Top Asian News 3:07 a.m. GMT

North Korea boasts of its new long-range missile targeting the US

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Friday bragged of its recently tested new intercontinental ballistic missile, calling it “the world’s strongest,” a claim viewed by outside experts as propaganda though the test showed an advancement in the North’s quest to build a more reliable weapons arsenal. A missile launched by North Korea on Thursday flew higher and stayed in the air for a longer duration than any other weapon the country had so far fired. It signaled that the North has achieved progress in acquiring a nuclear-armed ICBM that can hit the U.S. mainland. But foreign experts assess that the country has still a few remaining technological issues to master before acquiring such a functioning ICBM.

Satellite images show North Korea dug large border trenches after demolishing road, rail links

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Commercial satellite images reveal that North Korea has carved at least two large trenches across roads and rail lines on its heavily armed border with South Korea since it blew up the northern sections of cross-border routes earlier this month. Tensions between the Koreas are at their highest point in years as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has repeatedly showcased his expanding nuclear weapons and missile programs, while reportedly providing Russia with munitions and troops to support President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Kim has vowed to sever relations and abandon the long-standing goal of reconciliation with South Korea, whose conservative government has taken a hard line on the North’s nuclear ambitions.

Singapore’s affluent veneer hides repression and corruption, says son of its modern-day founder

LONDON (AP) — Singapore has become much more repressive, and corruption in the Asian financial hub has worsened in the decade since the death of former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, according to his youngest son who fled to Britain to seek asylum from what he described as a campaign of persecution to silence him. Lee Hsien Yang, who has been granted political refugee status in the U.K., told The Associated Press that Singaporean authorities have “weaponized” the country’s laws against critics and that he is just the most prominent example of a growing number of Singaporeans fleeing abroad to seek protection from their own government.

Attackers set fire to the headquarters of a Bangladesh party that backed ousted leader Sheikh Hasina

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Attackers set fire to the headquarters of a Bangladesh party that supported the country’s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina on Thursday night, media reports said. There was no information if anyone was injured. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack on the Jatiya Party offices in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. TV stations and other media said the attackers stormed the party headquarters in Dhaka’s Bijoy Nagar area, clashing with party members who were there and eventually setting the premises on fire. The extend of the damage was not immediately known. Firefighters rushed to the scene, according to Rashed bin Khaled, an official of the Fire Service and Civil Defense.

India says frontier disengagement with China along their disputed border is ‘almost complete’

NEW DELHI (AP) — India and China have moved most of their frontline troops further from their disputed border in a remote region in the northern Himalayas, India’s defense minister said Thursday, some 10 days after the two countries reached a new pact on military patrols that aims to end a four-year standoff that’s strained relations. Rajnath Singh said the “process of disengagement” of Indian and Chinese troops near the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh is “almost complete.” The Line of Actual Control separates Chinese and Indian-held territories from Ladakh in the west to India’s eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims in its entirety.

AP Photos: Garlands and treats for beloved dogs in Nepal’s annual Kukur Puja festival

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Dogs across Nepal were honored during the annual festival of “Kukur Puja” on Thursday, with offerings of flower garlands, treats and vermillion marks on their heads. In Nepal, the second day of Tihar — also known as Diwali — is Kukur Puja, dedicated to canines. Pet owners and others perform rituals to honor both pets and stray dogs. At the Armed Police Force canine center in Kathmandu, handlers celebrated their service dogs. At least eight dogs were lined up for the ritual, and they later demonstrated skills like jumping through fire rings and following commands such as standing on their hind legs and fetching.

Typhoon Kong-rey hits Taiwan’s east coast, leaving 2 dead, hundreds injured

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A powerful typhoon made landfall in Taiwan on Thursday, killing two people and bringing high winds and floods to much of the island’s east coast and northern areas, after barreling past the northern Philippines. Flights and train service were suspended in Taiwan and 8,600 people moved to shelters. Typhoon Kong-rey was blowing at 184 kilometers per hour (114 miles per hour) with gusts of up to 227 kph (141 mph) as it moved over the eastern county of Taitung. Parts of Yilan and Hualien counties were inundated by heavy rain, but many farmers in the largely rural areas had already brought in their crops in anticipation of damage from the storm.

A judge will decide if the owners of a New Zealand volcano where 22 died were unjustly convicted

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A New Zealand judge will decide whether the owners of an island volcano suffered a miscarriage of justice when their company was convicted of failing to keep visitors safe following an eruption that killed 22 tourists and local guides in 2019. A three-day appeal by the owners’ company ended Thursday. Justice Simon Moore told the High Court in the city of Auckland that he would reach a decision before the end of the year. The company, Whakaari Management — run by three brothers who own the active volcano Whakaari, also known as White Island — was ordered in March to pay millions of dollars in fines and restitutions to the victims of the eruption, who were mostly U.S.

About 8,000 North Korean troops at Ukraine’s border are expected in combat in days, US says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some 8,000 North Korean soldiers are now in Russia near Ukraine’s border and are preparing to help the Kremlin fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days, the Biden administration said Thursday. The new figure is a dramatic increase from a day earlier, when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin would only say some of the troops had moved toward Ukraine’s border in the Kursk region, where Moscow’s forces have struggled to push back a Ukrainian incursion. That also would mean most of the North Korean troops that the U.S. and its allies say have been sent to Russia are now on the border with Ukraine.

Minnesota farm town reshaped by migrants wrestles with real changes beyond the political vitriol

WORTHINGTON, Minn. (AP) — Two Guatemalans wearing traditional embroidered skirts bought coconut boba teas on an October afternoon at the bustling downtown Asian market. In decades past, the building served as this rural town’s hardware store where farmers shopped for hammers, nuts and bolts. Over the past generation, immigrants from Southeast Asia, East Africa and now predominantly Central America have transformed this once overwhelmingly white community on the vast prairie. Students of color constitute more than 80% of those enrolled in K-12, Spanish is most children’s first language, and soccer is far more popular than football. “ Literally everything has changed,” said Chad Cummings, a city councilor and co-owner of the local radio stations — including a new 24/7 Spanish-language one.