Asia Pacific

Members of Aam Admi Party, or Common Man's Party, shout slogans during a protest against the arrest of their party leader Arvind Kejriwal, in New Delhi, India, Friday, March 22, 2024. Supporters of an anti-corruption crusader and one of India's most consequential politicians of the last decade in India held protests Friday against his arrest, which opposition parties say is part of a crackdown by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government before national elections. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A Modi rival is arrested. Now, supporters of the opposition leader are protesting in India’s capital

Supporters of an anti-corruption crusader and one of India’s most consequential politicians of the past decade are protesting against his arrest.

People walk past a large poster of the movie Swatantra Veer Savarkar displayed outside a cinema hall in Mumbai, India, Thursday, Mar. 21, 2024. The movie, set to be released on Friday, is one of several upcoming Bollywood releases based on polarizing issues, which either promote Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government’s political agenda, or lambast his critics. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

As India’s election nears, some Bollywood films promote Modi politics by embracing Hindu nationalism

FILE - Catholic nuns visit the wake of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo at his home in Dumaguete city, Negros Oriental province, central Philippines on Monday March 6, 2023. Arnolfo Teves Jr., a former Filipino congressman accused of masterminding the brazen killings of a provincial governor and several others has been arrested in East Timor and will be deported to the Philippines, Manila officials said Friday, March 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Alan Tangcawan, File)

Former Filipino congressman accused of masterminding a governor’s murder is arrested in East Timor

BritainÅfs Secretary of State for Defence Grant Shapps, center right, and BritainÅfs Foreign Secretary David Cameron, left, walk with the Premier of South Australia Peter Malinauskas, right, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia Richard Marles, second right, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, second left, and United StatesÅf Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy, during a visit to the Osborne Naval Shipyard in Adelaide, Australia, Friday, March 22, 2024. Australia is set to provide 4.6 billion Australian dollars ($3 billion) to British industry to support the construction of nuclear-powered submarines and ensure its new fleet arrives on time. (Matt Turner/AAP Image via AP)

$3 billion deal with the UK gets Australia closer to having a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines

FILE - Vietnam's President Vo Van Thuong addresses the media during a joint press conference with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after their meeting at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. Vietnam’s president resigned in the latest episode of the ruling Communist Party's “blazing furnace” anti-corruption campaign, and Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan was named acting president. The appointment is Xuan's second stint as acting president after she stepped in when Vo Van Thuong's predecessor resigned in early 2023. (Richard A. Brooks/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Vietnam’s president resigns in latest twist of anti-graft campaign shaking its fast-growing economy

A water truck worker fills a container outside the homes of residents who use it for drinking, cooking and cleaning, in the Pamplona Alta area in Lima, Peru, Friday, March 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Drought, heat and mismanagement make getting fresh water an increasingly tough task

As the world warms from human-caused climate change, fresh water for drinking, cooking and cleaning is becoming harder to get for many people.

FILE - Ethnic Rohingya disembark from their boat upon landing on a beach in Ulee Madon, North Aceh, Indonesia, on Nov. 16, 2023. A dramatic story of survival and rescue off the western coast of Indonesia’s Aceh province has put the spotlight again on the plight of ethnic Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar who make extremely dangerous voyages across the Indian Ocean to seek better lives. (AP Photo/Rahmat Mirza, File)

Indonesia’s rescue of Rohingya refugees at sea is a reminder of an ordeal that began in Myanmar

A dramatic story of survival and rescue off Indonesia’s west coast is a reminder of the plight of ethnic Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar who make extremely dangerous voyages across the Indian Ocean to seek better lives.

A Pakistani court sentences a woman to life in prison for burning pages from Islam’s holy book

A Pakistani court in the eastern city of Lahore has sentenced a Muslim woman to life in prison after finding her guilty of burning pages of Islam’s holy book.

This is a locator map for Afghanistan with its capital, Kabul. (AP Photo)

Islamic State group claims responsibility for bombing at Afghan bank and says it targeted Taliban

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing that targeted people trying to collect their salaries at a bank in southern Afghanistan.

Former executive given death sentence in poisoning of founder of high-flying Chinese gaming company

A former executive at Yoozoo Games has been sentenced to death in the poisoning of the founder of the high-profile Chinese gaming company.

