Top Asia Pacific Breaking News – Morning Edition

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Wednesday he asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to serve as a mediator to help resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis and ease animosities between the two Koreas. Speaking with reporters traveling with him on the Shanghai leg of his China trip, Lee said he made the request when he met Xi for a summit in Beijing on Monday. Lee cited the Chinese president as replying that patience was needed on North Korean issues. "We're making efforts but all our channels (with North Korea) are completely blocked so we can't communicate at all.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Mukesh Awasti was all set to leave for Australia to pursue a degree in civil engineering on a sunny day in September, but instead he joined a youth revolt against corruption in Nepal and lost his leg after being shot by security forces. Lying on a hospital bed at the National Trauma Center in the capital Kathmandu where his leg was amputated, 22-year-old Awasti said he regrets giving up so much for the little that has been achieved after the sacrifices of so many people. Violent protests in Kathmandu that began Sept. 8 left 76 people dead and more than 2,300 injured before the demonstrations fueled by "Gen Z" activists forced the appointment on Sept.

BEIJING (AP) - China escalated its trade tensions with Japan on Wednesday by launching an investigation into imported dichlorosilane, a chemical gas used in making semiconductors, a day after it imposed curbs on the export of so-called dual-use goods that could be used by Japan's military. The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement that it had launched the investigation following an application from the domestic industry showing the price of dichlorosilane imported from Japan had decreased 31% between 2022 and 2024. "The dumping of imported products from Japan has damaged the production and operation of our domestic industry," the ministry said.

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's nuclear watchdog said Wednesday it is scrapping the safety screening for two reactors at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in central Japan, after its operator was found to have fabricated data about earthquake risks. It was a setback to Japan's attempts to accelerate nucler reactor restarts. Less than a quarter of commercial nuclear reactors are operational in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi meltdowns, but rising energy costs and pressure to reduce carbon emissions have pushed the government to prioritize nuclear power. Chubu Electric Power Co. had applied for safety screening to resume operations at the No.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Deadly clashes between local residents and operators of a gold mining company in northern Afghanistan left four people dead and five others injured, officials said Wednesday. Abdul Mateen Qane, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the violence erupted Tuesday in the Chah Ab district of Takhar province, killing three residents and one company employee. Five others were wounded. Qane did not specify what triggered the clashes or who owns the company. In a statement, Qane said two suspects - one a company security employee and the other a local resident - have been arrested in connection with the violence.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan 's military on Tuesday warned that Afghanistan is becoming a "hub for terrorists and non-state actors," widening its allegations to assert that its Taliban government is patronizing al-Qaida, the Islamic State group and the Pakistani Taliban. Military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry also told a news conference, without offering evidence, that about 2,500 foreign militants recently entered Afghanistan from Syria following the ouster there of former President Bashar Assad. Chaudhry asserted that the militants were invited to Afghanistan. "These terrorists are neither Pakistanis nor Afghan citizens and belong to other nationalities," Chaudhry said, adding that the reemergence of international militant groups could pose security risks beyond neighboring Afghanistan's borders.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - A curfew was imposed on a key border city in southern Nepal after Hindu and Muslim groups began protesting against each other following the vandalism of a mosque over the weekend, officials said Tuesday. The curfew orders issued by the Parsa District Administration said that no one will be allowed in the streets and all gatherings and demonstrations are banned. The notice also warned that violators could be shot by security forces. Armed soldiers and police officers were patrolling the streets of Birgunj, located 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital Kathmandu, which is the key border point for importing much of the oil, goods and supplies from neighboring India to Nepal.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A series of mild eruptions at the most active volcano in the Philippines has prompted the evacuation of nearly 3,000 villagers in a permanent danger zone on its foothills, officials said Wednesday. Authorities raised the 5-step alert around Mayon Volcano in the northeastern province of Albay to level 3 on Tuesday after detecting intermittent rockfalls, some as big as cars, from its peak crater in recent days along with deadly pyroclastic flows - a fast-moving avalanche of super-hot rock fragments, ash and gas. Alert level 5 would indicate a major explosive eruption, often with violent ejections of ash and debris and widespread ashfall, is underway.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia's centenarian former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was recovering in a hospital Wednesday from a broken right hip that his daughter said was serious but not life-threatening. Mahathir was rushed to the National Heart Institute on Tuesday after he suffered a fall at his home. His office said he would remain hospitalized for the next few weeks for observation and treatment. "It's a hip fracture and we have to wait for it to heal which, due to his age, will take time," his daughter Marina Mahathir told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "Otherwise he's as ok as anyone with a hip fracture can be." She dismissed rumors that her father is dying.

MANADO, Indonesia (AP) - Flash floods triggered by torrential rain killed at least 16 people in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province, officials said Tuesday. Days of monsoon rain burst riverbanks early Monday, triggering fast-moving torrents of water mixed with mud, rocks and debris that swept away people and submerged villages in Siau Tagulandang Biaro District, said Abdul Muhari, a spokesperson for the National Disaster Management Agency. Emergency rescue personnel supported by police and the military deployed to four devastated villages on Siau, a tiny island about 130 kilometers (80 miles) off the northern tip of Sulawesi, Indonesia's fourth-largest island. In some places, access was hampered by damaged roads and disrupted communications, Muhari said.