Top Asian News 3:51 a.m. GMT

Mount Everest’s highest camp is littered with frozen garbage, and cleanup is likely to take years

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The highest camp on the world’s tallest mountain is littered with garbage that is going to take years to clean up, according to a Sherpa who led a team that worked to clear trash and dig up dead bodies frozen for years near Mount Everest’s peak. The Nepal government-funded team of soldiers and Sherpas removed 11 tons (24,000 pounds) of garbage, four dead bodies and a skeleton from Everest during this year’s climbing season. Ang Babu Sherpa, who led the team of Sherpas, said there could be as much as 40-50 tons (88,000-110,000 pounds) of garbage still at South Col, the last camp before climbers make their attempt on the summit.

Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani is set to throw a grand wedding for his son. Here’s what to know

NEW DELHI (AP) — In March, Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani threw a three-day prenuptial bash for his son that included a 1,200-person guest list, including former world leaders, tech tycoons and Bollywood’s megastars, and a performance by renowned singer Rihanna. It was only the start of their months-long lavish pre-wedding celebrations which have grabbed headlines and set off a social media frenzy. In May, the family took guests on a 3-day pre-wedding cruise from Italy to France, which included a DJ set from David Guetta, Katy Perry belting out her hit song “Firework” and a performance by Pitbull to cap it off, according to media reports.

Voters in Tokyo cast ballots to decide whether to re-elect incumbent conservative as city’s governor

TOKYO (AP) — Voters in Tokyo cast ballots Sunday to decide whether to re-elect conservative Yuriko Koike as governor of Japan’s influential capital for a third four-year term. The vote was also seen as a test for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s governing party, which supports the incumbent, the first woman to lead the Tokyo city government. Tokyo, a city of 13.5 million people with outsized political and cultural power and a budget equaling some nations, is one of Japan’s most influential political posts. A record 55 candidates challenged Koike, and one of the top contenders was also a woman — a liberal-leaning former parliament member who uses only her first name, Renho, and was backed by opposition parties.

Tornadoes kill 5, injure 83 in China’s eastern Shandong province

BEIJING (AP) — Five people were confirmed dead after tornadoes struck a city in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, according to local media reports Saturday. Tornadoes struck parts of the city of Heze on Friday afternoon, including the counties of Dongming and Juancheng, injuring 88 people. That includes five who were later confirmed dead, according to the state-owned Xinhua news agency. Authorities said that 2,820 houses, 48 power supply lines and over 4,000 hectares of crops were damaged. Communication, power and water supplies have since been restored, state media said. Tornadoes are usually seen in China’s southern and coastal provinces such as Guangdong and Jiangsu, according to China Weather News, run by the China Meteorological Administration.

Japan partners with Cambodia to share demining knowledge with Ukraine, other countries

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Japan’s foreign minister on Saturday announced a joint project with Cambodia to share knowledge and technology on land mine removal with countries around the world, including Ukraine. Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa made comments during a visit to the Cambodian Mine Action Center, which was formed in the 1990s at the end of the Southeast Asian nation’s decades of civil war. It seeks to deal with an estimated 4 million to 6 million land mines and other unexploded munitions left strewn around the countryside. “Cambodia, which has steadily advanced mine removal within its own country, is now a leader in mine action around the world,” she noted, adding that Japan has consistently cooperated in Cambodia’s mine removal since the civil war.

US envoy to Japan expresses regret over alleged sex crimes by military personnel in Okinawa

TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel expressed regret on Saturday for the handling of two cases of sexual assaults allegedly committed by American military personnel on Okinawa, which have again stoked resentment of the heavy U.S. troop presence on the strategic island in Japan’s far southwest. The issue broke out late last month, triggering an uproar over reports that two American service members had been charged with sexual assaults months earlier. Both cases were first reported in local media in late June. In one arrest made in March, a member of the U.S. Air Force was charged with the kidnapping and sexual assault of a teenager, and while in May a U.S.

Hundreds of mostly exiled Tibetans celebrate the Dalai Lama’s 89th birthday in India’s Dharamshala

DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — Hundreds of mostly exiled Tibetans gathered in India’s hillside town of Dharamshala to celebrate the birthday of the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama, who turned 89 on Saturday. The Dalai Lama has made the hillside town his headquarters since fleeing Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Representatives of a Tibetan government-in-exile also reside there. The main celebrations took place in Tsuglagkhang temple inside the complex where the spiritual leader lives. Tibetan and Buddhist flags adorned poles and railings. A volunteer distributed Indian sweets to exiled Tibetan Buddhist nuns as teachers helped children with their make-up as they prepared to perform traditional dances.

Teen killed by police in New York laid to rest

UTICA, N.Y. (AP) — A 13-year-old boy shot to death by police in upstate New York after he pointed what turned out to be a BB gun at officers was laid to rest Saturday. Hundreds of people turned out for the funeral for Nyah Mway in Utica, with mourners filling up the funeral home and extending out to the sidewalk to pay their respects, The Rome Daily Sentinel reported. Videos shared on social media show a solemn ceremony was then held at a local cemetery. Members of the city’s Karen ethnic minority community, a number of them wearing traditional clothing, laid flowers and wreaths while several Buddhist monks led the gathering in prayer as Mway’s white coffin was lowered into the ground.

Man who stabbed South Korea’s opposition leader sentenced to 15 years in prison

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A man who stabbed South Korea’s opposition leader in the neck earlier this year was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday, court officials said. The knife-wielding man attacked Lee Jae-myung, head of the liberal Democratic Party, South Korea’s biggest political party, in January after approaching him asking for his autograph at an event in the southeastern city of Busan. After being detained by police, he told investigators that he wanted to kill Lee to prevent him from becoming South Korea’s president. The Busan District Court said the man was handed the prison term after being found guilty for an attempted murder and a violation of an election law.

Post-communist generation is hoping for a new era of democracy in Mongolia

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Tsenguun Saruulsaikhan, a young and newly minted member of Mongolia’s parliament, is unhappy with below-cost electricity rates that she says show her country has yet to fully shake off its socialist past. Most of Mongolia’s power plants date from the Soviet era and outages are common in some areas. Heavy smog envelops the capital Ulaanbaata r in the winter because many people still burn coal to heat their homes. “It’s stuck in how it was like 40, 50 years ago,” said Tsenguun, part of a rising generation of leaders who are puzzling out their country’s future after three decades of democracy.