Top Asian News 3:35 a.m. GMT

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan is responding to China's arms buildup by developing missiles and interceptors of its own that could reduce Beijing's military advantage over the self-ruled island, defense experts say. Since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, Taiwan has deployed one set of missiles, perfected another and sped production of a third, the analysts say, in the latest sign of how it's handling a Chinese military threat that is raising the chances of an armed confrontation. Chinese President Xi Jinping has taken a hard line against advocates of independence for the self-governed island democracy and has sent warships, bombers and fighter planes on training missions circling the island in a show of strength.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States intensified its sanctions against Myanmar on Friday, blacklisting four commanders and two units of security forces for their alleged role in violent campaigns against Rohingya Muslims and other ethnic minorities. Myanmar security forces have engaged in ethnic cleansing, massacres, sexual assault, extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses, said Sigal Mandelker, Treasury Department undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. "Treasury is sanctioning units and leaders overseeing this horrific behavior as part of a broader U.S. government strategy to hold accountable those responsible for such wide-scale human suffering." The Trump administration earlier imposed sanctions on the chief of Myanmar's western military command, but has faced pressure from human rights groups and lawmakers to impose more sanctions on those involved in a crackdown that began in August 2017 in western Rakhine State where a brutal military operation in response to attacks on security forces sent 700,000 Rohingya fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The United States said it was deeply concerned over Vietnam's conviction and sentencing of an activist this week, calling the trend of increased arrests and harsh sentences of government critics "troubling." A State Department statement Friday also called on the communist government to release all political prisoners and allow all individuals to express their views freely and assemble peacefully without fear of retribution. Le Dinh Luong was sentenced to 20 years in prison and five years' probation on Thursday after being convicted of attempting to overthrow the government. The State Department called the charge "vague" and urged the government to ensure its actions and laws, including the Penal Code, are consistent with the human rights provisions of Vietnam's Constitution and its international obligations and commitments.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Rescuers used helicopters and boats on Friday to evacuate thousands of people stranded on their rooftops following unprecedented flooding in the southern Indian state of Kerala that killed more than 320 people, officials said. "Kerala state is facing its worst flood in 100 years," the top state elected official, Pinarayi Vijayan's office tweeted. With heavy rains stopping after a week, rescuers moved quickly to take those marooned by floods to 1,500 state-run camps. They used more than a dozen helicopters and about 400 boats across the state, relief officials said. Vijayan told reporters that at least 324 people had died and more than 220,000 had taken refuge in the camps.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong earthquake located far below the Earth's surface shook an area in Indonesia's Flores Sea, causing shaking on land but no damage, officials said. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake Friday night had a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 and was located 109 kilometers (68 miles) northwest of the village of Kampungbajo in central Indonesia at a depth of 539 kilometers (337 miles). Deep earthquakes generally cause less damage. The national disaster agency said the earthquake was felt widely, including on Lombok Island where more than 400 died in a magnitude 7 quake earlier this month.

DHABEJI, Pakistan (AP) — Hafeez Nawaz was 20 years old when he left his religious school in Karachi to join the Islamic State group in Afghanistan. Three years later he was back in Pakistan to carry out a deadly mission: With explosives strapped to his body, he blew himself up in the middle of an election rally last month, killing 149 people and wounding 300 others. The attack in southwestern Baluchistan province near the Afghan border just days before Pakistan's July 25 parliamentary elections has cast an unwelcome spotlight on Nawaz's tiny village of Dhabeji, where the presence of an IS cell in their midst has brought the full weight of Pakistan's security apparatus down on its residents.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Counterterrorism officials in Pakistan say the fight against the Islamic State group is the country's newest and deadliest front in the decades-old war on terror. Headquartered next door in Afghanistan, the IS affiliate has claimed responsibility for some of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan in recent years. The group has recruited radical young men to their cause and some have even brought their families to live with them in militant hideouts, hoping to recreate an IS "caliphate" such as the one that lasted for almost four years in Syria. Here are some of the deadliest attacks claimed by IS and groups linked to them: __Jan.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan was chosen Friday as Pakistan's next prime minister, elected on a promise to reform a system rife with corruption and traditionally controlled by the country's powerful landowners. In the vote by lawmakers at the National Assembly, Khan secured 176 votes, defeating the opposition's candidate, Shahbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League party, who got 96 votes. Khan's populist Tehrik-e-Insaf party won the most seats in the July 25 elections but fell short of securing a majority in the 342-seat house. He is to be sworn in as prime minister on Saturday. Khan's supporters celebrated across the country when Speaker Asad Qaiser announced Friday's result.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Passengers of a plane from China that veered off a runway at Manila's airport and lost an engine and a wheel after landing hard in a rainstorm recalled Friday their brush with the terrifying mishap, with some of the 165 people on board expecting the worst. The Boeing 737-800, carrying 157 passengers and eight crew from China's coastal city of Xiamen, managed to touch down close to midnight amid a downpour after aborting an initial attempt to land due to poor visibility, according to Philippine officials, who expressed relief that a disaster was avoided. The airliner lost contact with the tower as it rolled off the runway into a rain-soaked field, where one of the plane's engines and wheels got ripped off before everyone onboard scrambled out through an emergency slide, the officials said.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — More than a thousand Google employees have signed a letter protesting the company's secretive plan to build a search engine that would comply with Chinese censorship. The letter calls on executives to review ethics and transparency at the company. The letter's contents were confirmed by a Google employee who helped organize it but who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the debate. The letter says employees lack the information required "to make ethically informed decisions about our work" and complains that most employees only found out about the project — nicknamed Dragonfly — through media reports.