CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Nectar Gan, CNN The football pitches sat empty and silent under the cold glare of floodlights, barricaded off on all sides. Nearby, hundreds of police patrolled the grounds, stopping and searching passersby and sealing off entrances to the park. For the second year in a row, the sea of candlelight that used to illuminate

By Gawon Bae, Emiko Jozuka and Helen Regan, CNN North Korea fired eight short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) into the waters off its east coast on Sunday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, a move that Japan has called “unprecedented.” The missiles were launched from multiple sites in North Korea into waters east of the

By Cape Diamond and Irene Nasser, CNN Two men will be executed in Myanmar by the military junta after their death sentence appeals were denied, the junta said Saturday, in what would mark the first judicial executions in the country in decades. “It’s confirmed that Phyo Zayar Thaw and [Ko] Jimmy would be on the

By Yong Xiong, CNN A train conductor was killed and eight other people injured after a high-speed train derailed in southern China on Saturday morning, state media CCTV reported. The train derailed at 10:30am local time after hitting debris from a landslide that was on the track while it was approaching Rongjiang county, Guizhou province,

By Nectar Gan and CNN’s Beijing bureau Multiple neighborhoods in Shanghai were placed back under lockdown only a day after city-wide restrictions were lifted, as China’s stringent zero-Covid strategy continues to haunt the financial hub. Shanghai lifted its two-month lockdown on Wednesday, allowing most of its 25 million residents to leave their communities. But nearly

By Jessie Yeung, CNN For decades it was a symbol of freedom on Chinese controlled soil: every June 4, come rain or shine, tens of thousands of people would descend on Victoria Park in Hong Kong to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The atmosphere would be at once defiant and somber.

By Rhea Mogul, Sophia Saifi and Azaz Syed CNN The alleged gang-rape of a woman on a moving train has sparked anger in Pakistan, putting the spotlight on the South Asian nation’s poor record with women’s rights. Three men — one of them a ticket checker — have been accused of raping the woman, a

By Helen Regan, CNN Concerns are growing for Australian TV host Cheng Lei, who has been detained in China for nearly two years, following an interview with her partner in which he claimed authorities had cut her access to embassy officials and tightened her food supply. Cheng, a former business anchor for China’s state broadcaster

By Brad Lendon and Simone McCarthy, CNN As China’s foreign minister began a Pacific islands tour to promote economic and security cooperation with Beijing, the smallest of the US government’s armed services was already on the scene, reinforcing Washington’s longstanding commitment to the region. Reacting to a request from the Solomon Islands, the first stop

Story by Reuters The World Health Organization has cast doubts on North Korea’s claims of progress in its fight against a Covid-19 outbreak, saying it believes the situation is getting worse, not better, amid an absence of independent data. North Korean state media has said the Covid wave has abated, after daily numbers of people

By Brad Lendon, CNN Canadian surveillance planes helping to enforce United Nations sanctions on North Korea are being repeatedly buzzed by Chinese jets that fly so close their crews can see each other, Canada’s military has alleged. In some instances the Chinese warplanes have come so close the Canadian aircraft have had to change course

By Heather Chen and Kocha Olarn, CNN A court in Thailand has sentenced a British man to eight years in prison for the 2014 murder of a woman, whose dismembered body was found stuffed into a suitcase and dumped in a river. Briton Shane Kenneth Looker, 51, admitted killing Laxami Manochat, 27, after meeting her

By Nectar Gan, CNN The skyscrapers lit up, roads filled with traffic, and young people drank and danced in the streets as fireworks boomed overhead. Shanghai celebrated Wednesday with a long-awaited burst of life, as the government lifted its city-wide lockdown. But the process of reopening is likely to be slow and painful, as residents

By Swati Gupta and Ruba Alhenawi, CNN Indian singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, known by the stage name of KK, died Tuesday night in Kolkata, according to the city’s CMRI hospital. Just hours before his death on May 31, the acclaimed 53-year-old singer performed at a concert in Nazrul Mancha, a venue at the Sir Gurudas Mahavidyalaya

By Heather Chen, CNN More than one billion methamphetamine pills were seized in East and Southeast Asia last year, a record figure that the United Nations says highlights a “staggering” increase in the regional synthetic drug trade. Meth production and trafficking is surging in countries in the Lower Mekong region — Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand

