Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's Taliban government on Tuesday rejected U.S. allegations that it detains foreigners to obtain leverage over other countries, saying Afghan authorities arrest people for violating laws not to make a deal. The U.S. State Department on Monday announced the designation of Afghanistan as a sponsor of wrongful detention, accusing it of engaging in "hostage diplomacy." Afghanistan joined Iran as countries singled out by the U.S. in the past two weeks for detaining Americans in hopes of extracting policy concessions. On Tuesday, Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul called that designation "regrettable." In July, the Taliban delegation to a U.N.-led meeting in Doha said that Afghans detained at the U.S.

ODAKA, Japan (AP) - Fifteen years after the 2011 nuclear disaster, color-coded radiation maps hang on the wall of Futabaya Ryokan, the family-run inn Tomoko Kobayashi operates in her near-deserted hometown in northeastern Fukushima. Kobayashi conducted her own radiation surveys before reopening the inn in 2016. Now, she and other monitors share radiation data as part of efforts to rebuild this once-bustling textile town. "These empty lots used to be filled with shops," Kobayashi says of the pre-disaster town as she heads to a radiation monitoring lab, walking past a kindergarten she attended as a child. It's now used as a museum because there are too few children since the nuclear crisis.

Monitors like innkeeper Tomoko Kobayashi share radiation data to revitalize towns people left after the Fukushima earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

BEIJING (AP) - China said Tuesday it will be resuming passenger trains to North Korea after service was halted during COVID. Trains will run between Beijing and Pyongyang, four times a week starting Thursday. Daily train service will also resume at the border town of Dandong in China to Pyongyang, China's railways authority announced. The resumption of the service will "further promote people-to-people exchanges, economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchanges between China and North Korea," the announcement said. Tourism from China into North Korea has stalled since the pandemic. North Korea banned all foreign tourists during COVID but has slowly eased these restrictions, opening the country up to tourism again for the first time in 2024.

GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) - Australia granted asylum to five members of the Iranian women's soccer team who were visiting the country for a tournament when the Iran war began, a government minister said Tuesday. The announcement followed days of urging by Iranian groups in Australia and by U.S. President Donald Trump for the Australian government to help the women, who had not spoken publicly about a wish to claim asylum. The team drew speculation and news coverage in Australia when players didn't sing the Iranian anthem before their first match. Early Tuesday, police officers transported five of the women from their hotel in Gold Coast, Australia, "to a safe location" after they made asylum requests.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday criticized the United States and South Korea for proceeding with their annual joint military exercises at a perilous moment for global security, and warned that any challenge to the North's safety would bring "terrible consequences." The statement by Kim Yo Jong came a day after the allies started their 11-day Freedom Shield exercise involving thousands of troops, while Washington participates in an escalating war in the Middle East. Without directly referring to the Iran war, Kim said the U.S.-South Korea drills undermine regional stability at a time when the global security structure is "collapsing rapidly and wars break out in different parts of the world due to the reckless acts of outrageous international rogues." Freedom Shield is one of two annual command post exercises conducted by the militaries of the United States and South Korea.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - As war spreads across the Middle East, U.S. rivals and allies in Asia are preparing for the consequences, which include possible economic shock and long-term security threats. Here's a look at how the fighting in the Middle East is impacting the Koreas, Japan and China. At a major political conference last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un insisted the country's decades-long pursuit of nuclear weapons was the "correct" choice, despite crippling isolation and scarce resources. The U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran will only reinforce that belief. North Korea's leadership likely watched uneasily as the strikes killed Iran's supreme leader.

NEW DELHI (AP) - The United States and Iran have offered sharply different accounts of the sinking of an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean last week, with Washington rejecting Tehran's claim the vessel was unarmed and Iranian officials insisting it was operating in a noncombat role. The United States Indo-Pacific Command on Sunday rejected Iran's claim that the warship IRIS Dena was unarmed when it was sunk in a submarine attack in international waters off Sri Lanka on March 4. In a statement on X, INDOPACOM called Iran's assertion that the vessel was unarmed "false." The response followed strong objections from Tehran, which has repeatedly characterized the warship as defenseless, saying it was returning home after taking part in a naval exercise.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A massive avalanche of garbage at Indonesia's largest landfill killed seven people after heavy overnight rain triggered a rubbish dump collapse, officials said Tuesday. More than 300 search-and-rescue personnel, using heavy machinery and sniffer dogs, were deployed to the sprawling dump site late Sunday at the Bantargebang Integrated Waste Treatment Facility in Bekasi, a city just outside the capital of Jakarta. Rescuers worked cautiously amid unstable heaps of waste, said Desiana Kartika Bahari, who heads Jakarta's Search and Rescue Office. She said the victims included two garbage truck drivers, three scavengers and two food stall sellers who had been working or resting near the landfill, while six people managed to escape the disaster.

TOKYO (AP) - Japan is preparing to deploy its first batch of domestically developed long-range missiles, with their launchers arriving at an army camp Monday as the country accelerates its offensive capability in response to rising challenges in the region. The upgraded Type-12 land-to-ship missiles will be deployed at Camp Kengun in Japan's southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto by the end of March, completing the process of deployment, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said without giving details. Army vehicles carrying the launchers and other equipment arrived past midnight in a highly secretive mission criticized by residents. Dozens of people stood outside of the camp, shouting "Stop long-range missile deployment!" and holding banners carrying messages of protest.