Villagers from Barsana and Nandgaon smeared with colors play Lathmar Holi at Nandagram temple in Nandgoan village, 115 kilometers (70 miles) south of New Delhi, India, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Kabir Jhangiani)

AP Week in Pictures: Asia

March 15-21, 2024

Rohingya refugees stand on their capsized boat before being rescued in the waters off western Indonesia.

Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man's Party, leader Arvind Kejriwal listens to a speaker during a public meeting in New Delhi, India, Dec. 27, 2013. The anti-corruption crusader was arrested on Thursday, March 21, 2024, by a federal agency that accused his party and ministers of accepting 1 billion rupees ($12 million) as bribes from liquor contractors nearly two years ago, a top leader of his party said. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

New Delhi’s top elected official arrested in liquor bribery case

India’s anti-corruption crusader Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested by a federal agency that accused his party and ministers of accepting 1 billion rupees in bribes from liquor contractors.

Peter Breuer, International Monetary Fund Mission Chief for Sri Lanka, speaks at a press conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

IMF says the economic situation in debt-stricken Sri Lanka is gradually improving

The International Monetary Fund says the economic situation in debt-stricken Sri Lanka is improving gradually from the country’s worst economic crisis two years ago.

Congress party treasurer Ajay Maken, left, speaks and displays the notice from Indian taxation authority as party president Mallikarjun Kharge, second right, and senior party leaders Sonia Gandhi, second left, and Rahul Gandhi listen during a press conference at their party headquarters in New Delhi, India, Thursday, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

India’s main opposition party accuses the government of freezing its bank accounts ahead of election

India’s main opposition Congress party is accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of stifling democracy and crippling the party by freezing its bank accounts in a tax dispute ahead of national elections.

Members of the Gyeonggi Province Medical Association stage a rally against the government's medical policy near the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 13, 2024. South Korea's government criticized senior doctors at a major hospital Tuesday for threatening to resign in support of the weekslong walkouts by thousands of medical interns and residents that have disrupted hospital operations. The banners read "Stop President Yoon Suk Yeol government's medical policy." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Why are striking doctors in South Korea facing license suspensions and what’s next?

South Korea is poised to start suspending the licenses of thousands of striking junior doctors as punishment for their weekslong walkouts that have shaken hospital operations.

A roadside bomb targeting security forces kills 2 soldiers and wounds 15 in Pakistan

Officials say a roadside bomb has exploded near a security convoy in northwestern Pakistan, killing two soldiers and wounding 15 others.

FILE - Presidential candidate Anies Baswedan talks to media after Friday prayer at a mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. Baswedan, a runner-up in Indonesia’s presidential election filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court on Thursday, March 21, alleging widespread irregularities and fraud at the polls.(AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)

Indonesia presidential runner-up alleges widespread fraud as he contests official election results

A runner-up in Indonesia’s presidential election has filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court, alleging widespread irregularities and fraud at the polls.

FILE - Vietnam's Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan listens during a working lunch with Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in Oslo, on Nov. 23, 2023. Xuan will serve as acting President after former President Vo Van Thuong resigned, after a little over a year in the position, amid an intense anti-corruption campaign, according to party mouthpiece Tuoi Tre. (Emilie Holtet/NTB Scanpix via AP, File)

Vietnam’s vice president becomes interim president

A Communist Party newspaper says Vietnam’s Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan will be acting president after the previous president’s resignation.

A suicide bomber attacks a bank in Afghanistan, killing at least 3 people and injuring 12 others

A suicide bomber has carried out an attack at a private bank in Kandahar city in southern Afghanistan, killing at least three people and injuring 12 others.

Rohingya refugees stand on their capsized boat before being rescued in the waters off West Aceh, Indonesia, Thursday, March 21, 2024. The wooden boat carrying dozens of Rohingya Muslims capsized off Indonesia's northernmost coast on Wednesday, according to local fishermen. (AP Photo/Reza Saifullah)

Weeping, weak and soaked, dozens of Rohingya refugees rescued after night on hull of capsized boat

An Indonesian search and rescue ship has located a capsized wooden boat that had been carrying dozens of Rohingya Muslim refugees, and began pulling survivors who had been standing on its hull to safety.

