Top Asian News 3:04 a.m. GMT

‘This is the beginning': 91-year-old sister of longest death row inmate sees hope in his acquittal

HAMAMATSU, Japan (AP) — Hideko Hakamada, 91, spent much of her life working to free her brother from nearly a half-century on death row. Now that he has been acquitted she feels that the siblings are beginning a new chapter of their lives. She backed her brother, Iwao Hakamada, the world’s longest-serving death row inmate, through decades of frustrating, at times apparently hopeless, legal wrangling as his mental condition worsened. “No matter what people said about me, I lived my own life and appreciated my freedom. I did not belittle myself as the sister of a death row inmate. I lived without shame,” she told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview at her home in the central Japanese city of Hamamatsu.

North Korea claims it discovered the remains of a South Korean drone in its capital

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Saturday it found the remains of a South Korean drone during a search in its capital, Pyongyang, claiming the drone proved the South’s military was behind the alleged drone infiltrations over the city’s skies earlier in the month. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff in a statement described the North Korean claim as “unilateral” and “unworthy of responding.” The North’s official Korean Central News Agency released photos showing a seemingly damaged aircraft with wide, V-shaped wings and winglets. It said a joint investigation by North Korea’s military and state security agencies concluded that the aircraft, which it said was found on Oct.

South Korean intelligence says North has sent troops to aid Russia’s war in Ukraine

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s spy agency said Friday that North Korea has dispatched troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine. If confirmed, the move would bring a third country into the war and intensify a standoff between North Korea and the West. The South Korean announcement came a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his government has intelligence that 10,000 troops from North Korea are being prepared to join Russian forces fighting against his country. The National Intelligence Service said in a statement that Russian navy ships transferred 1,500 North Korean special operation forces to the Russian port city of Vladivostok from Oct.

Demonstrators beat effigy of India’s prime minister outside courthouse after hearing

NEW YORK (AP) — Demonstrators who blame the Indian government for a murder-for-hire scheme targeting a prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York City beat an effigy of the country’s prime minister outside a Manhattan courthouse on Friday after a hearing for an man charged in the plot. The demonstration by more than a dozen Sikhs came one day after a rewritten indictment in the case charged an Indian government employee in connection with the foiled plan. The India-based employee, Vikash Yadav, remains at large. Across the street from the courthouse, the demonstrators put a shackled effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi inside a makeshift jail cell.

UK Foreign Secretary Lammy urges China against supporting Russia’s military

BEIJING (AP) — Britain’s foreign secretary raised concerns about China’s support of Russia in its war against Ukraine on Friday, urging his Chinese counterpart to prevent Chinese firms from supplying to Russia’s military in a meeting in Beijing. David Lammy made the comments as he made his first visit by a Cabinet minister to China since the Labor government took control in July. He met Friday with Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and held talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi later the same day. The two-day trip is an attempt to reset ties with Beijing after relations turned frosty in recent years over spying allegations, China’s support for Russia in the Ukraine war and a crackdown on civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony.

Who is Prabowo Subianto, the former general who becomes Indonesia’s new president?

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A wealthy ex-general with ties to both Indonesia’s popular outgoing president and the country’s dictatorial past will be inaugurated as its leader Sunday. He has promised to continue his predecessor’s widely popular policies, but his human rights record has activists, and some analysts, concerned about the future of Indonesia’s democracy. At the election in February, Prabowo Subianto, 73, presented himself as heir to the immensely popular President Joko Widodo, the first Indonesian president to emerge from outside the political and military elite. Subianto, who was then defense minister, vowed to continue the modernization agenda that has brought rapid growth and vaulted Indonesia into the ranks of middle-income countries.

China’s economy grows at a 4.6% rate in the last quarter, falls short of the official 5% target

HONG KONG (AP) — China’s economy expanded at an annual rate of 4.6% in the July-September quarter, the government said Friday, in the latest evidence that recent efforts to rev up growth have yet to take hold. The world’s second largest economy slowed from 4.7% annual growth in the previous quarter and falling short of the official target of “about 5%” growth for 2024, a figure that some analysts consider ambitious without more aggressive measures to spur consumer demand and spur a recovery in the ailing property sector. In a statement, the National Bureau of Statistics said that the economy was “generally stable with steady progress” even in the face of a “complicated and severe external environment” and complicated domestic economic development.

Japan’s ruling party headquarters is attacked with firebombs and suspect is arrested, media report

TOKYO (AP) — A man threw several firebombs into the headquarters of Japan’s ruling party in Tokyo Saturday, public broadcaster NHK and other Japanese media reported. There were no reports of injuries. Tokyo police declined to comment, noting the matter was still under investigation. The man, arrested on the spot, had driven his car into nearby fencing, the news reports said. His motive for the attack was not immediately clear. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is increasingly unpopular with the public due to a ballooning money scandal involving dubious funding and suspected tax evasion. The party declined to comment on Saturday’s attack, referring all queries to the police.

Palau’s vibrant Helen Reef is a magnet for poachers. These rangers keep it safe

HELEN ISLAND, Palau (AP) — The handful of rangers who protect one of Earth’s most remote and biologically diverse reefs have only each other for company for months at a time. They worry about running out of gas for boat patrols, their drinking water can get dangerously low and rising seas are nipping away at the tiny island that hosts their station. On the plus side, the fishing is amazing — and they’re the only people allowed to do it. Helen Reef, a 40-square-mile atoll at the southern limit of Palau, is home to precious plants and animals that include the Napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrotfish, hawksbill sea turtles and sea cucumbers.

Rights groups urge Thailand to release Vietnamese activist, saying he faces torture if extradited

BANGKOK (AP) — A group of nearly three dozen rights groups called on Thailand’s prime minister Friday to release a Vietnamese activist who has been ordered extradited home to face imprisonment on terrorism charges, saying he faces the possibility of torture if returned. Y Quynh Bdap, who has United Nations refugee status in Thailand, was picked up by Thai authorities on a Vietnamese warrant in June as he was seeking to be granted asylum in Canada. He is being held in Bangkok pending extradition. In the letter sent to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, as well as other Thai officials and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Amnesty International and 32 other rights groups suggested Bdap “faces a real risk of torture, prolonged arbitrary detention or other grave human rights violations” if he is returned to Vietnam.