Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BANGKOK (AP) - Myanmar's detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi met with the International Committee of the Red Cross' representative in the capital on Monday, the military-backed government said, a rare moment of contact with the outside world for the Nobel laureate who has been held out of public view since the military seized power in 2021. Two photographs published with the announcement showed Suu Kyi shaking hands with Arnaud de Baecque, the ICRC's representative to Myanmar, and meeting with him in a wood-paneled room. The Presidential Press and Information Bureau, which released the photographs, said the meeting was held Monday morning but did not disclose the location of the meeting or provide details about what was discussed.

SURABAYA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian rescuers searched for possible missing passengers Monday after rescuing 231 people from a ferry that caught fire the previous day off the main island of Java, leaving at least five people dead. Passengers described leaping overboard and staying afloat for hours before rescue. The Mutiara Sentosa 2 ferry was traveling from Indonesia's second-largest city of Surabaya in East Java to the city of Makassar in South Sulawesi. Initial reports said it was carrying 271 people, including 39 crew members, based on the ship's manifest, when the fire broke out between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.

SYDNEY (AP) - The trial of Alan Jones, a retired Sydney radio broadcaster and former Australian national rugby coach accused of sexual offenses against six men and boys over two decades, began on Monday. The 85-year-old has pleaded not guilty to 20 counts of indecent assault and two of sexual touching without consent. The offenses were allegedly committed between 2003 and 2020, when he retired from radio, at various locations in Sydney and at his farm on the Southern Highlands in New South Wales state. Jones and his lawyers did not answer reporters' questions as they arrived at the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on Monday morning.

TOKYO (AP) - Residents in Japan's quake-hit southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto put out heaps of debris for collection as the region baked under intense heat. The heat and a lack of water supplies have added to the challenges in the severely damaged areas where Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi briefly visited for the first time since a magnitude 7.1 quake hit Kumamoto Prefecture on Japan's southern main island of Kyushu on Tuesday. Thirty-eight people died during the quake, including one who died of apparent heat stroke while taking shelter in a car in hot weather and one other whose cause of death is still being investigated, prefectural officials said Monday.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - The head of U.S. Pacific Command said Monday that coercive actions by China and other actors are challenging regional stability, warning the United States will not allow any nation to dominate the Indo-Pacific. Admiral Samuel Paparo said some actors were using "false claims of legitimacy" to justify intimidation and coercion. "That's not the rule of law. That's the rule by law. That distinction between law as a tool of order versus law as a weapon of raw power, is the defining fault line of our time," he said via video link at a regional security conference in Malaysia organized by the U.S.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Singapore has banned the two core members of British band Massive Attack from reentering the country after they displayed a Palestinian flag and expressed support for the Palestinian cause during their concert in the city-state last week. Singapore police said in a recent statement that the two men were investigated over their actions during the July 29 concert, including the unfurling of a foreign flag and one member shouting "Free Palestine" on stage. They were issued stern warnings and blacklisted from returning to the city-state, it said. "The police take a serious view of acts which could potentially harm the racial and religious harmony in Singapore and urge the public, including foreigners, to refrain from importing foreign politics as this can undermine our social cohesion and the rule of law," it said.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - The Pacific Island country of Nauru has changed its name to the Republic of Naoero, its president said, matching the spelling and pronunciation in the national language. The country's international code will change from NRU to NRO and its people will be known as dei-Naoero instead of Nauruan. Commonly known abroad by the pronunciation of Now-roo, the new name is spoken as Now-ero. The move would return the remote South Pacific island nation to its traditional name, a statement posted Thursday to the government's Facebook account said. The country became known internationally as Nauru only because its local name was difficult for foreigners to pronounce and was a matter of convenience rather than one of choice, according to an earlier government statement.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - A suicide bomber targeted protesters at an antimilitant rally in northwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least 14 people, mostly civilians and police officers, and wounding more than two dozen others, officials said. The attack happened in Kabal, a town in Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where demonstrators had gathered near a police station, chanting antimilitant slogans and demanding peace, district police chief Omar Khan said. According to witnesses, shortly before the attack, speakers at the rally said that ensuring security and eliminating militancy were the state's responsibility. They also accused authorities of failing to act decisively against militants, saying residents wanted to live without fear after years of violence that devastated the region.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - The remains of renowned British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja and three other climbers have been found by a ground team on Broad Peak, one of the world's highest mountains, where a 10-member international expedition was swept away by an avalanche, officials said Sunday. The Alpine Club of Pakistan identified the recovered climbers as Purja, Wang Zhong, Nima Sherpa and Kili Pemba Sherpa. The club praised military and civilian rescuers and volunteers involved in the recovery effort. On Friday, rescuers located four other bodies but were able to recover only three - Omani Nathira Ahmed, American Mallory Geis and Nepalese Bahadur Gurung - because harsh weather grounded search-and-rescue helicopters.

TOKYO (AP) - The U.S. dollar weakened sharply Monday against the Japanese yen after U.S. President Donald Trump and Japan's finance minister confirmed both sides had intervened in markets. Before late last week, the dollar was trading above 163 yen, touching 40-year highs. After regulators were suspected of stepping in, it fell below 160 yen. Early Monday, after the official announcement of the intervention, the dollar fell to nearly 155.20 yen. That's a big drop for the exchange rate. The dollar was trading at 156.70 yen early Monday Eastern time. Even though it has attracted millions of bargain-hunting tourists, the yen's prolonged weakness against the dollar has been a source of frustration for Tokyo.