Top Asian News 4:59 a.m. GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A polarizing Christian politician whose campaign comments ignited protests that were the largest in Muslim-majority Indonesia in years was freed Thursday after serving nearly two years in prison for blasphemy. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, the former governor of Jakarta, left a paramilitary police prison outside the capital early Thursday with members of his family, said his spokesman Sakti Budiono, avoiding waiting supporters and media. In 2016, Purnama made lighthearted campaign-trail comments that voters shouldn't heed his detractors who said the Quran prohibits Muslims from being led by Christians. Hardliners seized on the remarks as blasphemy, triggering protests that brought hundreds of thousands of white-robed Muslims to the center of Jakarta.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered preparations for a second summit with President Donald Trump, saying he'll "wait with patience and in good faith" to work toward a common goal, the North's state media reported Thursday. Despite Kim's determination for another meeting with Trump, the two remain at odds over fundamental issues. Experts say a major sticking point is what denuclearization steps Kim should take to move forward stalled nuclear diplomacy and what rewards Trump should provide to push Kim to take those measures. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim received a letter from Trump from a North Korean envoy who met the U.S.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia on Thursday urged China to treat a Chinese-Australian writer fairly and transparently almost a week after he was detained in what a friend suspects is part of a backlash against Canada's arrest of a top Chinese telecommunications executive. Spy novelist and online commentator Yang Hengjun was a Chinese diplomat before he became an Australian citizen. Friends say the 53-year-old had been living in New York as a visiting scholar at Columbia University and had returned to China last week with his wife, Yuan Rui Juan, and 14-year-old stepdaughter. Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Chinese authorities notified the Australian Embassy in Beijing on Wednesday night that they had detained Yang.

MAKASSAR, Indonesia (AP) — The death toll from flooding and landslides in central Indonesia has risen to 26, the governor of a province that has been inundated by torrential rains said Thursday. South Sulawesi Gov. Nurdin Abdullah said in a TV interview that displaced people were still being evacuated. Ten districts and cities in the province including the capital Makassar have been affected by flooding that began late Tuesday, forcing more than 3,000 to flee their homes. The operators of the Bili Bili rock-filled embankment dam were forced to release water on Tuesday, which contributed to flooding but avoided a worse disaster, said Adnan Purichta Ichsann, the chief of Gowa district near Makassar.

TORONTO (AP) — Canada's ambassador to China said he thinks a top Chinese executive has a strong case to avoid extradition to the United States and said he hopes she will be released soon in remarks one of his predecessors called "mind-boggling." Ambassador John McCallum told Chinese language media in Markham, Ontario, on Tuesday that Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou has "quite good arguments," including "political involvement by comments from Donald Trump on her case." Canada arrested the daughter of Huawei's founder at the request of the U.S. on Dec. 1. Meng is wanted on fraud charges that she misled banks about the company's business dealings in Iran.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Singaporean actor Aloysius Pang died Thursday from injuries he sustained during a military training exercise in New Zealand. He was 28. Pang was injured in his chest and abdomen when the gun barrel was lowered on a large artillery device he was helping repair Saturday. Singapore's defense ministry said in a statement that Pang had been put on life support following surgeries to repair his damaged organs but died at Waikato Hospital. Also known as Pang Wei Chong, the actor was known for the movie "Young & Fabulous" (2016) as well as television series that include "The Truth Seekers" (2016) and "C.L.I.F." (2011).

TOKYO (AP) — One of Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka's main sponsors has taken down an online ad campaign that depicts her with pale skin after it was criticized as insensitive. Daisuke Okabayashi, a spokesman for Japanese noodle-maker Nissin Foods Holdings, said Thursday that two animation clips, which went up earlier this month, were deleted from the company's online site Wednesday. "We as a company put human rights first, and our stance of valuing diversity is unchanged," he said in a telephone interview. "Whitewashing has never been our intention." The clips showed a light-skinned, doe-eyed woman in the trademark style of Japanese manga, or comics.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Adam Crapser lives in limbo, a stranger in South Korea, the country of his birth. Forcibly separated from his wife, children and friends in America, he is isolated by language and culture, left alone to navigate this sprawling city he's been expelled to four decades after being sent to adoptive parents in Michigan at age 3. Crapser was abused and abandoned by two different sets of adoptive parents in the United States; then he was deported after run-ins with the law because none of his guardians filed citizenship papers for him. He told The Associated Press in an interview that he has struggled in South Korea with intense anxiety and depression, even as he searches for answers about why his life has become defined by displacement.

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's Election Commission on Wednesday announced that the nation's first general election since the military seized power in a 2014 coup will be held on March 24. The long-awaited announcement came just hours after Thailand's royal palace issued a decree authorizing the polls. The decree published Wednesday in the Royal Gazette put into effect election laws that were drafted by the military government, which has kept tight control over political activities and made efforts to quash dissent during its time in power. The ruling junta has repeatedly pushed back several promised election deadlines — at least once every year since their May 2014 coup overthrew the democratically elected government.

NEW DELHI (AP) — A scion of India's most famous political dynasty on Wednesday formally entered politics, with the opposition Congress party assigning her a position as it prepares for national elections due before May. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the 47-year-old daughter of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. She has in the past helped her mother and brother, party president Rahul Gandhi, campaign in their constituencies in Uttar Pradesh but had never held a party post. She is a popular figure in Indian politics, drawing crowds wherever she goes. The party hopes to capitalize on her popularity in the coming elections where it will be challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party.