Advertisement

Top Asian News at 9:31 p.m. GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Facing fresh questions about his commitment to Asia, President Barack Obama will seek to convince Japan's leaders Thursday that he can deliver on his security and economic pledges, even as the crisis in Ukraine demands U.S. attention and resources elsewhere. The ominous standoff between Ukraine and Russia is threatening to overshadow Obama's four-country Asia swing that began Wednesday. He may decide during the trip whether to levy new economic sanctions on Moscow, a step that would signal the failure of an international agreement aimed at defusing the crisis.

TOKYO (AP) — President Barack Obama confirmed Wednesday that America's mutual security treaty with Japan applies to the islands at the center of a territorial dispute between China and Japan. "The policy of the United States is clear," he said in a written response to questions published in Japan's Yomiuri newspaper before his arrival in Tokyo at the start of a four-country Asia tour.

VARANASI, India (AP) — For tens of millions of Hindus, Varanasi is a place of pilgrimage. Crowded with ancient temples and shrines, its streets jammed with believers and tourists, this city on the banks of the holy Ganges River is where the devout believe they attain instant salvation. But in recent weeks Varanasi also has become the noisy battleground for India's most-watched contest in its national elections: Two of the country's most prominent politicians are facing off in a contest for the city's sole parliamentary seat.

JINDO, South Korea (AP) — As the 156th body was pulled from waters where the ferry Sewol sank a week ago, relatives of the nearly 150 still missing pressed the government Wednesday to finish the grim task of recovery soon. But the work was reaching a new, more complicated phase, with an official saying divers must now rip through cabin walls to retrieve more victims. Looming in the background is a sensitive issue: When to bring in the cranes and begin the salvage effort by cutting up and raising the submerged vessel. The government has warned that the work might eliminate air pockets that could be sustaining survivors, but for some relatives that is a long-lost hope.

ANSAN, South Korea (AP) — The altar of the memorial is a wall of white and yellow flowers and greens, surrounding photos of 47 students and teachers whose bodies have been identified after being recovered from the ferry Sewol. There is room for many, many more pictures. The temporary memorial opened Wednesday in Ansan, the city south of Seoul that has taken the brunt of the pain from the ferry sinking last week that left 302 people dead or missing.

MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — A colleague calls Capt. Lee Joon-seok the nicest person on the ship. With more than 40 years' experience at sea, Lee could speak with eloquence about the romance and danger of a life spent on ships. But his reputation now hinges on the moments last week when he delayed an evacuation and apparently abandoned the ferry Sewol as it went down, leaving more than 300 people missing or dead, most of them teenagers.

MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — A maritime professor who spoke with the third mate who was steering the South Korean ferry before it sank said Wednesday that he suspects there was a problem with the steering gear. Professor Kim Woo-Sook of Mokpo National Maritime University is a former teacher of the third mate, Park Han-gyeol. She was arrested Saturday in connection with the accident, which left 302 people dead or missing.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's military commander said critics who called him out for wearing an especially luxurious watch should be quiet because the timepiece is actually a cheap Chinese fake. A Singapore website flagged a picture of the general and his watch this week, saying it was from the Richard Mille brand's Filipe Massa collection and worth more than $100,000. The report caused a social media storm in a country where the average income is about $8.50 a day.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's powerful army has asked a government regulator to shut down a leading private news channel over what the military calls "false" reports that the country's intelligence service shot one of its top anchors. Press freedom advocates on Wednesday decried the move against Geo News TV, whose popular talk show host Hamid Mir suffered multiple gunshot in the attack last Saturday.

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Dozens of Sherpa guides packed up their tents and left Mount Everest's base camp Wednesday, after the deaths of 16 of their colleagues in an avalanche exposed an undercurrent of resentment by Sherpas over their pay, treatment and benefits. With the entire climbing season increasingly thrown into doubt, the government quickly announced that top tourism officials would fly to base camp Thursday to negotiate with the Sherpas and encourage them to return to work.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Climbing to the roof of the world is becoming less predictable and possibly more dangerous, scientists say, as climate change brings warmer temperatures that may eat through the ice and snow on Mount Everest. Nepal was left reeling when a sudden ice avalanche slammed down onto a group of Sherpa guides on Friday and killed 16 in the deadliest single disaster on Everest. While it is impossible to link any single event to long-term changes in the global climate, scientists say the future will likely hold more such dangers in high-altitude regions.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Officials in Afghanistan say five police officers have been killed in a Taliban attack on a checkpoint in the country's volatile south. A spokesman for the Kandahar provincial police, Zia Durani, said Wednesday that Taliban insurgents raided the police post late the previous evening in Ghorak district. He did not elaborate.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Unidentified material that washed ashore in southwestern Australia and is being examined for any link to the lost Malaysian plane is unlikely to have come from the jet, an official said Wednesday. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau was scrutinizing photos of the object, which washed ashore 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of Augusta in Western Australia state. But Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the safety bureau, said an initial analysis of the material — which appeared to be sheet metal with rivets — suggested it was not from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

TOKYO (AP) — Justin Bieber apologized Wednesday to those he offended by visiting a Japanese war shrine, saying he thought it was a beautiful site and only a place of prayer. The Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo enshrines 2.5 million war dead, including Japan's 14 convicted war criminals, and operates a war museum that defends Japan's wartime aggression. It is a flashpoint between Japan and its neighbors that see the shrine as distinct from other Shinto-style establishments mainly honoring gods of nature. China and South Korea in particular see Yasukuni as a symbol of Japan's past militarism and consider Japanese officials' visits there as a lack of understanding or remorse over wartime history.

BANGKOK (AP) — A pro-government activist who opposed a law punishing critics of Thailand's monarchy was fatally shot Wednesday in the capital, police said. The killing came as tensions continue over the political fate of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose foes are trying to force her from office to make way for an appointed government to implement reforms.