Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BEKASI, Indonesia (AP) - Rescuers finished removing victims from a damaged commuter train car Tuesday, confirming that the crash outside Indonesia's capital killed 15 people, all of whom were women. The crash occurred Monday when a long-distance train crashed into the rear car of the stopped commuter train at Bekasi Timur Station outside Jakarta. The car was one designated for women only, a common accommodation to stop harassment. A total of 88 injured people were taken to hospitals for treatment, said Bobby Rasyidin, CEO of state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia. The bodies of the dead were taken to a hospital for further identification.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - An appeals court has increased to four years the sentence for the wife of South Korea's ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol for corruption, weeks after her husband was sentenced to life in prison for rebellion. In January, ex-first lady Kim Keon Hee was sentenced to 20 months in prison in a district court for receiving gifts including a Graff diamond necklace and a Chanel bag from the Unification Church, which sought political favors from the government. However, she was acquitted of involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme before she became first lady. Both parties appealed.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Australia has proposed taxing digital giants Meta, Google and TikTok a proportion of their revenue to pay for news reporters. The government released draft legislation Tuesday it intends to introduce to Parliament by July 2 that would create a financial incentive for the social media companies to strike deals with news organizations to pay for journalism. The platforms' criticisms included that the proposal was a "digital services tax" that misunderstood the evolving advertising industry and would fail to deliver a sustainable news sector. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a monetary value needed to be attached to journalists' work.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday seemed likely to grant tech giant Cisco's bid to shut down a lawsuit claiming that the company's technology was used to persecute members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement in China. The justices are reviewing an appellate ruling that would allow the lawsuit against Cisco to go forward in U.S. courts. The company argues that it cannot be held liable under two separate laws for aiding and abetting human rights violations. The laws are the 18th-century Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA), first enacted in 1991. The main questions among the court's conservative majority seemed to be how broadly to rule for Cisco and whether lower courts are allowing too many similar suits to proceed.

BEIJING (AP) - Heavy flooding from torrential rain left cars submerged and forced the evacuation of more than 200 residents in a southern Chinese city, state media reported Tuesday. Rescue crews deployed inflatable boats to help relocate some residents trapped in their homes in Qinzhou city in Guangxi region, official news agency Xinhua reported. Video footage from Xinhua showed rescuers wading through chest-high water and firefighters carrying elderly residents in their arms. Qinzhou authorities said the city's meteorological station recorded rainfall of over 270 millimeters (about 10 inches) during a 24-hour period ending at 8 a.m. on Monday. That was the highest amount recorded there on a single day in April.

GENEVA (AP) - A Swiss court on Tuesday dismissed a trial against the daughter of a former president of Uzbekistan on charges including money laundering and bribery, noting that she is in prison at home and has not been allowed to take part in the proceedings. The Swiss case against Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of former President Islam Karimov, was abandoned one day after the trial opened in the southern city of Bellinzona. It had been set to run through May 22. The presiding judge said Uzbek authorities had indicated that Karimova, 53, would not be released until after her full sentence is completed in December 2028 on convictions in Uzbekistan including embezzlement.

NEW DELHI (AP) - For about eight weeks, Indian Capt. Rahul Dhar and his crew have been stranded on their tanker in the Persian Gulf, sometimes watching drones and missiles explode as the Strait of Hormuz remained effectively shut while the Iran war dragged on. The crew's morale, he said, is holding as they carry on with their routines, but the strain is beginning to show. A shaky ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has brought "a careful sense of hope" for the crew, but there is still no clear end to the war. "Day to day, we try to keep things normal with open conversations and small team activities that help lift everyone's spirits." The crew sighted drones and missile interceptions several times, both near the ship and along the horizon during their watches.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea has opened a memorial museum for its soldiers killed while fighting for Russia against Ukraine, with top leaders of North Korea and Russia pledging a push for greater cooperation. In April 2025, North Korea and Russia announced that their soldiers fought together to repel a Ukraine incursion into Russia's Kursk border region. The two countries haven't disclosed exactly how many North Koreans soldiers were deployed, but South Korea's intelligence service estimated last year that North Korea sent about 15,000 troops and 2,000 of them were killed. The North's Korean Central News Agency reported Monday the museum's inaugural ceremony was held in Pyongyang on Sunday to mark the one-year anniversary of the end of an operation to liberate the Kursk region.

NEW DELHI (AP) - India and New Zealand on Monday signed a free trade agreement to deepen economic ties and expand market access, as both countries navigate mounting global trade disruptions. The deal comes as New Delhi moves to diversify export markets to offset the impact of steep tariffs imposed by the United States and instability in shipping and energy routes due to the Iran war. For New Zealand, the agreement is part of a broader push to reduce reliance on China, its largest trading partner. The agreement was signed in New Delhi by India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and visiting New Zealand Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A Sumatran orangutan has been filmed for the first time using a human-made canopy bridge to cross a public road on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, conservationists said Monday. Rapid development has been shrinking the jungle habitat of the critically endangered species, and fatal conflicts with people have been increasing. The fleeting scene, captured by a motion‑sensitive camera, showed a young Sumatran orangutan pause at the forest's edge, grip a rope with deliberate care and step out into open air. Halfway across, it stopped, casting a glance down at the road below. Moments later, it crossed. Conservationists said that it marks the first documented case of an Sumatra orangutan using an artificial canopy bridge to cross a public road that had divided its habitat.