Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar opened its first parliamentary session in more than five years on Monday following an election that did not include major opposition parties, ensuring that the ruling military is set to retain a firm grasp on power. The military blocked Myanmar's last parliament from convening when it seized power from the last legitimately elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, and has governed without a legislature since then. It touted elections held in late December and January as a step toward the return of democracy. But the military and its allies hold nearly 90% of the seats in the two-chamber parliament, while Myanmar's former ruling National League for Democracy and other major opposition parties were either blocked from running or refused to compete under conditions they deemed unfair.

PARIS (AP) - China warned Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump's latest tariff moves could harm the countries' trade relationship, at the end of high-level talks in Paris. Li Chenggang, China's international trade representative, said the Chinese side had expressed serious concern about trade investigations into manufacturing in foreign countries that the Trump administration launched after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down its earlier tariffs. "We are concerned that the possible results of such investigations may interfere with or damage the hard-won and stable China-U.S. economic and trade relations," Li told journalists. He said they discussed the possible extension of tariffs and non-tariff measures on both sides, and that China expressed concern over likely uncertainty as the U.S adjusts its measures.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's Taliban government on Monday accused Pakistan's military of targeting a Kabul hospital that treats drug addicts in airstrikes that killed four people and wounded several others. Pakistan dismissed the accusation, saying the strikes - which were also conducted in eastern Afghanistan - did not hit any civilian sites. The alleged attack came hours after Afghan officials said the two sides exchanged fire along their common border, killing four people in Afghanistan, as the deadliest fighting between the neighbors in years entered a third week. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the strike on X, saying it violated Afghanistan's territory.

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) - The roof of a shop collapsed as women in an eastern Pakistani village gathered Monday to collect government welfare payments, killing at least eight and injuring more than 50, police and rescue officials said. The roof gave way under the weight of the crowd, after the shopkeeper asked some of more than 100 women to move onto the roof while others remained inside the shop, rescuer Ashiq Mahmood said. The women in Rahim Yar Khan, a district in Punjab province, had gathered to collect financial assistance ahead of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

TOKYO (AP) - Two boats carrying 21 people capsized Monday off Henoko, a controversial relocation site for a U.S. military base off Japan's southern island of Okinawa, throwing all into the water and leaving two of them dead, officials said. The Japan Coast Guard said 18 of them were students from a Kyoto high school on two boats, 10 on Heiwa Maru and eight on the smaller Fukutsu, to observe the Henoko area as part of their peace education program. Coast guard rescuers pulled all 21 people out of the water, but a 17-year-old female student and the captain of Fukutsu were later pronounced dead, officials said.

A new constitution that strengthens President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's grip on power in Kazakhstan, Central Asia's largest country, has won overwhelming approval in a referendum, according to preliminary results released Monday. The country's Central Election Commission announced that over 87% of respondents in Sunday's vote supported the constitutional changes that merge the Kazakhstani parliament's two chambers into one and give the president the right to appoint key government officials with parliament's approval, including the restoration of the ​post of vice president. The turnout exceeded 73%. The constitutional changes also envisage the creation of a new body, the People's Council, alongside parliament, empowered to initiate legislation and referendums.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accompanied by his teenage daughter, observed a live-fire test of multiple rocket launch systems, state media reported Sunday, a likely response to ongoing U.S.-South Korean military training that North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. The official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim watched the strike drill involving twelve 600mm-calibre, ultraprecision rocket launchers off North Korea's east coast on Saturday. South Korea's military said Saturday it detected about 10 ballistic missiles fired from North Korea's capital region toward the eastern sea. South Korea's national security council called the launches a provocation that violated U.N.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan said Sunday it targeted militant hideouts in Afghanistan's Kandahar region overnight, as the fighting that erupted between the two neighbors late last month showed no signs of abating. The cross-border fighting, which has included Pakistani airstrikes in the Afghan capital, Kabul, is the deadliest yet between the two South Asian nations. Islamabad has referred to the conflict as an "open war," adding to concerns about regional stability as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran engulfs the Middle East and beyond. In a post on X, Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the military had struck equipment storage facilities and "technical support infrastructure" in overnight attacks in Kandahar.

TOKYO (AP) - Cherry blossom spotters from the Japanese government announced Monday the first blooming of the country's favorite flower in three cities, marking the official start of the season. Japan Meteorological Agency officials examined the benchmark tree of the Somei Yoshino variety in three locations - Kochi in the southwest, and Gifu and Yamanashi in central Japan - declaring they found more than five flowers on each tree, the minimum required for the announcement. The tree in Kochi blossomed first, for the third year in a row, six days earlier than the average year, the JMA said. Those in Gifu and Yamanashi were nine days earlier than the average.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - A passenger bus carrying Indian pilgrims slipped off a mountain road and rolled down its slopes in central Nepal, killing seven people and leaving nine more injured, police said Sunday. All seven killed were Indian pilgrims, and seven other Indian pilgrims on board were injured and taken to nearby hospitals to get medical treatment. The other two injured in the crash, which happened Saturday night, were the Nepali bus driver and his assistant. The bus was returning after the pilgrims visited the revered Manakamana Temple, a popular Hindu temple where devotees believe a goddess will grant them their wish if they visit the shrine.