Story by Reuters Chinese teenager Zheng Qinwen suffered with menstrual cramps as she lost to Poland’s Iga Swiatek in the French Open fourth round on Monday after taking a set off the world’s number one tennis player. Zheng, 19, looked on track for a major upset when she claimed the opener in a tiebreak before

Story by Reuters China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday urged the Pacific region not to be “too anxious” about his country’s aims after a meeting in Fiji with his counterparts from 10 island nations was unable to agree to a sweeping trade and security communique. Wang hosted the meeting with foreign ministers from Pacific

By Nectar Gan, CNN China has ordered a nationwide review of school textbooks after illustrations deemed ugly, sexually suggestive and secretly pro-American caused public uproar. The news has alarmed some experts and parents who fear the campaign is turning into a political witch hunt and represents an unnecessary tightening of the country’s already stringent censorship

By Heather Chen and Esha Mitra, CNN Police are searching for the killers of prominent Indian rapper turned politician Sidhu Moose Wala, who was shot by unidentified assailants while driving near his home in the Mansa district of India’s Punjab state on Sunday. The 28-year-old singer, whose real name was Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, sustained a

By Sophie Jeong, CNN North Korea says its Covid-19 outbreak is improving and it is considering revising its anti-epidemic regulations. State-run media in the secretive East Asian country reported Sunday that leader Kim Jong Un and other top officials had assessed the pandemic situation as “improved” and discussed adjusting containment measures. North Korea reported more

By CNN’s Teele Rebane, Manveena Suri, Sugam Pokharel, Elizabeth Yee and Reuters Search and rescue teams in Nepal have recovered the bodies of 16 people on board a Tara Air flight that crashed with 22 people on board, authorities said Monday. Nepal’s Civil Aviation Authority said on Twitter the bodies have been collected and are

Story by Reuters UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, whose rare visit to China was criticized by rights groups and Western countries, said she urged Beijing to review its counter-terrorism policies to ensure they comply with international human rights standards. Bachelet reiterated, however, that her six-day trip, which ended on Saturday and included a visit

By Rhea Mogul and Sophia Saifi, CNN Standing atop a truck, thronged by a huge crowd, a visibly enraged Imran Khan repeated the claim that has become a rallying cry for his millions of supporters. Pakistan, the ousted former Prime Minister said, was being ruled by “traitors” installed by “a foreign conspiracy” plotted in the

By Heather Chen, CNN For months, Mai Linh prayed. She prayed for justice for her only son Quan when he was held on drug charges in a maximum-security prison in Vietnam. She prayed for his physical health and mental well-being, that he would be looked after in prison because she could no longer see him

By Samantha Beech, CNN Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a US-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution to strengthen sanctions on North Korea in a vote the US ambassador to the UN called dangerous, disappointing and likely to fuel Pyongyang’s program to develop nuclear-capable missile systems. The move comes after more than a dozen North

By Simone McCarthy and Lizzy Yee, CNN China has proposed a sweeping regional security deal with a number of Pacific Island nations, according to documents seen by CNN, amid concern from the United States and its allies about Beijing’s expanding reach in the region. The draft proposal sent by China to potential partners in the

By Ehsan Popalzai and Jonny Hallam, CNN Two deadly explosions rocked Afghanistan’s city of Mazar-i-Sharif, the provincial capital of the country’s northern Balkh province on Wednesday, killing and wounding a number of civilians. Mohammad Asif Waziri, spokesman for the chief of Balkh province, said that at least four people were killed and more than 10

By Nectar Gan and CNN’s Beijing bureau Chinese President Xi Jinping defended his country’s human rights record on Wednesday, telling a visiting UN official there is “no need for ‘preachers’ to boss around other countries.” Xi’s remarks, made in a video call with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, are likely

By Jessie Yeung, Nectar Gan and Steven Jiang, CNN US President Joe Biden’s warning the US would defend Taiwan against Chinese aggression has made headlines around the world — and put growing tensions between the small democratic island and its neighboring autocratic superpower back under the spotlight. Less than a decade ago, ties seemed to

By Jessie Yeung, CNN US President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet the leaders of India, Australia and Japan in Tokyo on Tuesday for a summit of the “Quad” nations. The meeting comes at the end of Biden’s first trip to Asia since becoming President, a five-day visit he began in South Korea. The Quad,

By Becky Anderson, Sophia Saifi and Rhea Mogul, CNN Pakistan’s Imran Khan repeated his claims Monday that the United States had orchestrated his ouster, saying that “anti-Americanism” was growing in the South Asian nation as a result of “all this becoming public.” Khan has been making versions of this claim for nearly two months, but

