Top Asian News 4:39 a.m. GMT

Indonesian voters are choosing a new president in one of the world’s largest elections

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian voters were choosing a new president Wednesday as the world’s third-largest democracy aspires to become a global economic powerhouse a quarter-century after shaking off a brutal dictatorship. The front-runner, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, is the only candidate with ties to the Suharto era. He was a special forces commander at the time and has been accused of human rights atrocities, which he vehemently denies. Two former provincial governors, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, are also vying to succeed the immensely popular President Joko Widodo, who is serving the final of his two terms in office. Widodo’s rise from a riverside slum to the presidency has shown the vibrancy of Indonesia’s democracy in a region rife with authoritarian regimes.

Pakistan’s former premier Sharif and allies agree to form a coalition

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The party of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and its allies announced late Tuesday that they will jointly form a coalition government, ending the uncertainty since last week when no party won a simple majority in parliamentary elections. The latest development came hours after the parties — all of them rivals of the country’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan — met in Islamabad. The meeting was attended by the Pakistan People’s Party of former President Asif Ali Zardari and by Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League, including his younger brother, Shehbaz Sharif, who replaced Khan when he was ousted through a no-confidence vote in parliament in 2022.

Police use tear gas against Indian farmers marching to New Delhi to demand guaranteed crop prices

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police on Tuesday used tear gas and detained some farmers who clashed with them and tried to break barricades blocking their way to New Delhi to demand guaranteed crop prices in a repeat of 2021 protests, when they camped on the capital’s outskirts for more than a year. Police dropped tear gas canisters on the protesting farmers from a drone at one of the border points in northern Haryana state that leads to New Delhi, where tens of thousands of farmers are headed on tractors and trucks. Police have sealed multiple entry points into the capital with barriers of giant metal containers, barbed wire, spikes and cement blocks.

South Korea says North Korea has fired cruise missiles, adding to provocative run in weapons tests

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Wednesday fired multiple cruise missiles into the sea in its fifth test of such weapons since January, South Korea’s military said, extending a streak in weapons demonstrations that’s elevating tensions in the region. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the South Korean and U.S. militaries were analyzing the launches that were detected in waters northeast of the eastern coastal city of Wonsan. The South Korean military didn’t immediately provide the exact numbers of missiles fired or how far they flew. It wasn’t immediately clear either whether the missiles were fired from land or from sea assets.

Storms bring destructive winds and ignite wildfires across Australian state of Victoria

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Powerful winds have killed a man and brought widespread destruction across Australia’s second-most populous state, leaving 530,000 homes and businesses without power and fanning fires that razed homes and injured five firefighters, officials said on Wednesday. Winds of up to 157 kph (98 mph) toppled six electricity transmission towers on Tuesday and caused one of the highest number of power outages Victoria state had ever experienced, Emergency Management Commissioner Rick Nugent said. “The storms were the most destructive in years and years and unfortunately from time to time this can occur,” Nugent told reporters, referring to the widespread power outages.

Jailed former Thai PM Thaksin gets parole, capping a reconciliation with military that ousted him

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who last year returned from more than a decade of self-imposed exile to serve a prison sentence for misdeeds committed while in office, has been granted parole and could be released this weekend, the country’s justice minister announced Tuesday. Parole for Thaksin would be a symbol of reconciliation between his populist political party and the country’s conservative establishment, a rivalry that defined Thai politics for nearly 20 years and led to two military coups. Justice Minister Tawee Sodsong told reporters ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting in Bangkok that Thaksin qualified for early release because he is in the eligible category of inmates who have serious illnesses, are disabled or are aged over 70.

What’s at stake in Indonesia, which is choosing a president and some 20,000 other office holders

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia on Wednesday opened polling stations where nearly 205 million eligible voters will choose a new president and some 20,000 other public officials. The world’s third-largest democracy is holding its fifth presidential and legislative elections since shaking off a dictatorship in 1998. The sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands and more than 270 million people from about 1,300 ethnic groups is a bastion of democracy in Southeast Asia, a diverse and economically vibrant region of authoritarian regimes, police states and nascent democracies. The presidential election will determine who will succeed President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, who is serving his second and final term.

Indonesia’s presidential election has high stakes for US and China and their rivalry

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — When Indonesians cast their votes on Wednesday for a new president in one of the world’s biggest elections, the stakes will also be high for the United States and China and their mounting rivalry in the region. The Southeast Asian nation is a key battleground economically and politically in a region where the global powers have long been on a collision course over Taiwan, human rights, U.S. military deployments and Beijing’s aggressive actions in disputed waters, including the South China Sea. Outgoing President Joko Widodo’s foreign policy has avoided criticizing either Beijing or Washington, but also rejected alignment with either power.

Why tens of thousands of Indian farmers are marching toward the capital in protest

NEW DELHI (AP) — Tens of thousands of Indian farmers are marching toward the capital to demand guaranteed crop prices, renewing a movement from two years ago that succeeded in getting the government to repeal contentious new agricultural laws. On Tuesday, police used tear gas, detained a number of farmers and heavily barricaded border points to block the protesters from entering New Delhi. Authorities are determined to control the new demonstrations to avoid a repeat of the 2021 protests, in which tens of thousands of farmers camped outside the capital for over a year, enduring a harsh winter and a devastating COVID-19 surge.

Thailand made pot legal two years ago. That could change soon

BANGKOK (AP) — Two years after Thailand made pot legal, the country appears set to crack down on its freewheeling drug market with a ban on “recreational” use. Legal cannabis has fueled Thailand’s tourism and farming trades and spawned thousands of neon green shops, but it’s facing public backlash over perceptions that under-regulation has made the drug available to kids and caused crime. The Health Minister Chonlanan Srikaew said last week that he had recommended a draft bill to the Cabinet that would ban recreational cannabis use while allowing medical. The Cabinet is expected to approve sending that Parliament soon, but has not yet taken it up as of its most recent meeting on Tuesday.