Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a video call Wednesday to discuss the burgeoning economic cooperation between Moscow and Beijing and their relations with the United States. The Kremlin leader accepted an invitation to visit China twice this year. The call came amid a series of meetings between Xi and Western leaders who have sought to boost ties with China despite differences over the conflict in Ukraine. European leaders have pressed China for years to end its support for Russia even as Beijing has become the No. 1 trading partner for Moscow, which seeks relief from Western economic sanctions.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Dipu Chandra Das, a 27-year-old Hindu garment worker, was accused in December by several Muslim colleagues of making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. The accusations drew a violent mob to his workplace. He was beaten to death, his body hung from a tree and set on fire. Across Bangladesh, Hindus watched the recorded images on their phones with dread. Protests erupted in Dhaka and other cities, with demonstrators demanding justice and greater protections. The interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, ordered an investigation, and police said that about a dozen people were arrested. But human rights groups and Hindu leaders say the killing wasn't an isolated act, but part of a wider surge in attacks on the minority community, fueled by rising polarization, the reemergence of Islamists and what they describe as a growing culture of impunity.

HONG KONG (AP) - Hong Kong's CK Hutchison Holdings said Wednesday its subsidiary has started arbitration proceedings against Panama, after that country's Supreme Court ruled a concession for the subsidiary to operate Panama Canal ports was unconstitutional. The company said it strongly disagreed with last week's ruling, and China warned Panama would pay "a heavy price" if it persisted. Panama has said the two ports at each end of the canal - a critical passage for global trade that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans - would operate without interruption after the ruling, which was seen by some as a win for the U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration wants to create a critical minerals trading bloc with its allies that will use tariffs to maintain price floors and defend against China's tactic of flooding the market to undermine any potential competitors. Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that the trade war over the past year exposed how dependent most countries are on the critical minerals that China has a stranglehold on. "We want members to form a trading bloc among allies and partners, one that guarantees American access to American industrial might while also expanding production across the entire zone," Vance said at a meeting of foreign ministers at the State Department.

TOKYO (AP) - Heavy snow piling up in northern Japan in the last two weeks has blocked roads and is being blamed for dozens of deaths nationwide. As of Wednesday, 15 prefectures have been affected, with snow reaching up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) in worst-hit areas. The unusually heavy snowfall is largely due to a cold air mass from the Arctic that has lingered over the Japanese archipelago. More than 1,700 homes were without electricity, and most train lines weren't running, including the bullet trains, according to Aomori prefecture. "We anticipate some roads might get blocked off, and so we are consulting with services that can help with ambulances and fire trucks to get through to their destinations," Aomori Gov.

BANGKOK (AP) - Myanmar's military-backed party emerged the winner of an election, final official figures showed Wednesday, as the country's army chief signed a law authorizing a new consultative body that could allow him to retain influence without formally leading the new government. The victory of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, or USDP, led by former generals, was widely expected after the vote excluded major opposition parties and sharply restricted dissent. The constitution guarantees 25% of parliamentary seats for the military, effectively ensuring control by the armed forces and allied parties. Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, head of the military government, was widely expected to assume the presidency when the new Parliament convenes.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A truck veered off a downhill mountain road and plunged into a ravine in the central Philippines, killing nine workers on board, police said. The workers were traveling back to their office after delivering crude oil and other supplies in a farming village in Bayawan city in Negros Oriental province when their truck overshot the road and fell into a 30-meter- (98-foot-) deep ravine, police said. It was loaded with five drums of crude oil. The cause of the accident, which happened shortly before noon in good weather, was not immediately clear. The workers died while being brought to a hospital, provincial police chief Col.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned the latest surge in militant attacks in southwestern Pakistan that has killed dozens of people, mostly civilians, as security forces on Wednesday pressed their operations in the insurgency-hit region. The authorities said scores of militants have been killed in recent days as Pakistani forces crack down on the insurgents in the volatile Balochistan province, where about a dozen coordinated attacks began on Saturday, targeting civilians and buildings housing police and security personnel. Federal and provincial officials said at least 36 civilians and 17 members of the security forces have been killed. Security forces so far killed 197 militants from the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which has claimed responsibility for recent suicide bombings and gun attacks.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Indian lawmakers from the ruling coalition praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday for striking a deal with the U.S. that seeks to reduce tariffs on Indian goods, while the opposition raised questions on the impact on sensitive sectors such as agriculture. President Donald Trump on Monday announced he plans to reduce import tariff on India, six months after imposing steep taxes to punish New Delhi for its unabated purchase of Russian oil that he claimed helped fuel Moscow's war machine against Ukraine. In a social media post, Trump said Modi has agreed to stop purchasing Russian oil, though the Indian government remained tight-lipped if this was the case.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - A year after Vietnam elevated its relations with Washington to the highest diplomatic level, an internal document shows its military was taking steps to prepare for a possible American "war of aggression" and considered the United States a "belligerent" power, according to a report released Tuesday. More than just exposing Hanoi's duality in approach toward the U.S., the document confirms a deep-seated fear of external forces fomenting an uprising against the Communist leadership in a so-called "color revolution," like the 2004 Orange Revolution in Ukraine, or the 1986 Yellow Revolution in the Philippines. Other internal documents that The 88 Project, a human rights organization focused on human rights abuses in Vietnam, cited in its analysis point to similar concerns over U.S.