By Jessie Yeung, Paula Hancocks and Yoonjung Seo, CNN The age of appeasing North Korea is over and any new talks between Seoul and Pyongyang must be initiated by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, South Korea’s new conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Monday. Speaking exclusively to CNN in his first media interview

By Heather Chen, CNN A dead sperm whale has washed ashore in the Philippines, the latest in a string of whale deaths that has experts concerned. Two fishermen spotted the 60-foot (18-meter) carcass on a beach in the Davao region early on Saturday, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said. It had “multiple

Story by Reuters Seven people have died after a high-speed Philippine ferry carrying 134 people caught fire on Monday, with seven passengers still missing, the coast guard said. The MV Mercraft 2 caught fire just before reaching the port of Real in Quezon province, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of the capital Manila. It

By Jo Shelley, Christiane Amanpour and Ahmet Mengli, CNN Two long lines — one of men, another of women — wind around a World Food Programme (WFP) aid distribution site in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in the heat of the mid-morning sun. Many of the people waiting for support in Khwaja Rawash, a middle-class neighborhood

By Yoonjung Seo, Sophie Jeong and Teele Rebane, CNN North Korea claims its Covid outbreak is slowing, with its state-run media reporting on Sunday a “positive trend” that has seen the daily number of new “fever cases” drop below 200,000. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that between Friday and Saturday there had been

By Yoonjung Seo and Jessie Yeung, CNN Three North Korean cargo planes flew to China and back on Monday, as the country battles an fast-spreading outbreak of Covid-19, according to a South Korean government official with knowledge of the matter. The planes traveled to Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang, in China’s northeast Liaoning province, the

By Nectar Gan and CNN’s Beijing Bureau Black box data recovered from a China Eastern flight that crashed in March suggests someone in the cockpit intentionally downed the plane, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a preliminary assessment from United States officials. The Boeing 737-800 was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou when it nosedived from

By Katie Hunt, CNN A tooth unearthed from a remote cave in Laos is helping to sketch an unknown chapter in the human story. Researchers believe the tooth belonged to a young female who lived at least 130,000 years ago and was likely a Denisovan — an enigmatic group of early humans first identified in

By Helen Regan, Sophia Saifi, Asim Khan and Esha Mitra, CNN A deadly cholera outbreak linked to contaminated drinking water has infected thousands of people in central Pakistan as the country grapples with a water crisis exacerbated by a brutal heat wave in South Asia. Temperatures in parts of Pakistan and India have reached record

By Jessie Yeung and Yoonjung Seo, CNN North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has mobilized the military to respond to the country’s first officially acknowledged outbreak of Covid-19, as the impoverished nation scrambles to address what state media has described as a “major national emergency.” Despite having placed all cities under lockdown on Thursday, a

Story by Reuters The Japanese island chain of Okinawa marked the 50th anniversary on Sunday of the end of US occupation and its return to Japan with ceremonies and celebrations amid growing worry about its proximity to an increasingly assertive China. Okinawa, a string of tropical islands off far southwest Japan much closer to Taiwan

By Nectar Gan, Gawon Bae and Helen Regan, CNN North Korea’s first-reported Covid-19 outbreak is the “greatest turmoil” to befall the country since its founding more than 70 years ago, according to its leader Kim Jong Un, as the isolated and impoverished nation scrambles to curb the spread of a highly transmissible virus that risks

By Eric Cheung, CNN and photos by John Mees Business has been swift this week for Oscar Chen, the fourth-generation owner of the Liang Xi Hao restaurant in central Taipei. The tables at his diner in the Taiwanese capital are buzzing with customers, waiters bustle with dishes of squid soup and rice noodles, and talk

By Gawon Bae and Helen Regan, CNN North Korea has announced an “explosive” Covid-19 outbreak that has likely killed six people and infected more than 350,000, according to state media, prompting fears of an impending and deadly crisis in the isolated and impoverished nation. The announcement comes a day after the country reported its first

By Katie Hunt, CNN The volcanic eruption on an island near Tonga in January was as powerful as the 1883 Krakatoa eruption in Indonesia, one of the deadliest and most destructive volcanic events on record. Scientists have begun to piece together what happened during the January 15 eruption of the undersea Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano

