Top Asia Pacific Breaking News

BEIJING (AP) - The leaders of Britain and China called Thursday for a "comprehensive strategic partnership" to deepen ties between their nations at a time of growing global uncertainty. Neither publicly mentioned Donald Trump, but the American president's challenges to the post-Cold War order was clearly on their minds. "I think that working together on issues like climate change, global stability during challenging times for the world is precisely what we should be doing as we build this relationship in the way that I've described," Starmer told Xi in his opening remarks. The two met in the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing as their nations try to improve relations after several years of acrimony.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - From her exile in India, Bangladesh's ousted leader Sheikh Hasina has slammed the country's upcoming election after her party was barred from the polls, remarks that could deepen tensions ahead of the pivotal vote next month. Hasina, who was sentenced to death for her crackdown on a student uprising in 2024 that killed hundreds of people and led to the toppling of her 15-year rule, warned in an email to The Associated Press last week that without inclusive and free and fair elections, Bangladesh will face prolonged instability. She also claimed that Bangladesh's interim government led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus deliberately disenfranchised millions of her supporters by excluding her party - the former ruling Awami League - from the election.

CEBU, Philippines (AP) - Southeast Asian countries should steadfastly maintain restraint and adhere to international law as acts of aggression across Asia and "unilateral actions" elsewhere in the world threaten the rules-based global order, Manila's top diplomat said Thursday. Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro did not provide details of the geopolitical alarm she raised before her counterparts in the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations who were holding their first major closed-door meetings this year in the Philippines' central seaside city of Cebu. Several ASEAN members, however, have expressed deep concern over the secretive U.S. strike that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on orders from U.S.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The wife of South Korea's ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol was sentenced on Wednesday to 20 months in prison for corruption, as her husband awaits a verdict on a high-stakes rebellion charge that could result in the death penalty or life imprisonment. Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kim Keon Hee for receiving luxury gifts like a Graff diamond necklace and a Chanel bag from the Unification Church in return for promises of political favors. "Being closest to a president, a first lady can exert significant influence on him and is a symbolic figure who represents the country together with a president," the court said in a televised verdict.

NEW DELHI (AP) - A private plane carrying a senior state official crashed in western India on Wednesday, killing all five people on board, aviation authorities said. The Learjet 45 was en route from India's financial capital of Mumbai to Ajit Pawar's home city Baramati when it crash-landed and burst into flames in an open field near the runway, 254 kilometers (159 miles) from Mumbai. Television footage showed smoke rising from the wreckage. Local media cited poor visibility as a possible cause of the crash, which is being investigated by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. Baramati is an uncontrolled airfield, meaning it doesn't have a dedicated air traffic control tower, according to a statement from the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will unveil plans to further bolster its nuclear program at the upcoming ruling party congress, as he observed the North's latest weapons launch, state media reported Wednesday. The Korean Central News Agency said North Korea performed a live-fire drill of an upgraded large-caliber multiple rocket launcher system in the presence of Kim on Tuesday, an apparent reference to what South Korea and Japan earlier described as ballistic missile launches from North Korea. State media photos show Kim walking near a huge launch truck with his teenage daughter in her latest public appearance with her father.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Indian authorities said they had contained a Nipah virus outbreak after confirming two cases in the eastern state of West Bengal, as several Asian countries tightened health screenings and airport surveillance for travelers arriving from India. India's Health Ministry said Tuesday that two Nipah cases had been detected since December and that all identified contacts had been quarantined and tested. The ministry did not release details about the patients but said 196 contacts had been traced and all tested negative. "The situation is under constant monitoring, and all necessary public health measures are in place," the ministry said.

CEBU, Philippines (AP) - Southeast Asia's top diplomats met Wednesday under growing pressure to push a peace plan that has so far failed to end Myanmar's civil war, and to beat a deadline to conclude talks on a nonaggression pact with China this year. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a diverse 11-national bloc, has struggled to project unity and relevance for years. But it faced its latest setback last year when deadly fighting erupted between two members, Thailand and Cambodia, over a longtime border conflict. Fighting ended with a ceasefire that was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from U.S.

BANGKOK (AP) - Japan's last pair of pandas have returned to China, leaving Japan without the lovable bears for the first time in half a century. The bears are heading back as diplomatic relations between the two countries are at their lowest point in years over the new Japanese Prime Minister's stance on Taiwan, an island Beijing claims as its own, making it unlikely that there will be replacement bears. The twins Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei have an adoring fan base in Japan, where thousands of people flocked to Tokyo's Ueno Zoo ahead of their departure. China first sent pandas to Japan in 1972, a gift meant to mark the normalization of diplomatic ties between the two neighbors.

WASHINGTON (AP) - An immigration judge on Wednesday granted asylum to a Chinese national who he said had a "well founded fear" of persecution if sent back to China after exposing human rights abuses there. Guan Heng, 38, applied for asylum after arriving in the U.S. illegally in 2021. He has been in custody since being swept up in an immigration enforcement operation in August as part of a mass deportation campaign by the Trump administration. The Department of Homeland Security initially sought to deport Guan to Uganda, but dropped the plan in December after his plight raised public concerns and attracted attention on Capitol Hill.