Top Asian News 1:16 a.m. GMT

UN agency, Rohingya refugees allege Indian authorities cast dozens of them into the sea near Myanmar

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian authorities allegedly forced dozens of Rohingya refugees off a naval vessel into the sea near Myanmar last week after providing them with life jackets, a United Nations agency, family members of the refugees and their lawyer said. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a statement on Thursday, said at least 40 Rohingya refugees were detained in New Delhi and cast into the sea by the Indian navy near the maritime border with Myanmar. The refugees — including children, women and older people — swam ashore, but their whereabouts in Myanmar remain unknown, the agency said.

Thai construction magnate facing charge over Bangkok tower collapse surrenders to police

BANGKOK (AP) — A construction magnate, builders, designers and engineers surrendered to police Friday on criminal negligence charges over the collapse during the March 28 earthquake of a Bangkok high-rise in which 92 people died. Premchai Karnasuta, president of Italian-Thai Development Co, the main Thai contractor for the building project, as well as designers and engineers, was among 17 charged with the felony of professional negligence causing death, Bangkok deputy police chief Noppasin Poonsawat said. Noppasin said those who met police on Friday formally denied the charges. Several have previously issued public denials in response to allegations in the media. Ninety-two people were confirmed dead in the rubble of the building that had been under construction.

Philippines Senate race a blow to President Marcos as he feuds with Vice President Duterte

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Key allies of detained former President Rodrigo Duterte and two liberal opposition candidates were among top winners in the May 12 Senate race in the Philippines, according to official results released Friday by the Election Commission. The midterm election outcome provided unexpectedly strong backing for Duterte and boosted his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, ahead of her impeachment trial in the Senate in July. The election also was a blow to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration, whose candidates did not do as well as expected in midterm polls when the president’s influence is usually strong, analysts said.

AP PHOTOS: A death-defying ride and a night’s earnings in Satan’s Barrel

MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) — On the motorbike seat, she started the engine, sped up and began a death-defying performance inside the track known as the Satan’s Barrel. Sri Wahyuni was the star of the most-awaited performance at the night fair in the outskirts of Medan city in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province. She began riding the Satan’s Barrel at 17, drawn to it by curiosity while searching for work. Now 25, she’s a key performer in this iconic Indonesian night fair act. Riding in the Satan’s Barrel requires courage. The riders don’t wear helmets on the velodrome track also known as the Wall of Death.

Thai police rescue 2 baby orangutans and arrest a trafficking suspect

BANGKOK (AP) — Two baby orangutans have been rescued from being sold in Thailand’s capital Bangkok and a suspected trafficker arrested, police said. The orangutans were seized Wednesday night and the alleged courier for the seller was arrested at a gas station, police said. The suspect was charged with illegal possession of protected wildlife and faces up to four years in prison if convicted. Police said orangutans generally sell for 300,000 baht ($9,000) each. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists orangutans as critically endangered, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) prohibits cross-border trade in the animals.

Photo group says it has ‘suspended attribution’ of historic Vietnam picture because of doubts

An organization that honored The Associated Press’ Nick Ut with its “ photo of the year ” in 1973 for a picture of a girl running from a napalm attack in the Vietnam War says it has “suspended its attribution” to Ut because of doubts over who actually took it. World Press Photo’s report Friday adds to the muddle over an issue that has split the photographic community since a movie earlier this year, “The Stringer,” questioned Ut’s authorship. The photo of a naked and terrified Kim Phuc became an iconic symbol of the war’s tragedy. After two investigations, The Associated Press said it found no definitive evidence to warrant stripping Ut’s photo credit.

Clash in Indonesia’s restive Papua region kills 18 rebels and 2 police officers

JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s security forces have clashed with separatist rebels in the restive Papua region, leaving at least 18 insurgents and two police officers dead, officials and the rebels said Friday. The battle erupted Wednesday when dozens of rebels armed with military-grade weapons and arrows attacked troops preparing to offer health and education services to villages in Intan Jaya, a hotbed of the insurgency, said Lt. Col. Iwan Dwi Prihartono, a military spokesperson. “The situation changed when an armed group ambushed dozens of government soldiers,” Prihartono said in a video statement. “So at that moment we carried out a measured and professional action operation.” Security forces seized one assault rifle, a homemade rifle, several arrows, rounds of ammunition and a “morning star” flag — a separatist symbol — after the clash, Prihartono said, adding there were no casualties on the government side.

Vietnam approves Trump Organization’s $1.5 billion golf, real estate project

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam has approved a $1.5 billion proposal by the Trump Organization and its Vietnamese partner to build golf courses, hotels and real estate projects in the Southeast Asian country, state-run media reported Friday. The project spanning 990 hectares (2,446 acres) in northern Vietnam’s Khoai Chau district will include a golf course the size 336 American football fields, residential areas, commercial spaces and parks. The decision approving the investment was signed by Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, the VN Express newspaper reported. Vietnam is heading into negotiations with the U.S. in a bid to avoid the 46% tariffs on its exports announced by President Donald Trump’s administration.

Decorated Australian veteran loses his defamation appeal over killings in Afghanistan

Australia’s most decorated living war veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, on Friday lost his appeal of a civil court ruling that blamed him for unlawfully killing four unarmed Afghans. Meanwhile a veterans’ advocate called on prosecutors to speed up their investigations of war crime allegations in Afghanistan that have left innocent soldiers under a cloud of suspicion. Three federal court judges unanimously rejected his appeal of a judge’s ruling in 2023 that Roberts-Smith was not defamed by newspaper articles published in 2018 that accused him of a range of war crimes. Justice Anthony Besanko had ruled that the accusations were substantially true to a civil standard and Roberts-Smith was responsible for four of the six unlawful deaths of noncombatants he had been accused of.

Trump suspends asylum system, leaving immigrants to face an uncertain future

They arrive at the U.S. border from around the world: Eritrea, Guatemala, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ghana, Uzbekistan and so many other countries. They come for asylum, insisting they face persecution for their religion, or sexuality or for supporting the wrong politicians. For generations, they had been given the chance to make their case to U.S. authorities. Not anymore. “They didn’t give us an ICE officer to talk to. They didn’t give us an interview. No one asked me what happened,” said a Russian election worker who sought asylum in the U.S. after he said he was caught with video recordings he made of vote rigging.