Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea said Wednesday its latest launches involved multiple weapons systems, including a nuclear-capable cruise missile that leader Kim Jong Un plans to deploy with front-line units facing South Korea, as he continues expanding his military capabilities. The report by North Korean state media came a day after South Korea's military said it detected the North launching multiple projectiles, including at least one close-range ballistic missile, toward its western waters. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile flew about 80 kilometers (50 miles) but didn't specify other types of weapons involved. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim supervised Tuesday's tests that featured ballistic missiles with new warheads designed for battlefield nuclear use, nuclear-capable cruise missiles guided by artificial-intelligence technology, and 240-millimeter rocket artillery equipped with "ultra-precision" navigation systems.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - An Australian state police force has worked to form a heavily armed rapid response team since gunmen killed 15 people and wounded three police officers armed only with handguns at a Sydney Hanukkah celebration in December, a government inquiry heard Wednesday. Testifying before the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, which is investigating the spread of antisemitism in Australia ahead of the Dec. 14 attack at Bondi Beach, New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson described a firepower imbalance. The police force has responded with a plan to establish an Armed Response Command, equipped with semiautomatic rifles, and by reviving a priority-resourced operation that focused on antisemitic crimes and retaliations against Muslim targets, Hudson said.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) - Chinese authorities have executed a man convicted of using poison to kill a billionaire gaming tycoon linked to the Netflix adaptation of "The Three-Body Problem" over a professional dispute, local media reported Tuesday. Xu Yao was found guilty of killing Lin Qi, the founder of the Shanghai-based Yoozoo Games, which holds the film adaptation rights for the blockbuster science-fiction trilogy known by the title of its first book, "The Three-Body Problem." The sci-fi trilogy, by Chinese author Liu Cixin, has been translated into more than 40 languages and adapted into television and game productions including Netflix's popular "3 Body Problem" series released in 2024.

DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) - Penpa Tsering was sworn in Wednesday for a second consecutive term as the president of Tibet's government-in-exile following his reelection earlier this year. Tsering, 58, has led the exile government based in Dharamshala, India, since 2021. He secured another five-year term in elections held in February among Tibetans living in India and overseas. Tsering was first elected to the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile in 1996 and served as speaker from 2008 until he rose to the top executive post. Formed in 1959, Tibet's government-in-exile, now called the Central Tibetan Administration, has executive, judicial and legislative branches. Tsering said Wednesday that the Central Tibetan Administration "remains firmly committed to the 'Middle Way Policy' envisioned by His Holiness the Dalai Lama," adding that the policy seeks resolution through nonviolence, dialogue and lasting mutual benefit.

BANGKOK (AP) - Five villagers who became trapped in a flooded cave in central Laos more than a week ago have been found alive by divers who discovered them sitting on a rock in the darkness, rescuers said Wednesday, but two others are still missing. The seven villagers entered the cave in Xaisomboun province on May 19, but heavy rain triggered flash flooding that blocked the exit, according to Lao and Thai rescue teams involved in the operation. Thai rescuer Chakkit Taengtang posted video of himself in the cave saying divers were delivering food and water to the five and planning to extract them as soon as possible.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A group led by a Roman Catholic bishop in the Philippines launched a fact-finding body Wednesday to document accounts of witnesses and other details of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody anti-drugs crackdown that the government can use to prosecute law enforcers. Duterte, who ended his stormy six-year presidency in 2022, was arrested last year and taken to the Netherlands, where he is facing trial before the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity over the killings. Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, Duterte's loyal ally and his former national police chief, who first enforced the bloody crackdown, is wanted by the ICC as a co-perpetrator for some of the thousands of killings, which alarmed Western governments and human rights groups.

IRVINE, Calif. (AP) - Former Associated Press photographer Dang Van Phuoc, who was wounded multiple times during the Vietnam War and returned to capture the action even after losing an eye in an explosion, has died. He was 91. Phuoc died Saturday in Southern California after collapsing suddenly, his nephew, Van Nguyen, said. Phuoc was hired in 1965 by AP's former photo chief, Horst Faas, to replace another local hire who had been killed on assignment. He quickly gained a reputation among other journalists and the U.S. and South Vietnamese troops for his uncanny ability to find the thick of the action.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Judges at the International Criminal Court said on Wednesday that the trial of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity will start on Nov. 30. According to prosecutors, the ex-leader is responsible for dozens of murders, allegedly overseeing deadly anti-drug crackdowns, first as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president. "The expediency of the trial is of the upmost importance," presiding Judge Joanna Korner said, rejecting requests from the registry of the court to delay the start date over concerns about a lack of translators. 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.

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Hundreds of climbers, mountaineers and officials gathered in Kathmandu on Wednesday to discuss the risks of scaling Mount Everest at a time of warming temperatures and as a surge in climbers creates new challenges, including the garbage they leave behind. The "Everest Summiteers Summit" in Nepal's capital was held during what is believed to be the most crowded season ever on the world's highest peak, with hundreds of climbers and their Sherpa guides scaling the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak in just a few days this month. Nepal issued a record 494 permits for foreign climbers this season, with the number of people who reached the summit believed to be more than 900.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Foreign ministers from Australia, India, Japan and the United States announced new initiatives on Tuesday on maritime security, port infrastructure and energy to boost cooperation in the Indo-Pacific to counter concerns about China's growing influence. The announcements by the group of nations known as the Quad came after talks in New Delhi between India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Speaking after the meeting, Rubio announced a new Indo-Pacific maritime surveillance initiative to integrate the four countries' surveillance capabilities and strengthen real-time information sharing across the region.