CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Gladys Tsai, Jorge Engels and Jennifer Deaton, CNN Taiwanese soldiers on Tuesday fired flares at three unidentified drones that flew near Kinmen County, an offshore grouping of islands, before firing warning shots at one drone which re-entered the area above one of the islands, according to the Kinmen Defense Command. All three drones later

By Emiko Jozuka and Jessie Yeung, CNN More than a decade after Japan’s worst nuclear disaster, the town that hosts the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant finally lifted its evacuation order on Tuesday, allowing former residents to come home. The town of Futaba, previously deemed off-limits, is the last of 11 districts to lift

By Sophia Saifi, Kathleen Magramo, Mayumi Maruyama and Angela Dewan, CNN UN Secretary General António Guterres on Tuesday warned that the world is “sleepwalking” into environmental destruction, as he launched a flash $160 million appeal for flood-ravaged Pakistan. More than 1,100 people have been killed and 33 million others impacted in one of the country’s

By Sophia Saifi and Kathleen Magramo, CNN Pakistan is racing to prevent further loss of life as it reels from one of its worst climate disasters with floodwater threatening to cover up to a third of the country of 220 million people by the end of the monsoon season. Climate change minister Sherry Rehman said

By Nectar Gan, CNN Chinese authorities have charged 28 people and detained eight police officials following a brutal assault on a group of women earlier this summer that shocked the country and provoked widespread anger. The attack at a barbecue restaurant in the early hours of June 10 in the northeastern city of Tangshan saw

By Heather Chen, CNN The Malaysian army has apologized after two of its vehicles broke down in Kuala Lumpur on two consecutive days, blocking traffic and inviting derision on social media. The first incident occurred on Friday, when a PT-91M Twardy tank stalled with engine problems on a highway near the country’s Parliament building, the

By Michelle Velez and Teele Rebane, CNN Severe rains and flooding have killed at least 1,033 people, including 348 children, and left 1,527 more injured in Pakistan since mid-June, officials said on Sunday. The country’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) added that 119 people had died and 71 injured in the last 24 hours alone.

By Brad Lendon, CNN Two United States Navy warships have entered the Taiwan Strait in what is the first US naval transit in the waterway since US-China tensions spiked this month over a visit to the island by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The guided-missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville were on Sunday making the

By Heather Chen, CNN When Singapore announced this week it would end a colonial-era law that criminalized sex between men, it looked like a big victory for gay rights advocates in the Southeast Asian country. On second look, to many it appeared to be a double-edged sword. That’s because as it put an end to

By Sophia Saifi, Akanksha Sharma and Asim Khan for CNN, and Reuters At least 33 million people have been affected by deadly flooding in Pakistan, the country’s climate change minister said on Thursday. Since mid-June, 937 people have died from severe rain and flooding across the South Asian country, according to the country’s National Disaster

By Gawon Bae and Jessie Yeung, CNN South Korea has broken its own record for the world’s lowest fertility rate, according to official figures released Wednesday, as the country struggles to reverse its years-long trend of declining births. The country’s fertility rate, which indicates the average number of children a woman will have in her

By Angus Watson, Xiaofei Xu and Niamh Kennedy, CNN The United Kingdom’s former ambassador to Myanmar has been charged with immigration offenses by the country’s military junta, it said in a statement Thursday, after she and her husband were taken into custody the night before. Myanmar authorities alleged the address Vicky Bowman had registered to

By Sophia Saifi, Rhea Mogul and Azaz Syed, CNN Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan was granted an extension of his pre-arrest bail on Thursday while police investigate whether he violated anti-terror laws. The news was celebrated by hundreds of Khan’s supporters, who rallied outside the Anti-Terrorism Court in the capital, Islamabad, where the ousted

By Gawon Bae, Paula Hancocks and Tara Subramaniam, CNN Two weeks after North Korea declared victory over the coronavirus, the country has reported four suspected cases in a province near its border with China. The area where the suspected cases were found was “immediately locked down,” state news agency KCNA reported Tuesday. Citing the country’s

By Nectar Gan, CNN The Chinese metropolis of Chongqing has rolled out mass Covid testing in its central area amid a record heat wave, leaving millions of residents standing under the sun for hours as they struggle with extreme temperatures and power shortages. Stringent zero-Covid measures enacted by the southwestern mega city to contain an

By Kocha Olarn and Kathleen Magramo, CNN Thailand‘s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has temporarily stepped aside as the country’s leader but remains its defense minister, according to a government spokesman. The unusual leadership reshuffle follows a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Thailand on Wednesday, which ordered Prayut to stand aside while it considers if

