Top Asian News 3:51 a.m. GMT

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be indicted for royal defamation, prosecutors say

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai prosecutors said Wednesday former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be indicted for defaming the monarchy, three months after he was freed on parole on other charges. Thaksin will not yet be indicted because he had filed a request to postpone his original appointment on Wednesday with proof that he has COVID-19, Prayuth Bejraguna, a spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General, said at a news conference. The attorney general’s office scheduled a new appointment for Thaksin’s indictment on June 18, Prayuth said, adding that Thaksin will also be indicted for violating the Computer Crime Act. Thaksin had been in self-imposed exile since 2008, but returned to Thailand in August last year to begin serving an eight-year sentence.

The toll of Beijing’s security law on Hong Kong’s activists

HONG KONG (AP) — Activist Chan Po-ying is permitted only 15-minute daily visits to see her husband, Leung Kwok-hung, separated by a plexiglass barrier in a highly guarded Hong Kong jail. Leung, 68, is one of 47 activists who were prosecuted in the largest national security law case to date in the former British colony. Most of them have been separated from their loved ones for years, uncertain when they might reunite. On Thursday, 16 activists who pleaded not guilty — including Leung — will begin hearing their verdict. The government had warned there might be legal consequences, but Chan didn’t stop former pro-democracy legislator Leung from participating in an unofficial 2020 primary election that would lead to his prosecution under a national security law that Beijing imposed on the semi-autonomous city.

How a primary election led to activists being arrested in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case

HONG KONG (AP) — Verdicts in Hong Kong’s largest national security case to date, involving some of the city’s best-known pro-democracy activists, will be delivered on Thursday, more than three years after the defendants’ arrest. In 2021, 47 pro-democracy activists were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under the sweeping, Beijing-imposed national security law for their involvement in an unofficial primary election. The mass prosecution crushed the city’s once-thriving political activism and dimmed hopes of a more democratic Hong Kong. Sixteen of the 47 defendants are expecting to hear their fate on Thursday and Friday and could face up to life in prison if convicted.

North Korean leader Kim doubles down on satellite ambitions following failed launch

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged his military scientists to overcome a failed satellite launch and continue developing space-based reconnaissance capabilities, which he described as crucial for countering U.S. and South Korean military activities, state media said Wednesday. In his first public comments about the failure, Kim also warned of unspecified “stern” action against South Korea over an exercise involving 20 fighter jets near the inter-Korean border hours before North Korea’s failed launch on Monday. In a speech Tuesday, Kim called the South Korean response “hysterical insanity” and “a very dangerous provocation that cannot be ignored,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

Taiwan’s legislature passes changes seen as favoring China, reducing president’s power

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s opposition-controlled legislature passed changes on Tuesday that are seen as favoring China and diminishing the power of the island’s president, sparking protests by thousands of people. The changes pushed by the opposition Nationalist Party and its allies would give the legislature greater power to control budgets, including defense spending that the party has blocked in what many see as a concession to China. It remains unclear whether the package of bills will become law. The Executive Yuan, the executive branch of government headed by the premier, may veto legislation or pass it on to the president, who has to proclaim bills into law within 10 days.

At least 17 are killed when a stone quarry collapses in India’s northeast. 12 others remain missing

GUWAHATI, India (AP) — A stone quarry collapsed Tuesday in India’s northeast due to heavy rain triggered by a tropical storm, killing 17 quarry workers and leaving 12 missing, officials said. Senior police officer Rahul Alwal said rescuers recovered the bodies of those killed in the quarry in Melthum, about 6 kilometers (3.5 miles) from the Mizoram state capital, Aizwal, and were able to pull out two workers alive from the debris. Alwal said rescue workers were trying to reach trapped workers while searching for more survivors. Mizoram has many quarries where stones are mined for road and building construction. Many companies, however, extract stones without getting the required environmental clearance.

Fears rise of a second landslide and disease outbreak at site of Papua New Guinea disaster

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Authorities fear a second landslide and a disease outbreak are looming at the scene of Papua New Guinea’s mass-casualty disaster because of water streams and bodies trapped beneath the tons of debris that swept over a village. Thousands are being told to prepare to evacuate, officials said Tuesday. A mass of boulders, earth and splintered trees devastated Yambali in the South Pacific nation’s remote highlands when a limestone mountainside sheared away Friday. The blanket of debris has become more unstable with recent rain and streams trapped between the ground and rubble, said Serhan Aktoprak, chief of the International Organization for Migration’s mission in Papua New Guinea.

Executions worldwide jumped last year to the highest number since 2015, Amnesty report says

LONDON (AP) — The number of executions recorded worldwide last year jumped to the highest level since 2015, with a sharp rise in Iran and across the Middle East, Amnesty International said in a report released Wednesday. The human rights group said it recorded a total of 1,153 executions in 2023, a 30% increase from 2022. Amnesty said the figure does not include thousands of death sentences believed to have been carried out in China, where data is not available due to state secrecy. The group said the spike in recorded executions was primarily driven by Iran, where authorities executed at least 853 people last year, compared to 576 in 2022.

Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is reelected as president of ruling party

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan’s former premier Nawaz Sharif was reelected president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N party on Tuesday. He last held the position in 2017, when he was forced out of office amid corruption allegations. The PML-N came into power with the Feb. 8 elections that Sharif’s key rival, former premier Imran Khan, alleged were rigged. Sharif’s younger brother, Shehbaz Sharif, now leads a coalition government and Sharif is a member of Parliament. Nawaz Sharif was ousted from power in 2017 when the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding any public office over concealing financial assets, a charge Sharif denies.

The screen set up to block tourist snapshots of Mount Fuji has several holes in it

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese town that erected a huge black screen last week in an attempt to stop tourists from snapping photos of Mount Fuji and overcrowding the area has discovered holes in the screen and is working to repair them, officials said Tuesday. Fujikawaguchiko, a popular spot to view and photograph the iconic mountain, put up the screen last Tuesday, but the next day officials discovered a hole in it. By Tuesday morning, officials had found around 10 similar holes, all at eye level, and all apparently just the right size to fit a camera lens through. One especially popular viewing location is outside a Lawson convenience store, from where photos taken at a certain angle would make it look as if Mount Fuji was sitting atop the store roof.