Top Asian News 4:51 a.m. GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A North Korean chemist deported from Malaysia accused police of threatening to kill his family unless he confessed to the assassination of the half-brother of North Korea's leader, calling it a plot to tarnish his country's honor. Ri Jong Chol spoke to reporters in Beijing early Saturday while on his way to Pyongyang. Malaysian authorities have said there's insufficient evidence to charge Ri over Kim Jong Nam's killing at Kuala Lumpur's airport on Feb. 13. Ri was detained four days after the attack but police never said what they believed his role was. Two women — one Indonesian, one Vietnamese — have been charged with murder after police said they smeared Kim's face with VX, a banned nerve agent considered a weapon of mass destruction.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ An outcast from North Korea's ruling family was killed with a weapon believed to belong to North Korea's chemical arsenal and several North Koreans are wanted for questioning. But with Malaysia deporting the only North Korean it detained in the airport assassination of Kim Jong Nam, many in South Korea see the secretive, dictatorial regime in Pyongyang escaping punishment for another mysterious killing. The government in Seoul and human rights groups say Pyongyang has for decades acted to silence its perceived enemies, sending assassins after South Korean government officials, North Korean defectors and anti-Pyongyang activists.

BEIJING (AP) — China will raise its defense budget by about 7 percent this year, a government spokeswoman said Saturday, continuing a trend of lowered growth amid a slowing economy. Total defense spending would account for about 1.3 percent of projected gross domestic project in 2017, said Fu Ying, spokeswoman for the legislature. She was speaking at a news conference on the eve of the opening of the body's annual session. The precise figure will be provided by Premier Li Keqiang in his address to the National People's Congress on Sunday morning. Fu reiterated China's contention that its military was purely for defense and constituted a force for stability in Asia.

BEIJING (AP) — China is warning of "severe damage" to relations with India and increased regional instability if exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama proceeds with a visit to a disputed area along their still-unsettled border. Beijing has expressed its concerns to New Delhi on numerous occasions and urged India to "avoid offering a state for the Dalai Lama to carry out anti-China separatist activities," Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily briefing Friday. "The invitation to the Dalai Lama by the Indian side to the contested area between China and India will inflict severe damage on the China-India relationship and peace and stability in the China-India border area," Geng said.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesians are by turns shocked and bemused by Donald Trump's volatile presidency, but many in the world's most populous Muslim nation say his personality and actions — including his controversial travel ban — haven't changed their positive view of the United States. There is a reservoir of goodwill in Indonesia toward the U.S., which Indonesians often see as a beacon for values they hope will flourish in their own country. Perceptions were particularly positive during Barack Obama's administration because of Obama's personal links to Indonesia and his efforts to heal divisions with the Muslim world. The U.S.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — About 1,300 suspected militants were arrested in a sweep of hideouts in Pakistan's largest province of Punjab, police said Friday. The roughly two-week operation comes despite the provincial law minister's defense of some groups designated as terrorist organizations and banned by Pakistan but resurrected under new names. Rana Sanaullah also embraced some sectarian leaders whose groups have been accused of fomenting violence against minority Islamic sects, raising questions about his commitment to ridding Punjab of militants. Two police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the operations, said another 36 militants died in shootouts with police and in paramilitary operations since the sweep began last month.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Taliban official said Friday that a suspected U.S. drone strike the previous day killed a top commander of the militant Haqqani network — the man who in 2014 accompanied U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl when he was handed over to U.S. authorities. The Taliban official identified the man as Qari Abdullah, saying he died in the "area of Khost." Pakistani intelligence officials had earlier said a suspected U.S. strike hit in Pakistan's lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan's Khost, a Haqqani stronghold, killing two militants. The Taliban official wouldn't confirm it was the same strike. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to talk to reporters.

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing's escalating condemnation of South Korea over a U.S. anti-missile system has triggered protests against a popular retail giant and a reported ban on Chinese tour groups visiting the country, apparent signs that Beijing plans to make Seoul pay an economic price over a move that China says threatens its security. Protests have sprung up in the last few days against Lotte Mart, a South Korean hypermarket chain that sells food, clothing, toys and electronics. Its parent company, Lotte Group, agreed Monday to provide a golf course to the government to site the system. The protests outside Lotte stores and boycotts of its products follow weeks of condemnation of the South Korean government and warnings against Lotte's move by government officials and state media.

BEIJING (AP) — A top Chinese official called for more contacts between politicians in mainland China and Taiwan despite Beijing's ongoing refusal to engage with the self-governing island's president. The head of China's legislative advisory body, Yu Zhengsheng, said Friday that China continues its firm opposition to Taiwan's formal independence and insistence that its leaders accept that the self-governing island is part of China. Yu said members of his body should increase contacts with elected officials in Taiwan and with ordinary people. "Plant deeply the public opinion foundation for peaceful development between the sides," Yu said. Yu made the remarks in an address at the opening of the annual session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which advises the rubberstamp parliament, whose annual session begins Sunday.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Police in Bangladesh's capital have arrested the spiritual leader of a banned militant group that is responsible for a series of attacks in the South Asian country, an official said Friday. Maulana Abul Kashem was arrested Thursday night, said Monirul Islam, chief of the police Counterterrorism and Transnational Crimes Unit. Kashem was a teacher at an Islamic school in northern Bangladesh and was acting as chief of a faction of the Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, or JMB, Islam said. Police say Kashem played a key role in a July 2016 attack in which 17 foreigners were killed when five militants stormed a restaurant in Dhaka's diplomatic zone.