Top Asian News at 7:00 p.m. GMT

07/08/2014

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — They were leaders of Cambodia's infamous Khmer Rouge, the fanatical communist movement behind a 1970s reign of terror that transformed this entire Southeast Asian nation into a ruthless slave state — a place where cities were emptied of their inhabitants, religion and schools were banned, and anyone deemed a threat was executed. When the nightmare ended, in 1979, close to 2 million people were dead — a quarter of Cambodia's population at the time.

BANGKOK (AP) — For thousands of well-off childless couples, the dream of having a baby is often realized in places like Thailand and India. Ready to help them are young women who become paid surrogates, their wombs offered up as vessels that can safely carry the babies until they are born. Most of the time, it's a bargain that suits both parties — unless something goes wrong.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A U.N.-assisted tribunal on Thursday sentenced two top leaders of Cambodia's former Khmer Rouge regime to life in prison for crimes against humanity during their late 1970s reign of terror that left as many as 2 million people dead. The case — involving the forced relocations of people and a mass execution — covered just a sliver of the offenses that led to the deaths of so many of their countrymen through starvation, medical neglect, overwork and execution.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Obama administration on Thursday stepped up efforts to press Afghanistan's two feuding presidential candidates to end their dispute over June elections, accept the results of an ongoing audit of all ballots and form a national unity government by early September. On an unannounced visit to Kabul, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made personal appeals to both candidates — former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai — to understand the urgency of finding a resolution before the upcoming NATO summit in Wales on September 4, according to officials traveling with Kerry. At that summit, NATO leaders are hoping to make decisions about their nations' roles in Afghanistan after the end of the year, when most combat troops will be withdrawn.

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand pushed to ban commercial surrogacy Thursday as a case involving nine surrogate babies allegedly with the same Japanese father emerged just days after a furor over the alleged abandonment of a surrogate-born baby with Down syndrome. The discovery of the nine babies being cared for by nannies in a Bangkok condominium followed accusations by a Thai surrogate that an Australian couple had left the boy with Down syndrome to be raised by her, while taking home his healthy twin sister. The scandal has focused global attention on the largely unregulated industry in Thailand, which authorities say became a go-to destination for commercial surrogacy after well-off countries tightened their own laws.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis' upcoming trip to South Korea will provide him with an unusual opportunity to speak directly to the Chinese leadership: His plane is due to fly through Chinese airspace, and Vatican protocol calls for the pope to send greetings to leaders of all the countries he flies over. When St. John Paul II last visited South Korea in 1989, China refused to let his plane fly overhead. Instead, the Alitalia charter flew via Russian airspace, providing John Paul with a first-ever opportunity to send radio greetings to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. He said he hoped to soon visit Moscow.
TOKYO (AP) — A new generation of Japanese architects believes the world has fallen out of love with the 20th century steel and concrete skyscraper. They are pushing a human-friendly alternative that some say has roots in the elegant simplicity of the traditional Japanese tea house. Instead of pursuing monuments that cry out with a message of economic power, these Pritzker Prize-winning architects are scoring success with a uniquely Japanese reinterpretation of the past.

BEIJING (AP) — One of China's best-known rights lawyers and a bold government critic whose accounts of torture drew international criticism of Beijing was released from prison Thursday but appeared to be under close supervision by the authorities. Attorney Gao Zhisheng left a prison in the remote far-western county of Shaya with his brother who had traveled there to fetch him, according to Beijing activist and friend Hu Jia, who spoke to Gao's brother by phone.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is urging China to allow a dissident lawyer who was freed from prison Thursday to come to the United States to be reunited with his family if he so chooses. Spokeswoman Marie Harf welcomed Gao Zhisheng release upon completion of his sentence, and urged China to free all its remaining prisoners of conscience.

LONGTOUSHAN, China (AP) — Minutes after a deadly earthquake shook western China, disaster teams were on the move. Within hours, food, tents, and even a 4G cellphone network were in place, showing how a fast-developing China can bring its plentiful experience and enormous resources to bear in handling natural disasters. Yet while the military is leading the relief operation — seizing on the opportunity to strut its considerable stuff and show its commitment to the public good — growing numbers of volunteers from among students, social groups and private businesses are a prominent element of the effort, even if they sometimes get underfoot.

BEIJING (AP) — China's government tightened control over popular instant messaging services Thursday after telling South Korea that access to some foreign services was blocked because they were used to exchange terrorism-related information. The government announced that only established media companies will be allowed to release political and social news. That would curtail the growing use of instant messaging services by journalists and scholars to distribute independent news reports and commentary.
In this aerial photo by Biswaranjan Rout, farmers plant rice saplings in their fields after rains fell in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, in India's eastern state of Orissa. The monsoon season has started slowly, with a rainfall deficiency of 23 percent for June and July, but the India Meteorological Department forecasts improvement in August and September. The rains that come each monsoon season are vital for the largely agrarian economies of South Asia, but too much can cause deadly flooding and decrease food production. ___

BEIJING (AP) — The death toll from a powerful earthquake that hit southern China four days ago rose to 615 on Thursday, with 114 other people missing, China's official news agency reported. A total of 3,143 people were known to have been injured in Sunday's 6.1-magnitude quake in a mountainous farming region of Yunnan province, Xinhua News Agency said, citing local authorities.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's prime minister said Thursday that those responsible for shooting down the Malaysian airliner over Ukraine will face justice, as his nation marked a day of mourning for the 38 Australian citizens and residents who died in the crash. The commemorations were centered on St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne, capital of Victoria state where 16 of the victims lived.

Chung Eun-yong, an ex-policeman whose half-century quest for justice for his two slain children led the U.S. Army in 2001 to acknowledge the Korean War refugee massacre at No Gun Ri, has died, the No Gun Ri International Peace Foundation reported. He was 91. Chung, who died on Aug. 1, had been in failing health in recent years.