Top Asian News 3:09 a.m. GMT

Vietnam celebrates 50 years since war’s end and focuses on peace

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam celebrated the end of the war with the United States and the formation of its modern nation 50 years ago Wednesday with a military parade and a focus on a future of peace. Thousands camped overnight on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City — once known as Saigon — to watch the parade, drinking strong black coffee and their faces painted with the Vietnamese flag. The parade included a float that carried the Lac Bird, Vietnam’s emblem, another carrying a portrait of Ho Chi Minh and finally one that represented 50 years of reunification between North and South Vietnam.

North Korea’s Kim watches missile test-firings from country’s first destroyer

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Wednesday leader Kim Jong Un observed the first test-firings of missiles from a recently launched destroyer — the first such warship for the North — and called for accelerating efforts to boost his navy’s nuclear attack capabilities. North Korea last week unveiled the 5,000-ton destroyer equipped with what it called the most powerful weapons built in its warship industry. During Friday’s launching ceremony at the western port of Nampo, Kim called the ship’s construction “a breakthrough” in modernizing North Korea’s naval forces. Outsider experts say it’s North Korea’s first destroyer and that it was likely built with Russian assistance.

Japan’s Toyota starts collaborating with self-driving leader Waymo on autonomous cars

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s top automaker Toyota announced a partnership with U.S. autonomous driving technology company Waymo on Wednesday. The move was somewhat anticipated, as the use of such technology speeds up around the world, and Toyota Motor Corp. has been aggressive about its intention to stay on top of such advances. “Toyota is committed to realizing a society with zero traffic accidents and becoming a mobility company that delivers mobility for all. We share a strong sense of purpose and a common vision with Waymo in advancing safety through automated driving technology,” Toyota Executive Vice President Hiroki Nakajima said in a statement.

Senate confirms former Sen. David Perdue as Trump’s US ambassador to China amid tariff showdown

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed former Sen. David Perdue as ambassador to China, just as the U.S. and China are locked in a tariff showdown that threatens to redefine diplomatic relations between the world’s two largest economies. Perdue, a Republican who served one term as a U.S. senator from Georgia, was confirmed 67-29 with some Democratic support. At his confirmation hearing this month, the former business executive called the U.S. relationship with China the “most consequential diplomatic challenge of the 21st century.” “Our approach to China should be nuanced, nonpartisan and strategic,” Perdue said. President Donald Trump, who selected Perdue in December, slapped 145% tariffs on Chinese goods this month, and Beijing retaliated by charging 125% tariffs on U.S.

Dozens of tourist resorts in Indian-controlled Kashmir are closed after deadly attack

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Authorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir temporarily closed dozens of the tourist resorts in the scenic Himalayan region after last week’s deadly attack on tourists raised tensions between India and Pakistan and led to an intensifying security crackdown in Kashmir. At least two police officers and three administrative officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in keeping with departmental policy, said Tuesday that the decision to shut 48 of the 87 government-authorized resorts was a safety precaution. They did not specify how long these places would be out of bounds for visitors. The decision comes a week after gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, near the resort town of Pahalgam.

Vehicle attack in Vancouver devastates a vibrant and growing Filipino community

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — For Bennet Miemban-Ganata, owner of a popular Filipino restaurant in Vancouver, the arrival of spring means a season of fiestas, bringing both good business and celebrations of culture. From Filipino Restaurant Month in April to Filipino Heritage Month in June, there would be colorful clothes, folk dances and traditional food like crispy lumpia, marinated and grilled pork belly, and beef stew. And of course, there would be togetherness for Vancouver’s rapidly growing Filipino community. All that made Saturday night’s vehicle-ramming attack on a large crowd at a Filipino block party all the more devastating. “We felt ...

China lashes out at US as tensions escalate over a space observatory in Chile

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — China struck a defiant stance on Tuesday in response to American concerns about Beijing’s efforts to expand its influence in the resource-rich South American nation of Chile, escalating tensions over a Chinese astronomical venture in Chile’s arid north. At a press conference Tuesday in Chile’s capital of Santiago, China’s ambassador to Chile, Niu Qingbao, lambasted the United States for “interfering in Chile’s sovereign right to independently choose its partners” and spreading “disinformation about the project.” The astronomy project stems from a 2023 agreement between China’s state-run National Astronomical Observatory and Chile’s Catholic University of the North to work on a powerful space observatory in the country’s vast northern Atacama Desert.

As communist troops streamed into Saigon, a few remaining reporters kept photos and stories flowing

BANGKOK (AP) — They’d watched overnight as the bombardments grew closer, and observed through binoculars as the last U.S. Marines piled into a helicopter on the roof of the embassy to be whisked away from Saigon. So when the reporters who had stayed behind heard the telltale squeak of the rubber sandals worn by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops in the stairs outside The Associated Press office, they weren’t surprised, and braced themselves for possible detention or arrest. But when the two young soldiers who entered showed no signs of malice, the journalists just kept reporting. Offering the men a Coke and day-old cake, Peter Arnett, George Esper and Matt Franjola started asking about their march into Saigon.

AP PHOTOS: Documenting the fall of Saigon in photos

In the morning of April 29, 1975, a massive evacuation exercise began in Saigon, which ended almost 24 hours later. About 6,500 people had been airlifted by the end of the exercise, including nearly 900 Americans. Hours later, on April 30, Saigon fell, and with it came the end of the Vietnam War. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

For some Americans, the end of the Vietnam War after Saigon fell 50 years ago is still deeply felt

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Vietnam War greatly impacted U.S. society from the passage of the War Powers Resolution that restricts the president’s ability to send troops into extended combat without congressional approval to the cementing of college campuses as centers of student activism. Millions of U.S. troops fought in Vietnam. For some Americans, the war that effectively ended with the fall of Saigon 50 years ago Wednesday on April 30, 1975, continues to shape their lives. They include: A woman dedicated to recovering her father’s remains after the Navy plane he piloted disappeared over Vietnam’s Gulf of Tonkin. A Vietnam veteran who was heckled like scores of other troops when he returned home and now assists fellow veterans in rural Alaska.