By Simone McCarthy, CNN It’s been four years since a committee of United Nations experts called attention to “credible reports” that more than 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minority peoples were interned in extrajudicial camps in Xinjiang in northwestern China for “re-education” and indoctrination. But since that moment in August 2018, the international community

By Sophia Saifi, Bonnie Turner and Tara John, CNN At least 903 people have died in Pakistan from severe rains and flooding this summer, as the country sees its eighth cycle of monsoon rains, Pakistan’s Minister for Climate Change told CNN Wednesday as the country appealed for international assistance. Thousands have no shelter and food

By Reuters India’s Supreme Court will hold a hearing on a petition challenging the release last week of 11 Hindu men convicted of the gang rape of a pregnant Muslim woman during Hindu-Muslim riots in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat. Dozens of women in Mumbai protested on Tuesday against their release and carried

By Tara Subramaniam, Masoud Popalzai and Alex Stambaugh, CNN Flash flooding has killed at least 95 people, injured hundreds of others and swept away thousands of homes in Afghanistan, authorities in the crisis-hit country said Tuesday. The deaths occurred across 10 provinces over the past 10 days, authorities said, as the country reels from an

By Shawn Deng, Simone McCarthy and CNN’s Beijing bureau Thousands of emergency responders are battling to contain fast-spreading wildfires in China’s southwestern city of Chongqing amid a weeks-long, record heat wave in the region. The fires, which have been visible at night from parts of the downtown area, have swept forests and mountains around the

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN A tropical storm forced schools to close across the northern Philippines on Tuesday — just one day after in-person learning had resumed following one of the world’s longest pandemic-related shutdowns. Severe Tropical Storm Ma On — known as Florita in the Philippines — made landfall in Maconacon, Isabela province at 10:30

By Swati Gupta, CNN and Reuters At least 32 people have died since Friday in flash flooding and landslides triggered by heavy monsoonal rains in two of India’s northern states. The rainfall has overwhelmed villages, sweeping away houses and leaving residents stranded as rescue crews race to evacuate survivors. Twenty-seven were killed in the Himalayan

By Tara Subramaniam, CNN Australian Federal Police say they’ve seized more than 5 million doses of fentanyl, the largest shipment of the opioid the country has ever seen. Police said the drugs were hidden in an industrial machine, known as a lathe, that arrived at the Port of Melbourne in December 2021 from Canada. But

By Gawon Bae and Kathleen Magramo, CNN A woman believed to be the mother of two children whose remains were found in suitcases in New Zealand earlier this month is in South Korea, a Seoul police official told CNN on Monday. The official said the woman, a New Zealand citizen, arrived in South Korea in

By Sophia Saifi and Rhea Mogul, CNN Pakistani authorities are investigating whether former prime minister Imran Khan violated anti-terror laws and have banned him from speaking live on television, in moves likely to inflame tensions between Khan, who maintains mass popular support, and the coalition government. According to police documents seen by CNN, police opened

By Eric Cheung, Gladys Tsai and Blake Essig, CNN For the last 18 years, Li Meng-han and his family have grown pomelos in a rural town near the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan. Taiwanese pomelos, known for their juiciness and softness, are highly popular on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, especially during the Mid-Autumn

By Heather Chen, Wayne Chang and Tara John, CNN Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday said the country will repeal the colonial-era Section 377A of Singapore’s Penal Code, thereby decriminalizing gay sex in Singapore, but added that same-sex marriage will continue to be illegal in the city-state. “Sex between consenting men should not

By Nectar Gan, CNN Chinese-Canadian tycoon Xiao Jianhua was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison, more than five years after the billionaire was abducted from a hotel room in Hong Kong and taken to mainland China. Xiao and his company Tomorrow Holdings were convicted of crimes involving tens of billions of dollars, including illegally

By Gawon Bae and Jessie Yeung, CNN North Korea has rejected South Korea’s offer of economic support in exchange for denuclearization, saying the proposal suggests President Yoon Suk Yeol is “really simple,” state media KCNA reported Friday. Kim Yo Jong, a top official and the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, criticized Yoon’s

By Wayne Chang, Shawn Deng and Simone McCarthy, CNN Metro stations in Sichuan province’s capital city Chengdu have dimmed their lights to save electricity, leaving some travelers in partial darkness as China grapples with a power crunch amid a record heat wave. The rail system of southwestern city of Chengdu, home to about 21 million

By Jessie Yeung and Junko Ogura, CNN The Japanese government has been hit in the pocket by an unusual problem — its young people aren’t drinking enough. Since the pandemic began, bars and other premises selling alcohol have been hit hard by Covid-19 restrictions, causing sales — and liquor tax revenues — to plummet in

