Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BEIJING (AP) - Shanghai airports canceled hundreds of flights on Monday as Tropical Storm Dolphin dumped heavy rain in eastern China, causing flooding in places after making landfall as a typhoon the previous day. Shanghai's Hongqiao and Pudong airports canceled more than 900 flights, or about 40% of those expected, after about 1,300 were canceled the day before, according to Shanghai Airport Group. Shanghai also suspended some of its metro lines on Monday, and China Railway Chengdu Group suspended 115 trains, state news agency Xinhua reported. Authorities warned of risks of severe flooding and landslides in some areas. State broadcaster CCTV reported that authorities in Yueqing, a city in Zhejiang province, searched for people trapped in flooded homes.

Li Linlin cried for days after losing her AI boyfriend. She had exchanged about 700,000 words in messages over two years, and never got to say goodbye. Li, 24, wasn't the only left mourning the loss of a virtual companion when major Chinese tech companies recently pulled the plug on their popular AI companion services to comply with new government restrictions. "It was like we were forced to be separated by our parents, but I still miss him," Li said. AI companions in China range from romantic partners to virtual recreations of deceased loved ones. The new regulation, which took effect July 15, bans AI platforms from generating content that could lead users to make questionable decisions due to manipulation of their feelings or that might trigger extreme emotions or unhealthy habits in children and teens.

GUWAHATI, India (AP) - The flood crisis in India's northeastern Assam state remained critical on Monday, with the death toll reaching 100 after two more people died overnight, officials said. Several rivers remain above danger levels, raising the risk of fresh flooding in vulnerable areas, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said. Days of heavy monsoon rain has caused rivers, including the Brahmaputra, to overflow that inundated communities while disrupting livelihoods and damaging infrastructure. The river, one of Asia's largest that originates in China's Tibet region and flows about 900 kilometers (560 miles) through Assam, flooded villages, swept away homes and forced nearly 300,000 people into government-run relief camps, officials said.

MOUNT BROMO, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesia intensified efforts Monday to combat a growing number of wildfires across the archipelago, deploying helicopters, thousands of firefighters and disaster personnel as blazes spread through a popular national park in East Java and peatlands on Sumatra and Borneo islands during an unusually dry season, officials said. Scores of firefighters, backed by 43 helicopters, have been deployed to battle wildfires that have burned more than 107,000 hectares (264,000 acres) of forests and other land across the Southeast Asian nation as of Monday, said Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Djamari Chaniago. Strengthening El Nino conditions have raised the risk of more forest and land fires during the peak dry season, he said.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - New Zealand's Electoral Commission launched a campaign Monday urging New Zealanders at home and abroad to register to vote or update their details in the system, warning that a legal change ahead of November's election means voters must be enrolled in advance. Measures enacted by government lawmakers in December and lambasted by their opponents removed a policy allowing New Zealanders aged 18 and older to enroll on election day, including when they arrived at a polling place to cast their vote. New Zealanders must now be registered and have their addresses and other details updated in the system 13 days before election day, or they will be turned away from polling places.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A Pentagon official on Monday asked allies in Asia to invest more in their defense and help deter aggression in the region and said the United States remains committed to do the same with "partners, not protectorates." Elbridge Colby, an undersecretary of defense, made the remarks at a forum in the Philippines, his first stop in Southeast Asia, where he will also visit Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia. He renewed Washington's assurances that the U.S. is not backing away from Asia despite its current preoccupation with the Iran war and the Middle East. "America is definitely not disengaging from Asia - to the contrary.

BANGKOK (AP) - A man was arrested following a shooting incident Monday that killed one and injured another in a government office outside Bangkok, days after a student opened fire at his school and family home in the same province, killing at least eight people. The shooting occurred around 11 a.m. at the offices of the Nonthaburi Provincial Administrative Organization, according to the provincial public relations department. It said the suspect, identified as Chalong Riewraeng, a former lawmaker, was arrested. Thongchai Yenprasert, chief executive of the organization who police believe was the target, died from critical wounds at a hospital after being shot in the face and neck, while his driver was shot in the arm and is in stable condition, officials said.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean and U.S. troops will begin their annual exercises next week to beef up readiness against North Korean threats, the allies announced Monday, days after North Korea resumed ballistic missile testing activities that are banned by the U.N. The Ulchi Freedom Shield is to begin next Monday for a 11-day run and its scale will be similar to previous years with about 18,000 South Korean soldiers participating in it, South Korean military spokesperson Jang Do-young told reporters. Speaking at the same news conference, U.S. military spokesperson Ryan Donald said by incorporating realistic threats including "lessons from recent conflicts," the exercise will serve as an opportunity to further strengthen the alliance's readiness and capabilities through combined, joint, all-domain operations.

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Voters went to the polls Monday in the final phase of elections for the legislative assembly in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, following weeks of violent protests and clashes with security forces that overshadowed campaigning in the disputed Himalayan region, officials said. Men and women began lining up early at polling stations in Poonch district in the disputed Himalayan region, where four assembly seats were being contested. Raja Shakeel, a spokesperson for the regional election commission, said voting was underway in four constituencies despite a boycott call by the outlawed Joint Awami Action Committee, or JAAC, which had urged residents not to participate in the election.

TOKYO (AP) - Taiwan's top economic representative in Japan said he boycotted this year's memorial marking the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Nagasaki, accusing city officials of being pro-China and insulting Taipei. Lee Yi-yang, head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Tokyo, said in a social media post that seat assignments showed Nagasaki "deliberately denied Taiwan's status as a nation, completely disregarding Taiwan's sovereignty and dignity." Lee said he and two deputies boycotted because their designated seats as representatives of Taiwan were not among those reserved for diplomatic missions. Lee instead sent a lower-ranked official from Fukuoka.