Top Asian News 3:58 a.m. GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Senior officials from the rival Koreas met Monday to set a date and venue for a third summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, part of an effort to breathe new life into resolving the nuclear standoff between Washington and Pyongyang. The two leaders, who first met in April in a highly publicized summit and then again in May for more informal talks, previously agreed to meet again sometime in the fall in Pyongyang but released no concrete details. The meeting Monday at a North Korea-controlled building in the border village of Panmunjom comes amid growing worries about whether North Korea will begin abandoning its nuclear weapons, something officials suggested would happen after Kim's summit with President Donald Trump in June in Singapore.

BEIJING (AP) — As China's leaders gather for their annual Yellow Sea retreat, the country's political waters are looking choppy. Chinese President and ruling Communist Party leader Xi Jinping is beset by economic, foreign policy and domestic political challenges just months after clearing his way to rule for as long as he wants as China's most dominant leader since Mao Zedong. Mounting criticism of the Xi administration's policies has exposed the risks he faces from amassing so much power: He's made himself a natural target for blame. "Having concentrated power, Xi is responsible for all policy setbacks and policy failures," said Joseph Cheng, a retired City University of Hong Kong professor and long-time observer of Chinese politics.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A fire at a nursing home in Taiwan has left nine people dead and 16 injured. Authorities were still investigating the cause of the blaze that broke out before 5 a.m. on Monday morning and was extinguished roughly one hour later. No details were immediately available about those who had died, although the fire department said 10 of the injured were in serious condition.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United States has sent military advisers to aid Afghan forces in Ghazni, where they were struggling on Sunday to regain full control three days after the Taliban launched a massive assault on the eastern city. The assault was a major show of force by the Taliban, who had infiltrated deep into the city and attacked from several directions. In recent years the insurgents have seized several districts across the country and staged near-daily attacks on Afghan security forces, but have been unable to capture and hold urban areas. The U.S.-led NATO mission has carried out airstrikes in support of Afghan forces.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — In a rare diplomatic foray and the strongest sign yet of increasing Taliban political clout in the region, the head of the insurgents' political office led a delegation to Uzbekistan to meet senior Foreign Ministry officials there, Uzbek and Taliban officials said. Taliban political chief Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai represented the insurgents in the four-day talks that ended on Friday and included meetings with Uzbekistan's Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov as well as the country's special representative to Afghanistan Ismatilla Irgashev. The meetings follow an offer made by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in March to broker peace in Afghanistan.

JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) — A 12-year-old boy is the only survivor from the crash of a light commercial plane in a mountainous region of Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua that left eight other passengers dead, rescuers said Sunday. The Swiss-made Pilatus PC-6 Porter single-engine plane operated by Dimonin Air was reported missing Saturday during a 45-minute flight from Tanah Merah in Boven Digul district to Oksibil, the district capital of Pegunungan Bintang, bordering Papua New Guinea. The local army chief said Sunday the plane crashed near Oksibil airport. Col. Jonathan Binsar Sianipar said the boy, identified only as Jumaidi, was the only passenger found alive and was evacuated to the Oksibil hospital.

BEIJING (AP) — A German man has learned the hard way that practicing journalism in China, even for a class project, could lead to serious trouble. David Missal, 24, was pursuing a master's degree in journalism and communication at prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing. He landed in Duesseldorf on Sunday after Chinese immigration authorities told him his student visa was canceled and he had a week to leave China. Missal said he thinks that's because he reported on the plight of jailed human rights lawyers in a journalism class. Missal said a Tsinghua representative this year warned him twice against pursuing the politically sensitive subject, but he went ahead anyway because he wanted to "get to learn Chinese society and politics." "In a way, the last two months I did get to learn more Chinese society and politics," Missal said, referring to his own case.

TOKYO (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters in Okinawa vowed to stop the planned relocation of a U.S military base, saying they want it off the southern Japanese island entirely. Opponents of the relocation say the plan to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from a crowded neighborhood to a less populated coastal site would not only be an environmental debacle but also ignore local wishes to remove the base. About 70,000 people gathered Saturday at a park in the state capital of Naha under pouring rain ahead of an approaching typhoon and observed a moment of silence for Okinawa's governor, Takeshi Onaga, who died Wednesday of cancer.

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Police in Pakistan say a methane gas explosion in a coal mine has killed at least four miners and trapped 13 others. Local police official Wajeet Khan says the blast happened Sunday in the village of Sanjdi, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Quetta. He says rescuers have retrieved four bodies and that 13 other miners are missing and feared dead, with rescue operations hindered by the gas leak. Cave-ins and other mining accidents in Pakistan are often attributed to the poor enforcement of safety regulations.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A Chinese tourist was attacked and killed by a hippo while taking pictures on the edge of Lake Naivasha in Kenya's Rift Valley, just hours after a local fisherman was mauled to death in the same area, authorities said Sunday. A second Chinese tourist was injured in the incident Saturday night and received treatment in the local hospital in Naivasha, 91 kilometers (56 miles) miles southeast of Nairobi, the Kenya Wildlife Service said in a statement. In the same area, a Kenyan fisherman was attacked by another hippo a few kilometers (miles) from where the incident with the Chinese occurred, a police official said.