Top Asian News 2:16 a.m. GMT

Putin hosts India’s prime minister to deepen ties, but Ukraine looms over their relationship

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday, seeking to deepen the relationship between the two nuclear powers at a time when NATO leaders gathered in Washington and Russia launched deadly missile attacks in Ukraine that hit a children’s hospital. “Our relationship is one of a particularly privileged strategic partnership,” Putin told Modi, who made his first trip to Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin’s forces in 2022. Modi has avoided condemning Russia while emphasizing a peaceful settlement. Their partnership has become more complicated, however, as Russia has moved closer to China amid international isolation of Moscow over Ukraine.

Large pile of confiscated illegal fireworks explodes in the southern Philippines, injuring 27 people

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) — At least 27 people, including 19 police and other government personnel, were injured when a large pile of confiscated illegal fireworks exploded in a powerful blast in the southern Philippines, damaging houses, hotels and an international airport, officials said Tuesday. Two of the victims of Monday afternoon’s explosion were in serious condition in a hospital in the southern port city of Zamboanga, where the mayor ordered an investigation into why the planned controlled destruction of the fireworks by police ordnance experts turned into a massive blast. Police explosives experts were piling the fireworks in a clearing near a marine firing range for a controlled detonation when the large heap, which had been doused with water, suddenly exploded.

Rescuers search for dozens buried by an Indonesian landslide that killed at least 23 people

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Rescue workers dug through tons of mud and rubble on Tuesday as they searched for dozens of missing people after a landslide hit an unauthorized gold mining area on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 23 people. More than 100 villagers were digging for grains of gold on Sunday in the remote and hilly village of Bone Bolango when tons of mud plunged down the surrounding hills and buried their makeshift camps, said Heriyanto, head of the provincial Search and Rescue Office. Rescuers recovered more bodies on Tuesday in the devastated hamlet where the gold mine is located.

UNHCR chief meets Pakistan’s premier to discuss the situation of Afghan refugees following clampdown

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The head of the U.N. refugee agency and Pakistan’s prime minister held talks Tuesday about Afghan refugees living in uncertainty in Pakistan following the government’s anti-migrant crackdown that started last year as militants stepped up attacks on security forces. That crackdown on undocumented Afghans in Pakistan was apparently recently put on hold, without authorities offering any explanation for this. Pakistan has long hosted an estimated 1.7 million Afghans, most of whom fled during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation of their country. More than half a million others escaped Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, with thousands waiting in Pakistan for resettlement in the United States and elsewhere.

WADA made reasonable decision in China doping case despite doubts of its own scientist, probe says

An investigator backed the World Anti-Doping Agency’s handling of a doping case involving 23 Chinese swimmers, while also publishing notes highlighting WADA’s own science director expressing doubts about China’s explanation of how the athletes had been subject to contamination. WADA released an interim report Tuesday from the Swiss prosecutor it chose for the probe, Eric Cottier, who concluded he found no evidence that WADA showed favoritism toward China in its handling of the case. Cottier also said WADA made a “reasonable” decision by taking the word of authorities in China who determined the swimmers ingested a banned heart medication, residue of which was found in a kitchen at the hotel where the athletes were staying.

Views toward China diverge between rich and middle-income nations, Pew report shows

WASHINGTON (AP) — Global views toward China appear to be divided between high-income and middle-income countries, and the gap apparently is the widest among China’s neighbors in the Indo-Pacific region, according to a newly released poll from the Pew Research Center that surveyed people in 35 countries. Fifteen out of the 18 high-income countries surveyed expressed unfavorable views toward China, with Japan and Australia leading the pack with more than 8 in 10 in those countries viewing China negatively. By comparison, 14 of the 17 middle-income countries had rosier views of China, and Thailand held the most favorable views of China, with 80% of adults having a positive view toward China, according to Pew.

Japan Navy helicopters’ fatal crash caused by inadequate instructions to crew, says probe report

TOKYO (AP) — Lack of instructions to the crew and their failure to keep a lookout and communicate led two Japanese navy helicopters to collide during training, killing all eight people on board, a Japanese navy report said Tuesday. The two SH-60K reconnaissance helicopters from the Maritime Self-Defense Force crashed in April during nighttime anti-submarine training near Torishima island, about 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Tokyo while flying to the same mock target to detect a submarine. Just before the collision, the two helicopters — while flying at different locations — headed to the same target based on a scenario of a submarine being detected, according to the Maritime Staff Office investigation report.

Australia appoints special envoy to confront a rise in antisemitism across the country

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian government named a special envoy Tuesday to confront a rise in antisemitism across the country since the Israel-Hamas war began. A similar envoy will soon be appointed to challenge Islamophobia in Australia and both will promote social cohesion, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters at the Sydney Jewish Museum. Albanese’s own Sydney office has been targeted with pro-Palestinian graffiti as rival activists clash over the Israeli-Hamas war in Australian cities and university campuses. Albanese appointed Jillian Segal, a Sydney lawyer and business executive, to be “special envoy to combat antisemitism in Australia” for three years.

AP PHOTOS: A 12-year-old in Mongolia finds joy in boxing and now dreams of the Olympics

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Twelve-year-old Gerelt-Od Kherlen could not contain his excitement after winning a bronze medal in the children’s national boxing championship in Mongolia. In September, his father heard about the opening of the Mongolian Boxing Academy close to their home in Dambadarjaa, a tent-dotted district on the outskirts of the capital, Ulaanbaatar. The boy had been restless. Now his parents are relieved. “We are happy that our son has found his passion and hobby,” said his mother, Narantsetseg Narantsogt. He had been playing chess at school but the program was discontinued, she said. When they heard about the new boxing club, “we decided to send him, because it will keep him away from playing on the smartphone and watching too much TV at home.” Mongolia is the land of legendary conqueror Genghis Khan, and contact sports are part of a warrior tradition.

Pair of giant pandas from China acclimating to new home at San Diego Zoo

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Two giant pandas sent from China to the San Diego Zoo last month are acclimating well to their new home, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said Tuesday. The pandas, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, are not on public display yet but the zoo released the first photos of the pair settling into their habitat. The pandas, the first to enter the United States in 21 years, arrived on June 27. Yun Chuan is a nearly 5-year-old male. Xin Bao is a nearly 4-year-old female. Zoo staff is working closely with Chinese experts to cater to the dietary needs and preferences of the pandas, the alliance said in a statement.