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Asia Pacific

FILE - Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong arrives to attend G-20's third Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBGs) meeting in Gandhinagar, India on July 17, 2023. Singapore’s deputy leader Wong is set to be sworn in Wednesday, May 15, 2024, as the nation’s fourth prime minister in a carefully planned political succession designed to ensure continuity and stability in the Asian financial hub. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)

Wong will be sworn in as Singapore’s prime minister, as Lee Hsien Loong bows out after 20 years

Singapore’s deputy leader Lawrence Wong is set to be sworn in as the nation’s fourth prime minister in a carefully planned political succession to ensure continuity and stability in the Asian financial hub.

FILE - Safety cards in seat backs are seen on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft awaiting inspection at the airline's hangar at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Jan. 10, 2024, in SeaTac, Wash. The Justice Department says Boeing violated a settlement that let the company avoid criminal prosecution after two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max aircraft. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)

Justice Department says Boeing violated deal that avoided prosecution after 737 Max crashes

Thai activists hold a portrait of Netiporn Sanesangkhom, a member of the activist group Thaluwang, known for their bold and aggressive campaigns demanding reform of the monarchy and abolition of the law that makes it illegal to defame members of the royal family outside of Criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Netiporn who went on a hunger strike after being jailed for her involvement in protests calling for reform of the country's monarchy system died Tuesday in a prison hospital, officials said. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

A monarchy reform activist in Thailand dies in detention after a monthslong hunger strike

FILE - Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photo prior to their talks on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. President Putin will make a two-day state visit to China this week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, May 14, 2024.(Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Russian president Putin to make a state visit to China this week

Whistleblower David McBride arrives at the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory in Canberra, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. McBride, 60, was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to three charges including theft and sharing with members of the press documents classified as secret.( Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)

Army whistleblower who exposed alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan is sentenced to prison

Rescuers look for victims under a billboard that collapsed following heavy rain and thundershowers in Mumbai, India, Monday, May 13, 2024. Scores of people were thought to be trapped after the collapse in the suburb of Ghatkopar, Mumbai police said on social media platform X. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Billboard that collapsed in Mumbai storms killed at least 14 and injured 75

A large billboard that collapsed amid raging thunderstorms in Mumbai killed at least 14 people and injured 75 others, reports said on Tuesday.

FILE - Steven Bradbury of Australia crosses the finish line to win the men's 1,000-meter short-track speed skating race at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2002. Bradbury has been presented with a bravery award by the Queensland state governor in Brisbane for rescuing four teenagers from rough seas at a beach at Caloundra north of Brisbane in March of last year. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File)

The ‘accidental hero’ gold medalist Steven Bradbury receives an Australian bravery award for rescues

Steven Bradbury is back in the news for another good reason more than 20 years after winning an unlikely gold medal in short track speedskating at the Salt Lake City Olympics.

FILE - Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee speaks at a reception following a flag raising ceremony for the celebration of 74th National Day of the People's Republic of China at the Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong on Oct. 1, 2023. Hong Kong's leader on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, urged foreign governments to respect the duties of its overseas-based trade offices after a staff member in its London branch was charged in Britain for allegedly helping the city's intelligence service gather information. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei, File)

Hong Kong calls for respect of its overseas-based trade offices after UK charged its London staffer

Hong Kong’s leader has urged foreign governments to respect its overseas-based trade offices after a staff member in its London branch was charged in Britain for allegedly working for the Chinese city’s intelligence service.

France imposes curfew in New Caledonia after unrest by people who have long sought independence

Authorities in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia have announced a curfew and banned gatherings after violent unrest on the archipelago with decades of tensions between indigenous Kanaks seeking independence and colonizers’ descendants who want to remain part of France.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, flanked by bodyguards, arrives to worship at the Kaal Bhairav temple before filing his nomination papers to contest as a candidate for the parliamentary elections in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh state, India, Tuesday, May 14, 2024. Varanasi will go to polls on June 1 in the seventh and last phase of the six-week-long election. (AP Photo/ Rajesh Kumar Singh)

India PM Modi files his nomination to run for a third term in general election

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has filed his nomination to run for a third term in the country’s general election in the northern city of Varanasi, which is his constituency.

