Asia Pacific

FILE - Flores sit on a fence outside the Christ the Good Shepherd church in suburban Wakely in western Sydney, Australia, on April 16, 2024. Detectives and secret service agents investigating the stabbing of a bishop in the Sydney church last week executed search warrants in the city on Wednesday, April 24, as part of a major operation, officials said. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

Australian police arrest 7 alleged teen extremists linked to stabbing of a bishop in a Sydney church

Australian police say they have arrested seven teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology in raids around Sydney to protect the community from a potential attack.
 
FILE - In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, meets Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People's Congress of China, in Pyongyang, North Korea on April 13, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, File)

North Korea sends a delegation to Iran in a growing effort to break its diplomatic isolation

 
Indonesian Defense Minister and president-elect Prabowo Subianto, left, waves at media members as his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of Indonesian President JokoWidodo, looks on during their formal declaration as president and vice president-elect at the General Election Commission building in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Indonesia's electoral commission formally Subianto as the elected president in a ceremony on Wednesday after the country's highest court rejected appeals lodged by two losing presidential candidates who are challenging his landslide victory. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Indonesia declares Prabowo Subianto president-elect after court rejects rivals’ appeal

 
Chinese astronauts for the upcoming Shenzhou-18 mission Ye Guangfu, center, Li Guangsu, left, and Li Cong attend a meeting with the press at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

China to send three astronauts to Tiangong space station, part of its ambitious program

 
FILE - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on June 19, 2023. Blinken is starting three days of talks with senior Chinese officials in Shanghai and Beijing this week. It comes as U.S.-China ties are at a critical point over numerous global disputes. (Leah Millis/Pool Photo via AP, File)

As Blinken heads to China, these are the major divides he will try to bridge

 
This image provided by SLIM official X account @SLIM_JAXA shows a part of the moon surface taken by Japan’s first moon lander called SLIM on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Japan’s first moon lander has survived a third freezing lunar night, Japan’s space agency said Wednesday, April 24, after receiving an image from the device three months after it landed on the moon. (SLIM official X account @SLIM_JAXA via AP)

Japan’s moon lander wasn’t built to survive a weekslong lunar night. It’s still going after 3

Japan’s first moon lander has survived a third freezing lunar night, Japan’s space agency said after receiving an image from the device three months after it landed on the moon.
 
FILE- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi places his hands on his heart as a gesture of respect to the crowd during the funeral ceremony of the victims of Wednesday's bomb explosion in the city of Kerman about 510 miles (820 kms) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran, Jan. 5, 2024. Raisi arrived in Sri Lanka on Wednesday to inaugurate a hydro-power irrigation scheme that had long been delayed due to international sanctions. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to inaugurate Sri Lankan hydropower and irrigation project

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has arrived in Sri Lanka to inaugurate a hydropower and irrigation project that was long delayed due to international sanctions on his government and other issues.
 
CORRECTS THE SOURCE - In this photo released by Fire & Rescue Department of Malaysia, fire and rescue department inspect the crash site of two helicopter in Lumur, Perak state, Monday, April 23, 2024. Malaysia's navy says two military helicopters collided and crashed during a training session, killing all 10 people on board. (Fire & Rescue Department of Malaysia via AP)

2 Malaysian military helicopters collide and crash while training, killing all 10 crew

Malaysia’s navy says two military helicopters collided midair and crashed during a training session, killing all 10 people on board.
 
FILE- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi listens to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President JP Nadda speak during an event organized to release their party's manifesto for the upcoming national parliamentary elections in New Delhi, India, April 14, 2024. India's main opposition party is accusing Modi of hate speech after he called Muslims “infiltrators" and used some of his most incendiary rhetoric to date about the minority faith.(AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

Modi is accused of using hate speech for calling Muslims ‘infiltrators’ at an Indian election rally

India’s main opposition party has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using hate speech after he called Muslims “infiltrators.”
 
A worker surveys Vo Van Van's rice fields after spraying fertilizer over the fields using a drone in Long An province in southern Vietnam's Mekong Delta, Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Using less water and using a drone to fertilize are new techniques that Van is trying and Vietnam hopes will help solve a paradox at the heart of growing rice: The finicky crop isn't just vulnerable to climate change but also contributes uniquely to it. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

In Vietnam, farmers reduce methane emissions by changing how they grow rice

Vietnam aims to transform its rice sector, making it more resilient to climate change while also reducing its emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide.
 
