Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BEIJING (AP) - Chinese President Xi Jinping said Wednesday that the stability and certainty of China-Russia relations are particularly "precious" in the face of an international landscape intertwined with change and chaos. During a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Beijing, Xi said the strong vitality and exemplary significance of the friendship treaty between the two countries stand out even more under such a backdrop. Xi said China and Russia need to use closer and stronger strategic collaboration to defend the legitimate interests of both nations and safeguard the unity of Global South countries, the state broadcaster CCTV reported.

CAIRO (AP) - Pakistan's army chief arrived Wednesday for talks in Tehran in the latest diplomatic move to ease tensions in the Middle East and arrange a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran after almost seven weeks of war. The Pakistani military said the delegation also included the country's interior minister and other senior security officials. The group is "part of the ongoing mediation efforts," the military said, but it gave no details. Pakistan has emerged as a key mediator in the conflict after it hosted rare direct talks between the U.S. and Iran in Islamabad, a move authorities said helped narrow differences between the two sides.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - More than 17,000 American and Filipino military personnel will participate in one of their largest annual combat exercises in the Philippines that underscore the United States' staunch commitment to Asia despite its preoccupation with the Middle East, a U.S. military official said Tuesday. During the April 20-May 8 maneuvers, called the Balikatan, Japanese forces will fire a missile in a ship-sinking exercise in northwestern Philippine waters facing the disputed South China Sea. Japan's defense chief has been invited to witness the live-fire drill, Philippine military officials said. The large-scale combat drills between the U.S. and Philippines, which are longtime treaty allies, will expand this year to include other friendly forces, including those from Japan, France and Canada, which have signed visiting forces agreements with Manila, the Philippine military said.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The woman was furious. Standing in the muddy lane sloping up the hill in one of the Afghan capital's poorer neighborhoods, she pulled her headscarf aside to reveal thick grey-white hair. "You see this hair? Even I with my white hair, I have to carry water," said Marofa, 52, a resident of Kabul's Deh Mazang neighborhood who, like many Afghans, goes by one name. "These containers are heavy. We have no strength left in our backs, no strength left in our legs." A mosque down the hill has its own well that provides free water, but it is undrinkable - yellow and brackish - and has to be carried.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - At least 250 people, including Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals, were either feared dead or missing after a boat capsized in the Andaman Sea recently on the way to Malaysia, according to the U.N. refugee and migration agencies. While details remained sketchy, Bangladesh Coast Guard spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Sabbir Alam Suzan told The Associated Press on Wednesday that nine people, including three Rohingya and six Bangladeshis, were rescued on April 9. Suzan said that the Bangladesh flag carrier M.T. Meghna Pride rescued the nine people when the crew found them floating at sea after the capsizing.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - An American YouTuber who sparked national outrage in South Korea for provocative stunts, including dancing on a statue honoring victims of wartime sexual slavery, was sentenced to six months in prison by a Seoul court on Wednesday. The Seoul Western District Court found Ramsey Khalid Ismael, a self-proclaimed internet "troll" known online as Johnny Somali, guilty of multiple charges, including obstruction of business and distributing fabricated sexually explicit content. Prosecutors had sought a three-year term for Ismael, who also faced accusations of harassing staff and visitors at an amusement park, disrupting a convenience store by blasting music and upending noodles onto a table, causing similar scenes on a bus and subway, and distributing non-consensual deepfake videos.

BEIJING (AP) - Chinese President Xi Jinping called for prioritizing infrastructure connectivity with Vietnam and more cooperation on emerging fields like artificial intelligence and semiconductors during a meeting Wednesday with Vietnam's newly elected president, the state broadcaster said. Vietnamese President To Lam's four-day trip to China, which began on Tuesday, is his first overseas trip since he was elected last week. That signaled Lam's foreign policy priorities and stronger ties between the two Communist nations. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that Xi said defending the socialist system and the Communist Party's ruling position is the greatest common strategic interest between the two parties during their meeting.

Communities across parts of Asia marked traditional new years and spring harvests with traditions shaped by faith and spring harvests. In Cambodia, farmers gathered to receive a blessing of holy water from a monk during the Khmer New Year, as they enjoy the fruits of their labor before the rainy season begins. In Bangladesh, the streets filled with color for Pohela Boishakh, the Bengali New Year, where processions and music signaled a new beginning. At dawn in British-era Ramna Park, an annual concert opened with morning ragas. Later, students at University of Dhaka led a procession with colorful banners and sculptures marked with folk motifs.

BEIJING (AP) - The leaders of China and Spain on Tuesday pledged to work to safeguard multilateralism at a time of conflicts including the war in Iran, with Chinese President Xi Jinping saying the countries should "oppose the world's retrogression to the law of the jungle." Xi said they should "jointly safeguard genuine multilateralism," strengthen communication and cooperate closely, during a reception for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez at the Great Hall of the People. Sánchez agreed and said China and Spain "can contribute to finding solutions to the various trade tensions that exist, to the geopolitical difficulties and complexities of today's world, to the wars, to the environmental and social challenges that afflict the world." Sánchez is on his fourth trip in just over three years to the world's second-largest economy.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Afghan migrants in Poland face forced deportations and fear for their lives at the hands of the Taliban-run government back home, concerns that rights groups say have soared after Poland last year moved to partially suspend the right to seek asylum. Rights groups warn the measure, introduced in March 2025, is now being overused by authorities. It's based on an amended Polish law that imposed temporary restrictions on the right to apply for international protection at the border with Belarus for those who crossed into the NATO and European Union member state illegally. "I tried more than a billion times to seek safety," an Afghan in his 20s, currently in a detention center for migrants in eastern Poland, said over the phone.