FILE - Parking attendant Andy Tinto uses laundry clips to put a blue towel over his cap to protect himself from the sun in Manila, Philippines on Monday, April 29, 2024. Sizzling heat across Asia and the Middle East in late April that echoed last year’s destructive swelter was made 45 times more likely in some parts of the continent because of human-caused climate change, a study found. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Sweltering heat across Asia was 45 times more likely because of climate change, study finds

Sizzling heat across Asia and the Middle East in late April that echoed last year’s destructive swelter was made 45 times more likely in some parts of the continent because of human-caused climate change, a study Tuesday found.

FILE - President Joe Biden, left, greets China's President President Xi Jinping, right, in Woodside, USA, Nov. 15, 2023. High-level envoys from the United States and China are set to meet in Geneva for talks about artificial intelligence including the risks of the technology and ways to set shared standards to manage it. The meeting Tuesday is billed as an opening exchange of views in an inter-governmental dialogue on AI agreed during a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool, File)

Top US and Chinese officials begin talks on AI in Geneva

Top envoys from the U.S. and China huddled Tuesday in closed-door talks in Geneva to discuss ways to ensure that emerging artificial intelligence technologies don’t become existential risks.

Missile fired by a drone kills 4 members of a family in Pakistan near the Afghan border, police say

Police in Pakistan say a missile fired by a drone struck a house in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban along the Afghan border before dawn Tuesday, killing at least four villagers, including children.

This is a locator map for Pakistan with its capital, Islamabad, and the Kashmir region. (AP Photo)

Protesters in Pakistan-held Kashmir end rallies that killed 4 after authorities revoke price hikes

Protesters in the Pakistan-controlled part of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir have called off dayslong rallies over price hikes that left four people dead.

FILE - Flowers sit on a fence outside the Christ the Good Shepherd church in suburban Wakely in western Sydney, Australia, on April 16, 2024. An Australian judge said Tuesday, May 14, 2024, it would be unreasonable for the country's internet safety watchdog to require social platform X to hide video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church from all of its users globally, as he explained his decision to lift a court order that had required X to hide the video of the attack. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)

Australian judge says it is unreasonable to require X to hide video of church stabbing for all users

An Australian judge says it would be unreasonable for the country’s internet safety watchdog to require social platform X to hide video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church from all of its users around the world.

Pakistan, US discuss how to tackle the regional security threat posed by IS group and local Taliban

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry says Pakistani and U.S. officials have held their latest talks in Washington on how to expand cooperation in tackling the threat posed to regional security by an affiliate of the Islamic State group and the Pakistani Taliban.

Violent protests continue in Pakistan-held Kashmir against price hikes. Talks with the IMF begin

Protests against price hikes have continued for the fourth day in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir with demonstrators clashing with the police.

Suspects line up during a news conference at a villa in Canggu, Bali, Indonesia on Monday, May 13, 2024. Indonesian police raided what they said was a major drug lab hidden in a villa on the resort island of Bali, and arrested four people. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati)

Indonesian police raid drug lab in Bali villa

Indonesian police say they have raided what they have called a major drug lab hidden in a villa on the resort island of Bali. Officers arrested four people.

China and Cambodia to begin annual military exercise to strengthen cooperation, fight terrorism

Cambodia and China will begin their annual Golden Dragon military exercise this week to strengthen cooperation and exchange military experiences.

A police forensic officer works at a crime scene at the Christ the Good Shepherd Church in suburban Wakely in western Sydney, Australia, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Australian police say a knife attack in Sydney that wounded a bishop and a priest during a church service as horrified worshippers watched online and in person, and sparked a riot was an act of terrorism. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)

Australian judge lifts court ban on X showing video of Sydney church stabbing

An Australian judge has lifted a ban on the social media platform X showing Australians a video of a bishop being stabbed in a Sydney church.

Workers push a motorcycle along a wooden plank at the port of the coastal town of Santa Ana, Cagayan province, northern Philippines on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

Sleepy far-flung towns in the Philippines will host US forces returning to counter China threats

After withdrawing from two huge U.S. military bases in the Philippines at the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, American forces are returning and building a new presence in nine sites on Philippine bases under a 2014 defense pact to counter China’s increasingly assertive actions.

People examine the damage at an area badly affected by a flash flood in Tanah Datar, West Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, May 13, 2024. Heavy rains and torrents of cold lava and mud flowing down a volcano's slopes on Indonesia's Sumatra island triggered flash floods causing a number of people dead and missing, officials said Sunday. (AP Photo/Ali Nayaka)

More bodies found in Indonesia after flash floods killed dozens and submerged homes

Rescuers have recovered more bodies after monsoon rains triggered flash floods on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, leaving 44 people dead and 15 missing.

