Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

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.

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.

The new year arrived in many forms across parts of Asia on Tuesday, as communities marked the day 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.

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.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised more missile tests from his prized new warship over the weekend, state media said Tuesday, as he pledged to boost the navy's operational capabilities with his growing collection of nuclear-capable weapons. North Korea's official newspaper Rodong Sinmun said Kim on Sunday observed the launches of two strategic cruise missiles and three anti-ship missiles from his 5,000-ton-class destroyer, the Choe Hyon, first unveiled in April 2025. The cruise missiles flew for more than two hours and the anti-ship missiles for more than 30 minutes along pre-set trajectories over the country's western seas before accurately striking their targets, the newspaper said.

A super typhoon with ferocious winds and relentless rains was battering a group of remote U.S. islands in the Pacific Ocean, forcing residents to seek shelter from flying tree limbs and collapsed buildings. The center of the Super Typhoon Sinlaku pounded the Northern Mariana Islands early Wednesday local time, the National Weather Service said. It's the strongest tropical typhoon on Earth so far this year and was packing sustained winds of up to 150 mph (240 kph) that were likely to bring widespread power outages to the islands, home to roughly 50,000 people. Some areas already were seeing extensive flooding. "It's hitting us hard," Mayor Ramon "RB" Jose Blas Camacho of Saipan, told The Associated Press late Tuesday.

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.

HONG KONG (AP) - The founder of the debt-ridden real estate developer China Evergrande pleaded guilty to a series of charges, including illegal absorption of public deposits, fraud and corporate bribery, according to a mainland Chinese court statement Tuesday. Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, was detained in China in September 2023 on suspicion of committing crimes. Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court said in a statement on WeChat that Hui expressed remorse in court during a trial between Monday and Tuesday. The court will deliver a judgment at a later date. Hui also was accused of illegal lending, illegal use of funds and disclosure of material information in violation of rules, among other charges, the court said.

PATNA, India (AP) - An explosion at a privately-owned power plant in India 's central Chhattisgarh state on Tuesday killed at least nine workers and injured 15 others, police said. The blast occurred in a boiler tube at a power plant operated by Vedanta Limited, in Chhattisgarh state's Sakti district, senior police officer Praful Thakur said. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. Officials said rescue teams were searching the blast site for any trapped workers. In a statement, the plant's management said its immediate priority was to provide medical care to those affected and that it was working closely with local authorities.

The Committee to Protect Journalists and five other international press freedom and human rights groups have urged Kazakhstan's president to drop criminal charges against several journalists placed under house arrest and revise the country's legislation to ensure press freedom. In their letter sent Monday to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, they raised concern over what they described as a "recent spate of arrests of journalists and an escalating pattern of harassment of independent media in Kazakhstan." The letter drew attention to the cases of prominent independent journalists Gulnara Bazhkenova, Amir Kasenov, Aset Matayev and Botagoz Omarova, who have been placed under house arrests pending trials, noting that a "rising tide of harassment is rendering the work of independent Kazakh media increasingly difficult." The groups urged Tokayev to ensure that all journalists prosecuted for their work are released and the charges against them dropped.