Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BANGKOK (AP) - An 11-year-old boy crashed a pickup truck into a group of monks on a pilgrimage walk in northeastern Thailand on Thursday, killing nine, officials said. A total of 35 monks from Mukdahan province, about 600 kilometers (372 miles) northeast of the capital Bangkok, were on the pilgrimage. Five monks were killed at the site, while four others died at a hospital. Thirteen were hospitalized with three in critical condition, according to the provincial administration. The group started the 260-kilometer (161-mile) walk to Ubon Ratchathani province about 30 minutes before the crash. Security camera footage shared by a local rescue group, Ruam Jai Mukdahan Rescue Association, shows the monks walking in a single line on the side of a road before the truck crashes into them.

ORDOS, China (AP) - Seen from the air, the arrays of more than 3 million solar panels shimmering in the desert sun at the Dalad Banner solar farm are arranged in the shape of a galloping horse - a symbol of Inner Mongolia's nomadic heritage. A short drive away stands one of the region's many coal-fired power plants, one which sends electricity 700 kilometers (435 miles) to China's capital Beijing. The proximity of the projects embodies what experts describe as an "all-of-the-above" energy approach for Inner Mongolia, which has become China's largest base of both renewable energy and coal production. Its energy transition mirrors China as a whole: Wind and solar capacity are expanding quickly while coal remains indispensable.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - A Papua separatist group said Thursday it shot dead an American pilot who allegedly transported Indonesian troops into the restive province. A spokesman for the West Papua Liberation Army, or TPNPB, said its fighters fatally shot Nicholas F. Goselin and set fire to an aircraft operated by PT AMA, an Indonesian airline, in Balinggama village. The plane was carrying one pilot and seven passengers, Indonesia's Directorate General of Civil Aviation said. After the pilot reported that the aircraft had landed, communications with personnel at the airstrip were subsequently lost, the ministry said in a statement. There was no immediate comment from the U.S.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - When he wanted to give a gift to his father who sacrificed much to raise him as a single parent, Lee Geon Hui settled on an unusual idea: an AI-animated video message from his late grandfather, whom his father misses dearly. Lee wrote a message and hired the Seoul-based tech company Vaice in December to make a short video clip showing a digital likeness of his grandfather delivering it. The virtual character called his father "my most precious son," and apologized for making him help with farm work when he was a child and for opposing his son's decision to become a hairstylist.

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) - A young couple in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province were publicly caned on Thursday after an Islamic Shariah court convicted them of violating Islamic law by kissing during a TikTok livestream. Aceh's Sharia court ordered the two people to be whipped with a rattan cane 21 times each for kissing without being married. At least a hundred people witnessed the caning, carried out by a group of people wearing robes and hoods on a stage in Bustanussalatin City Park in Banda Aceh. The couple, a 22-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, were arrested in April after a Feb.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Japan and India announced a series of agreements to deepen cooperation in defense, economic and maritime security following talks Thursday between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese counterpart, Sanae Takaichi. Speaking after the meeting in New Delhi, Modi said India and Japan will collaborate on naval radio antenna systems, and adopted a joint road map on economic security. He said the leaders also agreed to strengthen cooperation in artificial intelligence, shipbuilding, biogas, semiconductors and critical technologies. "India and Japan view economic security as a shared security interest," he said. Japan is among India's largest foreign investors and has backed major infrastructure projects, including the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail line.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Indian authorities are seeking to recover the body of a climber known as "Green Boots" from the upper slopes of Mount Everest, nearly three decades after the mountaineer died on the world's highest peak. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police, an Indian paramilitary force, has begun the process of hiring high-altitude recovery specialists to retrieve what it believes is the body of Dorje Morup from Everest's northern route in Tibet. Morup was part of a six-member Indo-Tibetan Border Police expedition on Everest in May 1996. As weather conditions deteriorated near the summit, three climbers turned back, while Morup and two colleagues continued their ascent.

BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union rolled out two measures to protect its steel industry and limit e-commerce small parcels on Wednesday as the 27-nation bloc grapples with its staggering trade imbalance with China. "Today's change is about restoring fairness for European businesses and better protecting our consumers," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in an online post praising a new 3 euro ($3.42) customs duty on small packages. "The surge in low-value online imports has put our retailers at an unfair disadvantage. Too many of these products also fail to meet EU safety standards, putting consumers at risk."

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Chinese tech giant Alibaba will pay $600 million to resolve a dispute with the U.S. government over allegations that the Hangzhou-based firm sold and imported illegal pharmaceuticals, controlled substances, regulated chemicals, and pill-making equipment into the U.S. Alibaba operates some of the world's largest e-commerce platforms, including Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com. The U.S. alleges that Alibaba's U.S.-based payment processor, AUS Merchant Services, violated federal law by failing to prevent merchants from selling and importing illegal products into the U.S. through Alibaba.com and AliExpress.com. Alibaba acknowledges in an agreement with the Justice Department that between January 2016 and December 2024, it failed to stop roughly 80,000 product sales involving unlawful imports that violated the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and other federal laws.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Martial arts icon Bruce Lee, who was born in San Francisco, will become the first Chinese American in California history with an annual namesake day. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Tuesday afternoon officially designating May 17 as Bruce Lee Day, according to the office of state Assemblymember Matt Haney, who represents San Francisco. An 18-year-old Lee returned to San Francisco on May 17, 1959, after spending his childhood in Hong Kong. Lee's daughter, Shannon, who is CEO of the Bruce Lee Foundation, said the honor is a testament to her father's enduring legacy as a bridge between cultures.