Top Asian News 4:34 a.m. GMT

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.

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.

Ishiba survived a rare runoff to remain Japan’s prime minister but will face turmoil

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, battered in parliamentary elections last month, has survived a rare runoff vote against the opposition to remain the country’s leader but he still faces turmoil ahead. One of his top priorities is dealing with the aftermath of a major corruption scandal in the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party, in which dozens of lawmakers from the party are alleged to have pocketed profits from event ticket sales as kickbacks. Ishiba also now has a much-emboldened, opposition eager to push through policies long stymied by the LDP. Support ratings for his Cabinet have fallen to about 30%.

Typhoon batters storm-weary Philippines and displaces thousands more people as a new storm threatens

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Typhoon Toraji unleashed floods, knocked down trees and caused power outages in the northern Philippines before weakening into a tropical storm and blowing out to the South China Sea, officials said Tuesday as they braced for another approaching storm. The Philippines has scrambled to deal with multiple calamities wreaked by four back-to-back typhoons and storms, including Toraji, that devastated the northern region of Luzon, including vast farmlands and communities, in less than a month. A brewing storm in the Pacific may strengthen into a typhoon and hit the country on Thursday, forecasters said. There were no immediate reports of deaths from Toraji.

A driver who struck a crowd in a Chinese city, causing multiple injuries, has been detained

BANGKOK (AP) — A 62-year-old man was detained after he rammed a car into people exercising at a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai and fled. One of the four hospitals that took in people for treatment said it had more than 20 injured people, state media reported Monday. Police identified the man only by his family name of Fan, consistent with the practice by Chinese authorities. The police statement said the vehicle knocked down “a number of” of pedestrians Monday evening. It was not immediately clear whether it was an attack or an accident. No motive was mentioned, and police said investigations continued.

Satellite images and documents indicate China working on nuclear propulsion for new aircraft carrier

BANGKOK (AP) — China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing its first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. China’s navy is already the world’s largest numerically, and it has been rapidly modernizing. Adding nuclear-powered carriers to its fleet would be a major step in realizing its ambitions for a true “blue-water” force capable of operating in seas far from China in a growing global challenge to the United States. “Nuclear-powered carriers would place China in the exclusive ranks of first-class naval powers, a group currently limited to the United States and France,” said Tong Zhao, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C.

A look at the research revealing China’s work on prototype nuclear reactor to power aircraft carrier

BANGKOK (AP) — China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the country’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. There have long been rumors that China is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but the research by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California is the first to confirm it is working on a nuclear-powered propulsion system for a carrier-sized surface warship. China’s navy is already the world’s largest numerically, and it has been rapidly modernizing.

Japan’s reelected Prime Minister Ishiba vows to step up reform

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pledged to take tougher measures against misuse of political funds after he was reelected by parliament Monday following a major loss in the polls last month by his governing coalition. Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito together lost a majority in the 465-seat Lower House, the more powerful of Japan’s two-house parliament, in the Oct. 27 election. The defeat was blamed on voter outrage over financial misconduct by his party. “We must remind ourselves of the basics that politics is for the people, as we tackle political and party reforms,” Ishiba said.

Pakistan suspends railway services in the country’s southwest after deadly train station bombing

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s railways suspended all train services on Monday to and from a restive southwestern province where a suicide bombing at a train station over the weekend killed 26 people, including soldiers and railway staff. The train services would be suspended for four days for security reasons, according to a statement from Pakistan Railways. The attack, claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army struck the station in the city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, on Saturday. At lest 62 people were also wounded in the bombing, officials said. The provincial government also declared a three-day mourning period in solidarity with the families of the victims and said that security has been stepped up and vowed to hit back “with full force” against the separatists, according to Sarfraz Bugti, the province’s chief minister.

Mali detains top executive and 2 others from an Australian gold mining company over dispute

YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — The military junta in Mali has arrested the top executive and two other employees of Australia’s gold mining company Resolute Mining while they were visiting the country for talks over an unspecified dispute, the company said Monday. The three – including the chief executive Terence Holohan – were detained last Friday in Mali’s capital of Bamako. Andrew Wray, the company’s non-executive chairman, said in a statement published on Resolute Mining’s website that the three officials were “unexpectedly detained” after a discussions about “claims made against” the company, without elaborating. There was no information why the three were still detained, three days later.