Top Asian News 3:07 a.m. GMT

Japan’s Kishida announces he will not run in September, paving the way for a new prime minister

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a surprise move Wednesday, announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, paving the way for Japan to have a new prime minister. Kishida was elected president of his governing Liberal Democratic Party in 2021 and his three-year term expires in September. His drop out of the race means a new leader who wins the party vote will succeed him as prime minister because the LDP controls both houses of parliament. Kishida, stung by his party’s corruption scandals, has suffered dwindling support ratings that have dipped below 20%.

Study finds rains that led to deadly Indian landslides were made worse by climate change

BENGALURU, India (AP) — The heavy rains that resulted in landslides killing hundreds in southern India last month were made worse by human-caused climate change, a rapid analysis by climate scientists found Tuesday. The study by the World Weather Attribution, a group of scientists who use established climate models to quickly determine whether human-caused climate change played a part in extreme weather events around the world, found that the 15 centimeters (5.91 inches) of rain that fell in a 24-hour period July 29-30 was 10% more intense because of global warming. The group expects further emissions of planet-heating gases will result in increasingly frequent intense downpours that can lead to such disasters.

The violence in Bangladesh after Hasina’s ouster stirs fear within the country’s Hindu minority

KHULNA, Bangladesh (AP) — When a mass uprising forced Bangladesh’s longtime prime minister to step down and flee the country last week, a 65-year-old retired auditor who had worked for her political party feared for his life. Arobinda Mohalder, who is part of Bangladesh’s Hindu minority, had just learned that a Hindu official working for the Awami League party in the country’s Khulna district escaped after an angry mob set his home on fire. Mohalder and his wife quickly packed clothes and passports as they fled their home to stay with a relative nearby. Later that evening, they found out their home had been torched.

Indians wanting their money back for undelivered Teslas shows how drastically the EV market changed

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — In April 2016, Elon Musk invited Indians to preorder the upcoming Tesla Model 3. Vishal Gondal was one of the first to sign up, paying a $1,000 deposit for a car that never arrived. The founder and CEO of a health-tech startup called GOQii in India’s financial capital Mumbai, Gondal wasn’t sure when the automaker would launch in India or how much the car would eventually cost. But the Elon Musk fan was excited about the Model 3 and willing to wait. In the eight years since Tesla’s initial promise to sell cars in India, other automakers have launched their own EVs.

Pakistani, Afghan Taliban forces trade fire at Torkham border crossing, killing 3 Afghan civilians

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani and Afghan Taliban forces traded cross-border fire near a key northwestern crossing, killing a woman and two children on the Afghan side of the border, officials said Tuesday. There was no immediate word on casualties on the Pakistani side of the Torkham border which was shut, disrupting trade and movement of people between the two countries, local Pakistani official Zahid Khan said. Torkham, a key border crossing, is located in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It was unclear who initiated the attack, though such cross-border fire is common along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Each side has in the past closed Torkham, and also the southwestern Chaman border crossing in Pakistan, for various reasons.

New Zealand food bank distributes candy made from a potentially lethal amount of methamphetamine

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A charity working with homeless people in Auckland, New Zealand unknowingly distributed candies filled with a potentially lethal dose of methamphetamine in its food parcels after the sweets were donated by a member of the public. Auckland City Mission told reporters on Wednesday that staff had started to contact up to 400 people to track down parcels that could contain the sweets — which were solid blocks of methamphetamine enclosed in candy wrappers. New Zealand’s police have opened a criminal investigation. The amount of methamphetamine in each candy was up to 300 times the level someone would usually take and could be lethal, according to the New Zealand Drug Foundation — a drug checking and policy organization, which first tested the candies.

Filipino gymnast who won 2 Olympic golds in Paris gets hero’s welcome and free buffets for life

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo, who won two gold medals in the Paris Olympics, flew home to a hero’s welcome Tuesday with a nationally televised tribute by the president and donors pledging more than $1 million worth of cash and gifts, including a resort house and free lunch buffets for life. The 24-year-old’s wins in the men’s floor exercise and vault were the largest victory ever by a Filipino athlete since the Philippines joined the Games a century ago. Two Filipino boxers, Nesthy Petecio and Aira Villegas, won bronze medals in women’s boxing in Paris. The euphoria over Yulo’s wins has provided a respite for a nation long ridden with poverty, deep divisions and conflicts.

Myanmar releases a Japanese executive after he was convicted for selling rice above set prices

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese business executive who was detained in Myanmar for more than a month has been released after being convicted of violating rice pricing rules, officials said Tuesday. Hiroshi Kasamatsu, a director of the Myanmar supermarket Aeon Orange, was in custody in Myanmar since his June 30 arrest for selling rice at prices above the official regulations. Japan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that the Japanese national was convicted of violating law related to daily necessities and service. He was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 500,000 kyat (about $150). Kasamatsu was freed Monday afternoon, said Maj.

Bangladesh’s ex-Premier Hasina calls for probe into killings during unrest that led to her ouster

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called on Tuesday from self-exile in India for an investigation into those responsible for the killings of students and others during weeks of violent protests that prompted her ouster. Hasina, who stepped down and fled Bangladesh on Aug. 5 after student activists led an uprising against her government, is herself accused of responsibility for much of the deadly violence, and activists have demanded that she be put on trial. In a statement posted on the social media platform X by her son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Hasina said she wanted an investigation and demanded “punishment for those responsible for the killings and sabotage.” It was her first public statement since leaving Bangladesh.

Philippines protests Chinese air force jets’ firing of flares in the path of patrol plane

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government said Tuesday it has filed a diplomatic protest against Beijing after Chinese jets flew dangerously close and fired a volley of flares in the path of a Philippine air force patrol plane over a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. The Chinese air force jets’ hostile actions against the Philippine military’s NC-212i light transport plane Thursday over the Scarborough Shoal was the first such aerial encounter since high-seas hostilities between Beijing and Manila in the busy seaway started to flare last year. Philippine military chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. did not report any injuries or damage but condemned the Chinese actions, which he said could have had tragic consequences.