Top Asian News 4:52 a.m. GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The women suspected of fatally poisoning a scion of North Korea's ruling family were trained to coat their hands with toxic chemicals then wipe them on his face, police said Wednesday, announcing they were now seeking a North Korean diplomat in connection with the attack. Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters that authorities are searching for two new North Korean suspects, including the second secretary of North Korea's embassy in Kuala Lumpur and an employee of North Korea's state-owned airline Air Koryo. "We hope that the Korean embassy will cooperate with us, allow us to interview them and interview them quickly," he said.

Malaysia is denying rumors that the son of the slain half brother of North Korea's leader is in the country. The victim, Kim Jong Nam, had three children and had lived in Macau. His son had been rumored to have arrived in Kuala Lumpur this week on a flight from Macau, but Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters Wednesday that was untrue. Khalid says investigators are seeking Kim's relatives to provide a DNA sample and identify the body, but none has stepped forward. He identified Kim as Kim Chol, the name on the passport the victim was carrying, though Malaysian officials have confirmed that he is the older half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

BEIJING (AP) — The investigation into the death of the exiled half-brother of North Korea's ruler is being conducted in an impartial manner, Malaysia's ambassador to Pyongyang said Tuesday, rejecting accusations from the North that the probe was politically tinged. Mohamad Nizan Mohamad spoke in China's capital, Beijing, while in transit to Malaysia to where he had been recalled following the death last week in the Southeast Asian nation of Kim Jong Nam. Kim appeared to have been poisoned at Kuala Lumpur's international airport and police have so far arrested four people carrying identity documents from North Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

HONG KONG (AP) — A former leader of Hong Kong was sentenced Wednesday to 20 months in prison for misconduct after failing to disclose plans to rent a luxury apartment for his retirement from a businessman applying for a broadcasting license. It was a stunning downfall for Donald Tsang, 72, who served as Hong Kong's leader, or chief executive, from 2005 to 2012. He becomes the highest-ranking current or former official sent to prison for wrongdoing in the Asian financial hub, which prides itself on a reputation for clean governance. "Never in my judicial career have I seen a man fallen from such a height," Justice Andrew Chan said as he handed down the sentence in Hong Kong's High Court.

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga (AP) — The South Pacific island kingdom of Tonga is mourning the death of its queen mother, who dedicated her time to helping the elderly and those with disabilities. Halaevalu Mata'aho died Sunday at the age of 90 in Auckland, New Zealand, after traveling there for health reasons. The cause of her death has not been released by her family. Her funeral procession will be held in Tonga on Feb. 28, when most people in the country of just over 100,000 are expected to turn out wearing black. She will be particularly missed by the Alonga Center and at the Tonga Red Cross, where leaders say she worked tirelessly.

PARIS (AP) — Amnesty International says "toxic" fear-mongering by anti-establishment politicians, among them President Donald Trump and the leaders of Turkey, Hungary and the Philippines, is contributing to a global pushback against human rights. Releasing its 408-page annual report on rights abuses around the world Wednesday, the watchdog group described 2016 as "the year when the cynical use of 'us vs. them' narratives of blame, hate and fear took on a global prominence to a level not seen since the 1930s," when Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany. Amnesty named Trump, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte among leaders it said are "wielding a toxic agenda that hounds, scapegoats and dehumanizes entire groups of people." "Poisonous" rhetoric employed by Trump in his election campaign exemplified "the global trend of angrier and more divisive politics," Amnesty said.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A group of suicide bombers with grenades and assault rifles struck outside a courthouse in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing six people in an attack claimed by a Taliban splinter group. The attack was the latest in a wave of militant assaults across the troubled country that has killed over 100 people since last week. The brazen suicide bombings have been claimed by mutiple Islamic militant groups. In Tuesday's attack, three attackers hit the courthouse in the town of Tangi in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan. The victims included a lawyer, a child and four police officers, according to Ijaz Khan, a senior police officer.

DALLAS (AP) — A pilot repeatedly yelled out "Mayday" but did not say what the emergency was before his light plane crashed into the roof of an Australian shopping mall, killing himself and four American tourists, an accident investigator said Wednesday. Police blamed "catastrophic engine failure" when a twin-engine Beechcraft B200 Super King Air crashed into the Direct Factory Outlet mall in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon on Tuesday moments after takeoff from a nearby runway. But Australian Transport Safety Bureau chief commissioner Greg Hood said modern twin-engine aircraft are designed to continue flying if an engine failed. "My understanding is he only used the word 'Mayday' a number of times," Hood told reporters, referring to radio communication from pilot Max Quartermain to air traffic controllers.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Torrential rains in the Indonesian capital have overwhelmed drains and flooded roads and thousands of homes. The disaster mitigation agency said Tuesday that more than 50 areas are flooded in Jakarta, with waters up to 1.5 meters (5 feet) high in East Jakarta. It said the city's drains couldn't accommodate the runoff and rivers also overflowed. Local media reported that a worker for the city government died and one person drowned in Bekasi, a Jakarta satellite city. Floods in 2013 killed more than two dozen people in Jakarta and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

BORACAY, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines' top diplomat said Tuesday it remains to be seen whether China will cooperate fully in ongoing efforts to craft a legally binding pact designed to prevent aggressive behavior in the disputed South China Sea. Despite the likelihood of tough negotiations ahead, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. expressed confidence that the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China could at least complete a framework for such a pact, called a code of conduct, as early as June. Efforts to forge such a regional nonaggression pact have dragged on for years without any concrete sign of when it might be completed.