Wednesday, state media said. Satellite imagery on the site showed the vessel lying on its side, with most of its hull submerged and draped in blue covers. North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Friday that the severity of the damage was “not serious” and could be repaired in about 10 days.

How a cookie tin lottery at New Zealand’s Parliament helps decide what becomes law

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Under the scrutiny of a black-robed official and before a hushed audience, a decorative cookie tin rattles like a bingo drum. Inside: the future of New Zealand ’s laws. The ceremonial lottery at Parliament, where bills are drawn randomly from what’s known as “the biscuit tin” in local parlance, is a way to ensure every New Zealand legislator has the chance to advance a proposed law, no matter how unpopular their bid. When a rare empty slot opens on Parliament’s agenda, the battered metal cookie tin is produced from a glass case and its solemn and silly rite is hastily arranged.

Record floodwaters in eastern Australia leave 4 dead and 1 missing

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Record floodwaters on Australia’s east coast have left four people dead and one missing, officials said Friday as rain eased over the disaster area. Some 50,000 people have been isolated by flooding along the coast of New South Wales state north of Sydney after days of heavy rain. The low-pressure weather system that brought the deluge had moved further south to Sydney and its surrounds Friday. Four bodies have been retrieved from floodwaters in New South Wales since Wednesday. Three of the victims had driven into floodwaters, while a man’s body had been found on the verandah of his flooded home.

Emergency reserves, high prices, rationing. How did Japan’s rice crisis get this far?

TOKYO (AP) — Rice is essential to Japanese culture, tradition and politics. People take pride in the oval-shaped sticky Japonica grain, which is still a staple even though total consumption has fallen over the decades. But since last summer, prices have soared as supplies have fallen short of demand. The government has long paid farmers to cut back on rice acreage, and change to other crops to keep rice prices relatively high. To cope with shortfalls this year, the government has released rice reserves. But the grain has been slow to reach supermarket shelves. Anger over that was part of the reason the agriculture minister quit this week.

Philippine president calls for all Cabinet secretaries to resign after election setbacks

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked all of his Cabinet secretaries to submit resignations on Thursday in a “bold reset” of his administration following last week’s mid-term elections, which saw more opposition candidates win crucial Senate seats. Marcos, the 67-year-old son of a late Philippine dictator overthrown in 1986, won the presidency in the deeply divided Southeast Asian country by a landslide in 2022 in a stunning political comeback as he made a steadfast call for national unity. But his equally popular vice-presidential running mate, Sara Duterte, later broke from him in a falling out that has sparked intense political discord.

Kashmir tourism bears the brunt after tourist massacre and India-Pakistan military strikes

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — There are hardly any tourists in the scenic Himalayan region of Kashmir. Most of the hotels and ornate pinewood houseboats are empty. Resorts in the snowclad mountains have fallen silent. Hundreds of cabs are parked and idle. It’s the fallout of last month’s gun massacre that left 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, dead in Indian-controlled Kashmir followed by tit-for-tat military strikes by India and Pakistan, bringing the nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of their third war over the region. “There might be some tourist arrivals, but it counts almost negligible. It is almost a zero footfall right now,” said Yaseen Tuman, who operates multiple houseboats in the region’s main city of Srinagar.

4 dead and 17 trapped in landslides in southwestern China

BEIJING (AP) — Landslides in a rural area in China’s southwestern Guizhou province have killed at least four people with 17 others still missing in the debris, state media said. Two bodies were found in Changshi township on Thursday, and two others in nearby Qingyang village, where a landslide buried 19 people from eight households, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency. Most of Guowa township, where Qingyang is located, had lost power after the landslides, a local newspaper reported. A resident told state media that it had rained all night. A drone video of the area showed a large swathe of brown earth that cut through the green slope of the hilly terrain.

An urban guerrilla group in Myanmar claims responsibility for assassinating a retired army officer

BANGKOK (AP) — A retired high-ranking officer in Myanmar’s military was shot dead by a self-proclaimed urban guerrilla group on Thursday near his home in the country’s biggest city, marking the latest assassination attributed to militants opposed to army rule. The former army officer, Cho Tun Aung, was shot by a man at around 9 a.m. while he was standing in front of his home in Yangon’s Mayangon township, a member of the local administration said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release information. A militant group calling itself the Golden Valley Warriors claimed responsibility for the attack on Cho Tun Aung, who also had previously served as Myanmar’s ambassador to Cambodia.

US tariff hikes, Myanmar war and sea disputes will top ASEAN summit agenda

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) — The civil war in Myanmar, maritime disputes in the South China Sea and U.S. tariff hikes will top the agenda of a two-day Southeast Asian summit next week, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. The meeting in Malaysia, the current chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, on Monday will be followed by a summit on Tuesday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The GCC already has strong links with the U.S. and “wants to be close to China too,” Anwar said.

A look at the deportees on plane that headed for South Sudan from US

The foreign men convicted of crimes who were placed on a deportation flight headed for the chaotic nation of South Sudan were originally from countries as far away as Vietnam. They had lived in various places from California to Iowa, Nebraska to Florida, with one serving a sentence of nearly 30 years. They were accused and convicted of crimes ranging from murder, to rape, robbery and assault. Despite their criminal records, a federal judge says the White House violated a court order on deportations to third countries, adding these eight migrants aboard the plane were not given a meaningful opportunity to object that the deportation could put them in danger.