Members of British Columbia's Sikh community gather in front of the courthouse in Surrey, British Columbia, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Three men accused of murdering temple leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar made their first court appearance by video. (Chuck Chiang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canadian police announce the arrest of a fourth Indian suspect in the killing of a Sikh activist

A fourth Indian national living in Canada has been charged in the slaying of a Sikh separatist leader last June that became the center of a diplomatic spat with India.

A police officer was killed in Pakistan-held Kashmir during protests against price hikes

A protest against rising costs of food, fuel and utility bills has turned violent in Pakistani-controlled portion of Kashmir, leaving a police officer dead and dozens of people injured.

Buddhists monks clean Buddha statues ahead of the upcoming birthday of Buddha on May 15, at the Jogye temple in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Buddha’s birthday: When is it and how is it celebrated in different countries?

Buddha’s birthday is an important holiday in several countries in Asia where there are large Buddhist populations.

The wreckage of a bus lies on the side of a road following an accident in Subang, West Java, Indonesia, late Saturday, May 11, 2024. The bus carrying high school students and teachers returning from an outing smashed into cars and motorbikes in Indonesia's West Java province, killing a number of people on board. (AP Photo/Ryan Suherlan)

At least 11 dead, mostly students, in Indonesia bus crash after brakes apparently failed, police say

Indonesian officials say a bus slammed into cars and motorbikes after its brakes apparently malfunctioned in West Java province, killing at least 11 people, mostly students, and injuring dozens of others.

FILE - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet attends an inauguration ceremony of Cambodia's newest and biggest airport, Siem Reap Angkor International Airport in Siem Reap province, Cambodia, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. The leader of a recently formed Cambodian political party opposed to the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party has been charged with inciting social disorder in the third major legal action this month targeting critics of the government of Prime Minister Hun Manet. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)

A top Cambodian opposition politician is charged with inciting disorder for criticizing government

The leader of a recently formed Cambodian opposition party has been charged with inciting social disorder in the third major legal action this month targeting critics of the government of Prime Minister Hun Manet.

People are seen near to their damaged homes after heavy flooding in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan Saturday, May 11, 2024. Flash floods from seasonal rains in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan killed dozens of people on Friday, a Taliban official said. (AP Photo/Mehrab Ibrahimi)

Flash floods kill more than 300 people in northern Afghanistan after heavy rains, UN says

The U.N. food agency says more than 300 Afghans have died in flash floods that also destroyed more than 1,000 houses in the northern province of Baghlan.

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, supervises a test firing of a new multiple rocket launch system at an undisclosed place in North Korea on May 10, 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 language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korean leader Kim supervises latest test of new multiple rocket launcher

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised another test firing of a new multiple rocket launch system the country plans to deploy to its forces starting this year as it bolsters its lineup of weapons targeting South Korean population centers.

An elderly man collects his belongings from his damaged home after heavy flooding in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan Saturday, May 11, 2024. Flash floods from seasonal rains in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan killed dozens of people on Friday, a Taliban official said. (AP Photo/Mehrab Ibrahimi)

Heavy rains set off flash floods in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 50 people

A Taliban official says that flash floods from seasonal rains in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan have killed at least 50 people.

FILE - Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during his joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban following their talks at the PM's office, the former Carmelite Monastery, in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, May 9 2024. Most countries in the European Union are making efforts to “de-risk” their economies from perceived threats posed by China. But Hungary and Serbia have gone in the other direction. They are courting major Chinese investments in the belief that the world’s second-largest economy is essential for Europe’s future. (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP, File)

China’s Xi leaves Hungary as he concludes a 5-day visit to Europe

Chinese President Xi Jinping has left Hungary, concluding a tour of three European nations meant to reinforce China’s growing influence on the continent.

University students take part in rally against the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and to show solidarity with Palestinian people, in Lahore, Pakistan, Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Pakistani police prevent pro-Palestinian protesters from moving toward US embassy in Islamabad

Police in Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad have prevented a pro-Palestinian rally by a radical Islamist party from moving toward the U.S.

