Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. military said Wednesday that it fired on an Iranian oil tanker as President Donald Trump sought to pressure Tehran into reaching a deal to end the war. An American fighter jet shot out the rudder of the tanker in the Gulf of Oman as it tried to breach the U.S. military's blockade of Iran's ports, U.S. Central Command said in a social media post. The attack occurred as Iran and the U.S. are officially in a ceasefire and as the two countries appeared to be moving closer to an initial agreement to end the war. Trump threatened Tehran with a new wave of bombing if a deal is not reached that includes opening the critical Strait of Hormuz.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - An Australian man accused of killing 15 people in a massacre at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney's Bondi Beach will face 19 more charges related to the attack, officials said Wednesday. Naveed Akram was already charged with 59 counts including murder, attempted murder and committing a terrorist act after two gunmen opened fire on the Jewish holiday event in December 2025. He hasn't yet been required to enter a plea. The 24-year-old was shot and wounded and his father Sajid Akram, 50, was killed in a gunbattle with police that ended the attack. The massacre was inspired by Islamic State group, Australian police said.

HONG KONG (AP) - China's diplomatic role in the Iran war has come into sharper focus following talks between Chinese and Iranian foreign ministers on Wednesday, days before U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Beijing's profile in international diplomacy has risen in recent years. Long reluctant to get involved in conflicts far from its borders, it has nevertheless emerged as a major player with attempts to mediate conflicts from Southeast Asia to Europe. Beijing is not an official mediator in the Iran war, but all parties - including Washington and Tehran - say it has played an important role in efforts to de-escalate the conflict.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - A number of Australian women with alleged ties to Islamic State group militants will be arrested and face criminal investigations if they return from Syria, police said Wednesday. The Australian government had been alerted Wednesday that four women and nine children had booked flights from Damascus to Australia, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said. He did not say when they were expected to arrive. Australian Federal Police since 2015 have been investigating the behavior of Australians who had traveled to the Islamic State group's so-called caliphate that had been centered in Syria, Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.

HONG KONG (AP) - On a recent weekday, around 50 people gathered outside the headquarters of a Chinese mobile internet company, waiting to get help with installing an artificial intelligence assistant. The scene in Beijing, China's capital, was repeated for days at several events and was also seen in the southern technology hub Shenzhen in March, as engineers helped crowds trying to set up the popular AI "agent" OpenClaw on their laptops. "I'm worried about falling behind in technological developments," said Sun Lei, a 41-year-old human resources manager at the Cheetah event. She said she hoped the tool might help her source and screen resumes across various recruitment platforms.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - An Iranian man who murdered his wife has lost his landmark court bid to prevent Australia from deporting him to the tiny Pacific island of Nauru. Seven High Court judges unanimously dismissed an appeal by the man against an order last year deporting him to the independent nation of around 12,000 people with a 30-year visa. The man is identified in court only as TCXM because refugees' identities are protected in Australia. Immigration Minister Tony Burke issued a statement that applauded the ruling as a win for Australia's control over immigration. "I welcome the decision of the court.

BANGKOK (AP) - Thailand's government on Tuesday terminated a 2001 Memorandum of Understanding with Cambodia that was meant to provide a bilateral framework for resolving overlapping maritime territorial claims. Cambodia said it regretted the Thai Cabinet's decision but would continue trying to resolve the issue. The two governments signed the agreement to peacefully pursue maritime boundary delimitation and provide a framework for jointly managing marine resources in accordance with international law. But they failed to make any progress after five rounds of talks over the past two decades. The decision to terminate, which does not legally take effect until Thailand sends a formal notification letter to Cambodia, ended hopes in both countries that resolving the competing claims would allow exploitation of offshore oil and gas resources in the disputed area.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A passenger bus collided head-on with a fuel tanker truck on a highway on Indonesia's Sumatra island on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people and injuring four others, officials said. The crash occurred around midday on the Trans-Sumatra Highway in North Musi Rawas regency of South Sumatra province, when an intercity bus carrying at least 20 people struck a tanker truck traveling in the opposite direction, said Mugono, a local disaster management agency official. Mugono, who uses a single name like many Indonesians, said preliminary findings indicate the bus - which was traveling from South Sumatra's Lubuklinggau city to Jambi, another city - may have emitted sparks shortly before the collision.

BEIJING (AP) - An explosion at a fireworks plant in a central Chinese province killed at least 26 people and injured 61 others, state media reported Tuesday, prompting the halting of all firework manufacturing near the site. The blast occurred at a fireworks plant in the city of Changsha in Hunan province on Monday afternoon, China's official news agency Xinhua said. State media China Daily said that the plant was operated by the Huasheng Fireworks Manufacturing and Display Co. in the Changsha-administered, county-level city of Liuyang, a prominent fireworks powerhouse in the country. Changsha mayor Chen Bozhang said at a media briefing that a search and rescue operation at the scene largely has been completed, but verification of the casualties and identification of the victims was still underway.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Defense chiefs from Japan and the Philippines expressed renewed alarm on Tuesday over what they say is China's intensifying coercive actions in disputed waters, and agreed to start talks on a weapons transfer pact that will allow Tokyo to provide used destroyers to Manila's navy. Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi held separate talks with his Philippine counterpart, Gilberto Teodoro Jr., and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila to broaden defense ties between the two nations, which are both treaty allies of the United States. On Wednesday, Koizumi will be among representatives from 17 countries, including India and Australia, who will travel to Paoay, in northwestern Philippines, for an annual combat exercise called Balikatan in which U.S., Philippine, Japanese and Canadian firepower will be used in a mock allied assault to sink a ship about 40 kilometers (25 miles) off the coast.