Top Asian News 3:44 a.m. GMT

Hong Kong court convicts 14 pro-democracy activists in the city’s biggest national security case

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court Thursday convicted 14 pro-democracy activists in the city’s biggest national security case under a law imposed by Beijing that has all but wiped out public dissent. Those found guilty included former lawmakers Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Raymond Chan. But the three judges approved by the government to oversee the case acquitted former district councilors Lee Yue-shun and Lawrence Lau. Those convicted could face up to life in prison. They were among 47 democracy advocates who were prosecuted in 2021 for their involvement in an unofficial primary election. Prosecutors had accused them of attempting to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and topple the city’s leader by securing the legislative majority necessary to indiscriminately veto budgets.

North Korea fires missile barrage toward its eastern waters days after failed satellite launch

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday fired a barrage of suspected ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea, according to South Korea’s military, days after its attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure but still drew strong condemnation from its rivals. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the North firing around 10 projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang. It said the suspected missiles flew around 350 kilometers (217 miles) before landing in waters off the North’s eastern coast. It said the South Korean military has increased surveillance and vigilance and is closely sharing information with the United States and Japan.

China hosts Arab leaders at summit focused on trade and the Israel-Hamas war

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an international peace conference focused on the Israel-Hamas war and promised more humanitarian aid as he opened a summit with leaders of Arab states Thursday in Beijing. “As war is raging causing tremendous suffering, justice can’t be absent and the two-state solution can’t be shaken,” Xi said in a speech opening the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum. He called on Arab states to deepen cooperation in areas such as trade, clean energy, space exploration and health care. The summit attended by heads of state from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Tunisia among others was set to focus on China’s expanding trade ties and on security concerns related to the Israel-Hamas war.

French prosecutor in New Caledonia says authorities are investigating suspects behind deadly unrest

NICE, France (AP) — The French prosecutor in New Caledonia said authorities have opened an investigation into unrest that has left seven people dead and significant destruction in the Pacific archipelago with decades of tensions between those seeking independence and those loyal to France. The violence flared on May 13 in response to attempts to amend the French Constitution and change voting lists in New Caledonia. France declared a state of emergency in its Pacific territory on May 15 and rushed hundreds of troop reinforcements to help police quell the revolt that included shootings, clashes, looting and arson. “We are interested in those who pull the strings, who have led the planning and have committed these abuses in New Caledonia,” prosecutor Yves Dupas said late Tuesday in an interview with broadcaster France Info.

Singapore Airlines jet endured huge swings in gravitational force during turbulence, report says

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The Singapore Airlines jetliner that hit severe turbulence last week went through huge swings in gravitational force in less than five seconds, likely causing the injuries to people who weren’t buckled into their seats, according to a preliminary report Wednesday by Singapore’s Transport Ministry. The plane dropped 178 feet (54 meters) in less than one second, which “likely resulted in the occupants who were not belted up to become airborne” before falling back down, the Transport Ministry said. A 73-year-old British man died of a suspected heart attack and dozens were injured after the Boeing 777, which was flying from London to Singapore on May 21, ran into turbulence that hurled people and items around the cabin.

AP PHOTOS: Weeks of sweltering heat scorch northern India

BIKANER, India (AP) — People in northern India have been struggling with an unrelenting, weekslong heat wave that has forced schools to close in some places and raised the risk of heatstrokes for laborers working outdoors. India’s weather department expects the high temperatures to persist across the region for the next few days and has put several states on high alert. Some parts of India’s capital reported up to 49.9 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, with the weather bureau saying the temperatures were 9 degrees higher than expected. The nearby states of Punjab and Haryana also saw temperatures soar, with one place in Rajasthan topping the 50 C (122 F) mark.

Authorities in Papua New Guinea search for safer ground for thousands of landslide survivors

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Authorities in Papua New Guinea were searching on Wednesday for safer ground to relocate thousands of survivors at risk from a potential second landslide in the South Pacific country’s highlands, while the arrival of heavy earth-moving equipment at the disaster site where hundreds are buried has been delayed, officials said. Emergency responders say that up to 8,000 people might need to be evacuated as the mass of boulders, earth and splintered trees that crushed the village of Yambali in the nation’s mountainous interior on Friday becomes increasingly unstable. But an evacuation center near Yambali in Enga province only had room for about 50 families, said Justine McMahon, country director for the humanitarian agency CARE International.

Nearly 3 out of 10 children in Afghanistan face crisis or emergency level of hunger in 2024

ISLAMABAD (AP) — About 6.5 million children in Afghanistan were forecast to experience crisis levels of hunger in 2024, a nongovernmental organization said. Nearly three out of 10 Afghan children will face crisis or emergency levels of hunger this year as the country feels the immediate impacts of floods, the long-term effects of drought, and the return of Afghans from neighboring Pakistan and Iran, according to a report released late Tuesday by Save The Children. New figures from global hunger monitoring body Integrated Food Security Phase Classification forecast that 28% of Afghanistan’s population, about 12.4 million people, will face acute food insecurity before October.

The toll of Beijing’s security law on Hong Kong’s activists

HONG KONG (AP) — Activist Chan Po-ying is permitted only 15-minute daily visits to see her husband, Leung Kwok-hung, separated by a plexiglass barrier in a highly guarded Hong Kong jail. Leung, 68, is one of 47 activists who were prosecuted in the largest national security law case to date in the former British colony. Most of them have been separated from their loved ones for years, uncertain when they might reunite. On Thursday, 16 activists who pleaded not guilty — including Leung — will begin hearing their verdict. The government had warned there might be legal consequences, but Chan didn’t stop former pro-democracy legislator Leung from participating in an unofficial 2020 primary election that would lead to his prosecution under a national security law that Beijing imposed on the semi-autonomous city.

How a primary election led to activists being arrested in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case

HONG KONG (AP) — Verdicts in Hong Kong’s largest national security case to date, involving some of the city’s best-known pro-democracy activists, will be delivered as early as Thursday, more than three years after the defendants’ arrest. In 2021, 47 pro-democracy activists were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under the sweeping, Beijing-imposed national security law for their involvement in an unofficial primary election. The mass prosecution crushed the city’s once-thriving political activism and dimmed hopes of a more democratic Hong Kong. Sixteen of the 47 defendants are expecting to hear their fate on Thursday and Friday and could face up to life in prison if convicted.