Top Asian News 3:03 a.m. GMT

DAVAO, Philippines (AP) - An offshore earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit the southern Philippines on Monday, killing at least 35 people, injuring more than 200 others mostly in ruined buildings and sending a 1-meter (3-foot) tsunami into nearby coasts. Several mostly low-rise buildings collapsed or sustained heavy damages in the hard-hit city of General Santos. Tsunami damage was reported in at least one southern coastal village. Smaller waves were measured in Indonesia and Palau and as far away as southern Japan. The quake also triggered a landslide in Glan, a municipality in the province of Sarangani, that killed 13 villagers, Rene Punzalan, a provincial disaster-mitigation official, told the DZBB radio network.

Earthquakes are common in the Philippines, which lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," the arc of seismic faults around the ocean where most of the world's earthquakes occur. Here's a look at some recent quakes in the Philippines: June 8, 2026: An offshore magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off Mindanao, killing at least 35 people. Tsunami waves hit some shores. Oct 10, 2025: Two powerful offshore earthquakes rocked Davao Oriental province, hours apart. The first 7.4 magnitude temblor killed at least seven people. The second one had a 6.8 magnitude and also sparked a local tsunami warning. Sept. 30, 2025: A magnitude 6.9 earthquake earthquake shook Bogo City in Cebu province.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un underscored their commitment to deepen cooperation and rebuild their complicated traditional alliance, as Xi is on a rare visit to Pyongyang in a likely attempt to reassert Beijing's unique influence over its socialist neighbor. It's extremely difficult to independently verify reports released by state-controlled media outlets of North Korea and China. But their dispatches on the meeting touted a joint push for greater cooperation while not mentioning North Korea's banned pursuit of nuclear weapons. This implies the summit produced outcomes both leaders could portray as gains; Xi reaffirms influence on North Korea and Kim wins some economic and political benefits.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - China's Xi Jinping is traveling to North Korea for the first time in nearly seven years in a trip that offers North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a stage to showcase an increasingly assertive foreign policy anchored by closer ties with his country's former Cold War allies. China, the North's economic pipeline, is expected to reassert its influence over a traditionally allied government that has grown closer to Russia in recent times. The meeting between the two leaders is their first since Kim traveled to Beijing for a World War II event in September 2025. Here is a look at what they may be seeking from their upcoming meeting: After years of prioritizing Russia - dispatching thousands of troops and munitions to support Moscow's invasion of Ukraine - North Korea's leader is now seeking stronger ties with China to break further out of isolation, embracing the idea of a "new Cold War" and projecting Pyongyang as part of a united front against Washington.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon has added several prominent Chinese businesses, including the tech giant Alibaba, electric car maker BYD and search engine Baidu, to its list of Chinese military companies, preventing them from getting U.S. defense contracts. The list, updated and published Monday by the Pentagon, now sanctions well-known, non-state-owned Chinese companies that are not traditionally considered to be in the defense or security sector. It reflects growing wariness of Beijing's strategy of tapping the strength of non-state businesses for military purposes. Created in 2021 by a congressional mandate, the list seeks to identify Chinese companies that the Pentagon considers to have links to the Chinese military - not only those directly controlled by the Chinese military and security forces but also those contributing to the country's defense industrial base.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Clashes between supporters of the outlawed Joint Awami Action Committee and security forces in Pakistan-administered Kashmir have killed at least seven people, including four security personnel, officials said Monday. The violence erupted Sunday after the Supreme Court of Pakistan-administered Kashmir ruled that 12 legislative seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees living in Pakistan are constitutionally protected and cannot be abolished without a constitutional amendment. The seats are kept for people who migrated to Pakistan from Indian-controlled Kashmir decades ago and are intended to represent communities displaced by the long-running conflict over the Himalayan region. The landmark ruling came ahead of a protest planned by the JAAC for Tuesday.

The United Nations' mission in Afghanistan has expressed concern over what it says are arrests and detentions of women in western Afghanistan for allegedly not adhering to regulations governing how they should dress. The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said on X late Sunday that the arrests and detentions in the city of Herat raise "serious human rights concerns." It did not provide details. Afghanistan's Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice dismissed the reports of arrests as "rumors." "We remind the de facto authorities that all people have the right to freedom of movement and that all persons, both women and men, are entitled to equality before the law," the U.N.

HONG KONG (AP) - The Hong Kong government proposed legislation Monday that would allow the city's leader to designate certain criminal acts as national security offenses, stepping up its efforts to stamp out challenges to its rules in the city where critics say freedoms have been eroding. After massive democracy protests rocked the Asian financial hub in 2019, Beijing imposed a national security law that has been used to arrest many leading activists. The city's government in 2024 enacted another security law, targeting other crimes such as espionage and disclosing state secrets. Critics said the two security laws have stifled the city's Western-style civil liberties that Beijing had promised to maintain when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Israel and Iran appeared to back away from further strikes Monday, hours after they traded fire for the first time since the U.S. agreed to a ceasefire with Tehran two months ago. Both countries warned that they were ready to launch retaliatory attacks if provoked. The renewed hostilities raised concerns that the Middle East could plunge back into a full-scale war. Since the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran on Feb. 28, the war has shaken the global economy, driven up energy prices around the world and made many basics, including food, more expensive. Officials have been unable to turn the April ceasefire into a deal to permanently end the conflict.

TORONTO (AP) - Retired Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour was installed as Canada's next governor general Monday after a swearing-in ceremony. The governor general is the representative of Britain's King Charles III. The king is the head of state in Canada, a member of the Commonwealth of former colonies. Arbour, 79, replaces Mary Simon, who became Canada's first Indigenous governor general in 2021. The governor general has important constitutional duties, but the job is mostly ceremonial and symbolic. Prime Minister Mark Carney picked a Francophone for the job. The Central Band of the Canadian Armed Forces played "God Save the King" and the Governor General's Flag was raised on Parliament Hill to mark the moment.