Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's military, backed by artillery and air power, struck more military installations deep inside Afghanistan overnight after Pakistan said it was in "open war" with its eastern neighbor. Pakistan on Saturday claimed more than 330 Afghan forces had been killed since fighting erupted Thursday night during a broad Afghan cross-border attack into Pakistan. Afghanistan rejected the figures as false. The casualty figures provided by either side could not be independently confirmed. The fighting was in response to Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan last Sunday. Pakistan said it was targeting the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, or TTP. The group is separate but closely allied with Afghanistan's ruling Taliban.

Pakistan's defense minister says there is a state of "open war" with Afghanistan. Both countries have a long and complicated history harking back to Pakistan's creation in 1947. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan is in an "open war" with Afghanistan, Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif said Friday, with fighting escalating into the most serious armed confrontation between the two uneasy neighbors since a Qatari-mediated ceasefire in October. The two countries share a long, complicated history harking back to Pakistan's creation in 1947. Bound by traditional social, ethnic and economic ties, relations have nonetheless been volatile and have often descended into armed conflict. Over the last few months, the two have occasionally skirmished along their winding, porous frontier as tension has escalated. The latest confrontation is by far the most serious.

BEIJING (AP) - China's legislature has dismissed 19 members, including nine who are military officers, one week ahead of the start of its annual meeting. The late Thursday announcement did not say why the deputies had been removed, but such removals are generally tied to corruption investigations. An anti-corruption campaign launched by Chinese leader Xi Jinping shows no sign of letting up after more than a decade. The military has been targeted in recent years, including the removal of its top general last month, as Xi seeks to reform and modernize the armed forces. Analysts say the campaign is also a way for Xi, who is in his 14th year in power, to remove potential rivals and ensure loyalty among his subordinates.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gifted new sniper rifles to top government and military officials following a weeklong ruling party congress celebrating his leadership, with state media highlighting an image of his teenage daughter taking aim at a shooting range as her increasingly prominent appearances fuel speculation Kim is grooming her as a future leader. Kim presented the rifles to senior party and military officials on Friday, calling them a sign of his "absolute trust" and gratitude for their commitment over the past five years since the last Workers' Party congress in 2021, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - A new penal code issued by decree in Afghanistan sets harsher punishments for the mistreatment of animals than for domestic violence against women and solidifies into law inequality based on gender and social status. The decree, which was signed by Afghanistan's Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada in January, "defines several crimes and punishments that contravene Afghanistan's international legal obligations," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said Thursday in remarks to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. He urged Afghan authorities to rescind the decree. Comprised of 119 articles, the 60-page Decree No. 12 lays out penalties for women who visit their relatives without their husband's permission, and allows husbands and the heads of households to determine and mete out punishment in their own homes.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - A former rapper who ran Kathmandu as a mayor. The young leader of Nepal's oldest political party. And a communist veteran politician hoping to return to power after being ousted in youth-led protests in which dozens were killed last year. They are the three leading contenders as Nepal heads into a crucial nationwide election, the first since the protests led to the fall of former Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli's government in September. Whoever prevails will become Nepal's 16th prime minister in less than two decades, underscoring the recurring political instability that has marked the Himalayan nation since the monarchy was abolished in 2008.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Mumbai on Friday for his first official visit to India, seeking to reset relations and deepen trade cooperation with New Delhi after ties deteriorated in recent years under his predecessor. During his four-day trip, Carney is set to hold talks with business leaders and will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday. India's foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday that the meeting between the two leaders would offer an opportunity to reaffirm "the positive momentum and shared vision" for a forward-looking partnership. Talks between Modi and Carney are expected to cover cooperation in trade and investment, energy, critical minerals and technology, the ministry said.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country's cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability. At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom. The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.

NEW YORK (AP) - A blood-red moon will soon grace the skies for a total lunar eclipse - and there won't be another until late 2028. The spectacle will be visible Tuesday morning from North America, Central America and the western part of South America. Australia and eastern Asia can catch it Tuesday night. Partial stages of the eclipse with small bites taken out of the moon can be seen from Central Asia and much of South America. Africa and Europe will be shut out. Solar and lunar eclipses happen due to a precise alignment of the sun, moon and Earth.