Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Philippine authorities on Tuesday warned of possible flooding in low-lying villages, landslides and rough seas in the country's two northernmost provinces as a powerful typhoon roared offshore. Typhoon Mekkhala was last tracked over the Pacific before midday, about 375 kilometers (230 miles) northeast of Aparri town in Cagayan province with sustained winds of up to 175 kph (110 mph), the country's weather agency said. Mekkhala was moving northwestward at 10 kph (6 mph) and was not expected to make a landfall, but the typhoon's wide rain and wind band could batter the eastern coasts of Cagayan and Batanes, an island province further north, Philippine officials said.

BRUSSELS (AP) - A delegation from the Afghan Taliban met Tuesday with European Union staff in Brussels for closed-door talks that focused on diplomatic services and the "dignified returns" of Afghans to the isolated and war-ravaged nation, a Taliban official said. Afghans make up one of the largest groups of migrants seeking asylum in the EU, but a growing number of governments in the 27-nation bloc want to speed up and increase deportations for those whose claims are rejected or who commit crimes in their host countries. Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called the visit "historic," noting it was the first time a delegation from the Islamic Emirate held talks with the EU and EU nations in Brussels.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Philippine authorities said Tuesday they will temporarily block an online gaming app that one of two students blamed for a deadly school shooting has avidly used, to assess whether it played a role in fostering such violence. Three students were killed and 20 others were wounded when the two suspects, aged 14 and 15 and armed with a handgun each, opened fire Monday at the San Jose National High School in central Tacloban city. The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center said its decision to block Gorebox was prompted by an ongoing police investigation which showed that one suspect was an avid user of the app, adding that this will allow authorities to determine "whether the platform played any role in the actions of the suspects." The decision would be enforced starting Tuesday, undersecretary Aboy Paraiso of the cybercrime center said in a statement.

BANGKOK (AP) - A Thai woman appeared in a Myanmar court on Tuesday in her trial on an immigration-related charge linked to allegations that she killed her ex-husband, a U.S. diplomat, according to an attorney familiar with her case. Pavinee Supasirivisan is also charged with murder for the May killing of the diplomat, whose identity has not been released, but is first standing trial on a charge of violating Myanmar's immigration code, which applies to any foreign national who commits a crime there. Three prosecution witnesses, including immigration officers, testified during the hearing at Kamayut Township Court, the second in her trial, according to the attorney who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid possible repercussions from Myanmar's military-run government.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Two students armed with hand guns opened fire in a high school in the central Philippines on Monday, killing three fellow students and wounding at least 20 others, police said. The suspects, aged 14 and 15, were arrested. The suspects and the victims were students of the San Jose National High School in Tacloban city, where the mid-morning shooting happened, regional police chief Brig. Gen. Jason Capoy said. Police said 15 of the 20 injuries were caused by gunshots, including a student who was hit in the head and remained in a hospital. The rest were injured as they stumbled and jumped out of a window as they dashed to safety.

BEIJING (AP) - China on Monday announced sanctions on 10 American military-related companies in response to a recent U.S. move that bars some leading Chinese tech companies from defense contracts. The Commerce Ministry said that Chinese companies would be blocked from exporting "dual-use" items to the 10 companies, which include military drone makers and some involved in rare earth mining. Dual use refers to goods that can have military as well as non-military applications. The ministry said the export ban was both to safeguard China's national security and in response to what it called the U.S. government's "wrongful expansion of its so-called List of Chinese Military Companies." George Chen, partner for Greater China at the advisory firm The Asia Group, said the ban was an unsurprising and proportionate response to the U.S.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A former South Korean justice minister was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Monday after a court found him guilty of helping ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol carry out his brief declaration of martial law in 2024. The Seoul Central District Court said it was clear Park Sung-jae played a key role in Yoon's attempted power grab following the declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, including ordering ministry officials to assess detention capacities at correctional facilities to prepare for arrests of politicians. Park also instructed officials to consider sending prosecutors to Yoon's martial law command to support possible investigations into the former conservative leader's political opponents and his unsubstantiated claims about liberal-led election fraud.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Taiwan kicked off a five-day set of military drills on Monday aimed at boosting the island's combat readiness in case of a Chinese military attack. In the city of Taoyuan, home to the island's largest international airport, tanks drove down city streets and highways, videos and photos of the exercise showed, as armored vehicles from the Army's 269th Infantry Brigade conducted combat readiness patrols morning. The Immediate Combat Readiness Exercises are meant to test how rapidly military units can deploy, especially in the face of a possible sudden escalation of Chinese grey-zone warfare. Grey-zone tactics refer to a range of aggressive tactics that vary from navy ship patrols to drone flights, but fall short of direct combat.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - China's newest and most powerful of its three aircraft carriers sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, the Taiwanese defense ministry said, a day after Taiwan began a five-day military exercise on responding to a Chinese attack. The Fujian carrier first sailed through the narrow body of water separating China and Taiwan in a trial run last September. It later transited the strait for the first time as a fully commissioned military vessel in December. China claims the self-governed island as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under Beijing's control.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Police found 2.7 metric tons (3 tons) of cocaine on a property on Sydney's outskirts in Australia's largest-ever seizure of the drug, officials said Monday. The drug was found on June 19 in plastic tubs buried in underground bunkers hidden beneath three shipping containers on a semirural property in the suburb of Londonderry on Sydney's western edge, the Queensland Joint Organized Crime Taskforce said in a statement. The containers had false floors that provided access to the cocaine, which police estimate had a street value of 816 million Australian dollars ($572 million). Two Sydney residents, men aged 21 and 25, were arrested at the property and charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an illicit drug.