Top Asian News 8:08 am GMT

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — An acrimonious meeting of world leaders in Papua New Guinea failed to agree Sunday on a final communique, highlighting widening divisions between global powers the U.S. and China. The 21 nations at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Port Moresby struggled to bridge differences on the role of the World Trade Organization, which governs international trade. A statement would be issued by the meeting's chair, Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill, instead. "The entire world is worried" about tensions between China and the U.S., O'Neill told a mob of reporters that descended on him after he confirmed there was no communique from leaders.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Papua New Guinea were unable to agree on a final communique. Trudeau told reporters Sunday that the chair of the meeting, Papua New Guinea, will issue a statement instead. He says there were differences on trade issues among several countries including China and the U.S., which have been engaged in a tit-for-tat tariff war this year.

BANGKOK (AP) — After spending nine years and more than $300 million to prosecute leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million of their countrymen, a U.N.-assisted tribunal has ended up convicting only three people for the communist group's heinous actions. Was it worth it? These kinds of proceedings don't run cheap. The longer-running tribunals covering genocide in Rwanda and war crimes in the former Yugoslavia ran up costs of as much as $2 billion — though both tried many more people than were called to account in Cambodia for crimes committed during the 1975-79 regime of the late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.

SYDNEY (AP) — A swimmer in Australia has died of a heart attack after he was stung by a stingray. Police say the 42-year-old man went into cardiac arrest on Saturday at Lauderdale Beach, east of Hobart in Tasmania, after he suffered a puncture wound to his lower abdomen. He was swimming alone and close to shore when the attack happened. Friends pulled him from the water but failed in attempts to resuscitate him. The incident recalled the 2006 death of "The Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin while filming an underwater scene for a television series, when a stingray's stinging barbs pierced his heart.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Greenpeace says six of its activists boarded a tanker transporting Indonesian palm oil in the Gulf of Cadiz and were detained by its captain after unfurling "Save our Rainforest" and "Drop Dirty Palm Oil" banners. A ship tracking website shows the Stolt Tenacity, which Greenpeace says is carrying palm oil from Wilmar International linked to tropical forest destruction in Indonesia, was bound for Rotterdam. Greenpeace says the activists from Indonesia, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and the U.S. are being detained in a cabin on the ship. Palm oil is used in a huge array of consumer goods from makeup to snacks.

NEW DELHI (AP) — A powerful cyclone in southern India has killed at least 33 people, caused massive damage to homes and roads and drove tens of thousands of people into relief camps, officials said. India's navy assigned two ships and a helicopter for relief work as state authorities rushed drinking water, food and paramedics to nearly 82,000 people who took shelter in more than 400 state-run camps. They were evacuated from areas in the path of Cyclone Gaja, which struck six districts of Tamil Nadu state on Friday with heavy rains and winds that reached 90 kilometers (55 miles) per hour.

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AP) — The U.S., Japan, New Zealand and Australia said they'll bring electricity to 70 percent of Papua New Guinea's people by 2030, boosting the West's response to growing Chinese influence in the South Pacific. The four countries and Papua New Guinea signed the electricification agreement Sunday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting behind held in the capital Port Moresby. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said it shows how strongly the U.S. and its allies are committed to the region. "The commitment of the United States of America to this region of the world has never been stronger," he said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Interpol member-states are gathering in Dubai to select a new president after the agency's former leader was detained in China. Meng Hongwei— who was China's vice minister of public security while also leading Interpol — went missing while on a trip to China in September. It later emerged that the long-time Communist Party insider with decades of experience in China's security apparatus was detained as part of a wider anti-corruption sweep. Interpol's annual general assembly began on Sunday and runs until Wednesday, when member-states will vote on a new president for the coming year. Interpol member-states will also be deciding whether to accept Kosovo as a full member, which would allow officials there to file red notices of arrest for Serbian officials that Kosovo considers war criminals.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan authorities say a roadside bomb has killed two local officials in the eastern Logar province. Shah Poor Ahmadzai, spokesman for the provincial police chief, says that the acting district chief and intelligence director in the Baraki Barak district were killed in the blast late Saturday as they were heading toward the district headquarters. The Taliban claimed the attack. The insurgents carry out near-daily attacks targeting security forces and government officials, including by planting roadside bombs, which often kill civilians. The Taliban have seized control of nearly half the country in recent years.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — It's a question that nags at North Korea economy watchers: How has the country been able to maintain stable exchange rates — and avert hyper-inflation — despite intense sanctions, political tensions and a swelling trade imbalance? In a nutshell, North Korea buys a whole lot more than it sells to China and, because of the sanctions, is doing hardly any business with anyone else. Since no one in their right mind would accept the internationally worthless North Korean currency for any significant trade deal, North Korea must be burning up its foreign reserves. And when a country does that, prices generally start to rise — often dangerously so.

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