Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

BANGKOK (AP) - A Thai woman appeared in a Myanmar court on Thursday to answer charges of murder in the killing of an American diplomat in Yangon, according to two attorneys familiar with the case. The woman, whose identity has not been released, was charged with murder as well as a charge under the country's immigration code that applies to any foreign national who commits a crime in Myanmar, according to one of the attorneys. It was not clear whether she entered a plea or had legal representation during the hearing in Kamayut Township Court. She faces the possibility of a sentence ranging from 10 years in prison to the death penalty if she is convicted of murder.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said Thursday it had documented the deaths of 13 civilians, mainly children and women, from Pakistani airstrikes on eastern Afghanistan the previous day, confirming the death toll given by Afghan authorities. Pakistan had dismissed as propaganda a statement by Afghan government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid on Wednesday that the airstrikes in the provinces of Khost, Kunar and Paktika had killed 13 civilians - 11 children, one woman and one man. The strikes shattered a month of calm following what Islamabad previously described as "open war" between the neighbors. The conflict has so far defied international efforts to bring a lasting peace.

BANGKOK (AP) - A court in Thailand on Thursday convicted and sentenced to death two members of China's Muslim Uyghur minority over a 2015 bombing at a Bangkok landmark that killed 20 people and injured more than 120. Yusufu Mieraili and Bilal Mohammad were arrested shortly after the Aug. 17, 2015, bombing of the Erawan shrine, which is a popular tourist destination, particularly for visitors from China. The men were charged with a variety of offenses, including murder, attempted murder and illegal possession of explosive materials. They allegedly were linked by video, fingerprints and other evidence to the bombing. Four judges presided over the ruling at Bangkok South Criminal Court.

NEW DELHI (AP) - India's viral Cockroach Janta Party launched a nationwide protest campaign on Thursday with hundreds of students and young supporters gathering in the western city of Pune in the youth movement's latest show of strength. The rally at Savitribai Phule Pune University followed the group's first major street protest in New Delhi last week. It demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged examination irregularities and repeated paper leaks. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke, a political communications strategist and Boston University student, addressed supporters and said Thursday marked the start of a broader national campaign. He announced plans for protests in other cities and said supporters would return to New Delhi later this month if the education minister did not step down.

KASHIWAZAKI, Japan (AP) - Japan has resumed operations at the world's largest nuclear power plant to help the country meet huge electricity demands during a global oil crisis, but the reboot highlights a big problem: Japan is running out of space for spent nuclear fuel and has no viable plans for permanent disposal of the radioactive waste. The restart of No. 6 reactor at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Station earlier this year was meant to spur a movement to bring more nuclear reactors online. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is one of three plants whose cooling pools will be full in five years, according to the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan.

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Rescuers recovered the remains of all 22 soldiers aboard a military helicopter that crashed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir the previous day, officials said Thursday, confirming there were no survivors, as senior government and military officials attended a mass funeral for the victims. The helicopter crashed Wednesday in Muzaffarabad, the regional capital, apparently because of a technical fault, according to Pakistan's military. An investigation is underway to determine the exact cause. An Associated Press reporter counted 22 coffins draped in Pakistan's national flag at a funeral ceremony. Witnesses and regional officials said the remains of the soldiers were recovered from the badly burned wreckage.

WASHINGTON (AP) - El Nino, Nature's chaotic climate agent, has formed in a warmed-up Pacific Ocean and is expected to grow to historic strength, meteorologists announced Thursday. Experts said the El Nino, a natural warming cycle, should further heat a globe already warming from fossil fuel pollution and will likely turbocharge extreme weather across the planet. Meteorologists forecast it will rival - or exceed - a record El Nino that began in 1997 and helped trigger billions of dollars in damage from heat waves, floods, droughts, tornadoes and wildfires. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officially confirmed the existence of the El Nino, which is a warming of the Pacific near the equator that affects weather patterns across the globe.

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines (AP) - The mayor of a southern Philippine town that was devastated by a powerful earthquake pleaded Thursday for helicopters to transport food to stave off hunger in several landslide-isolated villages. The 7.8 magnitude offshore quake, one of the strongest to hit the Philippine archipelago in a half century, struck Monday off the southern province of Sarangani and has left at least 47 people dead and injured 688 with 31 still missing. More than 45,000 people remained displaced, about half in emergency shelters, after the quake damaged more than 12,600 houses in farming towns and cities. Many were still too traumatized to return home due to aftershocks, provincial officials said.

HONG KONG (AP) - Just hours before the World Cup kicked off, Hong Kong authorities announced they seized 230,000 suspected counterfeit items worth an estimated $20 million, including jerseys tied to the tournament. The seizure included about 30,000 jerseys, some so finely made that they're hard to distinguish from authentic team shirts, Wayne Chung, senior inspector at Hong Kong 's customs department, said Thursday. Most were copies of authentic player jerseys that are generally more expensive than fan-edition versions because they're better designed and made of higher-quality materials, he said. All were destined for overseas markets, with nearly 80% set to be shipped to the Americas, where the World Cup is being jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

BEIJING (AP) - The Philippines defense secretary and his family have been banned from entering China over comments he has made about Beijing's claims in the South China Sea, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday. Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro and his wife and kids are banned from entering China, including Hong Kong, while individuals and groups in China are also banned from having any sort of transaction with Teodoro, the ministry said in a statement Teodoro is known for using strong language to counter China's claims over the strategic waters, calling them a "fiction and lie" that no Southeast Asian country would accept.