Commuters walk in the early morning summer sun in Auckland, New Zealand, Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. New Zealand has entered its second recession in 18 months after the latest round of GDP figures confirmed its economy contracted in the last quarter of 2023. The country's economy shrank by 0.1% in the quarter to December, and 0.7% in per capita terms, the New Zealand's official statistics agency, Stats NZ, announced on Thursday, March 21. (Michael Craig/New Zealand Herald via AP)

New Zealand slips into its second recession in 18 months as economy contracts

New Zealand has entered its second recession in 18 months after the latest round of GDP figures confirmed its economy contracted in the last quarter of 2023.

Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, speaks about the situation of human rights in Myanmar, during a press conference at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP)

As Myanmar’s army faces setbacks, it is stepping up attacks on civilians, a UN expert warns

A U.N.-backed independent expert on human rights in Myanmar says the military government is escalating violence against civilians as it faces more setbacks on the battlefield, where it is fighting against pro-democracy and ethnic armed groups.

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

Pakistan repulses attack near Chinese-funded port in southwest, killing 8 insurgents, officials say

Pakistani officials say security forces have killed at least eight insurgents as they repulsed an attack by a separatist group on a sprawling government building outside the Chinese-funded Gwadar port in the volatile southwest.

FILE - Montenegrin police officers escort South Korean citizen, Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon in Montenegro's capital Podgorica, March 24, 2023. A court in Montenegro has ruled that Do Kwon should be extradited to the United States to face fraud charges rather than to his native South Korea, a court official in the Balkan Country said Thursday Feb. 22, 2024. Do Kwon, 32, was arrested nearly a year ago in Montenegro on an international arrest warrant in connection with a $40 billion crash of Terraform Labs' cryptocurrency, which devastated retail investors around the world. (AP Photo/Risto Bozovic, File)

Montenegro court confirms mogul known as ‘cryptocurrency king’ to be extradited to South Korea

An appeals court in Montenegro has confirmed that cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon will be handed over to his native South Korea.

FILE - Presidential candidates, from left, Ganjar Pranowo, Prabowo Subianto and Anies Baswedan hold hands as they pose for photographers after the first presidential candidates' debate in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. Indonesia’s electoral commission announced on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, that Defense Minister Subianto, a former general linked to past human rights abuses, was elected president. The results immediately drew allegations of fraud from Subianto’s political rivals.(AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana, File)

Prabowo Subianto’s election as Indonesia’s next president is official. Why is it being challenged?

Indonesia’s electoral commission has confirmed Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, a former general linked to past human rights abuses, was elected president.

Indonesia's Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto raises his fist as he delivers a speech after being elected as the country's president in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Subianto was announced the winner of last month's presidential election Wednesday over two former governors who have vowed to contest the result in court over alleged irregularities. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Indonesia’s defense minister, accused of abuses under dictatorship, is declared election winner

Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto has been declared the winner of the presidential election in the world’s third-largest democracy.

Chief Royal Thai Police Torsak Sukvimol, left, Duputy Chief the royal Thai Police Surachate Hakparn, embrace after a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Thailand's national police chief and a deputy were ordered to be suspended by the Prime Minister on Wednesday, following a feud that escalated over the past few weeks pointing to serious conflicts within the highest echelons of the police department. (AP Photo/Pirun Nanta)

Thailand’s national police chief is suspended amid concerns about a possible power struggle

Thailand’s national police chief and one of his deputies have been temporarily suspended under the order of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, as accusations that the deputy was involved in an illegal online gambling ring sparked concerns about a possible power struggle in the police department.

FILE - In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, search and rescue workers search through debris at the China Eastern flight crash site in Tengxian County in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on March 24, 2022. Two years after a Boeing 737-800 passenger jet crashed on a domestic flight in China, killing all 132 people on board, accident investigators indicated Wednesday, March 20, 2024 that they have not yet determined the cause. (Lu Boan/Xinhua via AP, File)

2 years on, still no answer to why a China Eastern Boeing 737 crashed, killing all 132 people aboard

Chinese accident investigators have indicated they have not yet determined the cause of a 2022 plane crash that killed all 132 people on board.

FILE - Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walk through the garden after meetings at Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, Myanmar on Dec. 2, 2011. No bidders appeared at a court-ordered auction Wednesday, March 20, 2024 of the family home of Myanmar's imprisoned former leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, where she had been held under house arrest for nearly 15 years, legal officials said. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP, File)

No bidders in court-ordered auction of house where Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi was detained for years

No bidders appeared at a court-ordered auction of the family home of Myanmar’s imprisoned former leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, where she had been held under house arrest for nearly 15 years.

