Top Asian News 3:51 a.m. GMT

Asian markets plunge with Japan’s Nikkei diving nearly 8% after the big meltdown on Wall St

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares nosedived on Monday after the meltdown Friday on Wall Street over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes and the backlash from Beijing. U.S. futures also signaled further weakness. The future for the S&P 500 lost 2.5% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 2.1%. The future for the Nasdaq lost 3.1%. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost nearly 8% shortly after the market opened. By midday, it was down 6% at 31,758.28. A circuit breaker briefly suspended trading of Topix futures after an earlier sharp fall in U.S. futures. Among the biggest losers was Mizuho Financial Group, whose shares sank 11.3%.

Australian conservatives withdraw campaign pledge to stop remote work for public employees

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia’s opposition party Monday withdrew election promises to prevent public servants from working from home and to slash more than one-in-five federal public sector jobs. Opposition leader Peter Dutton announced his conservative Liberal Party had dropped its pledge that public servants would be required to work in their offices five days a week except in exceptional circumstances. “I think we made a mistake in relation to this policy,” Dutton told Nine Network television. “I think it’s important that we say that and recognize it and our intention was to make sure that where taxpayers are working hard and their money is being spent to pay wages that it’s being spent efficiently.” The opposition also withdrew a promise to use forced redundancy payments to slash 41,000 jobs from the 185,000 positions in the Australian Public Service.

AP PHOTOS: In this Indian city, locals patrol the beaches at night to protect endangered sea turtles

CHENNAI, India (AP) — For nearly four decades, residents in southern India’s coastal city of Chennai have patrolled moonlit beaches at night trying to protect sea turtles and their hatchlings that for millennia have nested along these shores. Hungry dogs, locals looking for a snack, and disorienting lights are among the hazards facing the olive ridley turtles and their eggs, which can take up to 60 days to hatch. Many turtles are caught offshore in fishing nets, which this year alone have killed hundreds of them in the area. Nonetheless, local residents have collected and helped to protect more than 260,000 turtle eggs this year in Tamil Nadu state, whose capital is Chennai.

Forecast of a week of rain adds to woes faced by victims of Myanmar quake, as death toll tops 3,500

BANGKOK (AP) — People in Myanmar’s earthquake-stricken areas braced for thunderstorms late Sunday, after heavy rains and winds the previous night disrupted rescue and relief operations and added to the misery of the many who lost their homes in the disaster and were forced to sleep in the open. Myanmar’s state-run MRTV reported on Sunday evening that scattered showers and thunderstorms possible across the country for the next week. “The public is advised to be aware of the possibility of untimely rain accompanied by strong winds, lightning, hail, and landslides,” MRTV said. Daytime temperatures are forecast to reach 38 degrees Celsius C (100 degrees Fahrenheit) by mid-week.

Medical helicopter crashes into sea off Japan, killing 3 while 3 are rescued

TOKYO (AP) — A medical transport helicopter fell into the sea in southwestern Japan, killing the patient and two other people, the Japan coast guard said. The pilot, Hiroshi Hamada, 66; Kazuto Yoshitake, a helicopter mechanic and a 28-year-old nurse, Sakura Kunitake, were rescued by the coast guard after they were found in the waters clinging to inflatable lifesavers. The three suffered hypothermia but were conscious, an official with the coast guard told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Yoshitake’s first name was initially given with a different spelling, but the coast guard corrected it later.

Pilot dies after his helicopter crashes while extinguishing a fire in South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A helicopter crashed during an operation to extinguish a fire in southeastern South Korea on Sunday, killing its pilot, the local fire agency said. A local fire office said that the fire at the hill in the city of Daegu had been put out about one hour after it had broken out. The identity of the pilot and the cause of the crash weren’t immediately known. The southeastern regions in South Korea suffered last month the worst-ever wildfires on record. Multiple blazes driven by strong winds and dry weather razed vast swaths of land and killed 31 people, including a pilot whose helicopter crashed during efforts to contain one of the wildfires.

India and Sri Lanka sign defense and energy deals as Modi’s visit strengthens ties

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated construction work on a solar plant in neighboring Sri Lanka and witnessed the signing of energy and defense agreements seen as efforts to consolidate New Delhi’s influence in the debt-stricken island nation. India has been concerned about China’s increasing presence in Sri Lanka, which is located on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes in what India considers part of its strategic backyard. Beijing has provided Sri Lanka with billions of dollars in loans for development projects. But Sri Lanka’s economic collapse in 2022 changed the country’s priorities and provided an opportunity for India, as New Delhi stepped in with massive financial and material assistance.

Cambodia’s leader presides at ceremony for upgrade of naval base with help from China

SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Saturday presided over the opening of an expansion of his country’s main naval base, which analysts and the U.S. government suspect will be used as a strategic outpost by China. Construction of a new pier to accommodate much larger ships, a dry dock for repairs and other features was completed in recent weeks at the Ream Naval Base in southern Cambodia, on the Gulf of Thailand. The project has drawn great attention mainly because Washington — noting that China is Cambodia’s closest ally and main source of investment and aid — believes that Beijing has been secretly granted special and exclusive privileges to use the base, a claim repeatedly denied by Cambodian officials.

A timeline of US-China tit-for-tat tariffs since Trump’s first term

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China is retaliating in a determined and at times highly detailed manner to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariffs, led by a retaliatory 34% tax on all U.S. imports next week. The strong response shows a degree of preparation that leaves Chinese exports in a tough spot but exacts pain from U.S. exporters that could be used as leverage in any future negotiations. The Chinese tariffs, announced Friday and taking effect Thursday, match the rate of the ones Trump imposed this week on Chinese products flowing into the United States, coming on top of two rounds of 10% tariffs already declared in February and March, citing allegations of Beijing’s role in the fentanyl crisis.

China slaps a 34% tax on all US imports in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs

BANGKOK (AP) — China announced Friday that it will impose a 34% tax on all U.S. imports next week, part of a flurry of retaliatory measures to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariffs that delivered the strongest response yet from Beijing to the American leader’s trade war. The tariffs taking effect Thursday match the rate that Trump this week ordered imposed on Chinese products flowing into the United States. In February and March, Trump slapped two rounds of 10% tariffs on Chinese goods, citing allegations of Beijing’s role in the fentanyl crisis. The U.S. stock market plunged Friday following China’s retaliatory moves.