Top Asian News 10:49 a.m. GMT

US senator and Trump supporter Daines meets Chinese Vice Premier He with warm exchanges

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. Senator Steve Daines, a strong supporter of President Donald Trump, met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, with warm exchanges in front of journalists on Saturday even as tensions between their countries spiked over trade tariffs and the handling of the illegal trade in fentanyl. Daines, the first member of Congress to visit Beijing since Trump took office in January, will meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday and the nation’s No. 2 official will give him an introduction to China’s policies, according to He. Daines, who previously worked for American consumer goods company Procter & Gamble in south China’s economic hub of Guangzhou, said this trip marked his sixth visit to China and he had met Li in 2018 when he served as the party secretary of Shanghai.

North Korean leader reaffirms support for Russia’s war in Ukraine in talks with top official

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed his unwavering support for Russia’s war in Ukraine during a meeting with a top Russian security official in Pyongyang, North Korean state media said Saturday. Friday’s meeting between Kim and Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s Security Council secretary, followed a South Korean intelligence assessment in late February that North Korea had likely sent additional troops to Russia after its forces suffered heavy casualties fighting in the Russian-Ukraine war. Ukraine and Russia agreed in principle Wednesday to a limited ceasefire after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with the two countries’ leaders, though it remains to be seen when it might take effect and what targets would be off-limits.

Hegseth to fly to the Philippines and Japan in first visit to Asian treaty allies at odds with China

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to visit the Philippines, the first stop in his first trip to Asia next week, for talks that will include increasing deterrence against aggression in the disputed South China Sea, a Philippine official said Friday. Hegseth will be in Manila on March 28-29 to meet his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Talks will touch on increasingly assertive actions by Beijing in the South China Sea and “more significant support” to Philippine security forces by the Trump administration, Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Manuel Romualdez told The Associated Press.

Japan, China and South Korea discuss trilateral cooperation

TOKYO (AP) — Foreign ministers from Japan, China and South Korea sought trilateral cooperation on common ground in areas like aging, declining births, natural disasters and the green economy at a meeting that took place at a time of growing tensions. At a joint news conference after the talks, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said he, his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and South Korea’s Cho Tae-yul agreed to promote mutual understanding and trust, while tackling shared and multi-generational concerns to gain wider support for trilateral cooperation. Iwaya emphasized his concerns about North Korea’ s nuclear and missile development and cooperation with Russia as threats, and stressed the need to pursue the North’s full denuclearization under the U.N.

Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano erupts, prompting alert level to be raised

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano in south-central Indonesia erupted three times into Friday, sending an ash column 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) high and prompting authorities to expand the danger zone around the volcano. The volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province has had hundreds of earthquakes and visible volcanic activity has significantly increased in the last seven days. An eruption followed by an explosion was heard Thursday evening as far away as Larantuka and Maumere, two cities about 50 kilometers (30 miles) to 85 kilometers (53 miles) from the volcano. The eruption was recorded at several monitoring stations on Flores island, Muhammad Wafid, chief of Indonesia’s Geology Agency, said in a statement.

UNICEF calls on the Taliban to lift ban on girls’ education as new school year begins in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.N. children’s agency on Saturday urged Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to immediately lift a lingering ban on girls’ education to save the future of millions who have been deprived of their right to education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. The appeal by UNICEF comes as a new school year began in Afghanistan without girls beyond sixth grade. The ban, said the agency, has deprived 400,000 more girls of their right to education, bringing the total to 2.2 million. Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans female secondary and higher education, with the Taliban justifying the ban saying it doesn’t comply with their interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law.

New Zealand parliament shows its spooky side in a tour of mysterious deaths and cat infestations

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A veiled woman burst screaming from an elevator. The small crowd gathered in a basement corridor of New Zealand ’s parliament drew back nervously. Their guide, wearing a trailing, white gown, smiled sweetly. “You’re welcome to take the elevator,” she said. Nobody did. Mysterious deaths, unexplained noises and late-night apparitions are not the usual fodder of daily tours offered at the parliament buildings in Wellington. After hours on Thursday, however, guides donned Victorian-era garb to regale visitors with the precinct’s less savory history — “mostly factual” tales of real-world tragedy and paranormal lore that have grown established among political staffers through decades of colorful retelling.

Australian tourist killed and 2 injured as snorkeling boat capsizes off Indonesia’s Bali island

DENPASAR, Indonesia (AP) — A snorkeling boat carrying 13 people, including 11 Australian tourists, capsized in rough seas off Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Friday, killing a woman and injuring two others, police said. The Sea Dragon boat was on its way from a port in Bali to Nusa Penida, a popular tiny island near Bali, when it was overwhelmed by high waves, local police spokesperson Agus Widiono said. The group was looking at underwater scenery when their boat was hit by a large wave that threw a 39-year-old woman, identified by police as Anna Maree, overboard. It was followed by a second wave that capsized the boat in Kelingking waters, Widiono said.

AP PHOTOS: Decades-old weaving businesses near India’s financial capital struggle to survive

BHIWANDI, India (AP) — Abdul Sattar stands in a dimly lit aisle surrounded by dozens of electric-powered looms that make a rhythmic din several decibels above what is considered healthy for a human ear. With his flowing white beard and a wispy head of hair, he could be mistaken for a professor or a philosopher, but, at 70, he has spent most of his life working 12-hour shifts on power looms in poorly ventilated, noisy workshops. When he arrived in Bhiwandi as a 15-year-old boy, workshops weaving cloth on the looms were thriving, providing ready jobs for many unskilled workers from far-flung villages in north India.

A major new airport to serve Cambodia’s capital and boost tourism is due to open in July

KANDAL, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia expects that its new airport serving the capital will open in July, a project official said Friday, in a major step forward in boosting the country’s lucrative tourism sector, whose growth was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. Work on Phnom Penh’s new airport, officially known as the Techo International Airport, began in 2019, covering an area of 2,600 hectares (6,425 acres) located at the border of Kandal and Takeo provinces, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of the capital. “I think the TIA airport here is going to be launched in the soft opening in July 2025, and we believe that so many passengers are waiting and they really want to come in to see this new airport,” said Charles Vann, director of the airport’s project steering committee, during a media tour.