Undated handout photo issued by Cambridge University of four Aboriginal spears that were brought to England by Captain James Cook more than 250 years ago and have now been repatriated to Australia in a ceremony at Trinity College in Cambridge, Tuesday April 23, 2024. (Cambridge University via AP)

Aboriginal spears taken by Captain Cook in 1770 are returned to Australia’s Indigenous people

Four Aboriginal spears that were taken to England by Captain James Cook more than 250 years ago have been returned to Australia’s Indigenous community at a ceremony in Cambridge University.
 

South Korean sentenced to 14 months in jail for killing 76 cats

A South Korean man has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for killing 76 cats in one of the country’s the most gruesome cases of animal cruelty in recent years.
 
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Lisa McClain, left, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. McClain and Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)

$8 billion US military aid package to Taiwan will ‘boost confidence’ in region: president-elect

Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te says an $8 billion defense package approved by the U.S. House over the weekend will “strengthen the deterrence against authoritarianism in the West Pacific ally chain,” in a reference to key rival China.
 
In this image supplied by the Australian Prime Ministers office, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, centre right, walks with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape as they start their trek along the Kokoda Track at Kokoda Village, Papua New Guinea, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. The prime ministers on Tuesday began trekking into the South Pacific island nation’s mountainous interior to commemorate a pivotal World War II campaign and to underscore their current security alliance that is challenged by China's growing regional influence. (Prime Ministers office via AP)

Australia and Papua New Guinea leaders trek toward WWII South Pacific battleground

Australia and Papua New Guinea’s prime ministers have begun trekking into the South Pacific island nation’s mountainous interior to commemorate a pivotal World War II campaign and to underscore their current security alliance, which faces challenges from China’s growing regional influence.
 
FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition, March 9, 2020, in Washington. Tech billionaire Elon Musk accused Australia of censorship after an Australian judge ruled that his social media platform X must block users worldwide from accessing video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Elon Musk accuses Australia of censorship after court bans violent video

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has accused Australia of censorship after an Australian judge ruled that his social media platform X must block users worldwide from accessing video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church.
 
In this handout photo provided by the Philippine Army 6th Infantry Division, recovered firearms from suspected members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters are seen after a gunbattle with Philippine troops at Datu Saudi Ampatuan town in Maguindanao del Sur province, southern Philippines on Monday April 22, 2024. Philippine troops killed the leader of a small Muslim rebel group and eleven of his men blamed for past bombings and extortion in a clash in the country's south, military officials said Tuesday. (Philippine Army 6th Infantry Division via AP)

Philippine troops kill 12 suspected Muslim rebels in clash that wounded 7 soldiers

Philippine troops have killed the leader of a small Muslim rebel group and eleven of his men blamed for past bombings and extortion in a clash in the country’s south.
 
In this image from a video, roads in Hualien, Taiwan are cordoned off after a cluster of earthquakes struck the island early Tuesday, April 23, 2024. There were no reports of casualties in the quakes, although there were further damages to two multi-story buildings that had been evacuated following a magnitude 7.4 quake that hit the island earlier this month, killing 13 people and injuring over 1,000. (TVBS via AP)

A cluster of earthquakes shakes Taiwan after a strong quake killed 13 earlier this month

A cluster of earthquakes has struck Taiwan, the strongest measuring 6.1 magnitude. That’s according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
 
FILE - In this photo from The Military True News Information Team on Jan.31, 2023, Vice President Henry Van Thio speaks during meeting with members the National Defense and Security Council in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (The Military True News Information Team via AP, File)

Myanmar’s figurehead vice president, a rare holdover from Suu Kyi’s civilian government, steps down

Myanmar’s Vice President Henry Van Thio is stepping down. He served in the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and then continued in the position after the military ousted her to seize power in 2021.
 

Security forces kill 11 militants in northwest region bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani military says

Pakistan’s military says security forces killed eleven militants in two raids targeting their hideouts in the volatile northwest region bordering Afghanistan.
 
Presidential candidate Anies Baswedan, left, and his running mate Muhaimin Iskandar react during their election appeal hearing at the Constitutional Court in Jakarta, Indonesia, Monday, April 22, 2024. The country's top court on Monday rejected appeals lodged by two losing presidential candidates who are demanding a revote, alleging widespread irregularities and fraud at the February polls. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Prabowo Subianto seals victory as Indonesia’s next leader after a top court rejects rivals’ appeals

Indonesia’s top court has rejected appeals by two losing presidential candidates who demanded a revote, alleging widespread irregularities and fraud in the February polls.
 
