Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BEIJING (AP) - On the surface, Chinese leader Xi Jinping's back-to-back summits with U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin looked pretty similar, with formal handshakes in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, enthusiastic greetings from flower-waving children, and marching columns of soldiers branching gleaming bayonets. But the visits also revealed how different China's relationship is with the two countries. During Trump's visit, China sought to stabilize ties with the United States, while Putin's trip served to deepen its strategic partnership with Russia. Xi emphasized ceremonial hospitality during Trump's visit, including a rare tour of Zhongnanhai, a former imperial garden that now serves as headquarters of China's top leadership.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Roads and markets have emptied during afternoons and some farmers have switched to nighttime work to avoid scorching temperatures as a heat wave grips large parts of India. The India Meteorological Department forecast maximum temperatures Thursday of around 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in the capital, New Delhi, where authorities have opened temporary "cooling zones" to help people cope. The weather department warned conditions will likely persist across several northern regions in the coming days, with temperatures staying well above seasonal averages. Authorities urged people to stay indoors during the hottest hours and take precautions against heat-related illnesses.

NEW DELHI (AP) - It began as a satirical online project. Now millions of young Indians are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration. A parody political party called the Cockroach Janta Party, with the insect as its symbol, has exploded across India's social media by turning absurdist humor into protest. Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach - known for its ability to survive harsh conditions - as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of endurance. The online movement's rise has been unusually rapid. The Cockroach Janta Party, or CJP, set up its website and social media accounts on Saturday.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The United Nations expressed "grave concern" Thursday about a new law issued by Afghanistan's Taliban government on separation in marriage which includes provisions on child marriage, saying the code further entrenches discrimination against women and girls. The government rejected the accusations, saying the decree follows Islamic law and insisting the country has already banned the forced marriage of girls. Afghanistan's justice ministry published Decree No. 18 "on judicial separation of spouses" last week, setting out rules for separation of a married couple. Among its most controversial provisions, it says that the silence of a girl reaching puberty can be interpreted as consent to marriage.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The Philippine justice chief ordered authorities Thursday to enforce an International Criminal Court warrant for the arrest of a senator wanted on an alleged crime against humanity. He warned that anyone helping the senator evade a nationwide hunt would face criminal charges. Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa "is a fugitive from justice," Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said in a news conference. "He should be brought to the ICC to face the charges." Dela Rosa is a former national police chief who enforced then President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody crackdown against illegal drugs that killed thousands of mostly petty suspects.

WASHINGTON (AP) - In the year since President Donald Trump signed an executive order promising to create a deep-sea mining industry from scratch, businesses have raised millions of dollars from investors, stock prices have soared and federal regulators have raced to fast-track a permitting process. At least nine companies are in talks with the government for access to seabed minerals, according to an Associated Press review. Sections of the seafloor from American Samoa to Alaska could be auctioned for offshore mining this summer and through the fall. All the action suggests the U.S. may soon give the green light for companies to commercially mine the seabed - something that's never been done in international waters.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - An Australian judge fined X Corp. 650,000 Australian dollars ($465,000) on Thursday for failing to provide information to an online safety watchdog in 2023 about how it tackled child sexual exploitation content. Federal Court Justice Michael Wheelahan also ordered the Texas-based social media giant to pay AU$100,000 ($71,000) of eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant's court costs within 45 days. The ruling ends a three-year legal battle in which X had argued it was not obliged to answer eSafety's questions. X admitted it contravened Australia's Online Safety Act by failing to provide a report that fully answered questions posed by eSafety in a transparency notice issued on Feb.

BANGKOK (AP) - Myanmar's military-backed government says it has regained control of two towns near the country's borders with India and Thailand, marking a significant advance in the civil war as it seeks to reassert control of regions long held by resistance forces. A report in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper on Thursday said Tonzang, near the border with India, was captured by the army on Wednesday after 10 days of operations to retake it. The paper published photos of soldiers who recaptured the town in front of the township's administrative office and other departments. That report came a day after Myanma Alinn reported that the army on Tuesday retook control of Mawtaung, a strategically important border town for trade with Thailand, after a two-week operation.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Hundreds of climbers scaled Mount Everest in a single day, setting a new record with 274 successful ascents, officials said Thursday. The climbers took advantage of the clear weather on Wednesday, said Rishi Ram Bhandari of the Expedition Operators Association Nepal. It was the highest number of climbers to reach the summit on a single day from the popular route on the southern face of the peak, which is located in Nepal. The peak can be scaled from either the southern side in Nepal or northern face in China's Tibet. On May 22, 2019, Nepal's side had 223 and the Chinese side had 113 climbers on the summit.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysia said Thursday it has ordered TikTok to explain and address what it described as the social media platform's failure to act swiftly against offensive, defamatory and fake content targeting the royal institution. The Communications and Multimedia Commission said the move followed the circulation of "grossly offensive, false, menacing and insulting" content, including AI-generated videos and manipulated images linked to an account falsely claiming association with king Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar. Such matters fall within the sensitive issues of race, religion and royalty "which are highly sensitive and may undermine public order, national harmony and respect for constitutional institutions," the regulator said in a statement.