Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

TOKYO (AP) - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.5 shook eastern Japan, including Tokyo, on Tuesday, but there was no danger of a tsunami, the meteorological agency said. The quake struck at 7:46 p.m. (1046 GMT) in the southern Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, at a depth of about 50 kilometers (30 miles), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. There have been no reports of damage or injuries from the temblor so far, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. Shinkansen bullet trains serving northeastern regions were temporarily suspended for safety checks, according to the East Japan Railway Co. Parts of the Joetsu and Hokuriku Shinkansen lines have lost power because of the earthquake, according to Japanese media reports.

KANCHANABURI, Thailand (AP) - A depot on World War II's infamous "Death Railway" has resurfaced from beneath a reservoir where the site has remained underwater for decades, prompting researchers to race to western Thailand to survey the remnants of Nithe Station. Thousands of Allied prisoners of war and Asian laborers toiled and died building the railway, a supply route through mainland Southeast Asia for the occupying Japanese forces. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand recently drained the reservoir at Vajiralongkorn Dam for maintenance, revealing the station. Historians are seizing the uncommon opportunity to further study the site in Kanchanaburi province for artifacts and to verify details.

KANCHANABURI, Thailand (AP) - After decades beneath the surface, a submerged station from World War II's infamous "Death Railway" has resurfaced in Thailand. Maintenance at Vajiralongkorn Dam drained the hydropower facility's reservoir, revealing Nithe Station for the first time in more than 40 years. Researchers are racing to survey the site, which was a major depot on the historic 415-kilometer (257-mile) route that connected then Siam and Burma, modern day Thailand and Myanmar. But it is a race against time, as the completion of the dam's maintenance in August and Southeast Asia's rainy season may soon reflood the area. During World War II, around 60,000 Allied prisoners of war, as well as hundreds of thousands of Asian laborers, were forced to build the railway by the Empire of Japan.

PALU, Indonesia (AP) - A 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook part of central Indonesia 's Sulawesi island Tuesday, injuring dozens of people, damaging homes and infrastructure and rattling residents of a city devastated by a quake and tsunami eight years ago, officials said. The initial quake was centered inland about 43 kilometers (27 miles) east-southeast of Palu, and the U.S. Geological Survey said it was about 10 kilometers (6 miles) deep. The strong shaking sent people fleeing into open areas in and around Palu, a city of about 400,000 people and the capital of Central Sulawesi province. Several hospitals evacuated patients, some with IV drips, outdoors as a safety measure.

BANGKOK (AP) - The Iran war has exposed major risks for Southeast Asia that could cost the region billions of dollars, if it doesn't diversify sources of energy more quickly, according to an International Energy Agency report released Tuesday. An overreliance on oil and gas transported through the Strait of Hormuz left the region particularly vulnerable to shocks from the Iran war, a "stark wake-up call" for its energy security, the report says. It notes that rising sales of electric vehicles, a renewed interest in nuclear power and a boom in rooftop solar and other renewable energy installations show that the war is spurring change.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Monday calling on Afghanistan's Taliban rulers to swiftly reverse their crackdown on women and to combat militant groups inside Afghanistan that Pakistan accuses of carrying out cross-border attacks. China's U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong, whose country sponsored the resolution, said the hope is that the Afghan government will "take more proactive measures to protect human rights, especially the rights of women, and project an image of openness, inclusivity and responsibility." The resolution extends the U.N. political mission in Afghanistan until June 17, 2027, and authorizes it to support humanitarian aid deliveries "without discrimination" and to promote national and local governance "without any discrimination based on sex, religion or ethnicity, with the full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women, ... minorities, youth and persons with disabilities." The resolution's adoption follows the arrest of at least 30 women in the western city of Herat this month for allegedly violating the Taliban's strict dress code.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in the Philippines on Tuesday that Europe is worried over tensions in the disputed South China Sea where a major flare-out could endanger freedom of navigation as has happened in the Strait of Hormuz. In a joint appearance with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in Manila, where Steinmeier is on a state visit, the German president referenced the blockade of the Hormuz as a result of the Iran war and said European leaders were concerned about continuing territorial confrontations in the South China Sea, particularly between the Philippines and China. The United States lays no claims to the South China Sea but has repeatedly warned it's obligated to help defend the Philippines, its oldest treaty ally in Asia, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack.

BEIJING (AP) - An earthquake in northwestern China has killed at least one person and injured four others, state media said Tuesday. The magnitude 6.3 quake struck about 5 p.m. in Qinghai province at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (six miles), the official Xinhua News Agency said. The full extent of casualties and damage was unclear. Rescue teams with search dogs had been dispatched to the mountainous area in Haixi prefecture on the Tibetan plateau. The average altitude around the epicenter is more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet), a state media report 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.

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.