Top Asian News 4:55 a.m. GMT

Pakistan air force carries out retaliatory strikes in Iran, targeting Pakistani insurgents

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s air force carried out retaliatory strikes on insurgents inside Iran, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday. The strikes followed Iran’s attack Tuesday on Pakistani soil that killed two children in the southwestern Baluchistan province. Iran’s state media Thursday said several explosions were heard near Saravan city close to the border of Iran and Pakistan. The official IRNA news agency quoted the deputy governor of Sistan and Baluchistan province, Ali Reza Marhamati, as saying authorities are investigating.

Pakistan recalls its ambassador to Iran over airstrikes by Tehran that killed 2 people

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan recalled its ambassador to Tehran on Wednesday, a day after Iran conducted airstrikes inside Pakistan that it claimed targeted bases for a militant Sunni separatist group. Islamabad denounced the attack as a “blatant violation” of its airspace and said it killed two children. Tuesday’s airstrikes in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Baluchistan province imperiled diplomatic relations between the two neighbors, but both sides appeared wary of provoking the other. Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan have long regarded each other with suspicion over militant attacks. The attack raised the threat of violence spreading in a Middle East unsettled by Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Analysis: North Korea’s rejection of the South is both a shock, and inevitable

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Even for a nation that has perfected the provocative, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s declaration that he would abandon the existential goal of reconciling with rival South Korea was a shock. But a closer look shows it’s the almost inevitable culmination of years of building tension. World powers will now be closely watching to see how one of Kim’s biggest foreign policy declarations since he took power in 2011 plays out as he works to gain leverage in a region that holds both promise and danger for his small, impoverished, nuclear-armed nation. The bombshell came at this week’s rubber-stamp parliament, where Kim called for rewriting North Korea’s constitution to eliminate the idea of a peaceful unification between the war-divided countries and to cement the South as an “invariable principal enemy.” It’s the clearest sign yet of how far inter-Korean relations have fallen since February 2019, when Kim’s nuclear diplomacy with former U.S.

Indigenous faithful and Christians work with environmentalists to conserve India’s sacred forests

SHILLONG, India (AP) — Tambor Lyngdoh made his way through the fern-covered woodland — naming plants, trees, flowers, even stones — as if he were paying older family members a visit. The community leader and entrepreneur was a little boy when his uncle brought him here and said these words: “This forest is your mother.” This sacred space is in the village of Mawphlang, nestled in the verdant Khasi Hills in the northeast Indian state of Meghalaya, whose name means “abode of clouds.” On an overcast day, the forest, a bumpy 15-mile drive from the state capital of Shillong, was tranquil but for the sound of crickets chirping and raindrops rustling the bright green foliage.

What are sacred forests?

KOTAGIRI, India (AP) — Sacred forests and groves are primeval woodlands that different faith communities around the world have safeguarded for centuries as abodes of the spiritual or the divine. Thousands of sacred forests have survived. They’re the church forests in Ethiopia’s highlands, hillside groves considered holy by Catholics in Italy, woodlands revered by Shinto practitioners in Japan and Indigenous people in Siberia, Australia, the Americas and India. Sacred forests are also treasure troves of biodiversity and are often the last bastion for species of flora and fauna that have become rare or even extinct elsewhere in those regions. Climate change, pollution and urbanization pose threats to these sacred spaces.

Thai court acquits several anti-Thaksin protesters who occupied Bangkok airports in 2008

BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Thailand on Wednesday acquitted more than two dozen protesters who had occupied Bangkok’s two airports in 2008 of charges of rebellion and terrorism related to their demonstration, which at the time disrupted travel in and out of the country for more than a week. The Bangkok Criminal Court declared that the members of the People’ Alliance for Democracy had neither caused destruction at the airports nor hurt anyone. However, 13 of the 28 defendants were slapped with a 20,000 baht ($560) fine each for violating an emergency decree that had banned public gatherings. The protesters — popularly known as Yellow Shirts for the color that shows loyalty to the Thai monarchy — had occupied the airports for about 10 days, demanding the resignation of the government, which was loyal to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

An explosion at a fireworks factory in rural Thailand kills about 20 people

BANGKOK (AP) — An explosion at a fireworks factory in central Thailand killed about 20 people on Wednesday, according to provincial officials, though the devastation at the scene has made the death toll uncertain. The information office of the Suphan Buri provincial government initially announced that 23 people had been killed in the mid-afternoon blast, but on Wednesday night revised its figure to 19 dead and three missing. The national Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation’s earlier preliminary figure had been least 20 people killed. Suphan Buri is about 95 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Bangkok, in the heart of Thailand’s central rice-growing region.

Uniqlo sues Shein over alleged copy of its popular ‘Mary Poppins bag’

TOKYO (AP) — Uniqlo Co. has sued rival retailer Shein over a small shoulder bag the Japanese retailer said was an inferior and unlawful copy of its hit product touted as the “Mary Poppins bag.” The lawsuit demanded Shein stop selling its product that Uniqlo said looks too much like its Round Mini Shoulder Bag. The Uniqlo bag is praised on TikTok and other social media as roomy but also light and compact. The Mary Poppins nickname refers to the 1964 musical starring Julie Andrews in which a nanny pulls just about anything from her magical carpet bag, including a hat stand.

US officials say 40 Boeing jets have been inspected as investigations continue into midair blowout

Federal officials have briefed a congressional committee on their investigations into a jetliner that lost a panel of its fuselage in midflight this month and revealed that airlines have inspected 40 identical Boeing planes. The Federal Aviation Administration said it will review information from those inspections of Boeing 737 Max 9 jets while it develops a maintenance process before letting the planes carry passengers again. Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, and FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker spent two hours briefing members of the Senate Commerce Committee in Washington on Wednesday as questions continue to swirl around how the panel of an Alaska Airlines jetliner blew off while traveling 16,000 feet above Oregon.

Modi’s promised Ram temple is set to open and resonate with Hindus ahead of India’s election

NEW DELHI (AP) — Frenzied preparations were underway Wednesday in India’s northern holy city of Ayodhya to mark the opening of a grand temple for Lord Ram, Hinduism’s most revered deity. The Ram Mandir’s opening Monday would fulfill a decadeslong Hindu nationalist pledge that is expected to resonate with voters during the upcoming national election expected in April or May. Several sprawling tent cities were being erected nearby to accommodate tens of thousands of devotees who are expected to attend. Dozens of private jets will fly India’s powerful elite, including top industrialists, movie stars and celebrities, to Ayodhya to see the ceremony.