Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar began a second round of voting Sunday in its first general election since the military takeover five years ago. Voting expanded to additional townships including some areas affected by the civil war between the military government and its armed opponents. Critics say the polls organized by the military government are neither free nor fair and are an effort by the military to legitimize its rule after seizing power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Tom Andrews, a special rapporteur working with the U.N. human rights office, urged the international community Thursday to reject what he called a "sham election," saying the first round exposed coercion, violence and political exclusion.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Supporters of Nepal's deposed royal family rallied in the capital on Sunday demanding the restoration of the monarchy ahead of March elections. It was the first rally by supporters of ousted King Gyanendra since a wave of violent demonstrations by disgruntled youth in September installed an interim government that set fresh parliamentary elections in March. "We love our king. Bring back the king," the rally participants chanted around the statue of King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who started the Shah dynasty in the 18th century. The last Shah king - Gyanendra - was forced to step down and the monarchy was abolished in 2008, making Nepal a republic.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - A gas cylinder explosion early Sunday after a wedding reception at a home in Pakistan's capital killed at least eight people, including the bride and groom, police and officials said. The blast occurred as guests who had gathered to celebrate the couple were sleeping at the house, causing part of the house to collapse, according to the Islamabad police. Seven people were injured. In a statement, police said the explosion occurred in a residential area in the heart of the city. A government administrator, Sahibzada Yousaf, said authorities were alerted about the blast early Sunday and officers are still investigating.

TOKYO, Japan (AP) - Participants gather at the Teppuzu Inari Shrine in Tokyo to bathe in ice-cold water to purify their souls and pray for good health during a New Year's ritual. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Rescuers detected signs of life in an avalanche of garbage that killed at least four workers and left more than 30 others missing Thursday in a central Philippines landfill and plan to intensify search efforts, an official said Saturday. Twelve workers have been rescued with injuries from the huge mound of garbage that collapsed among the low-slung buildings of a waste management facility in the village of Binaliw in Cebu City, authorities said. Dozens of rescuers including police, firefighters and disaster-response personnel have raced against time to find more survivors in dangerous conditions in the rubble of twisted tin roofs, iron bars and combustible heaps of garbage and debris.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea's military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, warning Saturday that South Korea will face consequences for its "unpardonable hysteria." South Korea quickly denied the accusation. But the development is likely to further dim prospects for efforts by South Korea's liberal government to restore ties with North Korea. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea's border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North's Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by state media.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - An avalanche of garbage and debris buried or trapped workers in low-slung buildings at a landfill in the Philippines, killing two people, injuring a dozen and leaving 36 others missing, officials said Friday. Thirteen people were rescued alive overnight, but one of them later died, authorities said. A second body was discovered later. Rescue teams were searching for three dozen people still trapped after the mountain of garbage, earth and debris collapsed on them Thursday afternoon in the village of Binaliw in Cebu city, officials and police said. The dead and missing were all workers in the landfill and waste management facility, officials said.

BANGKOK (AP) - The United States, which played a major role in ending border clashes last year between Thailand and Cambodia, will be providing $45 million in aid packages to the two Southeast Asian countries to help ensure regional stability and prosperity, a senior U.S. State Department official said Friday. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Michael DeSombre made the announcement in an online media briefing in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, where he was meeting with senior Thai officials to discuss the implementation of last October's ceasefire, also known as the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord. Longstanding competing claims to territory along the Thai-Cambodian border was the root cause of the fighting.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A massive crowd of mostly barefoot Filipino Catholics joined an annual procession of a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ in the Philippine capital Friday, with some using the gathering to express outrage over a corruption scandal involving influential legislators. After a midnight mass joined by tens of thousands of worshippers at a seaside park in Manila, the wooden Jesus the Nazarene statue was placed on a four-wheel open carriage before dawn at the start of the procession that Manila Mayor Isko Moreno claimed could draw millions of devotees throughout the day and into the late night.

BANGKOK (AP) - Chen Zhi boasted of pulling in $30 million a day, prosecutors in the United States said - a suspected criminal mastermind and onetime internet cafe manager who authorities say presented himself as a legitimate businessman. But in reality, they say, he ran online gambling sites, scams and other illegal businesses from a sprawling headquarters along the Cambodian coast. On Thursday, Chen was in custody in China, at the center of what authorities at the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said was a "major achievement" in law enforcement cooperation between them and the Cambodian government. The ministry said that Chen was in its custody and that it soon would issue arrest warrants for key players in his network.