Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BEIJING (AP) - China's flag carrier resumed direct flights between Beijing and North Korea's capital of Pyongyang on Monday not long after the restoration of passenger train services between the capitals. The Air China flight was welcomed by the Chinese ambassador to North Korea, Wang Yajun, and other diplomats, according to Chinese state media. Passenger train service from China to North Korea had resumed March 12. Flights and passenger trains to North Korea had been suspended since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. North Korean carrier Air Koryo resumed flights between the capitals in 2023. North Korea banned all foreign tourists during the pandemic but has started easing the restrictions, with a Russian tour group entering the country in 2024.

TOKYO (AP) - China announced Monday that it is sanctioning a conservative Japanese lawmaker close to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, accusing him of "colluding with" separatists in Taiwan, the latest incident that underlines growing tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over the self-governed island. Japan called the step unacceptable and regrettable and demanded that China retract it immediately. "The one-sided action taken by China as if to intimidate those of different views than its own is absolutely unacceptable," Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Masanao Ozaki said. "It is extremely regrettable from the perspective of the Japan-China relations." China's Foreign Ministry earlier said the sanctions include banning the entry of Keiji Furuya to China, including to Hong Kong and Macao, and prohibiting his activities with organizations and individuals in China, effective immediately.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodian lawmakers on Monday unanimously adopted a new law targeting online scam operations with up to life in prison, following a government pledge to shut them down by the end of April. All 112 members of parliament present voted to approve the legislation, which marks Cambodia's first legal framework specifically aimed at a lucrative, illicit industry that has transformed the country into a global hub for cybercrime. The scam operations typically involve bogus investment schemes and feigned romances that collectively extort tens of billions of dollars from victims around the world every year. Justice Minister Keut Rith noted that thousands of people, especially from other Asian nations, are lured with fraudulent job offers and forced to work in scam centers in conditions of near-slavery, Keut Rith told lawmakers that these crimes threaten public security and significantly damage Cambodia's global reputation.

MELBOURNE, Australia. (AP) - Australian police said they shot dead a man following a three-hour standoff on Monday, seven months after he was suspected of killing two police officers and seriously wounding a third in a remote forest region. There had been no confirmed sightings of Dezi Freeman, 56, since he allegedly opened fire on police officers who came to serve a warrant at his home near Porepunkah in Victoria state northeast of Melbourne on Aug. 26 last year, Victoria's Chief Commissioner of Police Mike Bush said on Monday. A man believed to be Freeman was fatally shot by police on Monday at a remote location near Thologolong, around two hours' drive north of Porepunkah, a police statement said.

PALU, Indonesia (AP) - Rescue teams raced Monday to find 27 people missing after a passenger boat sank in rough seas on its way to a remote village in eastern Indonesia. The boat, the Nazila 05, was carrying 27 passengers and crew members when it departed Taliabu Island in North Maluku province just after dusk on Sunday. It was bound for Kema, a coastal village in the same province, said Muhammad Rizal, who heads the search and rescue office in Central Sulawesi's Palu city, near where the boat sank. He said the incident was first reported to authorities on Monday morning by the ship's owner, Rifani Samatia, after the Nazila 05's captain contacted him to report that the vessel's bow had broken after it was hit by high waves during rough weather.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - The United States supports efforts by Taiwan's government to pass a $40 billion special defense budget that is being stalled in the opposition-controlled parliament, a group of visiting U.S. lawmakers said Monday in Taipei. A bipartisan group of four senators arrived in Taiwan as part of an Asia trip meant to bolster U.S. alliances and counter China's influence in the region, ahead of a summit planned in May between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Democratic Senators Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) and Jacky Rosen (Nevada) and Republican Senators John Curtis (Utah) and Thom Tillis (North Carolina) on Monday met with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te at the start of a two-day trip focused on bolstering the two sides' informal ties.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan authorities said Monday that the death toll from severe weather that has struck swathes of the country over the past four days has increased to 28, with 49 people injured. Dozens of people have died from extreme weather in the country so far this year. Storms and heavy rainfall over the past few days across several provinces have led to severe flooding, landslides and lightning strikes, the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority said, adding that the figures could increase as more details become available. The severe weather has destroyed 130 homes and damaged a further 436, while it has also killed more than 240 animals, wiped out 93 kilometers (58 miles) of roads and destroyed irrigation canals and agricultural land, the authority said.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A strong preliminary magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck near Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean on Monday, officials said. The United States Geological Survey said the quake was at a depth of about 115 kilometers (70 miles). Earthquakes at shallower depths are felt more strongly at the surface. The jolt hit about 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Luganville, Vanuatu. There were no immediate reports of damage or tsunami waves. The U.S. tsunami warning center said there were no initial tsunami warnings, advisories, watches or threats from the quake.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's government accused Pakistan's military of shelling the outskirts of an eastern Afghan city on Sunday, killing one person and wounding more than a dozen in the latest episode of renewed fighting between the two neighboring countries. The fighting, which erupted in late February, has been the most severe between Afghanistan and Pakistan in decades. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven for militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially for the Pakistani Taliban. The group is separate but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 during the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops.

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) - Mongolia's ruling party selected a new candidate for prime minister Sunday after the last head of government, Zandanshatar Gombojav, resigned after only nine months on the job. Uchral Nyam-Osor, the current party chairman who is serving as speaker of the Parliament, was nominated at a meeting of the Mongolian People's Party, according to state news agency Montsame. Uchral first joined the MPP in 2009, and is seen as a compromise candidate amid different party factions. Zandanshatar's resignation came after one of his senior ministers faced allegations of corruption. He also faced a boycott from the opposition Democratic Party, which has refused to attend parliament sessions since earlier this month, citing concerns over a concentration of power within the ruling party.