Top Asian News 4:49 a.m. GMT

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's ambassador to North Korea has been recalled from Pyongyang amid rising tensions between the countries over the death in Kuala Lumpur of an estranged scion of North Korea's ruling family. The Malaysian foreign ministry said in a Monday statement that it had recalled its ambassador "for consultations" and had summoned Kang Chol, North Korea's ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, "to seek an explanation on the accusations he made against the Government of Malaysia." Kang said Malaysia may be "trying to conceal something" and that the autopsy on Kim Jong Nam was carried out "unilaterally and excluding our attendance." Kim Jong Nam is the half brother of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A paranoid dictator's estranged brother. Two young female assassins. A crowded international airport. And a mysterious poison that kills within hours. It's the perfect recipe for a thrilling cloak-and-dagger spy novel. Except some — or possibly even all — of this tale could be true in the apparent assassination of Kim Jong Nam, the older half brother of reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. And just like similar intriguing cases from the past, the public is hanging on to every detail because there's just something about murder by poison that captivates. "A gun announces its mischief; poison can sneak in with a sip of champagne," said Robert Thompson, a pop culture expert at Syracuse University.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The apparent assassination of the North Korean leader's estranged half-brother is strengthening bipartisan calls for the U.S. to re-list North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, a designation lifted nine years ago. Doing so would increase the country's isolation, while potentially complicating any future diplomacy to halt its nuclear and missile programs. The U.S. kept North Korea on its terrorism blacklist for two decades after the 1987 bombing of a South Korean airliner killed 115 people. But President George W. Bush lifted the designation in 2008 to smooth the way for aid-for-disarmament negotiations. The concession proved of little value as the talks collapsed soon after and have yet to resume.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Plug your noses and ready your "Juche fertilizer." It's time to prep the frozen fields in North Korea. North Korea relies on its farmers to squeeze absolutely all they can out of every harvest. It's a tall order in a country with 25 million mouths to feed that is mostly mountains, hamstrung by international trade sanctions and, beyond a handful of showcase cooperatives, hard-pressed to modernize its agricultural sector. Without doubt, life as a farmer in North Korea is harsh. But there are some signs of change in how North Korea is treating its fields and its farmers.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A local government official says an avalanche has killed seven people in northern Pakistan. Taimour Khan, an official with the provincial disaster management department, says another eight people were injured. Those people have been retrieved from a building buried by the avalanche Sunday near Lowari Tunnel in Upper Dir. Khan says there could be additional victims under the debris. Khan says rescue work is underway to open the blocked road and the tunnel, which connects northwest Pakistan to northern mountain regions.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A retired Philippine police officer says President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was a city mayor, ordered and paid him and other members of a so-called liquidation squad to kill criminals and opponents, including a kidnapping suspect and his entire family and a critical radio commentator. Human rights lawyers who presented Arthur Lascanas at a news conference Monday said his allegations could be grounds for impeaching Duterte. There was no immediate comment from Duterte or his office. Lascanas comments come after he denied at a Senate hearing last year that he was involved in any extra-judicial killings in southern Davao city.

BANGKOK (AP) — A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons in waters crucial for global commerce and rich in fish and potential oil and gas reserves: ___ EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a weekly look at the latest developments in the South China Sea, home to several territorial conflicts that have raised tensions in the region. ___ U.S. REPORTEDLY PLANNING FRESH FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION MISSION The U.S. Navy is planning a fresh freedom of navigation operation around China's man-made islands, the first under President Donald Trump, the Navy Times reported, citing defense officials.

Kim Jong Nam, the estranged, exiled half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, fell ill at a Malaysian airport, complained of being sprayed with some sort of chemical and died last week, sparking an international mystery right out of a spy novel. Many experts pointed the finger at North Korea, and South Korea's spy agency, which has consistently described Kim Jong Un as an irrational and unstable dictator, argued that Kim killed a non-threatening sibling out of "paranoia." In other images from the Asia-Pacific region last week, after months of campaigning dominated by religious and racial tensions, none of the three candidates vying to run Muslim-majority Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, secured the 50 percent needed for an outright win, setting the stage for a runoff election in April.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A New Zealand judge on Monday upheld an earlier court ruling that flamboyant internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom and three of his colleagues can be extradited to the U.S. to face criminal charges. The decision comes five years after U.S. authorities shut down Dotcom's file-sharing website Megaupload and filed charges of conspiracy, racketeering and money laundering against the men. If found guilty, they could face decades in prison. Dotcom, who lives in New Zealand, has been fighting extradition in a case which has moved with glacial slowness at times. And Monday's decision won't be the last, with the case likely to be appealed up to New Zealand's Supreme Court, a process that could take another year or two.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan's foreign ministry has protested Spain's decision to deport more than 200 Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects to China, in the latest instance of a government moving to deport citizens of the self-governing island to its rival. Scores of Taiwanese have been arrested around the world in the past year in connection with vast telecoms fraud scams targeting Chinese nationals. Countries including Malaysia, Cambodia and Kenya have deported Taiwanese suspects to China, in deference to Beijing which views Taiwan as its own territory without sovereign legal status and has long tried to diplomatically isolate it. The Taiwanese ministry said in a statement Sunday that it "deeply regrets" a decision by the Spanish government to agree to a request by Beijing to extradite 269 Taiwanese and Chinese nationals arrested in December in Spain.