Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Rescue crews in Afghanistan searched Tuesday for survivors and bodies in the rubble of houses destroyed by devastating flash floods that authorities said have killed at least 23 people and left more than 100 missing. The Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority said Tuesday that 80 people also were injured when floods struck the eastern province of Nuristan on Monday, causing an undetermined number of buildings to collapse. The provincial capital city of Parun was among the areas affected, authorities said. Video footage from Parun showed scenes of utter devastation, with piles of mud, rocks and rubble where buildings used to be.

GUWAHATI, India (AP) - A suspected gas explosion collapsed part of a tunnel under construction at a hydropower project in India's northeastern Himalayan state of Sikkim, leaving at least 12 people dead and 13 missing, officials said Tuesday. Rescue teams with oxygen gear raced to find survivors Tuesday as toxic levels of gas were detected at the disaster site in Samardung village near the Chinese border. The blast had ripped through the tunnel Monday while 21 laborers were inside working on the 500-megawatt Teesta hydroelectric project, officials said. Two of them managed to escape. Six power utility officials later entered the tunnel to help in the rescue, but became trapped themselves, officials said.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Supporters of India's youth-led Cockroach movement demanding educational reforms and government accountability refused to leave their New Delhi protest site Tuesday, a day after their thousands-strong march toward Parliament drew police tear gas, beatings and a new wave of sympathy from across the country. The movement, now attracting professionals and families beyond students, represents a rare public challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi 's government, reviving criticism over its handling of dissent and use of force to respond to protests. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and dozens of his Congress party lawmakers showed their support Tuesday with a sit-in outside Modi's residence before police forcibly removed them in a dramatic escalation.

BANGKOK (AP) - Southeast Asia-based criminal groups are using increasingly integrated networks and technology to build a rapidly growing illicit economy with tentacles that reach far beyond Asia, with scams alone causing estimated combined losses of $88.3 billion to $114.1 billion in 2025, a U.N. report says. The report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime outlines how transnational crime that used to be concentrated in Southeast Asia has expanded to other regions, while global criminal groups are increasingly engaging in drug, human and wildlife trafficking in Asia. Criminals are using new technologies to launder money through global financial systems and using artificial intelligence to steal from victims worldwide, said the report, released Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Southeast Asia's top diplomats opened three days of talks in the Philippine capital on Tuesday with an agenda topped by their most daunting security problems and a backdrop of unfolding crises led by resurging U.S.-Iran fighting and a violent skirmish in the disputed South China Sea. The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met behind closed doors in Manila before issuing a joint statement calling for an immediate halt to fighting in the Middle East and the full and safe reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a key corridor for energy shipments. "We expressed serious concern over the rapidly evolving situation in the Middle East, particularly the renewed hostilities involving the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran," the ASEAN ministers said.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Seven people died and five were injured when a bus carrying passengers overnight burst into flames after crashing into roadside embankments near southern Vietnam's Dong Nai City early Monday, authorities said. The vehicle was a sleeper bus - a long-distance coach fitted with reclining beds instead of seats commonly used for overnight travel in Vietnam. State media VN Express said that the accident took place at around 2:30 a.m., when the bus veered off the road and struck an embankment. It continued moving before hitting a second embankment and coming to a stop. Flames then erupted from underneath the vehicle and quickly engulfed the passenger cabin, it said.

TOKYO (AP) - Japan expressed concern after a Chinese navy destroyer conducted live-fire drills off a remote Japanese island in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday during its joint exercise with Russia, officials said Tuesday. The Chinese Luyang III-class guided-missile destroyer conducted a live-fire exercise off Japan's southernmost island of Okinotori, hours after the Japanese navy spotted it operating alongside two other Chinese warships and a Russian frigate, the Japanese Joint Staff said. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told reporters Tuesday that his government conveyed concerns that the live-fire drills posed a potential safety threat to nearby vessels. He noted that ships near the area received a notice from the Chinese warships just before the drills started.

BEIJING (AP) - China's leading technology companies showcased hundreds of cutting-edge products at the World AI Conference in Shanghai - from advanced robotics to artificial intelligence systems. The nation's annual flagship AI event, which was held from July 17 to 20, took place against the backdrop of a heated U.S.-China tech rivalry. More than 1,100 companies participated. Chinese companies have developed more than 400 humanoid robot products, more than half the world's total, state media said. Open-source AI models from China are increasingly challenging leading American ones as they are more widely adopted globally. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Southeast Asia's top diplomats will express alarm over renewed hostilities in the Middle East and call for the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz when they gather in the Philippine capital Tuesday for talks with Western and Asian counterparts. Iran and some of the world's most intractable conflicts will be high in the agenda of the annual talks held by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and hosted by the Philippines, the 11-nation bloc's current chair. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are among the attendees.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Supporters of India's youth-led "cockroach" movement faced police batons and tear gas as they tried to march to Parliament to demand the education minister's resignation. The Cockroach Janta Party emerged in May after a Supreme Court judge compared unemployed youth to "cockroaches." Leaks of exam papers crucial to the future of many young people had sparked public anger. The movement has taken on political weight and called for more widespread reforms. Senior officials have taken a hard line against the movement.