Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

WASHINGTON (AP) - Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sought to reaffirm her alliance with President Donald Trump on Thursday after the president this week seemed to complain that Japan was among the nations that did not quickly join his call to help protect the Strait of Hormuz. Takaichi, who met with Trump at the White House, told the Republican president that Japan has opposed Iran's development of its nuclear program and appealed to his desire to be seen as a peacemaker, despite his launching a war of choice with Iran. She told the U.S. president through an interpreter that in the Middle East and around the world now, there was "a very severe security environment," but said, "Even against that backdrop, I firmly believe that it is only you, Donald, who can achieve peace across the world."

NEW DELHI (AP) - Countries in Asia are scrambling to conserve energy and protect consumers as the war on Iran and attacks on gas fields and oil refineries disrupt critical supplies, rattling markets and driving up prices. The crisis is hitting Asia hardest because of its heavy reliance on imported energy, much of which is shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, a key choke point now under strain. Only about 90 vessels - mostly Indian, Pakistani and Chinese-flagged - have made it through the strait since the beginning of Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran, and Iran's strikes against Israel and Gulf Arab neighbors, on Feb.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has driven a tank during army training supervised by her father, the pair's latest joint public appearance fueling outside speculation that the girl is groomed as Kim's heir. The official Korean Central News Agency reported Friday that Kim oversaw an offensive tactical drill involving tank units and infantry troops a day earlier and called for completing war preparations. Video and images released by state media showed Kim's daughter sticking her head out of the driver's hatch of a moving, olive green tank while her smiling father sat on top with three soldiers.

TOKYO (AP) - A video taken by tiny drones sent into one of three damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant showed a gaping hole in the thick-walled steel container of the core, with lumps of likely melted fuel debris hanging from it, in a first sighting of a pressure vessel bottom since the meltdown 15 years ago. The rare footage was taken by micro-drones - measuring 12 by 13 centimeters (4.7 by 5.1 inches) and weighing only 95 grams (3.3 ounces) each - deployed for a two-week mission to collect visual, radiation and other data from inside the Unit 3 reactor.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - The United States and Australia's political tug of war against Iran over the fates of seven members of the Iranian women's soccer squad appears to have ended with the depleted team returning home minus the two players who defected last week. Critics now say politics trumped concern for the women's best interests as the drama played out. The evidence is that of seven Iranian women who initially accepted asylum in Australia, five changed their minds within days and returned to the team for reasons undisclosed. Critics argue the outcome might have been different had the women been provided with independent legal advice earlier and the process not been so rushed.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A fire at an auto parts factory in South Korea's central city of Daejeon injured at least 55 people on Friday, with officials warning the toll could rise. The National Fire Agency said 24 were seriously hurt in a blaze likely caused by an explosion. Officials could not immediately confirm whether any of the injured were in life-threatening condition. Nam Deuk-woo, fire chief of the city's Daedeok district, said authorities were searching for at least 14 other people believed to have been inside the facility when the fire broke out. Videos and photos from the scene showed thick gray smoke billowing from the complex and some workers jumping from a building.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - BTS will stage its long-awaited comeback concert on Saturday night at Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square, one of South Korea's most famous landmarks that represents its royal heritage and political and cultural life. In a free concert expected to draw tens of thousands of fans, the K-pop juggernaut's seven members, all South Koreans, will perform songs from their first album in nearly four years, "ARIRANG," whose title is taken from the most beloved traditional folk tune on the Korean Peninsula. "'ARIRANG' is an album that embodies the origin and identity of BTS and carries the message that they want to convey now," Hybe Corp., the parent company of BTS' management agency, said in response to questions by The Associated Press.

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - Heavy rains and strong winds lashed Pakistan's largest city overnight, killing at least 15 people and injuring several others as walls and roofs collapsed at multiple locations, emergency services and hospital officials said Thursday. The storm that began Wednesday continued into the night in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province. Authorities advised residents to avoid unnecessary travel. At least 15 bodies were brought to the city's main hospital. More than two dozen people were injured and treated at hospitals after weather-related incidents, police surgeon Summaiya Tariq and emergency officials said. The storm also uprooted roadside trees and disrupted traffic, according to rescue officials and police.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - A key outlawed Pakistani militant group behind numerous gun and bomb attacks announced a three-day ceasefire early Thursday ahead of a key Muslim holiday, hours after Pakistan and Afghanistan also declared a temporary pause to escalating fighting. No exchanges of fire were reported, marking the first lull since late February, when clashes erupted. Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, said the ceasefire was intended to allow people to observe Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. The TTP, which is separate from but allied to the Afghan Taliban, has stepped up attacks inside Pakistan since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in 2021.

HONG KONG (AP) - An independent committee investigating the cause of Hong Kong's deadliest fire in decades heard accounts Thursday about how a series of failures contributed to the 2025 blaze that engulfed seven buildings and killed 168 people as hearings in the case got underway. Former residents and relatives of the dead have been waiting for answers since November 2025, when the fire shattered the close-knit community of Wang Fuk Court, which housed thousands of people in the suburban district of Tai Po. In his opening remarks, committee lead lawyer Victor Dawes said the most likely cause of the fire was cigarettes that lit other materials on fire on a platform in an air shaft between two low-level units in Wang Cheong House.