Top Asian News 3:26 a.m. GMT

Indonesia holds unfinished future capital’s first Independence Day ceremony

PENAJAM PASER UTARA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia marked 79 years of independence on Saturday with a ceremony in the unfinished future capital of Nusantara, which was planned to relieve pressure on Jakarta but whose construction has lagged behind schedule. Hundreds of officials and invited guests wearing the traditional clothes of Indonesian tribes gathered on a stretch of grass amid the ongoing construction of government buildings and and view of construction cranes in the center of the Nusantara city. Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo and Cabinet ministers attended the Independence Day ceremony at the new Presidential Palace, built in the shape of the mythical eagle-winged protector figure Garuda.

India to hold first assembly elections in disputed Kashmir in 10 years

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — India on Friday announced three-phased assembly elections in disputed Kashmir, the first in a decade and in a new political environment after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2019 stripped the Muslim-majority region of its semi-autonomy and downgraded it to a federally controlled territory. Since those changes the region has remained on edge, governed by a New Delhi appointed administrator and run by bureaucrats with no democratic credentials. The new polls will be held between Sept.18 and Oct. 1, India’s Election Commission said at a news conference in the capital, New Delhi. The vote will take place in a staggered process that allows the government to deploy tens of thousands of troops to prevent any outbreak of violence.

Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra is elected Thailand’s prime minister

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Parliament elected Paetongtarn Shinawatra as prime minister Friday, continuing the legacy of the political dynasty that began with her father Thaksin Shinawatra, one of Thailand’s most popular but divisive political figures. Thaksin, a former Prime Minister, was ousted by a military coup in 2006, which triggered decades of deep political divisions. Paetongtarn appears to be the beneficiary of a deal her father made with his old conservative foes, allowing the populist party led by her to take power while pushing aside the more progressive party that finished first in last year’s election. Paetongtarn becomes Thailand’s third leader from the Shinawatra family, after her billionaire father, who returned from exile last year, and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra, who lives in exile.

Thailand’s new prime minister renews the legacy of her divisive father, Thaksin Shinawatra

BANGKOK (AP) — The election of Paetongtarn Shinawatra as Thailand’s prime minister represents a remarkable comeback for the political dynasty founded by her billionaire father, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a military coup in 2006. Paetongtarn, 37, a former executive in a hotel business run by her family, becomes the third close member of the Shinawatra clan to take the prime minister’s job. Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was Thailand’s first female prime minister from 2011 to 2014. An in-law, Somchai Wongsawat, also served briefly in 2008. Although Thaksin was a vastly popular politician who handily won three elections, Thailand’s royalist establishment was disturbed that his populist policies appeared to threaten their status and that of the monarchy at the heart of Thai identity.

Protests grow in India over the rape and killing of a doctor at a state-run hospital

NEW DELHI (AP) — Thousands of people marched through various Indian cities Friday to protest the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a government hospital, demanding justice and better security at medical campuses and hospitals. Demonstrators held signs calling for accountability for the woman’s rape and killing as they gathered near Parliament in New Delhi. Similar protests were held in the eastern city of Kolkata — the capital of West Bengal state where the killing took place — and other Indian cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad. The protests, which have generally been peaceful, began Aug. 9 when police discovered the bloodied body of the 31-year-old trainee doctor at the state-run R.G.

Typhoon Ampil moves away from Japan as train services resume and no major damage is reported

TOKYO (AP) — A powerful typhoon that slammed the Tokyo area with heavy rains and brought mudslide warnings in northern Japan headed eastward out into the Pacific Ocean away from the coast Saturday. There were no reports of major damage. Tokyo and nearby areas were back to normal under sunny skies. Bullet trains that cancelled services between Tokyo and Nagoya, stranding thousands of passengers, resumed operations with the first morning train. Some local trains were still delayed, however, and dozens of airline flights remained cancelled. Typhoon Ampil was moving away from Japan’s eastern coast at 20 kph (12 mph), with sustained winds of 162 kph (101 mph), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Palau’s president says China is weaponizing lucrative tourism over his refusal to break Taiwan ties

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing weaponized tourism to the Pacific archipelago of Palau over its allegiance to Taiwan and its accusations that China was behind a major cyberattack there, President Surangel Whipps Jr. told The Associated Press. Palau, along with Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, is one three Pacific nations to recognize Taiwan as an independent democracy — viewed as a snub by Beijing, which asserts it is part of China. Taipei’s allies in the Pacific have dwindled from six countries in 2019; Nauru abandoned its ties in January. Whipps told the AP in an interview late Thursday that, in 2020 while he was running for his current post, the Chinese ambassador to a neighboring country pledged to flood his tourism-dependent nation of 20,000 people with a million visitors if he capitulated on the country’s stance.

Pakistan’s health ministry confirms a case of mpox but more tests are being done for its variant

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s health ministry said Friday it has identified a case of mpox, but sequencing is being done to determine whether it is a new variant, days after the World Health Organization declared the spread of mpox a global health emergency. The case, in a man who had recently returned from a Middle Eastern country, is the first in Pakistan this year but the nature of the variant was yet to be determined. The first case was reported on Thursday by authorities in Sweden. The ministry in a statement said the man was from Mardan, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.

Philippines says China was `dramatically’ alarmed over US missile system deployed to its north

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — China expressed its “very dramatic” alarm over a mid-range missile system that the U.S. military recently deployed to the Philippines, and warned it could destabilize the region. But Manila’s top diplomat said Friday he reassured his Chinese counterpart that the weaponry was only in the country temporarily. Philippine Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo said his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, expressed China’s concern over the U.S. mid-range missile deployment to the Philippines during their talks last month in Laos on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meetings with Asian and Western countries. “We discussed it and, well, they made it very dramatic,” Manalo said in response to questions during a news conference with foreign correspondents in Manila.

Most suspects in a 2023 anti-Christian rampage in Pakistan are still at large, a rights group says

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Most of the suspects in a rampage last year against minority Christians in eastern Pakistan over alleged blasphemy are not in custody and authorities have failed to deliver justice to the victims, a human rights group said Friday. “More than 90% of the suspects of the attack in Jaranwala, in Punjab’s Faisalabad district, are still at large,” Amnesty International said in a statement on the anniversary of one of Pakistan’s worst attacks on Christians, in which churches and homes of Christians were destroyed. The violence erupted after Muslims alleged that they saw a local Christian and his friend desecrating pages from a Quran.