Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BANGKOK (AP) - A blast on Sunday at a building in northeastern Myanmar said to have been storing explosives for mining has killed more than 45 people, according to rescue workers and independent media reports. About 70 other people were injured in the explosion that took place around noon in the village of Kaungtup, in Namhkam township. The area, located about 3 kilometers (2 miles) south of the Chinese border, is under the control of the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, an ethnic armed group which has engaged in sporadic fighting against Myanmar's central government. A rescue worker who rushed to the site of the blast told The Associated Press that 46 bodies, including six children, had been recovered by Sunday evening and taken for cremation.

BANGKOK (AP) - Heavy rains threatened to delay the search for two people missing in a flooded cave in Laos on Sunday, after the rescue of five other people who were trapped underground for over a week. Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, one of the first international rescuers to arrive at the site, told The Associated Press that rains had filled the cave up to the second chamber, preventing divers from entering the cave until pumps can lower the water level. Making the situation even more difficult, a drainage pump broke down, said fellow diver Yoshitaka Isaji of Japan. The seven villagers reportedly entered the cave last week to look for valuable minerals such as gold before being trapped by a flash flood that blocked their way out.

SINGAPORE (AP) - American allies stressed the need for unity at a top defense conference Sunday, saying that as threats increasingly transcend regions, cooperation is more important than ever, even as Washington has become more critical of its traditional friends. U.S. President Donald Trump has been extremely harsh about NATO, and the comments at the Shangri-La conference came the day after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth again chided Western European allies at the forum for not devoting enough resources to defense. Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi praised Hegseth for his commitment to the Indo-Pacific, but at the same time stressed the continued need for strong coalitions globally.

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) - When Senegalese farmer Abou Sow first watched U.S. missiles strike Iran on social media, he had a sinking feeling it would soon affect agriculture in the West African nation. Since the war began on Feb. 28, fertilizer prices have risen by 40%. Sow was better prepared than most. Eight years ago, he gave up chemical fertilizers for organic compost and other natural sources. He now rallies farmers in Senegal to buy manure from local herders and gives advice on how to make a rich compost, picking out wriggling worms - a healthy sign. "We can't afford to wait for a ceasefire," Sow said.

BANGKOK (AP) - With summer around the corner, soaring prices and other complications from the war with Iran are straining the tourism-dependent economies of countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand and Vietnam. The region's peak tourist summer season is at risk as elevated jet fuel costs coupled with ceasefire uncertainties prompt flight cancellations and higher ticket prices. Tourism in Asia has yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, many countries are coping with the war's repercussions for global energy supplies and prices, which hit Asia first and hardest. Some families are pulling back on travel as visiting gas stations and grocery stores gets more expensive worldwide.

BEIJING (AP) - A collapse occurred in an illegal mining operation in China on Sunday, killing five people and injuring one other person, Chinese official news agency Xinhua reported. The incident took place in Huize County in Yunnan province in southwest China at about 4:30 a.m., Xinhua reported. The news outlet did not specify what kind of mine it was. Rescuers pulled out all six people trapped at the site in Baiwu village and sent them to the hospital, but five of them succumbed to their injuries. The survivor was in stable condition, the report said. Authorities were investigating the cause of the collapse.

SINGAPORE (AP) - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth assured Pacific allies on Saturday that Washington remained committed to the region, but toned down previous comments calling China a threat. Speaking to a group of world leaders, diplomats and top security officials at the Shangri-La defense conference in Singapore, Hegseth said that the region "has profound implications for U.S. security and prosperity" and that Washington's priority was to "achieve a lasting and favorable balance of power in the Pacific." It was his second time addressing the forum, hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Last year, he raised the ire of Beijing by warning of rapidly developing threats from China, particularly its aggressive stance toward Taiwan.

BEIJING (AP) - Chen Jiao has a curious job: transforming visitors to resemble empresses from ancient China as young people explore a revival of traditional culture. She is one of hundreds of makeup artists working at studios in Beijing near the Forbidden City, once home to the emperors of China's last two dynasties, Ming and Qing. Every day, visitors arrive to dress in robes richly embroidered with phoenixes and adorn themselves with jade and pearl pendants and gold fingernail guards like those worn in imperial China. Makeup is carefully applied, and their hair is styled and decorated with tassels and hairpins.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A truck carrying Afghan refugees returning from neighboring Pakistan overturned on a highway in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing at least 22 people and injuring about 36 others, most of them women and children, officials said. The accident occurred in Laghman province on the main highway linking Kabul, the Afghan capital, with Nangarhar province, said Abdul Malik Niazai, the spokesperson for the provincial governor. He said among the dead were 10 children and five women, and the injured were taken to hospitals in Nangarhar. The provincial director of public health. Aminullah Sharif, said 22 people were killed and about 36 injured.

BANGKOK (AP) - The leader of Myanmar's military-backed government embarked Saturday on an official visit to India, one of the country's key regional partners, for high-level meetings aimed at strengthening bilateral ties. It is the first time Min Aung Hlaing has traveled to the neighboring country since he was sworn into office as president in April following an election that critics say was orchestrated to maintain the military's tight grip on power. His last visit to India was in 2019 as military chief. India has maintained ties with Myanmar's military-backed administrations despite Western sanctions imposed after the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 and launched a crackdown on opponents that evolved into a nationwide armed conflict and humanitarian crisis.