Top Asian News 3:59 a.m. GMT

Pope brings in a ton of humanitarian aid, toys to remote Papua New Guinea as he celebrates periphery

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — Pope Francis honored the Catholic Church of the peripheries on Sunday as he celebrated Mass in Papua New Guinea before heading to a remote part of the South Pacific nation with a ton of humanitarian aid and toys to deliver to the faithful and missionaries who live there. An estimated 35,000 people filled the stadium in the capital Port Moresby for the morning Mass. It began with dancers in grass skirts and feathered headdresses performing to traditional drum beats as priests in green vestments processed up onto the altar. In his homily, Francis told the crowd that they may well feel themselves distant from both their faith and the institutional church, but that God was near to them.

Villagers reluctant to say goodbye to one of Hong Kong’s last squatter settlements

HONG KONG (AP) — In months, Lo Yuet-ping will bid farewell to a centuries-old village he has called home in Hong Kong for more than seven decades. The Cha Kwo Ling village in east Kowloon is filled with small houses built from metal sheets and stones, as well as old granite buildings, contrasting sharply with the high-rise structures that dominate much of the Asian financial hub. Lo, 72, has spent his entire life here and is among an estimated 860 households required to move under a government redevelopment plan. He said he will miss the rich history, unique culture and warm interpersonal kindness that defined life in the village.

Pope to meet Papua New Guinea Catholics who embrace both Christianity and Indigenous beliefs

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Pope Francis’s visit to Papua New Guinea will take him to a remote part of the South Pacific island nation where Christianity is a recent addition to traditional spiritual beliefs developed over millennia. Francis will visit the diocese of Vanimo on the main island of New Guinea, one of the most remote and disadvantaged in a poor and diverse nation, according to local Bishop Francis Meli. Trappings of modernity are scarce. There is no running water for the more than 120,000 people who live in the diocese, according to a church website. Electricity is a luxury for the few who can afford solar panels or portable generators.

Japan’s leader makes a farewell visit to Seoul and reaffirms sympathy for Korean colonial victims

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Less than a month before leaving office, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Seoul and reaffirmed his sympathy for the suffering of Koreans during Japan’s colonial rule, as he and his South Korean counterpart Friday underscored the need to maintain warming ties between the Asian neighbors. Since early last year, Kishida and conservative South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol have worked together to repair ties badly frayed over grievances stemming from Japan’s brutal 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula. As a result, the two countries revived high-level talks and withdrew reciprocal economic restrictions imposed due to wrangling over the issue of Koreans forced to work for Japanese companies during the colonial period.

Pope urges church in Papua New Guinea to be close to women after hearing of sorcery ‘superstitions’

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — Pope Francis called Saturday for the Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea to be particularly close to women who have been abused and marginalized, speaking out in a country where violence against women is reported to be more than twice the global average. Francis heard first-hand about the plight of women during his first full day in the South Pacific nation. A nun told him of the church’s work caring for women who have been attacked and accused of witchcraft and sorcery, and then shunned by their families. “I think too of the marginalized and wounded, both morally and physically, by prejudice and superstition sometimes to the point of having to risk their lives,” Francis said.

Typhoon Yagi leaves at least 4 dead and scores injured in Vietnam

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnamese authorities say Typhoon Yagi has killed at least four people and injured 78 others after making landfall Saturday afternoon in the north of the country. Yagi, described by Vietnamese meteorological officials as “one of the most powerful typhoons in the region over the past decade,” made its way to the Southeast Asian country after it left three people dead and nearly a hundred others injured in the Chinese province of Hainan. The typhoon landed at Vietnam’s coastal provinces of Quang Ninh and Haiphong with wind speeds of up to 149 kilometers per hour (92 miles per hour), state media reported.

Prince Hisahito becomes the first royal male in Japan to reach adulthood in 4 decades.

TOKYO (AP) — In a big milestone for Japan’s royal family, Prince Hisahito turned 18 on Friday, becoming the first male royal family member to reach adulthood in almost four decades. It is a significant development for a family that has ruled for more than a millennium but faces the same existential problems as the rest of the nation — a fast-aging, shrinking population. Hisahito, who is set to become the emperor one day, is the nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito. His father, Crown Prince Akishino, was the last male to reach adulthood in the family, in 1985. Hisahito is the youngest of the 17-member all-adult imperial family, which currently has only four men.

What’s at stake in Sri Lanka’s first presidential vote since its economic meltdown?

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka will hold its presidential election on Sept. 21 in a crucial vote that will decide the future of the South Asian nation still struggling to recover from its economic collapse in 2022, which provoked mass protests and forced the former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and later resign. The election is seen as a referendum on President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s two-year-long rule that has overseen a fragile recovery of the country’s economy. He faces a tough challenge from the leader of the opposition in parliament, as well as from a left-leaning politician with a powerful alliance, who is gaining popularity among young voters.

AP Week in Pictures: Global

Aug. 30 - Sept. 5, 2024 Cadets sing the national anthem, an woman dances, a health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child and boys row on the Sava river in Serbia. Children visit a Blow Up Experience installation, actress Mahlagha Jaberi poses for photographers and Chinese J-10 fighter jets perform during the Egypt International Airshow. This gallery highlights some of the most compelling images published in the past week by The Associated Press. ___ Follow AP visual journalism: AP Images blog: http://apimagesblog.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews X: http://twitter.com/AP_Images

Japanese man arrested in Belarus on charges of acting as special services agent

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A Japanese man has been arrested in Belarus and is facing charges of working for Japan’s special services by photographing military and civilian infrastructure near the border with Ukraine. A report on Belarusian state TV on Thursday said suspect Masatoshi Nakanishi was arrested in July. and faces seven years in prison if convicted. The TV report said Nakanishi took 9,000 photographs of military installations, airfields, railway lines, bridges and other infrastructure in the Belarusian-Ukrainian border area. Nakanishi had lived in Gomel, Belarus’ second-largest city, near the border, since 2018 and taught Japanese at a local university, the report said.