Top Asian News 2:41 a.m. GMT

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Authorities in Bangladesh imposed tougher safety rules after more than 1,100 people died when a garment factory complex collapsed near Dhaka in 2013. But continuing corruption and lax enforcement have resulted in many more deaths from safety lapses since the Rana Plaza disaster, including a fire Thursday at an illegally constructed high-rise office building that killed 25 people and left dozens injured. The fire in Banani, a busy upscale commercial district, exposed the vulnerabilities hidden behind the glass towers that have become symbols of Bangladesh's rapid growth. While its economy has expanded by more than 6 percent annually in the last decade, safety regulations and enforcement have lagged behind, experts say.

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese and U.S. negotiators adjourned trade talks in Beijing on Friday with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying they had been "constructive." Neither side gave any details on whether the talks made progress on issues preventing them from reaching an agreement to end a wide-ranging dispute over technology and industrial policy between the world's two biggest economies. Mnuchin said in a tweet Friday that he and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had "concluded constructive trade talks." "I look forward to welcoming China's Vice Premier Liu He to continue these important discussions in Washington next week," he said. Mnuchin and Lighthizer attended a working dinner with Liu on Thursday night, shortly after their arrival in the Chinese capital.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — George Clooney is calling for the boycott of nine hotels in the U.S. and Europe with ties to the sultan of Brunei, which next month will implement Islamic criminal laws to punish gay sex by stoning offenders to death. The Hollywood actor wrote Thursday in Deadline Hollywood: "Are we really going to help fund the murder of innocent citizens?" He writes that you can't shame "murderous regimes," but you can shame "the banks, the financiers and the institutions that do business with them." Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah rules the oil-rich monarchy with full executive authority, and the hotels are owned by the Brunei Investment Agency.

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's Election Commission said that computer software was partly to blame for inconsistent and delayed vote totals from last Sunday's general election. During early reporting of the election results, its tabulation software had trouble handling data entered simultaneously from several points and sometimes displayed incorrect numbers, the commission said in a statement Friday as it faced criticism over lack of transparency. Several political activists said they are starting a petition to impeach the election commissioners. On Thursday, the commission issued a 208-page compilation of votes in every constituency in response to criticism, but some tallies still failed to add up correctly.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — A man who survived New Zealand's mosque attacks told a crowd of about 20,000 people on Friday that he forgives the terrorist who killed his wife and 49 others. Farid Ahmed was speaking at a national remembrance service held in Christchurch to commemorate those who died in the attacks two weeks ago. "I don't want to have a heart that is boiling like a volcano," Ahmed said. "A volcano has anger, fury, rage. It doesn't have peace. It has hatred. It burns itself within, and also it burns the surroundings. I don't want to have a heart like this." Ahmed said that while he didn't agree with the gunman's actions, his Muslim faith taught him that even the terrorist was his brother.

BANGKOK (AP) — Six baby elephants, trapped in a mud hole and separated from their parents, have been rescued by a team of park rangers in northeastern Thailand. The rangers came across the elephant calves on Wednesday afternoon as they were struggling to climb the pit's slippery banks, according to officials of Thap Lan National Park. Some of the rangers went for help, while others spent the night with the baby elephants. On Thursday, as the elephants wallowed together at one side of the pit, rangers at the other side spent four hours using hoes and pickaxes to dig out enough mud to form a ramp.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in will travel to the United States in two weeks for a summit with President Donald Trump on stalemated North Korean nuclear diplomacy. It would be their first meeting since Trump's second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi last month collapsed due to disputes on U.S.-led sanctions. The breakdown of that summit put Moon, a liberal who has shuttled between Washington and Pyongyang, in a difficult position on how to further engage North Korea and facilitate the nuclear diplomacy. Moon's office said Moon will visit the United States on April 10-11 to discuss how to strengthen their countries' alliance and achieve North Korea's complete denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook says it has removed 200 pages, groups and accounts linked to Nic Gabunada, reportedly the former social media manager of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, for misleading people. The social network says it took down the accounts for "coordinated inauthentic behavior," the term it uses to describe accounts that work together to mask who is behind them and what their purpose is. In the past, Facebook has removed accounts linked to Russia , Iran and other countries for trying to wreak political havoc or influence elections in the U.S. and elsewhere. The accounts and posts in question posted about elections, alleged misconduct by political candidates and local news.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The head of a Philippine online news site that has been critical of President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested Friday for the second time in two months, this time over a ban on foreign ownership of news media. Police served an arrest warrant to Rappler Inc. CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa after she arrived at Manila's airport, and she later posted bail at a regional trial court. Ressa's co-defendants had posted bail for the new charge earlier in the week. Ressa, who was one of Time magazine's Persons of the Year last year, was returning from a trip to the U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) — There was just one problem when President Donald Trump walked down the stairs of Air Force One and unceremoniously declared that the Islamic State had lost the last of its territory in Syria. He wasn't supposed to announce it yet. Instead, the plan was to let U.S.-backed Syrian Defense Forces proclaim the victory, in recognition of its losses over five years of battle. But Trump was on the tarmac on a sunny afternoon in South Florida holding a map of Iraq and Syria, which happened to be upside-down. "Here's ISIS on Election Day," he said, pointing to a spot showing IS-controlled territory in red.