Top Asian News 4:59 a.m. GMT

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — The Vietnamese capital once trembled as waves of American bombers unleashed their payloads, but when Kim Jong Un arrives here for his summit with President Donald Trump he won't find rancor toward a former enemy. Instead the North Korean leader will get a glimpse at the potential rewards of reconciliation. By the time the Vietnam War ended in 1975, tens of thousands of tons of explosives had been dropped on Hanoi and nearly two decades of fighting had killed 3 million Vietnamese and more than 58,000 Americans. Vietnam, though victorious, lay devastated by American firepower, with cities in ruins and fields and forests soaked in toxic herbicides and littered with unexploded ordnance.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnam has announced an unprecedented traffic ban along a possible arrival route of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ahead of his second summit with President Donald Trump in Hanoi next week, state media reported. The Communist Party's mouthpiece Nhan Dan newspaper late Friday quoted Vietnam's Department of Roads as saying the ban will first apply to trucks 10 tons or bigger, and vehicles with nine seats or more on the 170-kilometer (105-mile) stretch of Highway One from Dong Dang, the border town with China, to Hanoi from 7 p.m. on Monday to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, followed by a complete ban Tuesday on all vehicles from 6 a.m.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Vietnamese authorities are not amused by the antics of two impersonators of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump. The duo has been making rounds of Hanoi, taking pictures with curious onlookers ahead of the second summit of the two leaders next week. However, on late Friday, a Kim lookalike, the Hong Kong-based impersonator who uses the name Howard X, posted on Facebook that about 15 police or immigration officers demanded a mandatory "interview" with them following a talk they gave at the state-run VTC station. "They then said that this was a very sensitive time in the city due to the Trump/Kim summit and that our impersonation was causing a 'disturbance' and ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and Chinese negotiators agreed Friday to extend high-level trade talks through the weekend, and President Donald Trump said he hoped to meet next month at his Florida resort with President Xi Jinping to try to finalize an agreement. The news followed two days of negotiations in Washington aimed at resolving a trade war that has rattled financial markets and threatened global economic growth. "We're making a lot of progress," Trump told reporters at the White House. "I think there's a very good chance that a deal can be made." Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the negotiations, which had been scheduled to conclude Friday afternoon, would continue through Sunday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — As President Donald Trump seeks a nuclear deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week in Vietnam, some in Seoul are wondering if the fate of Washington's decades-long military alliance with South Korea could be at stake. Much of this worry is linked to Trump's repeated assertions that the U.S. military deployment in South Korea is too costly, and to his surprise suspension of some U.S. military exercises with South Korea — including a major summertime drill — as a concession to Kim after their first summit in Singapore last year. Added to this concern are policies by South Korea's liberal President Moon Jae-in that critics say favor engagement with North Korea at the expense of the alliance with Washington.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito says he hopes to continue the close relationship his father built with the people when he succeeds him as emperor later this year. Naruhito, who turns 59 on Saturday, will ascend the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1 after Emperor Akihito abdicates. "I feel very solemn when I think about the future," he said at an annual pre-birthday news conference Thursday. His remarks were embargoed from publication until Saturday. "While I continue to prepare for this role, I would like to maintain the past emperors' work. I would like to think about the people and pray for the people," he said.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Police say one person was killed and two others wounded in an explosion outside a telecommunications company in the Nepalese capital. The victims Friday night were passing by the main entrance of the Ncell mobile network operator company on the southern edge of Kathmandu when the blast happened. The explosion startled the neighborhood and shattered windows in nearby buildings. Police have detained six people for questioning. No one has claimed responsibility. The company is mostly owned by Malaysia-based Axiata Group Berhad.

TOKYO (AP) — The future of a key North Korean nuclear facility is on the table as leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump prepare to meet in Vietnam next week. The Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center, the heart of the North's nuclear development and research, is Kim's biggest carrot as he tries to win security guarantees and free his country from the U.S.-backed trade sanctions that are hobbling its economy. The North Korean leader has suggested he's ready to talk about closing the facility, capping the amount of fissile material it produces or possibly allowing international inspections. Trump, meanwhile, says he is going into the summit in no hurry to push the North to denuclearize, as long as Kim isn't conducting nuclear or missile tests.

BEIJING (AP) — Skipped paying a fine in China? Then forget about buying an airline ticket. Would-be air travelers were blocked from buying tickets 17.5 million times last year for "social credit" offenses including unpaid taxes and fines under a controversial system the ruling Communist Party says will improve public behavior. Others were barred 5.5 million times from buying train tickets, according to the National Public Credit Information Center. In an annual report, it said 128 people were blocked from leaving China due to unpaid taxes. The ruling party says "social credit" penalties and rewards will improve order in a fast-changing society after three decades of economic reform have shaken up social structures.

BEIJING (AP) — China has announced new measures against gender discrimination in Chinese workplaces that forbid employers from asking potential female hires questions such as if they are married or have children. At some companies in China, the answers to these questions can be disqualifying. Other firms are explicit in their job postings that they are looking only for men. Many welcomed the government notice, published Thursday, which forbids companies and recruitment agencies from taking certain discriminatory actions against female employees and job candidates. But female workers and analysts alike were skeptical that such measures could be strictly enforced. "A notice is better than nothing," said Li Yinhe, a prominent Chinese sociologist on sex and family issues.