Top Asian News 12:26 a.m. GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Former cricket star Imran Khan declared victory Thursday in Pakistan's parliamentary election and vowed to run the country "as it has never before been run" by fighting corruption, seeking regional cooperation and forging a new relationship with the U.S. that was not "one-sided." TV stations reported Khan and his Tehreek-e-Insaf party, or PTI, maintained a commanding lead from Wednesday's balloting. But his leading rival, Shahbaz Sharif, rejected the outcome, citing allegations of vote-rigging. Pakistan's election commission struggled with technical problems and had to revert to a manual count, delaying the announcement of final results until Friday. That left unclear whether the PTI will have a simple majority in the National Assembly or have to form a coalition government.

Moderate voices in Pakistan seem to have prevailed after none of the 265 candidates fielded in general elections by the outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba won a seat in parliament. That includes the son of co-founder and U.S.-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed, who has a $10 million U.S.-imposed bounty on his head. The candidates campaigned under the little known Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek party because Lashkar-e-Taiba is banned, although it operates under its new Jamaat ud Dawa name. Rights groups and minorities in Pakistan expressed worries ahead of voting Wednesday about the unprecedented number of radical religious groups taking part in the election included banned outfits, like Saeed's, as well as viciously anti-Shiite groups who vowed while campaigning to rid Pakistan of minority Shiites.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — As former cricket star Imran Khan claimed victory Thursday in Pakistan's parliamentary election, he has promised to fight corruption and help millions of impoverished citizens. He says he also wants good relations with his neighbors and the United States, but also has leveled criticism against them. Once a celebrity playboy, Khan now embraces conservative Islamic stands and keeps company with radical clerics who often espouse a philosophy that frightens Pakistan's minorities. He calls for an Islamic welfare state that provides progress and education for the poor. Khan's stands on some key issues: ON MILITARY DOMINANCE: Pakistan's powerful military establishment has directly or indirectly ruled the country for most of its seven decades of existence.

American companies were put on notice this week by the Trump administration that they could face steep fines, or even criminal charges, if their business involves North Korean workers anywhere in their supply chain. A State Department advisory, published online, also provided the most detailed and comprehensive public listing to date of more than 40 countries and about a dozen industries where North Koreans were employed in 2017 and 2018, in violation of United Nations sanctions. The workers are typically paid a fraction of their salaries, while the rest, as much as 70 percent, is taken by North Korea's government.

BEIJING (AP) — A man exploded a small homemade bomb outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Thursday, injuring only himself, according to police and an embassy spokesperson. Photos on social media showed a large amount of smoke and police vehicles surrounding the embassy shortly after the incident. Apart from a heightened security presence, the scene outside appeared to be normal by early afternoon. The Beijing Police Department posted a statement on its website identifying the suspect only by his surname, Jiang, and said he was 26 years old and a native of Tongliao city in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has signed legislation creating a new Muslim autonomous region aimed at settling nearly half a century of Muslim unrest in the south, where troops crushed an attempt last year by Islamic State group-linked militants to turn a city into a stronghold. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque and another key aide, Bong Go, told reporters without elaborating late Thursday that Duterte signed the bill creating the region, to be called Bangsamoro. The autonomy deal, which has been negotiated for more than two decades under four presidents, was ratified earlier this week by both chambers of Congress.

TOKYO (AP) — The last six members of a Japanese doomsday cult who remained on death row were executed Thursday for a series of crimes in the 1990s including a sarin gas attack on Tokyo subways that killed 13 people. Thirteen members of the group had received death sentences. The first seven, including cult leader Shoko Asahara, were hanged about three weeks ago. Japan has never executed so many people in one month, Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa said. She called their crimes unprecedentedly heinous and said they should never be repeated. The cult, which envisioned overthrowing the government, amassed an arsenal of chemical, biological and conventional weapons in anticipation of an apocalyptic showdown.

TOKYO (AP) — Thirteen members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult were hanged this month for crimes committed in the 1990s, culminating in sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway that killed 13 people and sickened thousands. Some details about the condemned cult members: EXECUTED THURSDAY FOR THE SUBWAY ATTACK: — MASATO YOKOYAMA, 55, carried sarin in a plastic bag into the Marunouchi subway line, punctured the bag and fled. His actions seriously injured about 200 people among the 6,000 hurt by the five simultaneous attacks carried out during the morning rush hour on March 20, 1995. Yokoyama hardly spoke throughout the trial.

NEW DELHI (AP) — When a mob of Hindu villagers thrashed a Muslim cattle trader last week in western India, police rushed to the scene. First, they took his two cows to an animal shed, then kept him for about three hours in the police station. When they finally took 28-year-old Rakbar Khan to the nearest hospital around 4 a.m. Saturday, doctors said he was dead. A series of mob attacks on minority groups involved in cattle trade have been on the rise since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party swept elections in 2014. The opposition raised the issue repeatedly in Parliament this week, criticizing the government for its inability to protect traders.

SANAMXAY, Laos (AP) — Authorities in Laos ordered closer monitoring of hydroelectric facilities as they investigate why a dam in the country's southeast collapsed earlier this week, killing at least 27 people and leaving 131 missing. Floodwaters that rose to rooftops were slowly receding Thursday as evacuees trickled back to villages inundated with mud. Farmer Kongvilay and his wife Thongla Inthavong returned after spending two nights at a shelter to find their wooden stilt house had been washed 50 meters (160 feet) away into their rice field. The family left the house in a rush as the water level climbed to 2 meters (6 ½ feet) in just one hour after the dam broke late Monday.