In this picture taken through a window a flooded riverside park is seen along the Beijiang River in Qingyuan city in southern China's Guangdong province Monday, April 22, 2024. Heavy rainstorms that swept across southern China over the weekend have killed some in riverside cities while tens of thousands have been evacuated across Guangdong and in emergency shelters. (Chinatopix Via AP)

Heavy rainstorms kill 4 people in southern China. Ten others are missing

Heavy rainstorms that swept across southern China over the weekend have killed at least four people in riverside cities. A search continues for 10 others missing.
 
A pedestrian carries takeaway food plastic bag in Hong Kong, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2024. Hong Kong has long been a major producer and consumer of great food, and a great amount of plastic and Styrofoam to go with it. That’s going to change as new legislation aiming to stop the sale and distribution of Styrofoam products and single-use plastic cutlery went into effect on Monday, April 22, 2024.(AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

A ban on single-use plastics takes effect in Hong Kong in a bid to reduce pollution

Hong Kong has passed a legislation to stop the sale and distribution of Styrofoam products and single-use plastic cutlery as a way to reduce the amount of plastic waste in the city.
 
In this photo released by Prime Minister Office, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, left, walks with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during a welcome ceremony in the prime minister house in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Prime Minister Office via AP)

The leaders of Iran and Pakistan vow to boost trade in a meeting seeking to mend a diplomatic rift

The leaders of Iran and Pakistan have agreed to strengthen economic and security cooperation in a meeting that sought to smooth over a diplomatic rift.
 
Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, speaks at the Western Pacific Navy Symposium held in Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong province on Monday, April 22, 2024. Zhang, China's second-ranking military leader under Xi Jinping, said China committed to solve maritime disputes through dialogue but warned that International law could not be distorted. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese general takes a harsh line on Taiwan and other disputes at an international naval gathering

One of China’s top military leaders has taken a harsh line on regional territorial disputes. He told an international naval gathering that China would strike back with force if its interests came under threat.
 
A Border Security Force soldier stands guard as women queue up to vote during a re-polling in Imphal West District, Manipur, India, Monday, April 22, 2024. Voters at some polling places in this northeastern state went back to the polls amid tight security on Monday after violence disrupted the vote last week. (AP Photo/Bullu Raj)

Some voters in northeast India go back to the polls after violence disrupts first day of election

Voters at some polling places in a northeastern Indian state went back to the polls amid tight security on Monday after violence disrupted the vote last week.
 
This image released by Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force shows a retrieved component which is believed to be a part of a crashed helicopter, Sunday, April 21, 2024. Initial analysis of flight data recorders recovered from the waters in the Pacific near the crash site of the two Japanese navy helicopters showed no sign that mechanical problems in the aircraft caused the accident, Japan’s defense minister said Monday, as he indicated human error. (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force via AP)

Flight data recorders from crashed Japanese navy helicopters show no sign of mechanical failure

Japan’s defense ministry says an initial analysis of flight data recorders recovered from the crash of two Japanese navy helicopters showed no sign of mechanical problems, indicating likely human error.
 
In this courtroom sketch, Erin Patterson appears in Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court, Australia, on Nov. 3, 2023. Patterson, accused of serving her ex-husband's parents and an aunt poisonous mushrooms with lunch appeared in an Australian court on Monday, April 22, 2024 charged with three counts of murder and five of attempted murder. (Anita Lester/AAP Image via AP)

Australian woman appears in court charged with poisoning husband and his relatives with mushrooms

A woman accused of serving her ex-husband’s parents and an aunt poisonous mushrooms with lunch has appeared in an Australian court charged with three counts of murder and five of attempted murder.
 
A woman casts her vote at a polling station in Male, India, Sunday, April 21, 2024. Maldivians are voting in parliamentary elections, in a ballot crucial for President Mohamed Muizzu, whose policies are keenly watched by India and China as they vie for influence in the archipelago nation. (AP Photo/Mohamed Sharuhaan)

Pro-China President Muizzu’s party sweeps Maldives parliamentary elections, preliminary results say

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu’s political party has swept parliamentary elections in a strong endorsement of his pro-China foreign policy.
 
In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, left, greets with Cambodia's Foreign Minister, SOK Chenda Sophea, right, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, April 21, 2024. Wang Yi, arrived Cambodia to mark his 3 days official visit (21-23 April) Cambodia to reaffirm his country's commitment and to boost the already firmly tied to southeast Asian country, twice visited in the last eight months. (AKP via AP)

Chinese foreign minister arrives in Cambodia, Beijing’s closest Southeast Asian ally

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has arrived in Cambodia for a three-day official visit to reaffirm ties with Beijing’s closest ally in Southeast Asia.
 

2 Pakistani customs officials killed and 3 wounded in an attack in the restive northwest

Police in Pakistan say gunmen opened fire at Pakistani customs officials, killing two and wounding three others in the country’s restive northwest.
 
