Top Asian News 3:45 a.m. GMT

‘US doesn’t see me as an American’: Thousands of adoptees live in limbo without citizenship

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The 50-year-old newspaper was turning yellow and its edges fraying, so she had it laminated, not as a memento but as proof — America made a promise to her, and did not keep it. She pointed to the picture in the corner of her as a little girl in the rural Midwest, hugging the family Yorkshire terrier, with dark pigtails and brown eyes so round people called her Buttons. Next to her sit smiling, proud parents — her father an Air Force veteran who had survived a German prison camp in World War II and found her in an orphanage in Iran.

Thousands were adopted to the US but not made citizens. Decades later, they risk being deported

The United States has brought hundreds of thousands of children from abroad to be adopted by American families. But along the way it left thousands of them without citizenship, through a bureaucratic loophole that the government has been aware of for decades, and hasn’t fixed. Some of these adoptees live in hiding, fearing that tipping off the government could prompt their removal back to the country the U.S. claimed to have rescued them from. Some have already been deported. A bill to help them has been introduced in Congress for a decade, and is supported by a rare bipartisan coalition — from liberal immigration groups to the Southern Baptist Convention.

King Charles tells summit the past can’t be changed as leaders ask Britain to reckon with slavery

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — King Charles III told a summit of Commonwealth countries in Samoa on Friday that the past could not be changed as he indirectly acknowledged calls from some of Britain’s former colonies for a reckoning over its role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The British royal understood “the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate,” he told leaders in Apia. But Charles stopped short of mentioning financial reparations that some leaders at the event have urged and instead exhorted them to find the “right language” and an understanding of history “to guide us towards making the right choices in future where inequality exists.”

Japan’s ruling party may struggle in Sunday’s vote, but its decades of dominance won’t end

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ’s ruling party, dogged by corruption scandals and plunging support, faces its toughest challenge in more than a decade in Sunday’s parliamentary election. This could set up a very short-lived time in office for Ishiba, who only took power earlier this month. But even if he may have to take responsibility and step down as head of the party and prime minister, it won’t cause his Liberal Democratic Party to fall from power. That’s because the party, which has had a stranglehold on power since 1955, easily dominates a fractured, weak opposition, which has only ruled twice, and briefly, during that time.

Tropical Storm Dana makes landfall along India’s eastern coast, bringing heavy rains and strong wind

NEW DELHI (AP) — Tropical Storm Dana made landfall along India’s eastern coast late Thursday night, uprooting trees with its torrential rains and strong winds. The storm entered Odisha state with maximum sustained winds of around 110 kilometers (68 miles) per hour and gusts expected up to 120 kph (75 mph), according to the Indian Meteorological Department. Officials told the Press Trust of India news agency that the landfall process is expected to continue into Friday as the storm pushes further into northern Odisha, before gradually weakening over the next few hours. As it made landfall, the storm pounded some districts in Odisha and neighboring West Bengal state with heavy downpours as gusty winds brought down trees, local media reported.

Climate-threatened Pacific Islands criticize Australia at Commonwealth meeting

APIA, Samoa (AP) — Several Pacific island nations singled out Australia to do more to phase out fossil fuel exports during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which opened in Samoa on Thursday. Tuvalu’s Prime Minister, Feleti Teo, alongside senior officials from Vanuatu and Fiji, backed a new report from the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, which highlights the significant role Australia, Canada and the U.K. play in global emissions. The report said that fossil fuels extracted in the three nations were responsible for 60% of emissions generated by such extraction across Commonwealth countries since 1990, even though they represent only 6% of the Commonwealth’s population.

Britain’s leaders likely to face slavery reparations questions at a summit of former colonies

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Britain’s leaders will likely face uncomfortable questions about reparations for the trans-Atlantic slave trade at a summit of nations it once colonized, after Caribbean leaders said they would thrust the matter into the spotlight at the event in Samoa. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had said that compensation for slavery wasn’t on the agenda at this week’s biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, or CHOGM, in the Samoan capital, Apia. But the issue threatens to boil over anyway, presaging an uneasy summit for Starmer and Britain’s King Charles III, who is battling cancer but is also attending.

Australia’s leader rejects Beijing’s claims that his country is rife with ‘racism and hate crimes’

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rejected accusations from Beijing that his country is “plagued by systemic racism and hate crimes” after an Australian diplomat led a group of Western nations in renewing concerns about human rights violations in China. “When it comes to China, we’ve said we’ll cooperate where we can, we’ll disagree where we must, and we’ll engage in our national interest, and we’ve raised issues of human rights with China,” Albanese told reporters on Thursday as he arrived in the Pacific Island nation of Samoa for a Commonwealth leaders’ summit. A day earlier, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian had denounced a statement made by 15 nations to the United Nations General Assembly this week — presented by a top Australian envoy — underscoring “ongoing concerns” about “serious human rights violations” in Xinjiang and Tibet.

Tropical storm battering Philippines leaves at least 24 people dead in flooding and landslides

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Widespread flooding and landslides set off by a tropical storm in the northeastern Philippines on Thursday left at least 24 people dead, swept away cars and prompted authorities to scramble for motorboats to rescue trapped villagers, some on roofs. The government shut down schools and offices — except those urgently needed for disaster response — for the second day on the entire main island of Luzon to protect millions of people after Tropical Storm Trami slammed into the country’s northeastern province of Isabela after midnight. The storm began to move away from the coast of the northwestern Philippine province of Ilocos Sur toward the South China Sea on Thursday afternoon with sustained winds of up to 95 kph (59 mph) and gusts up to 115 kph (71 mph).

Jailed former Malaysian leader apologizes for fund embezzlement scandal, reiterates his innocence

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Imprisoned former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak issued a rare apology Thursday over the looting of a state investment fund worth billions of dollars “under my watch” while reiterating his innocence. Najib set up the 1Malaysia Development Berhad state fund, or 1MBD, shortly after taking power in 2009. Investigators allege more than $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by his associates to finance Hollywood films and extravagant purchases. The scandal upended Najib’s government and he was defeated in the 2018 election. He faces a slew of legal cases and started serving time in 2022 after losing his final appeal in his first graft case.