Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Fans fainting at a baseball park. Lions dying at a zoo. A woman taking shelter in a car found dead. A doctor advising people to eat dog meat to promote stamina. The scenes caused by a record heat wave in Northeast Asia illustrate how extreme temperatures have gripped South Korea, North Korea and Japan. In most of South Korea, a major heat wave advisory was in place Wednesday as temperatures in densely populated greater Seoul, home to 20 million people, and adjacent areas soared as high as 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit). North Korean authorities have issued a heat wave advisory in many areas and called for people to take safety steps to avoid heat-related health problems.

LHASA, Tibet (AP) - Kalsang Lhamo traces a series of vertical strokes, slow but firm, practicing Tibetan calligraphy. A 73-year-old retired nurse, she has spoken Tibetan all her life but never learned to write it. Now, in classes at a center for older adults, she immerses herself in the script. Lhamo also speaks and writes Chinese, which China mandated as its primary language for schools and government agencies in a sweeping new "ethnic unity" law implemented July 1. Under the new regulations, acts deemed to incite division among China's 56 ethnic groups are prohibited, and schools, families and other institutions are expected to foster patriotism, national unity and a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Search teams backed by military helicopters recovered the bodies of renowned British-Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja and three other missing climbers on Wednesday, bringing the number of bodies recovered from Broad Peak to seven nearly a week after an avalanche swept away a 10-member international expedition, officials said Wednesday. The Alpine Club of Pakistan said the operation was one of the most technically demanding recovery missions ever carried out on the mountain. It said the bodies of Purja, Chinese climber Zhong Wang and Nepali climbers Nima Sherpa and Kilu Sherpa were brought to Broad Peak base Camp. Search teams brought down three other bodies on Aug.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Ousted former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said Wednesday that she plans to return to her country from exile in India in December despite facing a death sentence in Bangladesh over a bloody crackdown on protesters in 2024. In an audio address to an event in New Delhi marking the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled her government, Hasina said it was her duty to her people to return voluntarily despite her conviction in absentia on charges of crimes against humanity. Hasina fled to India in 2024 after student-led protests forced her from power, and she has remained in exile there ever since.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan kicked off annual military exercises Wednesday aimed at simulating a response to a potential Chinese invasion of the self-governed island Beijing claims as its own. The live-fire exercises will test the Taiwanese army's ability to sustain 24-hour defense operations as well as counter China's "gray-zone tactics," which stop just short of open warfare. Urban resilience drills will test the population's response to a disruption in internet service. The 10-day Han Kuang exercises are set to be held in various locations around the island. This year's drills will test new, U.S.-inspired communication methods including backbriefs - where subordinates explain to commanders how they plan to carry out assigned missions.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - A provincial government in Nepal has legalized farming and use of marijuana for medical use despite a national ban. The bill went into effect Monday after it was endorsed by the chief of Gandaki province and allows the farming and medical use of cannabis, said Prabin Poudyal, spokesman for the office of the Chief of Gandaki Province. Farmers will have to get official permission from the provincial authority and are to be closely monitored. The provincial law comes despite a national ban on farming, possession and use of marijuana. Anyone possessing marijuana for personal use can be jailed for a month, while distribution and sales are punishable by up to 10 years' imprisonment depending on the amount seized.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's ruling party has taken a commanding lead in elections for the legislative assembly in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, results from the first two phases of voting showed on Wednesday, despite weeks of protests and calls for a boycott by a banned political group. Candidates backed by twice-elected former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party have won 24 of the 34 seats decided in the first two phases of voting, said Raja Shakeel, a spokesman for the regional election commission. Turnout exceeded 56% in the regional capital. Shakee said voting for the remaining 11 seats is scheduled for Aug.

BANGKOK (AP) - China announced a series of economic measures Wednesday against the United States, including controls on exports of drones to the U.S. and a ban on dealings with six American entities, in response to recent restrictions imposed by Washington. Tensions are simmering between the world's two biggest economies ahead of an expected visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the U.S. in September, despite signs of warming ties during his meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump in Beijing in May. The Commerce Ministry said the sanctions are in response to recent moves from the U.S., including a ban by the U.S.

NEW DELHI (AP) - For weeks, India's young protesters waved signs mocking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government and rallied under an unlikely name: the Cockroach Janta Party. They secured a concession few have extracted from Modi during his more than 12 years in power: a cabinet minister's resignation. Modi has been one of India's most dominant prime ministers in decades, winning elections while cultivating an image of decisive leadership. His government has rarely been seen to yield to public pressure. The resignation of education minister Dharmendra Pradhan last month, however, was a notable exception, experts say. Pressured by the "Cockroach" movement, the concession underscored the rising political influence of India's population younger than 25, who make up nearly half the country, and a shift toward digital-first organizing.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A group of eight South Korean students were detained Tuesday for allegedly breaking into a United States air base while shouting anti-U.S. slogans, South Korean authorities said. U.S. military personnel detained the four male and four female students after they allegedly entered Osan Air Base near the capital Seoul. They were later transferred to the custody of South Korean authorities, police said. The students were being investigated under a law protecting military installations in South Korea, according to police, who said they all had invoked their right to remain silent during questioning. Police said the students shouted slogans at the site including, "Let's smash U.S.