This is a locator map for Afghanistan with its capital, Kabul. (AP Photo)

A sticky bomb explodes in Kabul, killing 1 and wounding 3 in a mostly Shiite Hazara neighbourhood

A police official in Kabul says a sticky bomb has killed one person and wounded three others. Saturday evening’s blast happened in the mostly Shiite neighborhood of Kot-e-Sangi, a bustling commercial and residential area.
 
The collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge lay on top of the container ship Dali, Monday, April 15, 2024, in Baltimore. The FBI confirmed that agents were aboard the Dali conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Third temporary channel opens for vessels to Baltimore port after bridge collapse

A third temporary channel for boats to access the Port of Baltimore has opened as workers keep removing debris from the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed after it was struck by a cargo ship.
 
People pass by a damaged electric pole caused by flooding due to heavy rains near Chaman area, Pakistan, Thursday, April 18 2024. Lightning and heavy rains led to 14 deaths in Pakistan, officials said Wednesday, bringing the death toll from four days of extreme weather to at least 63, as the heaviest downpour in decades flooded villages on the country's southwestern coast. Flash floods have also killed dozens of people in neighboring Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Habib Ullah)

Pakistani province issues a flood alert and warns of a heavy loss of life from glacial melting

A Pakistani province has issued a flood alert because of glacial melting and is warning of a heavy loss of life if timely safety measures aren’t undertaken.
 

Indonesian police arrest 8 suspected militants, part of a banned extremist group with al-Qaida links

Indonesian authorities say the country’s elite counterterrorism police have arrested eight suspected militants in recent days believed to be part of a new cell linked to Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked group.
 
A TV screen shows an image of North Korea's missile launch during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, April 20, 2024. North Korea said Saturday it tested a "super-large" cruise missile warhead and a new anti-aircraft missile in a western coastal area as it expands military capabilities in the face of deepening tensions with the United States and South Korea. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

North Korea says it tested ‘super-large’ cruise missile warhead and new anti-aircraft missile

North Korea says it tested a “super-large” cruise missile warhead and a new anti-aircraft missile in a western coastal area as it expands its military capabilities in the face of deepening tensions with the United States and South Korea.
 
U.S. Ambassador to United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield, left, and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, prepare to talk during a meeting Friday, April 19, 2024, at prime minister's office in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, Pool)

US envoy to UN visits Nagasaki A-bomb museum, pays tribute to victims

The American envoy to the United Nations has called for countries armed with atomic weapons to pursue nuclear disarmament as she visited the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki, Japan.
 
FILE - Farhatullah Babar, a veteran human rights activist and member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, listens to a reporter during a news conference, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Monday, Jan. 1, 2024. Babar, an important ally of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, demanded the government lift a two-month-old ban on the social media platform X, saying it violates citizens' right to speech and expression. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File)

Key ally of Pakistan’s prime minister demands end to ban on social media platform X

An important ally of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif demanded the government lift a two-month-old ban on the social media platform X, saying it violates citizens’ right to speech and expression.
 
South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during a briefing at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, April 19, 2024. Desperate to end a weekslong strike by thousands of doctors, South Korea’s government said Friday it will slow down a plan to admit thousands more students to the country's medical schools from next year.(Hang Gwang-mo/Yonhap via AP)

South Korea slows plan to hike medical school admissions as doctors’ strike drags on

South Korea’s government says it will slow down a plan to admit more students to the country’s medical schools from next year, in a bid to end a weeks-long strike by thousands of doctors.
 
People walk outside the Westfield shopping mall at Bondi Junction in Sydney, Friday, April 19, 2024. The Sydney shopping mall reopened for business on Friday for the first time since it became the scene of a mass stabbing in which six people died on Saturday, April 13. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Staff and shoppers return to ‘somber’ Sydney shopping mall 6 days after mass stabbings

Shoppers and workers have returned to a “really quiet” Sydney mall, where six days earlier an assailant stabbed six people to death in an attack that police believe targeted women.
 
The Sydney Opera House is illuminated with a black ribbon Monday, April 15, 2024, as part of the national day of mourning following the stabbing deaths of several people at a shopping mall on April 13. Australian police are examining why a lone assailant who stabbed several people to death in a busy Sydney shopping mall and injured more than a dozen others targeted women while avoiding men. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

AP Week in Pictures: Asia

April 12-18, 2024

Shoppers are terrified after a lone assailant started stabbing people at a shopping mall in Sydney; people appreciate spring flowers like cherry and azalea blossoms in Tokyo; a King Sejong statue receives a spring cleaning in Seoul, South Korea.