Top Asia Pacific Breaking News – Latest Updates

BEIJING (AP) - Over the years, a regular Chinese campaign of sending warplanes flying toward Taiwan - the self-governing island it claims as its territory - has raised alarm from Taipei to Washington. Now, a sharp drop in the number of flights in the past two weeks has analysts scratching their heads about what China's military may be up to. And that mystery carries risks, former U.S. defense official Drew Thompson said. "There are so many theories and the lack of understanding of China's intentions is what's disconcerting," said Thompson, now a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's Taliban government accused Pakistan on Friday of targeting homes in overnight airstrikes on Kabul and other areas of the country, saying at least six civilians were killed and more than a dozen others were injured. Pakistan denied targeting civilians, as fighting between the neighbors entered its third week. Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Pakistani aircraft also struck fuel depots belonging to the private airline Kam Air near the airport in Kandahar, in southern Afghanistan. "This company supplies fuel to civilian airlines as well as to United Nations aircraft," he said on a post on X.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - A Sydney business consultant was convicted Friday of breaking Australia's foreign interference laws by providing reports to two people he should have suspected were Chinese spies. Alexander Csergo, 59, is only the second person to be convicted under Australian laws against covert interference and espionage that angered China when they were legislated in 2018. The jury that heard the trial in New South Wales District Court in Sydney found Csergo should have suspected that a man and woman he knew only as Ken and Evelyn were working for China's ministry of state security. He was found guilty of the charge of reckless foreign interference and was released on bail for the weekend to return to court Monday, when prosecutors will argue for him to be placed in custody.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodia said Friday it has drafted its first law targeting online scam centers, after vowing to shut them down by the end of April. Cambodia is a major hub for scam operations, which extort money from victims online through bogus investment schemes and feigned romances. Victims around the world are estimated to have been cheated out of tens of billions of dollars annually. At the same time, thousands of people, especially from other Asian nations, have been recruited with false job offers and then forced to work in scam centers in conditions of near-slavery. "This law is the most important legal instrument for Cambodia in combating scams online, fighting money laundering and demonstrating that Cambodia is not a paradise or a safe haven for criminals," Information Minister Neth Pheaktra said in a statement.

BANGKOK (AP) - Myanmar's military has commissioned new combat aircraft to boost its air capacities, state media reported Friday, as the army steps up efforts to regain territory from resistance forces in the country's civil war. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper did not specify the number or types of the newly commissioned aircraft, but photos released by the military suggest it received four jet fighters, including two Russian-made Su-30 aircraft widely used for bombing and combat missions. It was the sixth time the miliary had commissioned new aircraft since it seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, triggering armed resistance across the country.

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) - A mirror room dappled with colored dots. Contorted, bright sculptures of flowers on a rooftop at the foot of Cologne's famed cathedral. A vast showroom with giant octopus-like tentacles that offer up a mesmerizing meander through space and obstacles. The renowned Museum Ludwig in the western German city is celebrating its 50th anniversary by opening a nearly five-month exhibit on Saturday, with more than 300 works of the famed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. The trek through the time and transformation of the now nonagenarian artist assembles works ranging from her first drawing in the mid-1930s to a newly commissioned "Infinity Mirror Room" made for the show.

BEIJING (AP) - While much of the world's attention is on the Iran war, that hasn't stopped China from moving ahead with national priorities with global repercussions. Not that China doesn't care about the war and its impact on energy supplies and geopolitics. But for the world's second largest economy, its growing rivalry with the United States revolves around a different battle: the development of the cutting-edge technologies shaping the 21st century. That message came through in a five-year plan formally endorsed Thursday by the National People's Congress at the end of its annual meeting, the nation's biggest political event of the year.

BEIJING (AP) - China adopted a sweeping law Thursday to promote what it calls "ethnic unity," a measure that critics say would further erode the rights of some minority groups as authorities cement a push toward assimilation. The law, approved by the country's ceremonial legislature, is designed to foster "a stronger sense of community among all ethnic groups in the Chinese nation," said Lou Qinjian, a delegate to the National People's Congress who introduced the proposal to the whole body. The proposed law lays out the need to promote ethnic unity by all government bodies and private enterprises, including local governments and state-affiliated groups like the All-China Women's Federation.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - A political party created just four years ago and led by an ex-rapper has swept Nepal's parliamentary poll, results published by the electoral commission on Thursday showed. The election - the country's first since last year's youth-led revolt - was won by the Rastriya Swatantra Party, or RSP, of rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah. The RSP won 125 directly elected seats plus a further 57 as part of the proportional representation votes, giving it a total 182 seats in the 275-member House of Representative, the powerful lower chamber of parliament. The Nepali Congress party came second, with 38 seats.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korean lawmakers on Thursday passed a law to implement a pledge of $350 billion in U.S. investments Seoul made last year to avoid the Trump administration's highest tariffs. Government officials had urged lawmakers to quickly pass the contested bill, submitted in November, as uncertainty mounts for the country's trade-dependent economy, already rattled by President Donald Trump's protectionist swing and now fearing the fallout from his war on Iran. The bill's passage came hours after the Trump administration increased pressure on trade partners by opening a new investigation into manufacturing in foreign countries, including China and U.S.