CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Hannah Ritchie and Sahar Akbarzai, CNN The Taliban’s supreme leader Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada has once again warned foreigners not to interfere in Afghanistan during a rare speech at a gathering of Islamic clerics in Kabul on Friday, according to state media. The reclusive leader told the conference that Afghanistan “cannot develop without being independent,”

By Eric Cheung, CNN Wang Chen-wei and Chen Jun-ru are unique among parents in Taiwan. This year, in a landmark legal case, the two men became the first same-sex couple on the island to legally adopt a child neither of them are related to. Now they’re living their family dream with daughter Joujou, 4, in

By Nectar Gan, Simone McCarthy and Kathleen Magramo, CNN Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday claimed “true democracy” began in Hong Kong 25 years ago when China assumed control, as he marked a symbolic anniversary for the city transformed by his political crackdown. “After its return to the motherland, Hong Kong compatriots became masters of

By Jessie Yeung and Yoonjung Seo, CNN North Korea on Friday claimed its Covid-19 outbreak began when two residents touched “unusual things” near the South Korean border, according to state media. The impoverished nation publicly acknowledged the virus had breached its borders for the first time in May, though it’s difficult to assess the real

By Katie Hunt, CNN Giant pandas are notoriously fussy eaters. They only munch on bamboo and each day spend 15 hours eating up to 99 pounds (45 kilograms) of the stuff. But their ancestors, like most bears, ate a much wider diet that included meat, and it was thought that modern pandas’ exclusive diet evolved

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Chinese leader Xi Jinping has left mainland China for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, arriving in Hong Kong Thursday ahead of the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover from British to Chinese rule. Xi is expected to spend two days in the financial hub and attend a

By Jessie Yeung, CNN After more than a year on the surface of Mars, China’s Tianwen-1 probe has taken images covering the entire red planet, the country’s space agency announced Wednesday. Tianwen-1, which means “quest for heavenly truth,” was launched in 2020 and landed on Mars last May, when the Zhurong rover on board started

By Helen Regan, CNN Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was sworn in as the 17th President of the Philippines on Thursday, restoring one of the country’s most notorious political dynasties to the Malacañang Palace 36 years after his father was ousted in a popular uprising. Marcos Jr., known as “Bongbong” in the Philippines, won a landslide in

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN More than 7 million people in Bangladesh are in desperate need of shelter and emergency relief after what one aid agency has described as the worst flooding to hit South Asia in living memory. Hundreds of thousands of homes near the Bangladesh-India border are underwater, and in the worst-hit areas whole

By Heather Chen, Junko Ogura and Mayumi Maruyama, CNN Japan is asking some 37 million people living in and around Tokyo to use less electricity and ration air conditioning even amid a record heat wave that has seen temperatures in some parts of the country pass 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). The government urged

Story by Reuters Fellow villagers have praised an Indonesian man for capturing a crocodile measuring 4.3 meters (14.1 feet) on the island of Sulawesi using just a rope. The giant reptile can be seen in a video being secured around the jaws by Usman, who, like many Indonesians, goes by one name. Usman said it

By Simone McCarthy What was meant to be a simple errand, a daughter driving her aging father to the hospital to pick up his medicine, has pulled a small city on China’s border with North Korea — and its nearly two-month Covid-19 lockdown — into the national spotlight, after the pair ran afoul of pandemic

Story by Reuters Sri Lanka is struggling to secure fresh fuel supplies, a top government minister said on Sunday, as the crisis-hit country of 22 million people is down to just 15,000 tons of petrol and diesel to keep essential services running in the coming days. The island is wilting under its worst financial crisis

By Junko Ogura and Simone McCarthy, CNN Two Chinese coast guard ships navigated Japan’s territorial waters near a chain of disputed islands for more than 64 hours this week, Japanese authorities said Friday — the longest incursion of its kind in a decade. Japan’s coast guard said Friday the Chinese vessels entered Japanese waters in

