Top Asian News 3:15 a.m. GMT

Bangladesh’s chief justice resigns under pressure as Yunus-led interim government starts working

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh’s Chief Justice Obaidul Hassan resigned Saturday following new protests by a group of students and other demonstrators, as the country’s interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus started functioning days after a mass uprising forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to India. Asif Nazrul, law, justice and parliamentary affairs adviser to the interim government, said in a video message posted on Facebook that his office received the resignation letter and they would forward it to the country’s figurehead President Mohammed Shahabuddin for further procedures. Five other top judges in the Supreme Court also resigned later on Saturday, in an attempt by the new government to reorganize the judiciary.

Ethnic armed group suspected of deadly attack in Myanmar on Rohingya trying to flee fighting

BANGKOK (AP) — At least 150 civilians from Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority may have been killed this week in an artillery and drone attack in the western state of Rakhine that survivors suspect was carried out by a major force in the resistance to military rule. The Arakan Army, the military wing of the state’s Rakhine ethnic group, denied responsibility for the assault Monday on Rohingya trying to flee fierce fighting in Maungdaw town by crossing the Naf River into Bangladesh. A statement issued Friday by an international medical assistance group, Doctors Without Borders, said that in the past week, it has been treating increasing numbers of Rohingya people with violence-related injuries who managed to cross the border into Bangladesh.

Seoul says North Korea has flown more trash balloons toward South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military says North Korea is again flying balloons likely carrying trash toward the South, adding to a bizarre psychological warfare campaign amid growing tensions between the war-divided rivals. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Saturday that the winds could carry the balloons to regions north of the South Korean capital, Seoul. Seoul City Hall and the Gyeonggi provincial government issued text alerts urging citizens to beware of objects dropping from the sky and report to the military or police if they spot any balloons. There were no immediate reports of injuries or property damage.

North Korean leader says thousands of flood victims will be brought to capital for temporary care

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea will not seek outside help to recover from floods that devastated areas near the country’s border with China, leader Kim Jong Un said as he ordered officials to bring thousands of displaced residents to the capital to provide them better care. Kim said it would take about two to three months to rebuild homes and stabilize the areas affected by floods. Until then, his government plans to accommodate some 15,400 people — a group that includes mothers, children, older adults and disabled soldiers — at facilities in Pyongyang, North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday.

AP PHOTOS: 172-year-old Japanese factory preserves traditional way of making cast iron cookware

OSHU, Japan (AP) — Katsunori Suzuki is one of a few craftsmen in Japan still producing cast iron cookware by hand using laborious traditional techniques. The president of the 172-year-old foundry where he works says she wants to keep the tradition alive, even if it costs much more to produce. Suzuki uses moist sand and a few other ingredients to make the molds using a method called “tegome,” or “hand stuffing.” He spends hours tamping the sand in an iron frame to compress it just the right amount to create the mold, in which he carves detailed designs for the pot.

Philippine military says Chinese air force jets endangered its patrol plane with flares, risky moves

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine military chief condemned Saturday what he said was the provocative actions of two Chinese air force aircraft that executed a dangerous maneuver and dropped flares in the path of a Philippine air force plane on routine patrol in the South China Sea. All those aboard the Philippine air force NC-212i light transport plane were unharmed and returned safely to Clark Air Base north of Manila after Thursday morning’s incident over the Scarborough Shoal, Gen. Romeo Brawner said, without providing other details. A top Philippine security official told The Associated Press that the Chinese jets flew at a “very close distance” to the Philippine air force turbo-prop plane and “put the lives of our pilots in real risk and danger.” Another security officer said at least eight flares came from the Chinese fighter jets.

Thailand’s reformist Move Forward Party, dissolved by court order, regroups as People’s Party

BANGKOK (AP) — Just two days after being disbanded by court order, Thailand’s main progressive political party regrouped Friday under a new name and vowed to continue its fight for reforms despite continuing opposition from the conservative establishment that blocked the party from taking power despite finishing first in last year’s election. Leaders of the dissolved Move Forward Party announced they were forming a new party to be called the People’s — or Prachachon — Party. Critics say the party’s dissolution was the latest attack on the country’s progressive movement in a yearslong legal campaign by conservative forces. Thailand’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that the Move Forward Party violated the constitution by proposing to amend a law that criminalizes insulting the royal family.

Bangladesh protests are not the first time student uprisings have helped bring about radical change

BANGKOK (AP) — In Bangladesh, weeks of protests against a quota system for government jobs turned into a broad uprising that forced the prime minister to flee the country and resign. The demonstrations began peacefully last month and were primarily led by students frustrated with the system that they said favored those with connections to the ruling party. But it turned violent on July 15 as student protesters clashed with security officials and pro-government activists. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled this week after the unrest during which nearly 300 people died, including both students and police officers. Students or other young people have frequently played pivotal roles in popular uprisings that have brought down governments or forced them to change policies.

Attack on Pakistani army posts leaves 3 soldiers and 4 insurgents dead

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Militants attacked three army posts in northwest Pakistan on the border with Afghanistan on Friday, triggering intense shootouts that killed three soldiers and four insurgents, the military said. The attacks happened in the Tirah Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military said in a statement. It said a search operation was underway in the area to eliminate any other insurgents and security forces were “determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism.” The military gave no further details, but a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban in a statement claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Gul Bahadur group is based in Afghanistan, authorities say.

Interim leader Muhammad Yunus takes the helm in Bangladesh, to seek peace and prepare elections

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took the oath of office as head of Bangladesh’s interim government Thursday after protests forced out former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina this week. The key tasks for Yunus now are restoring peace in Bangladesh and preparing for new elections following the ouster of Hasina, who fled to India after weeks of student protests over job quotas grew into an uprising against her increasingly autocratic 15-year rule. The figurehead President Mohammed Shahabuddin administered the oath to Yunus for his role as chief adviser, which is the equivalent to a prime minister, in the presence of diplomats, civil society members, top businessmen and members of the former opposition party at the presidential palace in Dhaka.