Top Asian News 3:18 a.m. GMT

South Korea launches its 2nd military spy satellite amid animosities with North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has successfully launched its second military spy satellite into orbit, days after North Korea reaffirmed its plan to launch multiple reconnaissance satellites this year. The Koreas each launched their first spy satellites last year – North Korea in November and South Korea in December — amid heightened animosities. They said their satellites would boost their abilities to monitor each other and enhance their own missile attack capabilities. South Korea’s second spy satellite was launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday evening local time, which was Monday morning in Seoul. South Korea’s Defense Ministry said it confirmed the satellite entered orbit and communicated with an overseas ground station after separation from a rocket.

China says it patrolled the South China Sea in an apparent response to US naval drills with allies

BEIJING (AP) — China’s military said Sunday that it had conducted air and sea patrols and that all activities that “disrupt the South China Sea” are under control, an apparent response to naval exercises by the U.S. and its allies. The defense chiefs of the United States, Japan, Australia and the Philippines announced Saturday that they would hold joint exercises in the sea to safeguard the rule of law and uphold the right to sail through and fly over the waters. China has long-simmering territorial disputes with a number of Southeast Asian nations in the South China Sea, a major shipping route.

Farmers in India are hit hard by extreme weather. Some say expanding natural farming is the answer

GUNTUR, India (AP) — There’s a pungent odor on Ratna Raju’s farm that he says is protecting his crops from the unpredictable and extreme weather that’s become more frequent with human-caused climate change. The smell comes from a concoction of cow urine, an unrefined sugar known as jaggery, and other organic materials that act as fertilizers, pesticides and bad weather barriers for his corn, rice, leafy greens and other vegetables on his farm in Guntur in India’s southern Andhra Pradesh state. The region is frequently hit by cyclones and extreme heat, and farmers say that so-called natural farming protects their crops because the soil can hold more water, and their more robust roots help the plants withstand strong winds.

AP PHOTOS: Cambodian villagers hold rare oxcart race, seeking to revive a centuries-old tradition

ROMDUOL VILLAGE, Cambodia (AP) — Hundreds of Cambodian villagers held a rare oxcart race on Sunday, trying to revive a centuries-old tradition as they celebrated the arrival of the lunar new year. Under a hot sun and amid clouds of dust, they gathered in Romduol village in Kampong Speu province, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of the capital, Phnom Penh. The race marked Khmer Lunar New Year, celebrated from April 13 to 16, and the end of the rice harvest. Participants rode an oxcart pulled by two oxen along a roughly 1-kilometer (0.62-mile) -long dirt track, as spectators lining the route cheered enthusiastically.

Yellen says US-China relationship on ‘more stable footing’ but more can be done to improve ties

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen sent a message of mutual cooperation at a meeting Sunday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, highlighting the improvement in relations since her visit to China last year while recognizing that major differences remain. After focusing on trade and economic issues for the first two days of her visit, Yellen turned to the broader U.S.-China relationship in the meeting with Li, one of China’s top leaders. “While we have more to do, I believe that, over the past year, we have put our bilateral relationship on more stable footing,” she said in the ornate Fujian room of the Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square.

Security forces kill 2 Papuan rebel leaders in shootout near jointly owned US-Indonesian gold mine

JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — Two Papuan separatist leaders were killed in a shootout between security forces and their rebel group near one of the world’s largest gold mines in Indonesia’s restive Papua region, police said Sunday. Clashes Thursday between independence rebels of the Free Papua Movement and a joint police and military force near the mining town of Tembagapura in Central Papua province left two of the group’s regional commanders dead; Abubakar Kogoya, known as Abubakar Tabuni and Damianus Magay, commonly known as Natan Wanimbo. Both were part of the West Papua Liberation Army, the group’s military wing. Rebels in Papua have been fighting a low-level insurgency since the early 1960s when Indonesia annexed the region.

Motorcycle bomb kills 2 people and wounds 5 in Pakistan’s restive southwest

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A motorcycle bomb killed two people and wounded five in Pakistan’s southwest, a police official said Sunday. It’s the latest unrest to hit Baluchistan province, where militants have tried to target a naval facility and a government building in recent weeks. Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday’s blast in Khuzdar, which is on the main highway connecting the provincial capital Quetta with the port city of Karachi in neighboring Sindh province. Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Arif Zarkon said a woman and two police officers were among the wounded. For years, Baluchistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency by groups demanding independence from the central government in Islamabad.

A search is underway in Pakistan for attackers who ambushed a police car, killing 2 and injuring 2

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A search was underway in Pakistan’s northwest after gunmen ambushed and opened fire on a police vehicle, killing two people and injuring another two, an official said Saturday. The assault took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan and has borne the brunt of militant violence since the Pakistani Taliban unilaterally ended a cease-fire with the central government in November 2022. The province is a former stronghold of the militant group, which is also known as the TTP and allied with the Afghan Taliban. Police officer Tariq Khan said the attackers shot and killed a deputy superintendent and a constable in Lakki Marwat district.

Beneath the calm, Hong Kong’s new security law drives deeper, quieter changes

HONG KONG (AP) — On the surface, life in Hong Kong after a broad new national security law recently took effect appears unchanged. A 2020 security law drew thousands of protesters to the streets when it was enacted. Now, that’s seen as too risky. This time, no arrests made headlines. There were no newsroom raids. Instead, there’s a deeper, quieter wave of adaptation underway among Hong Kong residents who are living under the threat of more extensive restrictions after the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance took effect on March 23. At an immigration expo during the law’s first two days, immigration consultant Ben Li’s booth was constantly busy, its small white tables all occupied.

US-Chinese military talks resume on safety in the air and at sea after a nearly 2-year break

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in nearly two years, U.S. and Chinese defense officials met this week to discuss unsafe and aggressive ship and aircraft incidents between the two militaries in the Pacific region, restarting a dialogue that Beijing abruptly ended in a dispute involving Taiwan. The meeting, which was Wednesday and Thursday in Hawaii, came as Washington and Beijing work to expand communications between the two world powers and ease escalating tensions. Military-to-military contact had stalled in August 2022, when Beijing suspended all such communication after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the self-governing island China claims as its own.