By Heather Chen, CNN Shocking images have emerged from New Zealand showing millions of once-velvety brown sea sponges bleached bone white, the worst mass bleaching event of its type ever recorded, marine scientists say. The alarming discovery comes amid a continued rise in ocean temperatures, a trend that scientists say is overwhelmingly due to planet-warming

By Jessie Yeung and Yuki Kurihara, CNN Drinks after work probably seemed like a good idea — but for one worker in Japan the hangover is likely to last for some time. The unnamed worker lost a USB flash drive containing the personal details of every resident of the city of Amagasaki, northwest of Osaka,

By Jessie Yeung and Kathleen Magramo, CNN Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Hong Kong next week to mark the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover to China, state media reported on Saturday — the leader’s first trip outside the mainland since the pandemic began. “Xi Jinping will attend the celebration of the 25th anniversary

By Tara John, Akanksha Sharma, Jo Shelley and Ehsan Popalzai, CNN Aid groups scrambled on Thursday to reach victims of a powerful earthquake that rocked eastern Afghanistan, killing more than 1,000 people in an area blighted by poor infrastructure, as the country faces dire economic and hunger crises. The slow response, exacerbated by international sanctions

By Rhea Mogul and Iqbal Athas, CNN Sri Lanka’s economy has “completely collapsed,” Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Wednesday, as the crisis-hit nation faces an increasingly dire situation that has left millions struggling with fuel, electricity and food shortages. “Our economy has faced a complete collapse,” Wickremesinghe told Sri Lanka’s Parliament, adding the government was

By Aditi Sangal and Adrienne Vogt, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Simone McCarthy Chinese leader Xi Jinping set the tone for a virtual summit with leaders from major emerging economies in a pointed speech Wednesday evening, in which he decried sanctions as “weaponizing” the global economy and urged unity in the face of financial challenges. Xi, who spoke at a business forum ahead of the

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Desperate search and rescue operations were underway in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday following an earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people, a heavy blow for a country already facing a dire economic and humanitarian crisis. The magnitude 5.9 quake struck during the early hours of Wednesday near the city of Khost

By CNN staff A prominent civil rights advocate in China who once called on leader Xi Jinping to resign because he is “just not smart enough” was put on trial behind closed doors Wednesday on charges of subverting state power. The move comes as the ruling Communist Party doubles down on stifling dissent ahead of

By Brad Lendon, CNN At least eight Russian and Chinese warships have been spotted in the seas near Japan this week, another sign of the apparent pressure the two partners have been putting on Tokyo as relations deteriorate over Ukraine and Taiwan respectively. Japan’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday said its forces had observed five Russian

By Masoud Popalzai, Jessie Yeung, Ehsan Popalzai and Tara John, CNN Afghanistan was rocked by its deadliest earthquake in decades on Wednesday when a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck the country’s east, killing more than 1,000 people and wounding many more, according to a regional official. The humanitarian disaster comes at a difficult time for the

By Heather Chen, CNN Singapore has reported the first confirmed case of monkeypox in Southeast Asia during this year’s outbreak — while another confirmed case has been found in South Korea. The case in Singapore involves a British man who was in the city-state between June 15 and 17. He tested positive for monkeypox on

By Brad Lendon and Wayne Chang, CNN A total of 29 Chinese warplanes entered Taiwan’s self-declared air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday, according to the island’s Defense Ministry. The Defense Ministry said the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force planes were a mix of fighter jets, early warning and control aircraft, electronic warfare aircraft,

By Nectar Gan and CNN’s Beijing bureau After days of mounting public pressure, Chinese police have finally issued an update on the investigation into a brutal restaurant attack in Tangshan — but the statement has done little to quell public outrage, or address concerns for the victims. The assault, which took place in the early

By Jessie Yeung, Yoonjung Seo and Gawon Bae, CNN South Korea successfully launched satellites into orbit with its homegrown Nuri rocket on Tuesday, a significant step for the country’s burgeoning space program after a failed attempt last year. The three-stage rocket, more than 47 meters (154 feet) long and weighing 200 tons, was launched from

