Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BEIJING (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived Tuesday night in China for meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping less than a week after U.S. President Donald Trump wrapped up his own trip to Beijing. Putin's plane landed in Beijing, where he was greeted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and an honor guard, as well as youths in light blue shirts waving Chinese and Russian flags and chanting, "Welcome, welcome, warmly welcome!" His two-day visit is likely to be closely watched as Beijing seeks to maintain stable relations with the United States while also preserving strong ties with Russia. The Kremlin has said Putin and Xi plan to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries, but also "key international and regional issues." The visit coincides with the 25th anniversary of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship signed in 2001.

MALE, Maldives (AP) - Divers on Tuesday recovered the bodies of two of the four remaining Italians who died deep inside an underwater cave in an atoll in the Maldives last week, a spokesperson for the Indian Ocean nation said, while describing "very challenging" conditions like poor visibility and strong currents. The bodies were located on Monday as searches resumed after a suspension following the death of a local military diver during a perilous retrieval attempt. The bodies were at a depth of around 60 meters (200 feet), twice as deep as the legal depth for recreational diving in the island nation.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi held their fourth meeting in about six months on Tuesday, underscoring the need for greater cooperation between the historical Asian rivals amid global challenges, including the Iran war. Lee hosted Takaichi in his hometown of Andong, a southeastern South Korean city famous for its centuries-old traditional folk village, a UNESCO World Heritage site. In January, the two met in Takaichi's hometown of Nara, an ancient Japanese capital. The meetings marked the first time sitting leaders of the two countries have visited each other's hometowns.

HONG KONG (AP) - A Hong Kong court on Tuesday concluded final arguments in a national security trial for two former organizers of the city's vigils remembering the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Judge Alex Lee, one of the three government-vetted judges, said that they hoped to deliver a verdict in July for Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, two former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. For decades, the now-defunct alliance organized the only large-scale public commemoration in China that attracted tens of thousands annually until the event was banned in 2020 during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand's government will lay off nearly 9,000 workers, amounting to 14% of public sector jobs, by mid-2029 as part of a bid to slash billions in spending, Finance Minister Nicola Willis said Tuesday. Willis said her administration would also enact three consecutive years of budget cuts for most public agencies, "significantly reduce" the number of departments, and demand faster uptake of AI technology across the sector. The cutbacks would save 2.4 billion New Zealand dollars ($1.4 billion) during that period, the minister told a business audience in New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland. Many public servants live and work in the capital city, Wellington.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - A Pakistani court on Tuesday sentenced a man to death for killing a teenage social media influencer outside her home last year when she rejected his offer of friendship. Islamabad Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka announced the conviction and verdict for Umar Hayat, who was arrested in June after the killing of 17-year-old Sana Yousuf. Police said investigators traced and arrested Hayat, 22, who also creates content on TikTok, after reviewing CCTV footage that showed him leaving the street where Yousuf lived shortly after the shooting. The killing sparked nationwide condemnation. Yousuf had a wide following in Pakistan. After her death, hundreds of thousands of users began following her account on TikTok, among the country's most popular social media platforms.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - When Australian farmer Rhys Smoker announced he'd found a live frog in a bag of lettuce, his housemates didn't believe him. Smoker had been preparing a steak and salad dinner on Saturday for the three people who share his house in Esperance in Western Australia state when he spotted the frog among the leaves inside the sealed plastic bag he'd bought from a supermarket, housemate Laura Jones said on Tuesday. "He's like, 'Oh Bro, there's a frog in the lettuce.' And we're like, 'No, you're taking the mick, like that's not real,'" Jones told AP. Taking the mick is a slang term for attempting to fool someone.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Philippine Senate convened as an impeachment court Monday for the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte over criminal charges, in a time of deep divisions that erupted into an exchange of gunfire last week in the chamber. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Duterte last Monday over alleged unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and a public threat to have the president assassinated if she herself were killed due to their political disputes. The vice president, who has announced her plan to seek the presidency in 2028, has denied the charges but has refused to answer the allegations in detail.

NEW YORK (AP) - U.S. prosecutors asked a judge Monday to dismiss criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who had been accused of duping Wall Street investors who poured billions of dollars into a massive solar project in India. Adani, one of the world's richest people, was accused in 2024 of paying massive bribes to ensure the project's success. He was indicted in federal court in Brooklyn on charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud charges in connection with a lucrative arrangement for Adani Green Energy Ltd. and another firm to sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government to light millions of homes and businesses.

MALE, Maldives (AP) - Italy's Foreign Ministry said Monday that rescuers have located the bodies of four Italian divers deep inside an underwater cave in an atoll in the Maldives, four days after they were reported missing. Searches had resumed on Monday after being suspended following the death of a local military diver during a perilous mission to try to reach them. The government of the Indian Ocean island nation confirmed the bodies were spotted in the innermost part of the cave by three Finnish diving experts, supported by the Maldives police and the military. "As was previously thought, the four bodies were found inside the cave, not only inside the cave but well inside the cave into the third segment of the cave, which is the largest part," said Ahmed Shaam, a Maldives government spokesman.