Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan's ties with the United States are "rock solid," the island's president said Thursday, hours after President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke on the phone about topics that included the self-ruled island's future. "The Taiwan-U.S. relationship is rock solid, and all cooperation projects will continue uninterrupted," Taiwan President Lai Ching-te told reporters during a visit to textile merchants in western Taiwan. The comments came after Xi, in his first call with Trump since November, warned the U.S. president to be "prudent" about supplying arms to the self-ruled island, according to a readout of their call provided by China's Foreign Ministry.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - An Indian teacher and activist known for creating hundreds of learning centers and painting educational murals across the walls of slums won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize on Thursday. Rouble Nagi accepted the award at the World Governments Summit in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, an annual event that draws leaders from across the globe. Her Rouble Nagi Art Foundation has established more than 800 learning centers across India. They aim to have children who never attended school begin to have structured learning. They also teach children already in school. Nagi also paints murals that teach literacy, science, math and history, among other topics.

MOSCOW (AP) - The Kremlin said Thursday it regretted the expiration of the last remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United States that left no caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century. Arms control experts say the termination of the New START Treaty could set the stage for an unconstrained nuclear arms race. Russian President Vladimir Putin last year declared his readiness to stick to the treaty's limits for another year if Washington followed suit, but U.S. President Donald Trump has been noncommittal about extending it. He has indicated that he wants China to be a part of a new pact - something Beijing has rebuffed.

GUWAHATI, India (AP) - An explosion ripped through an illegal coal mine in India's northeastern state of Meghalaya on Thursday, killing at least 18 workers and injuring another, authorities said. Police officer Vikash Kumar said rescue teams recovered 18 bodies from the site of the explosion in a remote area of the state's East Jaintia Hills district. One injured worker was pulled from the mine and taken to a hospital for treatment, he said. It was not immediately clear how many workers were in the mine at the time of the explosion or what caused the blast. In India's east and northeast regions, workers extract coal in hazardous conditions in small "rat hole" mines that are narrow pits in the ground, usually meant for one person to go down.

BANGKOK (AP) - Widespread backsliding on protections of basic rights is taking a toll on Asian economies as growing inequality leaves the poor vulnerable to labor abuses and scams, a report by Human Rights Watch says. The report released Thursday says many governments in the region have grown more hostile to efforts to protect basic human rights as an authoritarian wave has swept across the world in the past year. It urges "rights respecting democracies" to form alliances with civil society groups to counter that trend and help to fill a vacuum left by the U.S. withdrawal of foreign aid and participation in international organizations, such as the World Health Organization, under President Donald Trump.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia has announced an immediate and full ban on the importation of electronic waste, as the government vowed the country would not be a "dumping ground" for the world's waste. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission said in a statement late Wednesday that all electronic waste, commonly known as e-waste, would be reclassified under the "absolute prohibition" category effective immediately. This removes the discretionary power previously given to the Department of Environment to grant exemptions for importation of certain e-waste. Environmental advocates have long urged stronger action. E-waste - discarded electronic products such as computers, phones and appliances - can contain toxic substances and heavy metals including lead, mercury and cadmium that pollute soil and water resources if improperly processed or dumped.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the situation in Iran in a wide-ranging call as the U.S. administration pushes Beijing and others to further isolate Tehran. Trump said the two leaders also discussed a broad range of other critical issues in the U.S.-China relationship, including trade and Taiwan and his plans to visit Beijing in April. "The relationship with China, and my personal relationship with President Xi, is an extremely good one, and we both realize how important it is to keep it that way," Trump said in a social media posting about the call.

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a video call Wednesday to discuss the burgeoning economic cooperation between Moscow and Beijing and their relations with the United States. The Kremlin leader accepted an invitation to visit China twice this year. The call came amid a series of meetings between Xi and Western leaders who have sought to boost ties with China despite differences over the conflict in Ukraine. European leaders have pressed China for years to end its support for Russia even as Beijing has become the No. 1 trading partner for Moscow, which seeks relief from Western economic sanctions.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it wants to create a critical minerals trading bloc with its allies and partners, using tariffs to maintain minimum prices and defend against China's stranglehold on the key elements needed for everything from fighter jets to smartphones. Vice President JD Vance said the U.S.-China trade war over the past year exposed how dependent most countries are on the critical minerals that Beijing largely dominates, so collective action is needed now to give the West self-reliance. "We want members to form a trading bloc among allies and partners, one that guarantees American access to American industrial might while also expanding production across the entire zone," Vance said at the opening of a meeting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted with officials from several dozen European, Asian and African nations.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Dipu Chandra Das, a 27-year-old Hindu garment worker, was accused in December by several Muslim colleagues of making derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. The accusations drew a violent mob to his workplace. He was beaten to death, his body hung from a tree and set on fire. Across Bangladesh, Hindus watched the recorded images on their phones with dread. Protests erupted in Dhaka and other cities, with demonstrators demanding justice and greater protections. The interim government, led by Muhammad Yunus, ordered an investigation, and police said that about a dozen people were arrested. But human rights groups and Hindu leaders say the killing wasn't an isolated act, but part of a wider surge in attacks on the minority community, fueled by rising polarization, the reemergence of Islamists and what they describe as a growing culture of impunity.