Top Asian News 3:41 a.m. GMT

Pope heads to economic power Singapore after a joyous visit to impoverished, devout East Timor

DILI, East Timor (AP) — Pope Francis flew to Singapore on Wednesday for the final leg of his trip through Asia, heading to one of the world’s richest countries from one of its poorest after a record-setting final Mass in East Timor. After a brief farewell ceremony, Francis, the Vatican delegation and journalists traveling with him flew to Singapore aboard local carrier Aero Dili’s only aircraft, an Airbus A320. Francis wrapped up his visit to East Timor with a rally Wednesday morning of its young people, who make up the majority of the 1.3 million population. He urged them to work together to build their young country, using the foundations of older generations who secured their independence from Indonesia, to grow in peace, prosperity and reconciliation.

Flash flood sweeps away hamlet as Vietnam storm toll rises to 141 dead

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A flash flood swept away an entire hamlet in northern Vietnam, killing 16 people and leaving dozens missing as deaths from a typhoon and its aftermath climbed to 141 on Wednesday. Vietnamese state broadcaster VTV said the torrent of water gushing down from a mountain in Lao Cai province Tuesday buried Lang Nu hamlet with 35 families in mud and debris. Only about a dozen are known so far to have survived. Rescuers have recovered 16 bodies and are continuing the search for about 40 others. The death toll from Typhoon Yagi and its aftermath has climbed to 141 as 69 others remain missing and hundreds were injured, VTV said.

Anti-war protesters clash with police outside Australian arms convention

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Thousands of anti-war protesters clashed with police Wednesday outside a military arms convention in downtown Melbourne. Around 1,800 police officers have been deployed to a Melbourne convention center where the Land Forces International Land Defense Exposition will take place from Wednesday until Friday. Witnesses reported protesters throwing rocks, horse manure and tomatoes at police horses and officers with shields and wearing riot gear. A police officer on horseback was seen striking a protester with a riding crop. A line of police was also seen forcing protesters away from the convention center. Officers used pepper spray against some protesters and were seen taking others into custody.

Pakistani police free the leader of former premier Khan’s opposition party

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani police on Tuesday freed the president of the opposition party of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, a day after he was detained outside parliament on a charge of allegedly inciting violence, his party said. Islamabad police in a statement confirmed the release of Gohar Khan, who is not related to the former premier. He was arrested along with several other leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party as they demanded Imran Khan’s release from prison. After his release, Khan, who is also a lawmaker, called the arrests an attack on parliament. He asked the National Assembly speaker to investigate.

King Charles III to visit Australia and Samoa in a test of stamina after cancer diagnosis

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III has announced plans to visit Australia and Samoa next month on a trip that will span a dozen time zones and test the monarch’s stamina as he recovers from cancer treatment. The Oct. 18-26 tour, which Buckingham Palace outlined Tuesday, marks a watershed moment for the 75-year-old king. Charles is slowly returning to public duties after taking a break following his cancer diagnosis in early February. The decision to undertake such a long journey will be seen as a sign of his recovery. The trip will begin in Australia before the king and Queen Camilla travel to Samoa for the Commonwealth heads of government meeting, which takes place every two years.

A robot begins removal of melted fuel from the Fukushima nuclear plant. It could take a century

TOKYO (AP) — A long robot entered a damaged reactor at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant on Tuesday, beginning a two-week, high-stakes mission to retrieve for the first time a tiny amount of melted fuel debris from the bottom. The robot’s trip into the Unit 2 reactor is a crucial initial step for what comes next — a daunting, decades-long process to decommission the plant and deal with large amounts of highly radioactive melted fuel inside three reactors that were damaged by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Specialists hope the robot will help them learn more about the status of the cores and the fuel debris.

How does the huge crowd for the pope’s Mass in East Timor compare to others?

TASITOLU, East Timor (AP) — Popes are popular. So much so that nearly half the population of East Timor gathered Tuesday in a seaside park for Pope Francis’ final Mass in the small Southeast Asian country whose people are deeply Catholic. Other papal Masses have drawn millions of people in more populous countries, such as the Philippines, Brazil and Poland. But the estimated crowd of 600,000 people in East Timor was believed to represent the biggest turnout for a papal event ever in terms of the proportion of the population. East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, has been overwhelmingly Catholic ever since Portuguese explorers first arrived in the early 1500s and some 97% of the population today is Catholic.

Francis will be only the second pope to visit Singapore, one of the wealthiest nations

SINGAPORE (AP) — When Pope Francis arrives Wednesday in Asia’s financial powerhouse Singapore for the last leg of a four-nation tour, he is expected to bring his message of unity and hope to one of the world’s richest nations. The 11-day trip, which earlier took him to Indonesia,Papua New Guinea and East Timor, is the longest for the 87-year-old pontiff since becoming head of the Catholic Church in 2013. Francis will be the second pope to visit Singapore, after a five-hour stopover by the late John Paul II in 1986. Here’s what to know about Pope Francis’ three-day stay in Singapore: Singapore was originally part of Francis’ travel plans to the region in 2020 but it was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

2 Italian and 2 South Korean climbers are found dead close to Mont Blanc’s summit

PARIS (AP) — French rescue officials said Tuesday they found the bodies of two Italian and two South Korean climbers close to the peak of Mont Blanc on the French side after they went missing over the weekend in bad weather. The Chamonix-Mont Blanc search and rescue team found the two pairs of climbers at an altitude of 4,700 meters (more than 15,400 feet) on the Alps’ highest peak. They died of hypothermia, rescue officials said. The unaccompanied climbers had alerted rescuers on Saturday afternoon, but weather conditions continued to deteriorate, preventing rescuers from reaching their location from the ground or by helicopter.

A Taiwanese fighter jet crashes during a training exercise and the pilot is found safe

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A Taiwanese fighter jet crashed during a nighttime training exercise on Tuesday but the pilot who ejected has been found safe, the defense ministry said. The Mirage 2000 jet lost power at around 8 p.m., the ministry said. Rescuers found the pilot about two hours later. Hsieh Pei-hsun was conscious and taken to a military hospital for an exam. He had been flying off the coast of Hsinchu, a city south of Taipei on the island’s west side. Taiwan purchased Mirage 2000 jets from France during the 1990s and relies on them as well as U.S.-made F-16Vs for its air force.