FILE - A girl reads a book in her classroom on the first day of the new school year, in Kabul, Saturday, March 25, 2023. Afghanistan’s schools open Wednesday for the new educational year, while thousands of schoolgirls remain barred from attending classes for the third year as Taliban banned girls from school beyond sixth grade. The Taliban stopped girls’ education beyond sixth grade because they said it didn’t comply with their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

Afghanistan’s school year starts without more than 1 million girls barred from education by Taliban

The school year in Afghanistan has started but without girls whom the Taliban barred from attending classes beyond the sixth grade, making it the only country with restrictions on female education.

A bus crashes into a tunnel wall in northern China, killing 14 people

Chinese state media say the death toll has risen to 14 in the crash of a bus into a tunnel wall on an expressway in northern China.

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

An explosion in a coal mine in southwest Pakistan kills 12 miners while 8 are rescued

Officials say twelve miners have been killed in a explosion inside a coal mine in southwest Pakistan.

Pakistan and IMF reach preliminary deal to release $1.1 billion from bailout fund, IMF says

Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund have reached a preliminary agreement for the release of $1.1 billion from a $3 billion bailout following dayslong talks in Islamabad.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, left, meets with Australia's Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong at Parliament House in Canberra, Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Wang met his counterpart as part of a high-ranking diplomatic tour of Australia and New Zealand this week. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)

Australia gets its most senior Chinese leadership visit since 2017 as relations thaw further

Australia has received its most senior Chinese leadership visit in nearly seven years with stability a key theme of the discussions between the countries’ foreign ministers.

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, watches what it says a test of a solid-fuel engine for its new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in North Korea Tuesday, March 19, 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)

North Korea claims progress in developing a hypersonic missile designed to strike distant US targets

North Korea says it has successfully tested a solid-fuel engine for its new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile.

Retired Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, center, speaks with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, left, as the panel holds a hearing on the withdrawal from Afghanistan, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Top former US generals say failures of Biden administration in planning drove chaotic fall of Kabul

The former top military chief Gen. Mark Milley and former head of U.S. Central Command testified before Congress Tuesday on policy failures by the Biden administration to adequately plan for or direct an evacuation in time to avoid the chaotic final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

FILE - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet greets garment workers at Prey Speu village outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Aug. 29, 2023. Manet has ordered a ban on musical horns, after videos posted on social media showed people dancing on roads and roadsides as passing trucks blasted rhythmic little tunes. Hun Manet called on the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation and police to immediately take action against any vehicle whose normal horn has been replaced by a tune-playing one by ripping it out and restoring the standard honking type. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File)

Cambodia’s prime minister sounds a sour note on trucks’ musical horns

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has ordered a ban on musical horns, after videos posted on social media showed people dancing on roads and roadsides as passing trucks blasted rhythmic little tunes.

Buddhist faith leaders and community members drape Tibetan prayer scarves on the Birthplace of Antioch marker during the "May We Gather" pilgrimage, Saturday, March 16, 2024, in Antioch, Calif. The event aimed to use karmic cleansing through chants, prayer and testimony to heal racial trauma caused by anti-Chinese discrimination in Antioch in the 1870s. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vasquez)

A California city wrestles with its history of discrimination against early Chinese immigrants

Over the last two years, the quiet city of Antioch, California, has been wrestling with its long and complicated history of discrimination against early Chinese immigrants during the gold rush.

A lawmaker watches his phone during the second reading of the Basic Law Article 23 legislation at the Legislative Council in Hong Kong, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)

How will a new national security law affect different walks of life in Hong Kong?

Hong Kong has passed a new national security law that could redefine the liberties of its citizens, and its role on the world stage.

FILE - A man walks past a depiction of Evergrande properties across a China map at a partially shuttered Evergrande commercial complex in Beijing, on Jan. 29, 2024. Troubled property developer China Evergrande Holding says Beijing’s stock watchdog has fined it 4.2 billion yuan ($333.4 million) for allegedly falsifying its revenue, among other allegations. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

China’s stock watchdog fines property developer Evergrande, slaps lifetime ban on its chairman

Troubled property developer China Evergrande Holding says Beijing’s stock watchdog has fined it 4.2 billion yuan ($333.4 million) for allegedly falsifying its revenue, among other allegations.