Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Latest Updates

HONG KONG (AP) - China is poised to benefit from the Iran war as global energy disruptions accelerate a shift away from fossil fuels and toward clean technologies and renewable power, industries that China dominates, experts say. Most of the oil and gas from the now mostly shut Strait of Hormuz was Asia-bound. Asian nations are scrambling to conserve energy and bolster dwindling reserves. As a temporary ceasefire teeters, gasoline prices in the U.S. and Europe are spiking. While most of Asia is hit hard, China will likely benefit from the fossil fuel disruptions despite being the biggest purchaser of Iranian oil.

MADRID (AP) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is in China again this week, his fourth trip in just over three years to the world's second-largest economy as Spain seeks to strengthen its political and commercial ties with Beijing. His visit comes at a complex geopolitical moment as European leaders try to influence an end to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, and as Spain's relationship with the U.S. has been strained by Sánchez's vocal disapproval of the conflict. On Monday, Sánchez urged China to assume a larger role in a multipolar world, speaking at Beijing's Tsinghua University a day before he is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Suspected militants opened fire on a vehicle carrying police officers assigned to protect polio workers in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing one of them and wounding four others before fleeing the scene, police said. Two attackers were killed when police returned fire. The shooting occurred in Hangu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, shortly after Pakistan launched its second nationwide anti-polio campaign of the year, according to local police official Mahmood Alam. No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban and local militant groups, which often carry out similar attacks in the region and elsewhere.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - An annoyed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. did a few rounds of jumping jack exercise and jogged briefly outside his office in front of journalists Monday to disprove rumors of his failing health. Wearing formal office wear, reading glasses and leather shoes, the 68-year-old leader said he did the impromptu workout to ease any worry about his health at a time when people were already beset with problems sparked by the war in the Middle East. "I challenge anyone who are saying that I am sick, that they come and exercise with me," Marcos told reporters. "You come to the gym with me.

HONG KONG (AP) - A humanoid robot about the size of a primary school student had something to share in Hong Kong - it sang songs and spoke to people in Mandarin and English, answering whatever questions they posed and delighting the audience around it. More than 100 robots were showcased at two exhibitions starting Monday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. The X2 Ultra robot from China's prominent humanoid robot manufacturer AGIBOT Innovation (Shanghai) Technology Co. was among them. When asked about its hobbies, the robot's list went from doing sports and dancing to studying technology and listening to music.

The Songkran water festival is a celebration held annually at the start of the Thai new year. The spraying of water signifies cleansing and good fortune. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors. ___ AP photography: https://apnews.com/photography Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews

A super typhoon is taking aim at several remote U.S. islands in the Pacific Ocean, lashing Guam with heavy rain and tropical storm-force wind gusts hours before its arrival. Super Typhoon Sinlaku is on track to barrel over the Northern Mariana Islands late Tuesday local time with widespread rain and flooding along with destructive winds that could cause lengthy power outages, the National Weather Service said. Guam, a U.S. territory with several American military installations and about 170,000 residents, isn't expected to take a direct hit but still could see damaging winds. The tropical typhoon - the strongest on Earth so far this year - was producing sustained winds of 173 mph (278 kph) on Monday as it neared the islands of Rota, Tinian and Saipan, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

WASHINGTON (AP) - In 2011, President Barack Obama declared it was time for America to leave behind the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and "pivot" to Asia to counter the rise of China. Fifteen years later, the U.S. finds itself still at war in the Middle East and has pulled military assets from the Asia-Pacific as it aims to eliminate the threat posed by Iran's nuclear and missile programs. The demands of the Iran war also caused President Donald Trump to delay by several weeks his highly anticipated trip to China, deepening worries that the U.S. is once again getting distracted at the cost of its strategic interests in Asia, where Beijing seeks to unseat the U.S.

BANGKOK (AP) - China said Sunday it would resume some ties it had suspended with Taiwan such as direct flights and imports of Taiwanese aquaculture products following a visit by the Beijing-friendly opposition leader of the self-ruled island. The Taiwan Work Office under China's Communist Party issued a statement saying it would explore setting up a longstanding communication mechanism between the Communist Party and Taiwan's Kuomingtang Party. It said it will facilitate the import of Taiwan's aquaculture products that it had previously banned. Cheng Li-wun, the head of the Kuomingtang, and China's President Xi Jinping held a high-profile meeting Friday during which they called for peace, without offering specifics.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Asha Bhosle, one of India's most versatile Bollywood singers whose performances shaped the country's musical memory and modern cinema, has died. She was 92. The legendary singer across genres died Sunday of multiple organ failure at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, Pratit Samdani, a physician at the hospital said. Her son, Anand Bhosle, told reporters that her last rites will be performed Monday. Asha was admitted at the hospital on late Saturday with a chest infection and exhaustion, her granddaughter Zanai Bhosle said in a social media post. Asha's timeless voice resonated across a film-obsessed India for nearly eight decades, recorded on about 12,000 songs.