Top Asian News 3:45 a.m. GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Generals from the rival Koreas met Tuesday at their shared border for talks meant to ease a decades-long military standoff, Seoul officials said. The meeting comes days after North Korea returned the reported remains of U.S. war dead, the most recent sign of blossoming diplomacy after last year's threats of war. The general-level officers were discussing ways to implement April's inter-Korean summit agreements on non-nuclear military issues, but no huge announcement is expected from the talks at the border village of Panmunjom. Some experts say South Korea can't agree on any drastic measures to reduce animosity unless the North takes serious nuclear disarmament steps.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Filipino soldier and four militiamen were killed by a powerful bomb that exploded in a van the troops were inspecting Tuesday amid threats of bombings in a southern province, military officials said. Regional military spokesman Lt. Col. Gerry Besana said two other government militiamen were wounded in the blast after dawn near an army militia outpost in the village of Colonia on the island province of Basilan. Besana, who is based in southern Zamboanga city across a strait from Basilan, said he was trying to confirm reports that some civilians had died in the explosion, which he said happened despite a security clampdown due to intelligence reports of possible bomb attacks on military outposts.

BEIJING (AP) — At least once a week, Su Lingmin films herself singing, sharing health tips and chatting with hundreds of fans from her hospital bed. "Now I'm a professional livestreamer," she said with a smile in a video last week. "What else can I do?" Diagnosed with leukemia four months ago, the 27-year-old native of the northern Chinese city of Harbin is helping give a human face to the struggle for more affordable cancer drugs in China. That cause has been bolstered by the popularity of a recent film, "Dying to Survive," which follows the darkly comedic capers of a Chinese businessman-turned-drug smuggler who saves lives by illegally importing a leukemia drug from India, where it costs several times less than in China.

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) — A Malaysian-led independent investigation report released Monday, more than four years after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared, highlighted shortcomings in the government's response and raised the possibility of "intervention by a third party." The report, prepared by a 19-member international team, reiterated Malaysia's assertion the plane was deliberately diverted and flown for over seven hours after severing communications. Chief investigator Kok Soo Chon said the cause of the disappearance cannot be determined until the wreckage and the plane's black boxes are found. He said there was no evidence of abnormal behavior or stress in the two pilots that could lead them to hijack the plane but all passengers were also cleared by police and had no pilot training.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The ruling party of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen congratulated itself Monday on its election victory, while the opposition party unable to contest the polls said they marked the death of democracy in the Southeast Asian country, making its government and any dealings with it illegitimate. Sok Eysan, the spokesman for Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party, described Sunday's vote on a public message sent over the Telegram chat application as a "brilliant victory" and said the country would move forward "under the umbrella of peace and political stability." Although 20 parties contested the election, the only one with the popularity and organization to mount a real challenge, the Cambodian National Rescue Party, was dissolved last year by the Supreme Court in a ruling generally seen as political and ensuring that Hun Sen would extend his 33 years in power by another five-year term.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — At least four Pakistani political parties said Monday they will join hands against the "stolen mandate" of Imran Khan, whose party won the most votes in an election marred by allegations of fraud. But it's unclear whether they have the political will or the seats to prevent Khan — a former cricket star who is believed to be backed by the military — from becoming the next prime minister. Khan's Tehrik-e-Insaf Party won the most seats, with 115, but fell short of a majority in the 242-seat assembly. His party says it has enough support to form the national government as well as two provincial governments.

GAUHATI, India (AP) — India on Monday released a final draft of a list of its citizens in the northeastern state of Assam, leaving some 4 million people on edge to prove their Indian nationality. India says hundreds of thousands of people have illegally entered the country from neighboring Bangladesh over decades and settled down in the northeast. Bangladesh rejects the claim. The application process for inclusion in India's national register started in 2015. Of 32.9 million applicants, the names of 28.9 million have been approved and included in the draft, Sailesh, India's registrar general, told reporters in Gauhati, the capital of Assam state.

MACAU (AP) — Dog races were held here in Macau for half a century, up to five nights a week — a constant in this former Portuguese colony even as high-stakes casinos and concert venues sprouted up to offer newer, glitzier entertainment options. Development and changing tastes have finally caught up with the Yat Yuen Canidrome Club, whose closure this month means the end of a controversial fixture in Macau — and of legal, regulated dog racing in Asia. Local authorities, along with animal rights groups, are now in the process of finding homes for 533 greyhounds abandoned in kennels on the premises.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An Australian minister says a new infrastructure partnership with the United States and Japan does not challenge growing Chinese investment in the Indo-Pacific region. The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corp., the Japan Bank for Investment Cooperation and the Australian government announced on Monday a trilateral partnership to invest in infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region. The move comes amid growing concerns about an increase in Chinese influence through the country's One Belt One Road infrastructure program. Trade Minister Steve Ciobo on Tuesday denied the three-way initiative was a challenge to China, saying it only added to various regional programs already underway.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines has expressed concern to China over an increasing number of Chinese radio messages warning Philippine aircraft and ships to stay away from newly fortified islands and other territories in the South China Sea claimed by both countries, officials said Monday. A Philippine government report seen by The Associated Press showed that in the second half of last year, Philippine military aircraft received Chinese radio warnings at least 46 times while patrolling near artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea's Spratly archipelago. The Chinese radio messages were "meant to step up their tactics to our pilots conducting maritime air surveillance in the West Philippine Sea," the report said, using the Philippine name for the South China Sea.