Top Asian News 4:53 a.m. GMT

Pakistan election results are delayed, but wins are reported for independents backed by Khan’s party

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — The results of Pakistan’s elections were delayed Friday a day after the vote that was marred by sporadic violence, a mobile phone service shutdown and the sidelining of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his party. Local media reported victories by independents backed by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party after the imprisoned Khan was disqualified from contesting the vote because of criminal convictions he contends were politically motivated. PTI candidates ran as independents after the Supreme Court and Election Commission said they couldn’t use the party symbol — a cricket bat. In Pakistan, parties use symbols to help illiterate voters find them on the ballots.

North Korea’s Kim says he has no desire for talks and repeats a threat to destroy South if provoked

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un restated he has no desire for diplomacy with South Korea and that the North would annihilate its rival if provoked, state media said Friday, in the latest of his belligerent statements that are raising tensions in the region. During a visit to North Korea’s Defense Ministry on Thursday, Kim said his recent moves to cut ties with South Korea allow his military to take on a more aggressive posture “by securing lawfulness to strike and destroy (the South) whenever triggered.” Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in recent months, with Kim elevating his weapons demonstrations and threats and the United States, South Korea and Japan strengthening their combined military exercises in response.

Indonesian presidential vote highlights tradeoffs between fast growth and a healthy environment

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A presidential election in Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, is highlighting choices to be made as the country seeks to profit from its rich reserves of nickel and other resources that are vital to the global transition away from fossil fuels. President Joko Widodo capitalized on Indonesia’s abundant nickel, coal, oil and gas reserves as he led Southeast Asia’s biggest economy through a decade of rapid growth and modernization that vastly expanded the country’s networks of roads and railways. Increasingly, voters are demanding that the men vying to succeed him address the tradeoffs between fast growth and a healthy environment in the world’s fourth most populated country.

Indonesian presidential hopefuls are trying social media, K-pop to win young voters. Will it work?

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Seventeen-year-old Naima Khairiya Ismah started being bombarded by social media posts from candidates for Indonesia’s presidential election on before she’d even given voting any thought. As three candidates vie to replace popular but term-limited President Joko Widodo in an election later this month, they’ve been aggressively seeking millennials and Gen Z voters. People between the minimum voting age of 17 and the age of 43 make up about 55% of the country’s 205 million eligible voters. Candidates are reaching out through the apps young voters use, the K-pop music many love, and even video gaming events. “As young people, we can’t meet the candidates in person,” said first-time voter Ismah, chatting after class outside her Jakarta high school.

With ‘Eternity in a Moment,’ Japanese artist Mika Ninagawa portrays everyday wonders

TOKYO (AP) — Flowers blossoming like pink chiffon, luscious berries and fluttering goldfish make for the delicate but defiant beauty that’s signature Mika Ninagawa. With “Eternity in a Moment,” the Japanese photographer and filmmaker has created an immersive installation where a visitor walks through rooms with various motifs. One is filled with flowers sprouting everywhere like a Garden of Eden gone berserk. Other rooms have circles of light popping up in darkness, or rows of fluffy cushions where people take in imagery projected on the ceiling. It’s a whimsical bombardment of the senses. “With the world going through all these momentous changes, we’ve experienced how humble, yet precious, even miraculous, this reality is in the everyday, so fragile like sand escaping through our fingers,” Ninagawa told The Associated Press at her home office in Tokyo.

China names a new stock regulator and reports new developer financing in a bid to soothe markets

BANGKOK (AP) — Chinese shares rose Thursday as investors appeared to welcome Beijing’s choice of an industry veteran to head its securities watchdog, in its latest effort to boost confidence in ailing markets. Wu Qing, a former chair of the Shanghai Stock Exchange with a reputation for being tough on market misbehavior, was named chairman and Communist Party chief of the China Securities Regulatory Commission late Wednesday. He replaced Yi Huiman, who presided over months of turmoil as share markets slumped, losing trillions of dollars of value. The official Xinhua News Agency gave no reason for Yi’s departure. Earlier this week, the CSRC said that it was cracking down on insider trading, market manipulation and other crimes and would protect small investors.

Death toll in landslide-hit Philippine mountain village rises to 11 with more than 100 missing

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Rescuers dug out more bodies from a landslide-hit southern Philippine village on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 11 as the number of missing rose to 110, officials said. At least 31 residents survived with injuries when the landslide hit the gold-mining mountain village of Masara in Davao de Oro province on Tuesday night, officials said. Army troops, police and volunteers halted their search for the missing Thursday afternoon due to fears of more landslides and will begin a “retrieval operation” on Friday, Davao de Oro provincial spokesperson Edward Macapili said by telephone. “The idea that it will be hard to find more survivors among the missing has been acknowledged,” Macapili said.

The ruined Fukushima nuclear plant leaked radioactive water, but none escaped the facility

TOKYO (AP) — Highly radioactive water leaked from a treatment machine at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but no one was injured and radiation monitoring shows no impact to the outside environment, the utility operator said Thursday. A plant worker found the leak Wednesday morning during valve checks at a SARRY treatment machine designed to mainly remove cesium and strontium from the contaminated water, the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings said. The machine has been idled for maintenance work. An estimated 5.5 metric tons (6 tons) of radioactive water — enough to fill two ordinary backyard swimming pools — leaked out through an air vent, leaving a pool of water on an iron plate outside and seeping into the soil around it, TEPCO said, but no radioactive water escaped the compound.

AP PHOTOS: Lunar New Year in the Philippines draws crowds to one of the world’s oldest Chinatowns

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Crowds are flocking to Chinatown in the Philippine capital to usher in the Year of the Wood Dragon and experience lively traditional dances on lantern-lit streets with food, lucky charms and prayers for good fortune. Still recovering from the pandemic years and struggling amid global economic concerns, Chinese restaurants and shops in the area brimmed with festive lights and decor ahead of the Lunar New Year on Saturday, hoping to cash in on an influx of tourists. Lamp posts in Manila’s riverside Binondo commercial district, said to be one of the oldest Chinatowns in the world, feature dragon decor with tails curled around the poles.

340 Myanmar troops flee into Bangladesh during fighting with armed ethnic group

NEW DELHI (AP) — About 340 members of Myanmar’s Border Guard Police and soldiers have fled into Bangladesh during fighting with an ethnic minority army, Bangladesh’s foreign minister said Thursday. Hasan Mahmud said 340 security personnel had entered Bangladesh by Wednesday. He said Bangladesh is having discussions with Myanmar’s government about the issue and that it is willing to take them back. Mahmud made the comments while on a visit to India, his first since becoming foreign minister last month. Earlier this week, Bangladesh’s border agency said some Myanmar troops had entered in recent days during fighting with the Arakan Army in Myanmar’s Rakhine state bordering Bangladesh.