Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodia's government has filed notice under a U.N. agreement on maritime law for compulsory conciliation of a sea border dispute with neighboring Thailand, Prime Minister Hun Manet said Tuesday. At issue is territory claimed by both that is believed to contain large, exploitable amounts of natural gas and other hydrocarbons. The decision to take the matter to the the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, comes after Thailand last month terminated a 25-year-old memorandum of understanding with Cambodia meant to resolve overlapping maritime claims. Thailand unilaterally revoked the agreement in May after relations between the countries worsened last year after major armed clashes over their land border.

TOKYO (AP) - A bear injured four people in a Japanese residential area on Tuesday in the latest attack in an area of the country where the animals have increasingly encroached on the human population in recent years. Japan's Environment Ministry said a record 13 people were killed in more than 230 attacks by bears in 2025. Police and fire department officials rushed to the Sasakino district of Fukushima in northeastern Japan after receiving an emergency call from the Fukushima Steel Works reporting bear attacks on two employees. Security camera footage shows a black bear appearing and chasing an employee near the entrance.

ŌAMARU, New Zealand (AP) - The woman in the pink frock coat announced herself as steam curled from a strange brass contraption on her back. "I am Lady Sarsaparilla Ovabyte, of the Coventry Ovabytes," she said. "We are purveyors of fine cordials." Her companion peered through glasses made from fused-together forks. "Captain Bob McSpoon, inventrepreneur," he said. On a Victorian-era street in rural Ōamaru, New Zealand, Ovabyte and McSpoon, who usually go by Juliet and Greg Thorn, weren't the only ones wearing goggles or forks, or emitting steam. They were in the small town to attend the annual steampunk festival, a four-day love letter to being as odd as possible, which draws thousands of visitors from around the country and abroad.

BANGKOK (AP) - More than a dozen rescue and charity groups used excavation machinery to recover bodies Monday after a massive blast from stored mining explosives in northeastern Myanmar. The explosion occurred at midday Sunday in Kaungtup village, Namhkam township in Shan state near the Chinese border. The Ta'ang National Liberation Army, the ethnic rebel group that controls the area, said in a statement Monday evening that the death toll from the blast has reached 43, including seven children. Previous estimates from rescue workers had ranged from 38 to 45. Determining the exact toll has been complicated because bodies were blown apart by the force of the explosion.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A Philippine senator was arrested Monday on a charge of plunder after he allegedly pocketed a huge kickback in a flood-control project. It is the latest crisis to hit the country's Senate, the upper chamber where a battle for control of the country's political future is playing out. The special Sandiganbayan anti-graft court had initially issued a warrant for Sen. Jinggoy Estrada's arrest Friday on a graft charge. He surrendered but was soon released on bail. The new charge for which he was arrested Monday carries no right to bail. Estrada, 63, has strongly denied allegations mainly by a former government public works engineer, that he received more than 570 million pesos ($9.3 million) in kickbacks from flood control projects.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Authorities in the eastern Caribbean island of St. Kitts and Nevis say they have found the body of a Chinese cruise ship passenger who went missing nearly a week ago. Police said in a statement Monday that search crews found the body of 33-year-old Wang Zyuan. He went missing on May 27 while hiking the Mount Liamuiga trail on St. Kitts by himself. Zyuan had called 911 that afternoon to report he was lost, but police said they lost contact with him. Police did not provide other details including cause of death, saying only that the investigation is ongoing.

NEW DELHI (AP) - India said it will continue engaging with Myanmar after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks Monday with the leader of the country's military-backed government, despite Western sanctions imposed after the military seized power in 2021. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told reporters in New Delhi that India's policy is "not intended to be a commentary on the internal political arrangements" in Myanmar and that New Delhi believes engagement is the best way forward. Western nations have sought to isolate Myanmar's military rulers since they ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a 2021 coup that triggered a crackdown on opponents and a nationwide conflict and humanitarian crisis.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - An explosion and fire occurred at a defense company in South Korea on Monday, killing five people and injuring two others, officials said. The deadly incident happened at a worksite run by Hanwha Aerospace in the South Korean city of Daejeon. Other details, including the cause of the explosion, were not immediately available. Emergency official Yoon Seong-su said that the area is a government-designated security facility. Local medical official Kim Ju-yeon said one of the two injured people was in a critical condition. She said authorities haven't yet identified the dead people. The site is one of Hanwha Aerospace's key facilities where it develops large-sized propellants and surface-to-surface weapons systems, according to Yonhap news agency.

BANGKOK (AP) - Rescue workers in Laos searched Monday for an alternative passage into a flooded cave where two people are believed to have been trapped for nearly two weeks after heavy rainfall flooded the main entrance, making it impassable. The two people remain unaccounted for since a search and rescue operation began last month in a rugged area of Xaisomboun province, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Vientiane. Five of the seven people initially trapped inside the cave have been rescued. Malaysian diver Lee Kian Lie, who is involved in the operation, said workers were pumping water out of the cave.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia on Monday began enforcing rules barring millions of children younger than 16 from having social media accounts, joining a growing global effort to tighten safety protections. Not all families approved, and critics raised concerns about data protection and potential surveillance. Social media platforms with at least 8 million users in Malaysia, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, must implement age-verification systems and block users under 16 from creating accounts. Malaysia's Communications and Multimedia Commission said age verification for existing users will be rolled out over the next six months. Users identified as under 16 will have a month to download or transfer data, including photos and videos, before restrictions or other actions are applied.