Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BANGKOK (AP) - China's role as an unofficial mediator in the latest war in the Middle East is drawing attention across the world as it seeks to project the image of being a responsible global power while U.S. actions are straining its long-standing alliances. China's profile in international diplomacy has risen in recent years, thanks to active efforts from its diplomats. Long reluctant to get involved in conflicts far from its borders, it has nevertheless emerged as a major player with attempts to mediate conflicts from Southeast Asia to Europe. With the Iran war, Beijing is not an official mediator, but all parties - including Washington and Tehran - say it has played an important role in trying to de-escalate the conflict.

KOLKATA, India (AP) - Voting in one of India's most closely watched state elections began Thursday after a national voter roll revision removed millions of names and raised concerns over disenfranchisement in West Bengal, one of the few large states not governed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party. The election has national implications. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party is seeking gains in a state long dominated by a regional opposition party, while a victory for West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would bolster her position as a leading opposition figure. A second phase of polling is scheduled for next week. Voting also was taking place Thursday in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Judges at the International Criminal Court on Thursday confirmed crimes against humanity charges against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte for deadly anti-drugs crackdowns he allegedly oversaw while in office. A three-judge panel found unanimously there were "substantial grounds" to believe the ex-leader was responsible for dozens of murders, first as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later when he was president. Duterte, who served as president from 2016 to 2022, was arrested in the Philippines last year and flown to the Hague, where the global court is located. He denies the charges against him.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration is in discussions to potentially send more than 1,000 Afghans who assisted America's war effort and relatives of U.S. service members stuck in Qatar to a third country, the U.S. government and some advocates said. Congo is an option, the advocates said. Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran who heads a coalition that supports Afghan resettlement efforts called #AfghanEvac, said Wednesday that U.S. officials informed him and other groups of discussions between the United States and Congo about taking the Afghan refugees who have been in limbo at a U.S. base in Doha for the past year.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Cambodia and China on Wednesday held their first meeting of what is called a "2+2" Strategic Dialogue Mechanism, bringing together both countries' foreign and defense ministers to deepen mutual political and security ties. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Defense Minister Dong Jun are visiting Cambodia to hold talks with their counterparts, Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn and Defense Minister Tea Seiha. These talks are an initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his state visit in April last year, aimed at boosting relations and the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two nations. China has worked to increase its sphere of influence in Southeast Asia, and initiated the ministerial-level "2+2" dialogue format with Indonesia last year.

HONG KONG (AP) - PwC, one of the world's biggest accounting firms, is paying HK$1.3 billion ($166 million) in fines and compensation in Hong Kong over its audit work for the failed Chinese property developer Evergrande, which was said to have overstated revenues. Hong Kong's accounting regulator on Thursday also announced a six-month ban on PwC from working for new clients and said it had issued a public reprimand to two of its former partners for misconduct, fining each of them a separate HK$5 million. China Evergrande, one of China's biggest property developers and once deemed "too big to fail," defaulted in 2021 and became the world's most indebted developer with roughly $300 billion in liabilities.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A 2021 midair collision of two South Korean fighter jets happened because a pilot made an abrupt maneuver to get a better angle for videos of the flight, a government report said. The Board of Audit and Inspection said in a report Wednesday that the pilot, now a civilian, must pay about 88 million won (around $60,000) to compensate for the damage inflicted on the fighter jets. The report said that the pilot, then a major, first filmed himself with a camera to mark his final flight with his unit when he was returning to his base after a training mission in December 2021.

LONDON (AP) - DNA and other confidential health data from 500,000 people who volunteered for a massive U.K. health study were offered for sale online in China following a data breach this week, the British government said Thursday. The information from the U.K. Biobank database was found listed for sale on the website Alibaba, but names, addresses, contact details or telephone numbers were not included, the technology minister, Ian Murray, told lawmakers. Murray said he could not give a complete guarantee that nobody could be identified as the data could include gender, age, month and year of birth, socioeconomic status, lifestyle habits, and measures from biological samples.

TOKYO (AP) - A South Korean national holding a banner carrying political messages was arrested Wednesday for allegedly obstructing an annual spring festival at Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, Japanese police said. The shrine honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead, including convicted war criminals. Victims of Japanese aggression before and during World War II, especially China and the Koreas, see visits to the shrine as a lack of remorse about Japan's wartime past. The 64-year-old suspect held up a banner carrying messages including one urging "war criminals" to stop praying at Yasukuni and another making territorial claims on an island disputed between Japan and South Korea.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan's president postponed a visit to Africa this week when three countries withdrew permission for him to fly over their territories after pressure from China, his office said Tuesday. President Lai Ching-te was set to visit Eswatini, Taiwan's sole remaining diplomatic ally in Africa, from April 22-26. But flight permits were canceled in island nations along the route, Secretary-General to the president, Pan Meng-an, told journalists in Taipei. "The cancellation of flight permits by Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar without prior warning was actually due to strong pressure from the Chinese authorities, including economic coercion," Pan said. China's alleged pressure "constitutes blatant interference in the internal affairs of other countries, disrupts the regional status quo and hurts the feelings of the Taiwanese people," he added.