Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BANGKOK (AP) - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Friday during a visit aimed at strengthening the countries' strategic partnership and expanding cooperation. The two agreed to strengthen collaboration in fighting transnational crime and cyberscams and other areas, Thai government spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek said. She said Anutin thanked China for its continued support for Thailand, while Wang congratulated Anutin on retaining his office after an election and expressed confidence that Thailand-China relations will continue to improve. Anutin greeted Wang at Government House in Bangkok. They shook hands while posing for photographs before the meeting. Wang also talked earlier with his Thai counterpart Sihasak Phuangketkeow, officials said.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's foreign ministry says Afghans who helped America's war effort and have been stuck in Qatar in the hope of reaching the United States, can safely return to Afghanistan. The statement Saturday by foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi comes after reports emerged that the Trump administration is in discussions to potentially send 1,100 Afghans who assisted the U.S. during its war in Afghanistan and relatives of U.S. service members to Congo. An organization called #AfghanEvac that supports Afghan resettlement efforts said Wednesday that U.S. officials had informed the group of discussions between the United States and Congo about taking the Afghan refugees who have been in limbo at Camp As-Sayliyah, a U.S.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean prosecutors Friday requested a 30-year prison term for ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol over allegations that he deliberately tried to escalate tensions with North Korea in 2024 by ordering drone flights over Pyongyang as he sought to create justifiable conditions for martial law at home. Yoon is charged with benefiting an adversary and abusing his powers, which are among a long list of indictments against the conservative former leader over his short-lived imposition of martial law in South Korea in December 2024. The request came in the closing stages of a trial at the Seoul Central District Court, where a team of investigators led by special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk said that Yoon and his top defense officials were responsible for alleged drone infiltrations into North Korea, about two months before he imposed martial law, while portraying the liberals as North Korea-sympathizing, "anti-state" forces.

TOKYO (AP) - This is how Japan wakes up. It's called Radio Taiso - Exercise Radio in English - a simple yet dynamic way to start the day. Japanese radio plays music every morning at 6:30 to accompany basic instructions for calisthenics, and millions perform in the choreography: in parks, workplaces, schools - and at home. Radio Taiso has an almost 100-year history, formally introduced in 1928 and coinciding with the enthronement of Emperor Hirohito. The tradition endures because the exercises are suitable for all ages and capabilities, and easily accessible. We're talking about basic exercise movements: reach to the sky to limber up, twist at the torso, bend at the hips, swing the arms and get the shoulders loose, or jump or run in place.

BANGKOK (AP) - China's top diplomat on Saturday visited Myanmar's capital and met with the leader of its military-backed government as part of a regional tour aimed at strengthening Beijing's political, security and strategic ties in Southeast Asia. State-run MRTV television reported that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Min Aung Hlaing discussed enhancing Myanmar's international relations and cooperation within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Wang's visit to Naypyitaw comes after Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president on April 10 following an election that critics say was neither free nor fair and was designed to maintain the military's grip on power five years after it ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government.

A former University of South Florida student has been charged with killing his roommate and the roommate's girlfriend - two doctoral students from Bangladesh who disappeared earlier this month, authorities said Saturday. Hisham Abugharbieh, 26, is facing two counts of premeditated murder in the first degree with a weapon in the deaths of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, students at USF, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. He made an initial court appearance Saturday in Tampa, where he was ordered held without bond. A hearing is set for April 28. Limon's remains were found on the Howard Frankland bridge Friday morning, but Bristy is still missing, Hillsborough County Chief Deputy Joseph Maurer said on Friday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean prosecutors on Friday rejected a police request for an arrest warrant for music tycoon Bang Si-Hyuk, chairman of the agency behind K-pop supergroup BTS, questioning whether detention is necessary as he faces a high-profile investigation into alleged investor fraud. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency asked prosecutors earlier this week to request a court warrant to arrest Bang, the billionaire founder and chairman of Hybe. The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office said that it found that the request lacked sufficient grounds to justify his detention and instructed police investigators to strengthen their case. Bang, who has been barred from leaving the country since August, isn't seen as a realistic threat to flee.

BEIJING (AP) - Atlanta will have giant pandas again. China on Friday announced it will send two giant pandas to Zoo Atlanta in the U.S. in Beijing's latest efforts of panda diplomacy despite tensions with Washington, less than a month before a much-anticipated visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to Beijing. The China Wildlife Conservation Association said in a statement that male panda Ping Ping and female panda Fu Shuang, from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, will kick off a decade-long conservation partnership under an agreement it signed with the zoo last year. The association did not specify the pandas' departure date but said the U.S.

ISTANBUL (AP) - Officials and visitors from Australia, New Zealand and Turkey gathered in northwest Turkey on Saturday to commemorate the 111th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli. The solemn ceremony began at 5:30 a.m. local time near a beach where the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or Anzacs, first landed at Gallipoli at dawn on April 25, 1915. The hour-long event included mournful hymns, prayers and the laying of wreaths by the participants, which included representatives from many countries around the world. The Gallipoli campaign, part of a British-led effort to defeat the Ottoman Empire, ultimately failed, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides during the eight-month conflict.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - A massive ice block on the route just above the Mount Everest base camp has forced hundreds of climbers and their local guides to delay their attempt to scale the world's highest peak, officials said Friday. The serac between base camp and Camp One is unstable and is risky for climbers, said Himal Gautam of Nepal's Department of Mountaineering. Officials are working with climbers and expedition organizers to assess the situation as hundreds of climbers and their guides wait at base camp unable to move up the mountain. According to the department, 410 foreign climbers have been issued permits to attempt to reach the Everest summit during the spring climbing season, which ends at the end of May.