Top Asian News 4:50 a.m. GMT

China plans to send San Diego Zoo more pandas this year, reigniting its panda diplomacy

SAN DIEGO (AP) — China plans to send a new pair of giant pandas to the San Diego Zoo, renewing its longstanding gesture of friendship toward the United States after nearly all the iconic bears on loan to U.S. zoos were returned as relations began to sour between the two nations. San Diego Zoo officials told The Associated Press that if all permits and other requirements are approved, two bears, a male and a female, are expected to arrive as early as the end of summer, about five years after the zoo sent its last pandas back to China. “We’re very excited and hopeful,” said Megan Owen of the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and vice president of Wildlife Conservation Science.

An online dump of Chinese hacking documents offers a rare window into pervasive state surveillance

Chinese police are investigating an unauthorized and highly unusual online dump of documents from a private security contractor linked to the nation’s top policing agency and other parts of its government — a trove that catalogs apparent hacking activity and tools to spy on both Chinese and foreigners. Among the apparent targets of tools provided by the impacted company, I-Soon: ethnicities and dissidents in parts of China that have seen significant anti-government protests, such as Hong Kong or the heavily Muslim region of Xinjiang in China’s far west. The dump of scores of documents late last week and subsequent investigation were confirmed by two employees of I-Soon, known as Anxun in Mandarin, which has ties to the powerful Ministry of Public Security.

Stock market today: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 surges to all time high, near 39,000

BANGKOK (AP) — Japan’s Nikkei 225 share benchmark surged Thursday to an all-time high, bypassing its previous record set in December 1989 on heavy buying by global investors. By early afternoon it was up 1.9% at 38,997.23. The Nikkei 225’s previous record was 38,915.87, set just before Japan’s bubble economy collapsed in the early 1990s. Japanese shares have logged sharp gains in recent months, helped by strong interest from foreign investors who account for the majority of trading volume on the Tokyo exchange. Record gains in corporate earnings have enhanced the appeal of shares in Japanese companies. The weakness of the Japanese yen against the U.S.

India seeks to boost rooftop solar, especially for its remote areas

BENGALURU, India (AP) — Just a few years ago, someone who wanted to install a rooftop solar connection in India faced getting multiple approvals, finding a reliable company to install the panels and spending heavily before seeing the first surge of clean energy. But that’s changing. The government has streamlined the approvals process, made it easier for people to claim subsidies and pushed mountains of cash — including $9 billion announced this month — to encourage faster adoption of technology that’s seen as critical for India to reach its clean-energy goals. “We had to get 45 signatures to set up a small rooftop solar connection in 2021,” said Shreya Mishra, CEO of Mumbai-based Solar Square, one of India’s largest rooftop solar companies.

South Korean government warns striking doctors to return to work or face legal action

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The South Korean government on Wednesday warned thousands of striking doctors to return to work immediately or face legal action after their collective walkouts caused cancellations of surgeries and disrupted other hospital operations. About 7,800 medical interns and residents in South Korea have walked off their jobs this week to protest the government’s push to recruit more medical students. Officials say they want to increase the nationwide medical school admissions cap by 2,000 from next year to brace for South Korea’s rapidly aging population. But doctors’ groups have refuted the plan, saying universities aren’t ready to offer quality education to that many students.

Retired Catholic bishop charged with sexual offenses in northwest Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A retired Catholic bishop has been charged with sexual offenses including child abuse in a remote part of Australia’s northwest. Christopher Saunders, 74, will appear in the Broome Magistrates Court on Thursday in the heart of the sprawling Outback diocese where he had actively served as a cleric for 45 years, a police statement said. He has been in police custody since detectives charged him Wednesday with 19 offenses including indecent assault and indecently dealing with a child, the statement said. The allegations date to 2008 and cover Broome as well as the far-flung northwest towns of Kununurra and Kalumburu.

Taekwondo instructor charged with murder in the deaths of a 7-year-old student and the boy’s parents

SYDNEY (AP) — A taekwondo instructor was charged from his hospital bed Thursday with three counts of murder for the deaths of a 7-year-old student and the boy’s parents in Sydney. Lawyers for Kwang Kyung Yoo, 49, appeared on his behalf in the Parramatta Local Court hearing, but did not apply for Yoo to be released on bail or enter any plea to the charges. Yoo, the owner of the Lion’s Taekwondo and Martial Arts Academy and known to his students as Master Lion, remains under police guard at a hospital after undergoing surgery for what police described as stab or slash wounds to his chest, stomach and arms.

Container ship hits bridge in Guangzhou, killing two and knocking section of roadway into the water

BEIJING (AP) — Two people are dead after a massive container ship crashed into a bridge near the port of Guangzhou in southern China early Thursday, causing a section of the bridge to come crashing down along with vehicles. Three people are missing, and two have been rescued. One person from the ship sustained light injuries, according to a statement from the Guangzhou city government’s Nansha district Thursday. The incident happened around 5 a.m. Thursday. Three cars, a bus and a scooter fell off the Lixinsha Bridge, authorities said. Two of the cars fell into the water, and the other three vehicles fell onto the empty ship.

Feds accuse alleged Japanese crime boss of conspiring to traffic nuclear material

NEW YORK (AP) — A leader of a Japan-based crime syndicate conspired to traffic uranium and plutonium from Myanmar in the belief that Iran would use it to make nuclear weapons, U.S. prosecutors alleged Wednesday. Takeshi Ebisawa, 60, and his confederates showed samples of nuclear materials that had been transported from Myanmar to Thailand to an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent posing as a narcotics and weapons trafficker who had access to an Iranian general, according to federal officials. The nuclear material was seized and samples were later found to contain uranium and weapons-grade plutonium. “As alleged, the defendants in this case trafficked in drugs, weapons, and nuclear material — going so far as to offer uranium and weapons-grade plutonium fully expecting that Iran would use it for nuclear weapons,” DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement.

A young man dies as clashes erupt between police and protesting farmers in India

SHAMBHU, India (AP) — Clashes between farmers and police in India left one protester dead Wednesday as the farmers resumed their march to the capital after talks with the government failed to end an impasse over their demands for guaranteed crop prices. Indian farmers began their protest march last week but were stopped some 200 kilometers (125 miles) from New Delhi as police fired rounds of tear gas. The 21-year-old farmer, identified as Subhkaran Singh, succumbed to a head injury, medical superintendent H S Rekhi at Rajindra Hospital in nearby Punjab state, told the Press Trust of India news agency. He said two others who got injured were in stable condition.