By Iqbal Athas and Rhea Mogul, CNN Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the crisis-hit island nation last month amid mass protests, is expected to return to the country next week, according to a senior minister. Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told CNN late Wednesday the Sri Lankan government had been told of Rajapaksa’s

By Yong Xiong, Selina Wang and Nectar Gan, CNN On a sunny afternoon in June, Wang Qun pushed his nose up against the 20-foot high steel fence, peering at the palm trees and detached houses across the border — the first glimpse of his American dream. Unlike many of the thousands aiming to cross the

By Shawn Deng, Wayne Chang, Simone McCarthy and Reuters, CNN Chinese planes are firing rods into the sky to bring more rainfall to its crucial Yangtze River, which has dried up in parts, as swaths of the nation fall into drought and grapple with the worst heat wave on record. Several regions on the Yangtze

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN The Hong Kong government is distributing thousands of copies of a speech by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to schools in the city for teachers to “study and learn.” In a circular sent to educators on Monday, Hong Kong’s Education Bureau said in “view of the great significance of (Xi’s) ‘Address’ to

By Brad Lendon and Gawon Bae, CNN South Korea plans to become one of the world’s top four weapons suppliers, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday as he addressed reporters in a speech marking his first 100 days in office. “By entering the world’s top four defense exporters after the United States, Russia and France,

By Gawon Bae, CNN North Korea fired two cruise missiles early Wednesday morning from the coastal town of Onchon into waters off its west coast, according to a South Korean Defense Ministry official. Military officials from South Korea and the United States said they were analyzing the launch for further details. After the launch, South

By Rhea Mogul, CNN A Chinese research ship docked at a southern Sri Lankan port Beijing leases from the government on Tuesday, officials said, despite security concerns raised by India about the vessel’s presence in nearby waters. Port workers at Hambantota gave an enthusiastic welcome to the Yuan Wang 5, waving Sri Lanka and China

By Cape Diamond and Heather Chen, CNN A court in military-run Myanmar has sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to six more years in prison after convicting her on four extra counts of corruption, state media reported on Tuesday. The latest verdict in the series of secretive trials against the Nobel laureate takes her

By Nectar Gan, CNN A Chinese anime fan says she was detained and interrogated by police after she wore traditional Japanese dress to pose for photos in the eastern city of Suzhou, sparking heated debate on China‘s social media over what some see as over-the-top nationalism. Wearing a white kimono decorated with images of red

By Wayne Chang and Simone McCarthy, CNN China’s military said it conducted combat alert patrols and military drills in the waters and airspace around Taiwan on Monday, a day after the arrival of a US congressional delegation to Taipei. The exercises are “a solemn response to political plays by the US and Taiwan that are

By Jessie Yeung and Kathleen Magramo, CNN Hong Kong has recorded its sharpest annual drop in population, with experts blaming the decline on strict Covid control measures and a political crackdown that have taken the shine off a financial hub long advertised as “Asia’s world city.” The city’s total population fell from 7.41 million people

By Jessie Yeung and Gawon Bae, CNN Seoul has vowed to move some of the city’s poorest families out of underground and semi-subterranean homes after 13 people were killed in flooding caused by record rainfall this week, sparking public horror and calls for government accountability. The deaths, which included a family who drowned after becoming

By Nectar Gan, CNN A Chinese court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by a former state television intern against the dismissal of her long-running landmark #MeToo case accusing a star presenter of sexual harassment. Zhou Xiaoxuan, better known as Xianzi in China, became the face of the country’s #MeToo movement in 2018, when she publicly

By Gawon Bae and Jessie Yeung, CNN Record downpours flooded homes, roads and subway stations in the South Korean capital Seoul this week, killing at least nine people, as forecasters warned of more rain to come. The torrential rain eased on Wednesday, though already-flooded areas could see an additional 300 millimeters (11.8 inches) of rain

By Will Ripley, Eric Cheung and Simone McCarthy, CNN China’s threat to Taiwan is “more serious than ever,” but the island will stand firm to protect its freedom and democracy — including by welcoming those who support it, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told CNN in an interview Monday. Wu’s defiant message came as China

By Wayne Chang and Simone McCarthy, CNN Chinese forces took part in drills focused on land attacks and long-range airstrikes around Taiwan on Sunday, its military said, on what was expected to be the final day of extensive exercises rolled out in response to a visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

By Simone McCarthy and CNN’s Beijing bureau Around 80,000 tourists are stranded in the popular resort city of Sanya on China’s tropical Hainan island after authorities announced lockdown measures to stem an outbreak of Covid-19. Public transportation was suspended and people’s movements inside the city were restricted from early Saturday morning, authorities said. Stranded tourists

