Top Asian News 2:31 a.m. GMT

The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago, but the battle with Agent Orange continues

DA NANG, Vietnam (AP) — The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975, when the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to Communist forces. But millions of people still face daily battles with its chemical legacy. Nguyen Thanh Hai, 34, is one of millions with disabilities linked to Agent Orange. Born with severe developmental challenges, it’s a struggle for him to complete tasks others take for granted: buttoning the blue shirt he wears to a special school in Da Nang, practicing the alphabet, drawing shapes or forming simple sentences. Hai grew up in Da Nang, the site of a U.S. air base where departing troops left behind huge amounts of Agent Orange that have lingered for decades, leeching into food and water supplies in areas like Hai’s village and affecting generations of residents.

North Korea confirms it sent troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea confirmed Monday for the first time that it sent troops to Russia to support its war against Ukraine, saying the deployment was meant to help Russia regain its Kursk region that Ukrainian forces seized in a surprise incursion last year. U.S., South Korean and Ukraine intelligence officials have said North Korea dispatched about 10,000-12,000 troops to Russia last fall in its first participation in a major armed conflict since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. But North Korea hadn’t confirmed or denied its reported troop deployments to Russia until Monday. The North Korean announcement came two days after Russia said its troops have fully reclaimed the Kursk region.

Pakistani troops kill 54 militants attempting to sneak into Pakistan from Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani security forces overnight killed 54 militants who attempted to cross into the country from Afghanistan, the military said Sunday, marking one of the deadliest such killings in recent years. The military said in a statement that intelligence reports indicated that the killed militants were “Khwarij” — a phrase the government uses for the Pakistani Taliban. Without directly blaming anyone, the military said that the slain insurgents had been sent by their “foreign masters” to carry out high-profile attacks inside Pakistan. The insurgents were spotted and killed near the former stronghold of Pakistan Taliban near North Waziristan, a district in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province along the Afghan border.

Murder charges filed against suspect in ramming attack on Vancouver street festival that killed 11

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Murder charges were filed Sunday against a suspect in a weekend car ramming attack that killed 11 people between the ages of 5 and 65 at a Filipino heritage festival in the city of Vancouver, a tragedy that shook Canada on the eve of a federal election. The British Columbia Prosecution Service charged Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, with eight counts of second degree murder and said more charges were possible. Investigators ruled out terrorism and said Lo had a history of mental health issues. Lo, a Vancouver resident, appeared in court and remains in custody, prosecutors said.

Lee Jae-myung nominated by South Korea’s liberal opposition to run for president

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Lee Jae-myung, a liberal who wants greater economic parity in South Korea and warmer ties with North Korea, became the main opposition party’s presidential candidate Sunday, solidifying his position as front-runner to succeed recently ousted conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol. The former Democratic Party chief had led the opposition-controlled parliament’s impeachment of Yoon over the imposition of martial law in December. The country’s Constitutional Court formally dismissed Yoon earlier this month, prompting an early presidential election on June 3 to find a new president. In a nationally televised announcement, the Democratic Party announced that Lee won its presidential nomination with nearly 90% of the votes cast during the primary that ended Sunday, defeating two competitors.

The Vietnam War produced classic Hollywood films — and hardly any classic female roles

“Me love you long time,” a Vietnamese sex worker tells the U.S. troops, swiveling her hips as she hawks her services. “You party?” The first female character in Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam War classic “Full Metal Jacket,” she appears for just a moment — and halfway through the film. Likewise, it’s an hour into Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now” when a helicopter suddenly deposits three women onto a stage. They’re scantily clad Playboy Bunnies, choppered in to rile up the troops. They, too, appear for just a few minutes. The Vietnam War produced some of the most unforgettable films of the late 1970s and 1980s, as top Hollywood filmmakers like Kubrick, Coppola, Oliver Stone and others grappled with its painful legacy.

US forces deploy anti-ship missiles in Philippines and stage live-fire drills near China hotspots

BATAN ISLAND, Philippines (AP) — The U.S. military has deployed an anti-ship missile launcher for the first time on Batan Island in the Philippines, as Marines unloaded the high-precision weapon on the northern tip of the archipelago, just a sea border away from Taiwan. U.S. and Philippine forces separately unleashed a barrage of missile and artillery fire that shot down several drones acting as hostile aircraft in live-fire drills on Sunday in Zambales province facing the disputed South China Sea. The mock battle scenarios over the weekend in the annual Balikatan exercises between the U.S. and its oldest treaty ally in Asia, the Philippines, not only simulated real-life war.

Here’s why a flare-up between India and Pakistan over Kashmir matters

NEW DELHI (AP) — India and Pakistan have intensified their hostilities over the hotly contested Kashmir region following a massacre of 26 mostly Indian tourists, which New Delhi linked to Pakistan. Pakistan denies it was behind Tuesday’s attack by gunmen on a group of tourists in Kashmir. Both sides have since escalated the tensions by exchanging diplomatic and trade sanctions against each other and raising fears of a military conflict. Here are five reasons why a flare-up between India and Pakistan matters: Under intense domestic pressure, India has hinted at the possibility of a limited military strike on Pakistan in response to what it called the “terror attack” with “cross-border links.” Pakistan made it clear that it will respond militarily to an attack.

AP PHOTOS: Thousands of Buddhists participate in Lotus Lantern Festival in South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Thousands of Buddhist believers and festival-goers filled downtown Seoul for Yeon Deung Hoe, or the Lotus Lantern Festival. Participants, some dressed in traditional Korean Hanbok clothing, carried lotus lanterns of different shapes and colors. The festival was originally a celebration rooted in Buddhism but has evolved into an annual cultural event, drawing a large number of participants and spectators each year. With a history spanning over 1,200 years, the festival is registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as well as Korea’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage. The festival aims to spread the enlightenment of the founder of Buddhism across the world.

Indian military says Pakistani troops fired at positions along the border in disputed Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Pakistani soldiers fired at Indian posts along the highly militarized frontier in disputed Kashmir for a second consecutive night, the Indian military said Saturday, as tensions flared between the nuclear-armed rivals following a deadly attack on tourists last week. India described the massacre, in which gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, as a “terror attack” and accused Pakistan of backing it. Pakistan denies the charge. The assault, near the resort town of Pahalgam in India-controlled Kashmir, was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance. It was the restive region’s worst assault targeting civilians in years.