By Kathleen Magramo, Jorge Engels and Junko Ogura, CNN Japan’s ban on same-sex marriage is not unconstitutional, a court has ruled, dealing a blow to gay couples and activists seeking greater rights for the LGBTQ community. The Osaka district court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit in which three same-sex couples were seeking compensation from the

Story by Reuters Cambodian villagers on the Mekong River have caught what researchers say is the world’s biggest freshwater fish ever recorded, a stingray that weighed in at 661 pounds (about 300 kilograms), and took around a dozen men to haul to shore. Named Boramy — meaning “full moon” in the Khmer language — because

By Jessie Yeung, CNN China successfully conducted an anti-ballistic missile test on Sunday night, according to the country’s Defense Ministry, part of ongoing military efforts to enhance the country’s defensive capabilities. It was a land-based mid-course missile tested within China’s borders, the ministry said in a brief statement, adding the test was defensive in nature

From CNN’s Maija Ehlinger, Kunal Sehgal, and Sahar Akbarzai Four million people have been impacted by flooding in northeastern Bangladesh, according to Dr. Enamur Rahman, the country’s State Minister for the Ministry of Disaster Management. The situation could soon worsen, with heavy rain forecast in the next 24 hours. Rahman told CNN on Sunday that

by Heather Chen, CNN In a sea of thousands decked out in rainbow and pink, Dawn Lim, a full-time officer doing mandatory military service in the Singapore army, was not as flamboyantly dressed as many of her fellow attendees at the city state’s Pink Dot pride parade — but she was just as happy and

by Sahar Akbarzai, Saleem Mehsud and Heather Chen, CNN An Islamic State affiliate has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Sikh temple in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul that killed at least two people and injured seven. The attack on Saturday was “an act of revenge” following insults made by members of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata

By Yoonjung Seo and Gawon Bae, CNN, and Reuters North Korea has dispatched medical crews and epidemiological investigators to a province battling the outbreak of an intestinal disease, state media reported on Sunday. At least 800 families suffering from what North Korea has only called an “acute enteric epidemic” have received aid so far in

Story by Reuters For Jung Ki-young, a South Korean software engineer, Microsoft’s decision to retire its Internet Explorer web browser marked the end of a quarter-century love-hate relationship with the technology. To commemorate its demise, he spent a month and 430,000 won ($330) designing and ordering a headstone with Explorer’s “e” logo and the English

By Wayne Chang and Yong Xiong, CNN At least one person has died after a fire broke out at a petrochemical complex in Shanghai on Saturday, Chinese state media reported. The fire occurred in the ethylene glycol plant area of Sinopec’s petrochemical complex at approximately 4 a.m. in the city’s Jinshan district, the company said

By Serenitie Wang, CNN When I left a Covid-ravaged Hong Kong, I was in search of a sanctuary. It was early March and the city was in the throes of the biggest coronavirus outbreak per capita in the world. Little could I have known as I boarded the plane that my cunning escape plan would

By Nectar Gan, Brad Lendon, and CNN’s Beijing bureau China on Friday launched its third and most advanced aircraft carrier from Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard, with new combat systems that experts say are fast catching up with the United States. Named “Fujian,” the ship is China’s first domestically designed and built catapult aircraft carrier, state-run news

Story by Reuters North Korea appears to be expanding work at its nuclear test site to include a second tunnel, a US-based think tank said on Thursday, as South Korean and US officials say North Korea might conduct a nuclear test any day. Preparation work at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Facility’s Tunnel No. 3 was

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at the Korean War. Although hostilities ceased in 1953, there has been no formal end to the war. Causes of the Korean War Under Japanese rule before and during World War II, Korea was divided into two parts after the Japanese surrender. The Soviet Union occupied the area north

