Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

HONG KONG (AP) - A Hong Kong court heard arguments Monday about the sentencing of democracy advocate and onetime-media magnate Jimmy Lai, whose conviction under a national security law could land him in prison for the rest of his life. Lai founded the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper and was an outspoken critic of China's ruling Communist Party. He was arrested in 2020 under the law imposed by Beijing following massive anti-government protests that rocked Hong Kong the year before. In December, he was found guilty of conspiring with others to collude with foreign forces and conspiracy to publish seditious articles. His conviction raised concerns about the curtailing of press freedom in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

NUUK, Greenland (AP) - China said Monday that the United States shouldn't use other countries as a "pretext" to pursue its interests in Greenland and said that its activities in the Arctic comply with international law. The comment by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson came in response to a question at a regular daily briefing. U.S. President Donald Trump has said that he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous region of NATO ally Denmark, to prevent Russia or China from taking it over. Tensions have grown between Washington, Denmark and Greenland this month as Trump and his administration push the issue and the White House considers a range of options, including military force, to acquire the vast Arctic island.

HONG KONG (AP) - From 18th place to 140th. That's how much Hong Kong's ranking plunged in a global press freedom index over some 20 years. Behind the decline are the shutdown of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, more red lines for journalists and increasing self-censorship across the territory. The erosion of press freedom parallels a broader curtailment of the city's Western-style civil liberties since 2020, when Beijing imposed a national security law to eradicate challenges to its rule. Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai was convicted in December under the security law, facing up to life in prison. Hearings began Monday for Lai and other defendants in the case to argue for a shorter sentence.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Myanmar heard accusations that it is responsible for genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority at the top court of the United Nations, as long-awaited hearings began on Monday. The West African country of Gambia first filed the case at the International Court of Justice in 2019, arguing a so-called "clearance operation" by Myanmar's military in 2017 violated the 1948 Genocide Convention. The Southeast Asian country, which has since been taken over by the military, has denied the allegations. In his opening statements, Gambian Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said his country brought the case out of "a sense of responsibility" after its own experience with a military government.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk's company xAI, as concerns grew among global authorities that it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images. The moves reflect growing scrutiny of generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text and concern that existing safeguards are failing to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk's social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children.

BEIJING (AP) - A leader of the Canadian government is visiting China this week for the first time in nearly a decade, a bid to rebuild his country's fractured relations with the world's second-largest economy - and reduce Canada's dependence on the United States, its neighbor and until recently one of its most supportive and unswerving allies. The push by Prime Minster Mark Carney, who arrives Wednesday, is part of a major rethink as ties sour with the United States - the world's No. 1 economy and long the largest trading partner for Canada by far. Carney aims to double Canada's non-U.S.

NEW DELHI (AP) - The U.S. and India are actively engaged on a bilateral trade agreement to deepen economic and strategic partnership, the U.S. ambassador-designate to New Delhi said Monday. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India has emerged as the second biggest buyer of Russian crude after China, upsetting the Trump administration, which criticized the purchases as helping fuel Moscow's war machine. In August, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, bringing the combined tariffs imposed by the United States to a steep 50%.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz met on Monday in western Gujarat state to push for deeper economic and security ties between the South Asian nation and Europe's largest economy. Modi and Merz held talks in the city of Gandhinagar, where the two countries signed various agreements to enhance cooperation in the defense sector, skill development, health and education, as both nations seek to reduce dependence on China and bolster economic ties. After the bilateral talks, Modi noted that Germany is India's most important trading partner in the European Union and said both leaders were seeking to expand those ties.

TOKYO (AP) - Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will host South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in her hometown on Tuesday, in a summit meant to stabilize ties between the two sometime-rivals as Japan's worries about Chinese power in Asia grows. The meeting is part of a swirl of diplomatic activity in a region with growing tensions. A week ago Lee visited China, where leader Xi Jinping sought to cozy up to Seoul amid tensions between Japan and China after Takaichi said in November that potential Chinese military action against Taiwan, the island democracy Beijing claims as its own, could justify Japanese intervention.

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) - Young women in brightly colored long-sleeved kimonos and young men in formal suits or traditional hakama and haori gathered Monday at Yokohama Arena to mark Coming-of-Age Day, an annual celebration for those who have turned 20. The ceremonies, which are a widely observed public rite of passage in Japan, lasted less than an hour. Before and after the events, young adults gathered near the arena entrance, sidewalks and nearby train stations, greeting friends they had not seen for a long time. Smartphones were raised repeatedly as participants took pictures of each other and themselves. Among the many participants wearing black and navy suits, a large number of young men chose traditional hakama trousers and haori jackets.