By Nectar Gan and CNN’s Beijing bureau A Tibet Airlines plane caught fire after skidding off the runway in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing on Thursday morning. All 113 passengers and nine crew members were “evacuated safely,” the airline said in a statement. More than 40 passengers with minor injuries were taken to hospital,

By Helen Regan, CNN Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is the presumptive President of the Philippines after winning a landslide in elections on May 9, according to unofficial results. More than 30 million Filipinos voted for Marcos Jr., more than double that of his closest rival, the outgoing Vice President Leni Robredo, partial and unofficial results

By Helen Regan and Yasmin Coles, CNN Ferdinand Marcos Jr. claimed victory in the 2022 Philippines elections on Wednesday, saying the “people have spoken decisively,” according to a statement from his spokesperson. Known as “Bongbong” in the Philippines, Marcos Jr., who is the son and namesake of the late dictator, promised to be a “President

By Heather Chen, CNN The Thai government will distribute one million free cannabis plants to households across the nation in June to mark a new rule allowing people to grow cannabis at home, its health minister has said. Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced the move in a Facebook post on May 8 in which he

By Nectar Gan, CNN The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) is being censored on China’s internet after questioning the sustainability of the country’s zero-Covid policy. The censorship on Weibo and WeChat, China’s two largest social media platforms, targets WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ comments that expressed rare disagreement with Beijing’s policies. “When we

CNN Editorial Research Here is some information about the events in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 3-4, 1989. Facts Tiananmen Square is located in the center of Beijing, the capital of China. Tiananmen means “gate of heavenly peace.” In 1989, after several weeks of demonstrations, Chinese troops entered Tiananmen Square on June 4 and fired

By Iqbal Athas, Hannah Ritchie and Rhea Mogul, CNN Sri Lanka’s outgoing Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was rescued in a pre-dawn military operation Tuesday, hours after his resignation, as violent clashes between pro and anti-government protesters left several people dead and hundreds injured. The military were called to the Prime Minister’s ‘Temple Trees’ compound after

By Jessie Yeung and Gawon Bae, CNN South Korea’s new President Yoon Suk Yeol promised an “audacious plan” to strengthen North Korea’s economy in exchange for denuclearization in his inauguration speech Tuesday. Yoon, a conservative from the People Power Party, gave the remarks after being sworn in as the country’s newest leader in a ceremony

By Iqbal Athas, CNN and Reuters Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned on Monday, following weeks of protests against his government. The country has been rocked by civil unrest since March, with demonstrations at times turning violent as anger builds over the government’s apparent mishandling of Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since declaring independence

By Nectar Gan and CNN’s Beijing Bureau Shanghai is further tightening its stringent lockdown measures after China’s top leader Xi Jinping pledged to “unswervingly” double down on the country’s controversial zero-Covid policy, leaving millions confined to their homes with no end in sight. Over the weekend, videos showing Shanghai residents arguing or scuffling with hazmat

By Jessie Yeung, CNN As night fell, chaos erupted when crowds of protesters outside Hong Kong’s legislative building hurled bottles at police, who fired pepper spray and swung batons, dragging some people to the ground. It was a shocking descent into violence from what began as a peaceful march, attended by more than a million

By Ehsan Popalzai and Irene Nasser, CNN Women in Afghanistan must cover their faces in public, according to a decree issued by the Taliban on Saturday. The new rules say women must cover their faces, ideally wearing the traditional burqa, according to a statement from the General Directorate of Administrative Affairs. If a woman does

By Gawon Bae, Junko Ogura, Mayumi Maruyama and Jessie Yeung, CNN A short-range ballistic missile fired by North Korea Saturday reached an altitude of about 37 miles (60 kilometers) over its 373-mile (600km) trajectory, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was fired, likely from

By Iqbal Athas, CNN Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency on Friday, after prolonged protests and a general strike shuttered schools, businesses, and transport services. The state of emergency will allow for the arrest of protesters blocking roads. The measure must be approved by Sri Lanka’s parliament within 14 days. The

By Nectar Gan, CNN China’s top leader Xi Jinping has issued the strongest warning yet against anyone who questions the country’s zero-Covid policy, as stringent, frequent lockdowns fuel public discontent and deal a devastating blow to the Chinese economy. At a meeting chaired by Xi on Thursday, the ruling Communist Party’s supreme Politburo Standing Committee

By Brad Lendon and Gawon Bae, CNN North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the waters off its east coast on Wednesday, Japan and South Korea have reported. The missile was launched from Sunan, an area of the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. Meanwhile, Japanese Deputy Defense