By Nectar Gan, CNN Liu, a 39-year-old tech worker in Beijing, arrived in the central city of Zhengzhou on Sunday with all the boxes ticked to travel under China’s stringent Covid restrictions. He had tested negative for Covid-19 the day before; his hotel had confirmed he could be checked in; and the health code on

By Heather Chen, CNN Shorter work weeks aimed at boosting worker productivity and happiness are catching on in parts of the world like Iceland and the United Kingdom. But in crisis-hit Sri Lanka the concept is more about coping with crippling food and fuel shortages. The South Asian country, struggling with the shortages amid its

By Rhea Mogul, CNN Pakistanis have been urged to drink less tea to keep the economy afloat, as the world’s largest tea importer grapples with soaring inflation and a fast-depreciating rupee. The country’s Federal Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal, on Tuesday told reporters that Pakistanis could reduce their tea consumption by “one or

By Simone McCarthy For decades the Amur River has separated modern China and Russia — its waters cutting though more than 1,000 of their roughly 2,500 border miles. But it’s always lacked one thing: a vehicle bridge. Now — as Russia’s economic isolation in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine pushes it closer to

By Emiko Jozuka and Helen Regan, CNN More than 11 years after Japan’s worst nuclear disaster, the government lifted evacuation orders in a section of a village previously deemed off limits on Sunday, allowing residents to move back into their homes. Kazunori Iwayama, a former resident of Katsurao village, which lies about 40 kilometers (24

By Jessie Yeung, Emiko Jozuka and Kathleen Benoza, CNN Japan’s parliament on Monday passed legislation making “online insults” punishable by imprisonment amid rising public concern over cyberbullying sparked by the suicide of a reality television star who had faced social media abuse. Under the amendment to the country’s penal code — set to take effect

By Heather Chen, CNN The world’s biggest powers might have once pledged to work toward a world without nuclear weapons, but global stockpiles are expected to rise over the coming decade, according to a new report. “There are clear indications that the reductions that have characterized global nuclear arsenals since the end of the cold

By Hilary Whiteman, CNN An Australian newspaper columnist has apologized for a story that appeared to accuse actor Rebel Wilson of spoiling his attempts to out her as gay. In a new column published Monday, Sydney Morning Herald journalist Andrew Hornery says he did not seek to “out” the star, but understands why his email

Story by Reuters Sri Lanka may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as the nation faces shortages amid an unprecedented economic crisis, its prime minister has said. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in an interview with the Associated Press news agency on Saturday, said he would first look to other sources, but would be

By Simone McCarthy and Heather Chen, CNN South Korea will “dramatically” strengthen its defensive capabilities, its defense minister said Sunday amid international concern that Pyongyang is reviving its nuclear testing program. “Our government will strengthen capabilities to better implement the US extended deterrence and will dramatically enhance response capabilities of the Republic of Korea military

By Brad Lendon and Heather Chen, CNN Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Sunday accused the United States of being a “bully” and “hijacking” countries around the region, during a combative speech in which he said his country would “fight to the very end” to stop Taiwanese independence. “Taiwan is first and foremost China’s Taiwan,”

By Heather Chen and Yuki Kurihara, CNN It began as a family argument and ended in tragedy — a teenage girl stabbed to death by her elderly grandfather in a case that shocked a nation. In a court in western Japan last month, Susumu Tomizawa, 88, admitted to killing his granddaughter Tomomi, 16, nearly two

By Yoonjung Seo, Jake Kwon and Kathleen Magramo, CNN North Korea has named a top nuclear negotiator as the nation’s first female foreign minister, state media reported Saturday, amid warnings from the US that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct a nuclear test. Career diplomat Choe Son Hui was appointed at a plenary meeting of the

By Brad Lendon and Oren Liebermann, CNN US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called out China on Saturday for a series of coercive, aggressive and dangerous actions that threaten stability around Asia and vowed the United States would stand by partners to resist any pressure. “Indo-Pacific countries shouldn’t face political intimidation, economic coercion, or harassment by