By Wayne Chang The deputy head of Taiwan’s government-controlled weapons developer has died after suffering a heart attack on a trip to the south of the island. Ou Yang Li-hsing, 57, the deputy head of the military-owned National Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology, was found dead in a hotel room in southern Pingtung

By Reuters US Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured the Philippines on Saturday that the United States would come to its defense if attacked in the South China Sea, seeking to allay concerns about the extent of the US commitment to a mutual defense treaty. In meetings in Manila dominated by discussion on simmering US-China

By Jessie Yeung and Eric Cheung, CNN Taiwan says it detected “multiple” Chinese aircraft and naval vessels taking part in military drills around the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, in what could be a possible simulated attack against the island. Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said some of the aircraft and vessels had crossed the sensitive median line

By Reuters Flash floods caused by abnormally heavy monsoon rains killed at least 549 people in Pakistan over the past month, with remote communities in the impoverished southwestern province of Balochistan among the hardest hit, a government agency said. Government agencies and the army have set up aid and relief camps in flood-hit regions and

By Simone McCarthy, CNN As a US Air Force jet carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi approached Taiwan on Tuesday night, expectations ran high in China over how Beijing would respond. Since reports emerged that the key US lawmaker would visit Taiwan during an Asia tour, conversation in China had churned with nationalist furor and amped-up

By Jessie Yeung, CNN China’s Foreign Ministry announced new countermeasures against Washington on Friday, including the suspension of climate talks, in response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, hours after it announced sanctions against the US House speaker. The measures include the cancellation of future phone calls and meetings between Chinese and US defense leaders,

By Gawon Bae, CNN South Korea launched its first moon mission on Thursday as its homegrown lunar orbiter took off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard a SpaceX rocket. A live broadcast of the launch on Friday morning in South Korea showed the orbiter “Danuri” — which means “enjoy the moon” — successfully

By Kocha Olarn, CNN At least 14 people have been killed and 35 injured after a fire broke out in the early hours of Friday at a nightclub in Thailand, police said. The fire broke out at around 1 a.m. at the Mountain B nightclub, a one-story building in the Sattahip district of Chonburi province,

By Jessie Yeung and Rob Picheta, CNN China pressed ahead with military drills near Taiwan and flew drones close to Japan on Friday, escalating tensions in the strait that have threatened to boil over since Taipei welcomed US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a historic visit. Taiwan’s defense ministry said Chinese warships and aircraft continued

By Jessie Yeung, Rob Picheta and Megan Trimble, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Brad Lendon, CNN Within minutes of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landing in Taiwan on Tuesday night, China said it would immediately begin “a series of joint military operations around the island,” including using long-range live ammunition in the Taiwan Strait. An announcement from the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command said beginning Tuesday

By Heather Chen, CNN It was mid-afternoon on a sweltering Saturday when Raj, a laborer from northwest India, started feeling dizzy as he hauled heavy bags of concrete mix and sand on a construction site in downtown Singapore. Temperatures had reached 34 degrees Celsius (94 degrees Fahrenheit), but Raj carried on despite the heat and

By Simone McCarthy, CNN Chinese leader Xi Jinping has urged the Communist Party to “win hearts and minds” of people in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as part of a “national rejuvenation.” Xi’s demand, made over the weekend in a meeting attended by top Chinese officials, was one of a number of critical tasks listed

By Jessie Yeung and Wayne Chang, CNN US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several other Congress members visited Singapore on Monday, their first official stop in a high-profile Asia tour that has attracted international attention over speculation she may visit Taiwan. The delegation started their two-day visit to the city-state by meeting Singaporean President Halimah

By Sarita Harilela and Alex Stambaugh, CNN US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is heading to Asia for a tour of the region after landing in Hawaii, where she visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial and the USS Arizona. Pelosi is leading a Congressional delegation to the Indo-Pacific and plans to visit places including Singapore, Malaysia, South

By Shawn Deng, Hannah Ritchie, Yong Xiong and Eric Cheung, CNN China is planning to conduct live-fire exercises on Saturday in waters near Pingtan Island of Fujian province, which is opposite the self-governing island of Taiwan. The Pingtan Maritime Safety Administration issued a navigation warning about the drills late Thursday local time, prohibiting all ships

By Eric Cheung, CNN Reports that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning a visit to Taiwan have sparked tense exchanges between the United States and China — and growing speculation over how Beijing might react. While Pelosi — a forthright critic of Beijing — has so far declined to confirm the reports, she has

By Tara Subramaniam, Kathleen Magramo and Lauren Lau, CNN A back-up dancer for the Cantopop boy band Mirror is in intensive care after being hit by a giant video panel that fell from the ceiling during a concert in Hong Kong. Five people were injured when the panel — measuring about four square meters —