Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea Wednesday in its second launch event in two days, South Korea's military said, hours after a senior North Korean official released crude insults against Seoul's hopes for warmer relations. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said several missiles lifted off from North Korea's eastern coastal Wonsan area on Wednesday morning and flew about 240 kilometers (150 miles) each in a direction toward the North's eastern waters. It said an additional North Korean ballistic missile fired later Wednesday traveled more than 700 kilometers off the North's east coast.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Australia's most decorated living veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, did not apply for bail when the war crime murder charges against him were listed in a Sydney court Wednesday. Roberts-Smith was awarded both the Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan and is only the second Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign to be charged with a war crime. The charges follow a military report released in 2020 that found evidence that elite Australian Special Air Service and commando regiment troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and other noncombatants. Around 40,000 Australian military personnel served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021, of whom 41 were killed.

BEIJING (AP) - China's government said that Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed not to escalate their conflict and to "explore a comprehensive solution" after several weeks of cross-border fighting between the two countries that has left hundreds of people killed. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday that after seven days of peace talks in the western Chinese city of Urumqi under China mediation, all the parties also agreed to keep the dialogue. "The three parties agreed to explore a comprehensive solution to the issues in the relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and clarified the core and priority issues that need to be addressed," Mao said during the daily briefing in Beijing.

HONG KONG (AP) - A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based conglomerate started arbitration proceedings against Danish logistics and port group Maersk, accusing the company of aligning with Panama in a scheme to take over its port operations on the Central American country's critical canal. The Panama Ports Company, a unit of Hong Kong's CK Hutchison Holdings, said in a statement dated Tuesday that Maersk A/S had undermined a contract over the Hong Kong company's operations of ports at either end of the Panama Canal in order to pave the way for a new operator affiliated with Maersk to take over the Balboa terminal.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian authorities on Wednesday extradited an alleged Scottish crime boss to Spain, after his removal was delayed multiple times as police pursued an ongoing investigation, officials said. Steven Lyons, 45, described by law enforcement as a senior figure in an international crime syndicate, was flown from Indonesia to Amsterdam early Wednesday morning, said Husnan Handano, a spokesperson for the island of Bali's immigration office. From there, he was to be transferred onward to Spain to face charges related to drug trafficking and money laundering, Handano said. Lyons was arrested on March 28 upon arrival at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport from Singapore after Indonesia's immigration system flagged him through an Interpol Red Notice issued at Spain's request.

MUMBAI, India (AP) - Since it was first built in 1875, the Sassoon Dock in India's financial capital of Mumbai has been many things: a gateway for trade with the Persian Gulf, a bustling hub for traders and laborers, as well as a center for commerce in textiles, spices, and opium. More recently, it's been a major spot for the city's fish trade. But rarely has the harbor felt so muted. The boats sit crowded next to each other in the morning sun. Their colorful flags fluttering against the backdrop of Mumbai's high-rise skyline. Normally, the dock hums with life. Nets are unloaded.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday peace talks held in China between Afghanistan and Pakistan to halt cross-border fighting between the two neighbors have been constructive. The talks began last week in the western Chinese city of Urumqi following an invitation by China, in an effort to stop the conflict that began between the two countries in February, leaving hundreds dead. Pakistan, which declared it was in "open war" with its neighbor, has also carried out airstrikes inside Afghanistan, including in the capital Kabul. The United Nations' office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in Afghanistan posted on X Tuesday that the conflict had displaced 94,000 people overall, while 100,000 people in two Afghan districts near the border have been completely cut off by the fighting since February.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Vietnam unanimously elected Communist Party General Secretary To Lam as president for a five-year term, consolidating his control over both the party and the state. The move departs from Vietnam's tradition of shared leadership, in which the jobs have typically been held by different people, and echoes power structures in China under Xi Jinping and neighboring Laos. It has been widely expected since Lam's reelection as Communist Party head in January, when observers noted that his consolidation of party authority positioned him to assume the presidency as well. Former central bank governor Le Minh Hung was elected as the country's prime minister for the next five years.

BEIJING (AP) - Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun arrived in China on Tuesday at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, in what she's calling a "journey for peace" as Beijing pushes for the self-ruled island to come under its control. The visit is the first by a Taiwanese opposition leader in a decade and comes ahead of a meeting in Beijing between Xi and U.S. President Donald Trump scheduled to take place in May. Meanwhile, Taiwan's opposition-controlled parliament has stalled attempts by its government to pass a $40 billion special defense budget, expected to fund arms deals with the United States and the development of Taiwan's indigenous defense industry.

O'SMACH, Cambodia (AP) - I have often used the word industrial-scale in my own writing to describe the scam compounds that dot this region in Southeast Asia. But the weight of that phrase truly sunk in at the O'Smach Resort complex that we visited on Tuesday. Thailand's military, which conducted a tour for the media, said that the whole area encompasses around 197 acres (80 hectares), equivalent to 150 American football fields. It wasn't my first time at a scam center, but its scale dwarfed anything I had seen before. From my base in the region, I have followed this issue for the past few years, watching its scale only grow larger and larger.