By Oren Liebermann and Brad Lendon, CNN US and Chinese military chiefs sparred over the issue of Taiwan in their first face-to-face meeting on Friday at a major defense summit in Singapore, with Washington saying Beijing is trying to change the status quo over the island and Beijing claiming Washington is fueling instability with its

By Heather Chen, CNN Malaysia will abolish the mandatory death penalty, the government said Friday, in a move cautiously welcomed by rights groups as a rare progressive step on the issue for the region. In a statement, Malaysian law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said mandatory death sentences for serious crimes would be replaced by

By Helen Regan, CNN A team of international scientists tasked with understanding how the coronavirus pandemic began released their first report on Thursday, saying that all hypothesis remain on the table, including a possible laboratory incident. The 27-member scientific advisory group convened by the World Health Organization said available data suggests the virus jumped from

By Steven Jiang and CNN’s Beijing bureau A Chinese military plane crashed in a residential area in central China on Thursday, killing at least one person, China’s state-run national broadcaster CCTV said. The plane, a People’s Liberation Army Air Force J-7 aircraft, was on a training mission in Hubei province when it crashed, damaging several

By Kocha Olarn and Heather Chen, CNN Thailand on Thursday became the first country in Asia to decriminalize cannabis — but tough penalties will still apply to those who use the drug to get high, according to the minister who spearheaded the change. Speaking to CNN in an interview ahead of the move, Thai Health

By Simone McCarthy, CNN Officials from China and Cambodia broke ground on a controversial, Chinese-funded upgrade of a naval base in southern Cambodia on Wednesday, with Beijing’s envoy in the country calling military cooperation part of the countries’ “iron-clad partnership.” The launch of the project at the Ream Naval Base, which Cambodian officials said will

By Nectar Gan and Shawn Deng, CNN Torrential rains in southern China have killed at least 32 people, impacted millions of residents and caused billions of yuan in economic losses, as the country grapples with increasingly devastating flood seasons fueled by climate change. In recent weeks, heavy rainfall has triggered severe flooding and landslides in

By Nectar Gan, CNN China is offering its citizens cash rewards of up to and above 100,000 yuan ($15,000) for tip-offs about people who endanger national security, as authorities intensify a years-long campaign to weed out what they see as growing threats from foreign espionage and “hostile forces.” Successful informants can receive either “spiritual rewards”

By Brad Lendon and Yoonjung Seo, CNN South Korea and the United States put on an aerial show of force to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday, flying 20 fighter jets over waters west of the Korean Peninsula in response to Pyongyang’s recent missile tests. The allies sent the jets — South Korean

By Nectar Gan, CNN For decades, the Chinese government has sought to erase all memories of its bloody military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests, especially around the anniversary on June 4. But this year, those attempts backfired, drawing attention to and prompting questions about the massacre from previously oblivious young Chinese internet users. The

Story by Reuters India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Sunday it had suspended its spokeswoman Nupur Sharma in response to comments she made during a TV debate about the Prophet Mohammed. The BJP said in a statement on its website that the party respected all religions. “The BJP strongly denounces insult of any

By Gawon Bae and Simone McCarthy, CNN South Korea and the United States responded to North Korea’s launch of eight missiles Sunday by firing eight more missiles into waters off the east coast of the Korean peninsula Monday morning. Seven were fired by South Korea and one by the US, according to the South Korean

By Sophie Jeong, Teele Rebane and Sana Noor Haq, CNN At least 49 people have been killed and more than 300 injured, after a fire tore through a container depot in southeastern Bangladesh over the weekend. The fire started on Saturday night at the BM Container Depot in Sitakunda, in Chittagong District, according to state-run

By Helen Regan and Yong Xiong, CNN China successfully launched another manned mission to its new space station on Sunday, sending three astronauts who will continue construction work for six months, China’s Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced. The astronauts lifted off on the Shenzhou-14 spacecraft at 10:44 a.m. local time, launched by a Long March