Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - A Google executive told an inquiry on Tuesday that a YouTube video that falsely claimed a wounded survivor of an antisemitic massacre in Sydney was a crisis actor blooded with makeup had met the platform's standards and would remain online. Google Australia manager Rachel Lord was testifying at a government inquiry into the spread of antisemitism in Australia including an attack by two gunmen on a Sydney Hanukkah celebration in December that left 15 dead. Lord was questioned about a complaint made by survivor Arsen Ostrovsky about a video posted on YouTube. Ostrovsky was attacked online after an image showing blood streaming from a wound in his head was posted on X two hours after he was shot.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea began enforcing a law Tuesday that allows steep punitive damages against news outlets and social media influencers for spreading false information as journalist groups warned it could chill public discourse and invite censorship. Journalists and civil liberties groups say the vaguely worded law fails to clearly define what information it prohibits and lacks adequate safeguards for the media, warning it could potentially discourage critical reporting about government officials, politicians and large businesses. The law allows courts to award damages of up to five times the proven losses against news organizations and large social media channels, including YouTube creators, that circulate illegal, false or manipulated information to cause harm or generate profit.

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Landslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains in southeastern Bangladesh killed at least eight Rohingya refugees, including five children, while heavy monsoon rains battered parts of neighboring India, leaving 13 dead over the past few days. Dollar Tripura, a Fire Service and Civil Defense official in Cox's Bazar district, told The Associated Press that rescuers recovered seven bodies while an eighth body was found by refugees after several hills collapsed from late Sunday to Monday morning. All have been handed over to families, he said. He said another two children were found with injuries. In India, torrential monsoon rains battered large areas on Tuesday, triggering flash floods and landslides in the northern Himalayan states, and flooding roads and forcing schools to close in Mumbai.

BEIJING (AP) - Tornadoes and storms hit central China, killing at least 11 people and injuring hundreds, state media reported on Tuesday, while areas in the south suffered record-breaking rain. Thunderstorms battered parts of Hubei province's eastern region on Monday night, affecting 14,600 people, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. More than 330 people were injured, and one person remained missing, the agency said, adding that over 20 houses collapsed and 4,800 others were damaged. A rare EF2 tornado swept through the city of Huanggang, where a logistics company and a warehouse were hit hard and multiple trucks were lifted and displaced by winds as much as 30 meters (98 feet), Xinhua reported.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - A cargo plane with five crew members aboard went missing off the Pakistani port of Karachi late Tuesday after rapidly descending and losing contact with air traffic controllers while on a flight from United Arab Emirates, officials said. Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority said in a post on X that search-and-rescue operations were under way in the Arabian Sea. The cause of the aircraft's disappearance was not immediately known. The Boeing 737 was being operated by Karachi-based K2 Airways on a cargo flight from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates to Karachi when it reported a navigation system problem at 9:18 p.m.

BANGKOK (AP) - China's navy test-launched a long-range ballistic missile Monday from a nuclear-powered submarine - a move that experts said showed Beijing's increasing skill and capability as part of its nuclear deterrence strategy. The move also drew protests from the U.S. as well as countries in Asia and the Pacific. It was the second time China had fired a ballistic missile into international waters in recent years. While it gave some countries in the region prior notice, some said it was not enough notice, and experts say the launch exacerbates tensions around increasing militarization in Asia. Here's what we know, and what we don't, about the missile launch.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - The death toll in Sri Lanka's prison clash rose Tuesday to 26 - seven prison officials and 19 inmates - with authorities alleging the skirmish was linked to narcotic drugs and gang rivalries but prison welfare groups saying overcrowding and poor conditions had much to do with it, too. The unrest at the prison in Negombo, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of the capital, Colombo, started between inmates on Sunday and turned violent on Monday after the inmates attacked the guards who intervened. Officials said the inmates even tried to break through the main gate, but were stopped.

Kazakhstan's top court ruled Tuesday that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev can seek another seven years in power after a referendum on the constitution reset term limits for the office. The Constitutional Court ruled that Tokayev can run again when his term expires in 2029 because his current tenure does not count under amendments to the constitution that were approved in a nationwide vote in March and came into force this month. Leaders of several former Soviet republics, including Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, have replaced or amended their countries' constitutions to strengthen their executive powers and extend their time in office. The 73-year-old Tokayev, a former Soviet official and diplomat who previously served at the United Nations, has led the oil-rich Central Asian country of 20 million people since 2019.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, who is being tried by an impeachment court on charges that include threatening the president, said Tuesday that she expected to be "bloodied but unbowed" by the public trial. Duterte, who has declared her aim to succeed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in mid-2028, was impeached by the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Marcos' allies, in May. The 48-year-old lawyer and politician has dismissed the charges against her as political persecution. Her televised trial by the 24-member Senate, which acts as an impeachment court, started Monday. On Tuesday it took up the first of four main charges, which accused Duterte of threatening in an online news conference in November 2024 to have Marcos, his wife and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez killed by an unidentified person if she herself were killed as their disputes escalated.

BEIJING (AP) - Five people were killed and 12 others remained trapped after a landslide in northwestern China, state media said Tuesday. The landslide shortly before 7 a.m. buried 33 people in Nanhe township of Longnan city in Gansu province, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. The cause was unclear. Photos and video posted online by state broadcaster CCTV showed three excavators and rescuers on mounds of earth in an otherwise heavily wooded green area. The sky appeared sunny and clear. Authorities relocated residents while rescue operations were underway.