Top Asian News 4:57 a.m. GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's prime minister offered to hold talks with India, even as he warned New Delhi to refrain from launching any attacks on his country following last week's suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Imran Khan said he hoped "better sense" would prevail after the attack on a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 Indian troops. But he warned in a televised speech Tuesday that if India attacks, "Pakistan will not merely think of retaliation, but rather, we will retaliate." U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged both sides "to exercise maximum restraint and take immediate steps to de-escalate tensions," U.N.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — At a barbershop tucked away in a small Hanoi alley, Le Phuc Hai patiently waits for his hair dye to bleach his natural black into the color of the president of the United States. On a chair next to him, 9-year-old To Gia Huy emerges as a spitting image of a miniature Kim Jong Un. "Many people say that I look like Kim Jong Un, especially when I have this hairstyle," said Huy, who was nicknamed "Un" for his likeness to the North Korean leader. He was unable to hide his excitement that Kim is coming to the Vietnamese capital next week for his second summit with President Donald Trump, and hopes for a chance to see him in person.

BEIJING (AP) — China is barring foreign travelers from Tibet over a period of several weeks that includes a pair of sensitive political anniversaries questioning the legitimacy of Beijing's rule over the Himalayan region. Travel agencies contacted Wednesday said foreign tourists would not be allowed back into Tibet until April 1. It's not clear when the ban started, although some monitoring groups said it began this month. The ban was confirmed by the online customer service portal of the Tibet Youth International Travel Service, as well as staff at the Tibet Vista and Go to Tibet travel agencies. Both are based in the southwestern city of Chengdu — the main jumping-off point for visits to Tibet.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A woman wanted in Chile on kidnapping charges dating back to Chile's 1973-1990 military dictatorship appeared in a Sydney court on Wednesday for an extradition hearing. Chile's Supreme Court requested the extradition of Adriana Rivas in 2014. The 66-year-old was wanted for her alleged role in the 1976 killing of a Communist Party leader who was held in a secret prison before he was suffocated and thrown into the ocean. Australian Attorney-General Christian Porter, who has responsibility for extraditions, said Rivas was arrested in Sydney on Tuesday at the request of Chile. "This individual is wanted to face prosecution in the Republic of Chile for aggravated kidnapping offences," Chester said in a statement.

The Lantern Festival that lit up Beijing's Forbidden City on Tuesday night was not one the last emperor would have recognized. The festival marking the end of 15 days of lunar new year celebrations included traditional red-paper lanterns. But people lucky enough to snag tickets also saw a laser light show and the compound's historic buildings bathed in colorful lights projecting Chinese characters, paintings and decorations. Many people watched from outside the vast palace compound in Beijing, from where Ming and Qing dynasty emperors ruled for five centuries before the last emperor abdicated in 1912. The Palace Museum, established 94 years ago, was allowing the public inside at night for the first time for the light show and traditional opera performances on Tuesday and Wednesday.

NEW DELHI (AP) — Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in India on Tuesday after visiting Pakistan, which New Delhi blames for a suicide bombing last week that killed at least 40 Indian soldiers in disputed Kashmir. The crown prince was welcomed at the airport by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who embraced him in a characteristic bear hug. Prince Mohammed is expected to make an effort to defuse tensions between India and Pakistan as New Delhi weighs its response to last Thursday's attack. Tensions between the countries have soared since the attack, in which a militant rammed an explosive-laden van into a paramilitary bus in Kashmir.

BAC GIANG, Vietnam (AP) — In a rice field in northern Vietnam, 14 headstones are an enduring symbol of the wartime friendship of Vietnam and North Korea. They mark the original burial ground of North Korean pilots who died while secretly fighting alongside Vietnamese comrades against U.S. Air Force and Navy planes during the Vietnam War. The role of North Korea is a footnote in the sweeping history of that conflict, one that speaks mostly of the fraternal relations of two nations that separately fought bruising armed conflicts against the United States in the context of the Cold War. Decades later, the communist nations' friendship is apparent as Vietnam gets ready to host the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week.

BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese database Victor Gevers found online was not just a collection of old personal details. It was a compilation of real-time data on more than 2.5 million people in western China, updated constantly with GPS coordinates of their precise whereabouts. Alongside their names, birthdates and places of employment, there were notes on the places that they had most recently visited — mosque, hotel, restaurant. The discovery by Gevers, a Dutch cybersecurity researcher who revealed it on Twitter last week, has given a rare glimpse into China's extensive surveillance of Xinjiang, a remote region home to an ethnic minority population that is largely Muslim.

BEIJING (AP) — The Iranian foreign minister's passionate defense of his country's interests at the Munich Security Conference has made him "a famous person" in China, his Chinese counterpart told him Tuesday, as the sides met amid efforts to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is leading an Iranian delegation to Beijing that includes parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani and the ministers of finance and petroleum, as well as the CEO of the country's central bank. Germany, Britain, France, China, Russia and the European Union have been trying to preserve the 2015 deal meant to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States last year.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Pyongyang is upgrading its overcrowded mass transit system with brand new subway cars, trams and buses in a campaign meant to show that leader Kim Jong Un is raising the country's standard of living. The long-overdue improvements, while still modest, are a welcome change for the North Korean capital's roughly 3 million residents, who have few options to get to work or school each day. First came new, high-tech subway cars and electric trolleybuses — each announced by the media with photos of Kim personally conducting the final inspection tours. Now, officials say three new electric trams are running daily routes across Pyongyang.