This undated photo issued by West Yorkshire Police on Friday May 10, 2024 shows British police officer Sharon Beshenivsky. Piran Ditta Khan, a 75-year-old will spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced Friday May 10, 2024 for the murder of Beshenivsky, a British police officer who was shot dead during an armed robbery of a travel agency in northern England nearly two decades ago. (West Yorkshire Police via AP)

75-year-old ‘mastermind’ of a 2005 armed robbery that killed a UK police officer sentenced to life

A 75-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a British police officer who was shot dead during an armed robbery of a travel agency in northern England nearly two decades ago.

FILE - A security guard signals to a car with diplomatic plates and Chinese flag as he parks at the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, Philippines on Aug. 7, 2023. A top Philippine security official demanded Friday May 10, 2024 the immediate expulsion of Chinese diplomats who reportedly leaked an alleged phone conversation between an embassy official and a Filipino admiral about handling the South China Sea territorial rifts, which have escalated and strained relations. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

Top Philippine security official demands Chinese diplomats’ expulsion as territorial row escalates

A top Philippine security official has demanded the immediate expulsion of Chinese diplomats allegedly behind a reported leak of a phone conversation between one of the diplomats and a Filipino admiral about South China Sea disputes that have strained diplomatic ties.

FILE - Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter carrier JS Izumo, foreground, and other warships join an international fleet review in Sagami Bay, south of Tokyo, on Nov. 6, 2022. Japan’s defense chief has called for the bolstering of its anti-drone capability after a drone footage posted on a Chinese social media site showed a Japanese aircraft carrier docked at a restricted navy port west of Tokyo. (Kyodo News via AP, File)

Japan defense chief urges higher security after drone video of warship posted on China social media

Japan’s defense chief has called for the bolstering of its anti-drone capability after a drone footage posted on a Chinese social media site showed a Japanese aircraft carrier docked at a restricted navy port west of Tokyo.

FILE - The opening page of X is displayed on a computer and phone in Sydney on Oct. 16, 2023. An Australian judge on Friday, May 10, 2024, extended a ban on X Corp. sharing videos of an alleged teenage terrorist stabbing a Sydney bishop last month, government lawyers call the social media platform's free speech argument illusory. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)

Australian judge extends ban on X sharing video of Sydney bishop’s stabbing

An Australian judge has extended a ban on social media platform X allowing videos of the stabbing of a Sydney bishop in his church last month after government lawyers condemned the company’s free speech argument for keeping the graphic images circulating.

FILE- Arvind Kejriwal, leader of the Aam Admi Party, or Common Man's Party, left, leaves in a car after a court extended his custody for four more days, in New Delhi, India, March 28, 2024. India's top court on Friday gave interim bail to the top opposition leader who was arrested nearly seven weeks ago. (AP Photo/Dinesh Joshi, File)

Top Indian opposition leader released on bail by court enabling him to campaign in elections

A top Indian opposition leader has been freed from jail on interim bail by the Supreme Court nearly seven weeks after his arrest in a bribery case.

An artist performs a horse riding skill in the "Historic ode to the horses", a traditional horse riding show at the Inner Mongolia Ethnic Minorities Cultural Sports Center during a five-day holiday for international labor day in Hohhot, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Friday, May 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

AP Week in Pictures: Asia

May 3-May 9, 2024

General elections continue throughout India. Campus protests in the U.S. have influenced students in Bangladesh and South Korea.

FILE - An employee takes the fingerprints of a woman who died from the new coronavirus before her remains are cremated at La Recoleta crematorium in Santiago, Chile, Saturday, June 27, 2020. Countries are still struggling to come up with an agreed-upon plan for how the world might respond to the next global outbreak. A ninth and final round of talks involving governments, advocacy groups and others to finalize a “pandemic treaty” is scheduled to end Friday, May 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix, File)

Countries struggle to draft ‘pandemic treaty’ to avoid mistakes made during COVID

After the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders worldwide vowed to do better next time but are still struggling to finalize a global plan.

FILE - An attendee walks past a display at the Baidu World conference in Beijing, on Nov. 1, 2018. A top public relations executive from Chinese technology firm Baidu apologized Thursday, May 9, 2024, after she made comments in a series of videos that critics said glorified a culture of overwork. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

PR executive reportedly departs China’s Baidu after comments glorifying overwork draw backlash

A top Baidu public relations executive has reportedly departed the Chinese technology company after she drew public outcry over comments that were seen as glorifying a culture of overwork.