Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

ISLAMABAD (AP) - A Pakistani Air Force aircraft crashed during a routine training mission in an open area near the northwestern city of Mardan on Monday, killing both pilots, the military and officials said. In a statement, the military identified the pilots as Flt. Lt. Muhammad Qasim Abdullah of the Pakistan Air Force and Lt. Taha Abbasi of the Navy. It said a board of inquiry has been ordered to determine the cause of the crash. In separate statements, President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and the armed forces expressed "deep grief" over the loss of lives and extended condolences to the families.

HONG KONG (AP) - Hong Kong on Monday launched a public consultation for its five-year plan in a politically symbolic step that brings the special administrative region closer to mainland China's development approach. Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Janice Tse said at a news conference that mainland China kicked off its 15th five-year plan for 2026 to 2030 this year. Hong Kong has long prided itself on minimal government intervention in the economy, even while referencing Beijing's vision for the city. The city's blueprint will help Hong Kong synchronize with and serve the national development plan while upholding a free-market economy, Tse said.

BANGKOK (AP) - The former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar was detained upon his return to Yangon, police said Monday, an arrest that came after the organization said it was looking into suspicious financial transactions by ex-board members. Adam Castillo, a founder and owner of the security risk management firm AGS Myanmar, was detained Thursday at Yangon International Airport, said the spokesperson for Myanmar's Home Affairs Ministry, acting police Brig. Gen. Soe Lin Aung. "He was arrested because there was a crime and a lawsuit," he said, confirming reports but not elaborating further. Castillo's company told The Associated Press it was an "ongoing matter" and declined to comment further.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - A prominent Cambodian opposition politician emerged Monday from his Supreme Court appeal to a crowd of cheering supporters, telling them he was anxious for judges to overturn his incitement conviction so that he could get back into politics. Rong Chhun, a top adviser to the Nation Power Party, was found guilty last year of inciting social unrest after he met villagers displaced by government construction projects. His conviction was seen as one of many legal moves taken by the government of Prime Minister Hun Manet to stifle criticism. The 56-year-old was sentenced to four years in prison and barred from running for office and from voting.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Starbucks' South Korean operation said Monday it will close all of its stores nationwide early on June 22 for mandatory history and social sensitivity training as it reels from backlash following a marketing campaign that was widely perceived as mocking victims of a brutal military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1980. Shinsegae Group, which owns a 67.5% stake in Starbucks Korea, said group executives and employees at Starbucks Korea's headquarters will attend training led by history and sociology professors on Wednesday. All Starbucks stores nationwide will close at 3 p.m. next Monday so employees can watch a recording of the session, Shinsegae said in a statement.

TOKYO (AP) - Never mind she isn't old enough to get into a club. Japanese DJ Rinoka still is a celebrated techno artist at just 9 years old. And she's the world's youngest DJ, listed as such in Guinness when she was 6. "It's fun when people get excited at the live performances," she told The Associated Press recently. She decided to become a DJ after seeing Amelie Lens and Nina Kraviz on YouTube when she was 4. She thought they were so cool she asked for a Pioneer DDJ-200 machine for Christmas. "I like a cool, fast, intense style," she said in the interview, while wearing a cap with her own logo.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan's intelligence agency said on Sunday it is establishing an information-reporting channel for Chinese nationals to offer tips securely, at a time when tensions between Beijing and the self-ruled island remain elevated. In a statement, Taiwan's National Security Bureau said they are launching a webpage that will act as a secure channel for Chinese nationals to provide intelligence-related information, saying that an increasing number of people have recently approached relevant agencies in Taiwan wishing to "provide various types of information." "In recent years, China's economy has faced mounting difficulties, while political control has remained tight," the statement said.

PARIS (AP) - From the outset, China wasn't included when major powers gathered in 1975 at a chateau outside Paris to fix the slumping global economy, the first of what have become annual summits by the G7 club of wealthy nations to forward their interests. No surprise there. Imagining Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong brainstorming with U.S. President Gerald Ford and other leaders would have been unthinkable. China was in turmoil, nowhere close to becoming the economic giant it is now. Mao had also helped defeat France and U.S. forces in Vietnam, by militarily supporting Ho Chi Minh's communists that took power.

BEIJING (AP) - China said Saturday it firmly opposed the U.S. adding several prominent Chinese businesses to its list of military companies, and that the move ignored the consensus reached during U.S. President Donald Trump's summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping last month. The Pentagon on Monday added several non-state-owned Chinese companies, including electric vehicle maker BYD, tech giants Alibaba and Baidu to its list that seeks to identify Chinese companies it deems to have ties to the Chinese military, preventing them from landing U.S. defense contracts. By adding these firms to the list, "the U.S. side has ignored the consensus reached during the meeting between the heads of state of the two countries in Beijing," a Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesperson said Saturday in a statement.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - A 3.5-meter (11-foot) shark critically injured a woman off a popular Sydney beach on Saturday, and she managed to grab onto a lifeguard's paddleboard before they made it to shore. The 35-year-old suffered serious leg and arm injuries in the attack at 11:15 a.m. off Coogee Beach, a police statement said. "I saw the shark come out of the water and just the size of it shocked me," lifeguard Charlie Verco told Sydney's The Sunday Telegraph newspaper. He was in the area on his 5.5-meter (18-foot) paddleboard and was the first rescuer to the scene. "I kept paddling towards her and the shark took her underwater and I was going, 'What do I do now?' A couple of seconds later, she popped up again," Verco said.