CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Jessie Yeung and CNN’s Beijing Bureau At an office building in China’s capital on Sunday, masked Covid control personnel lugged boxes of pillows and bedding through the closely guarded entrance for white collar workers stuck inside, preparing for what may be days of lockdown as Beijing rushes to prevent the spread of Omicron ahead

By Helen Regan, CNN The eruption of an underwater volcano near Tonga on Saturday was likely the biggest recorded anywhere on the planet in more than 30 years, according to experts. Dramatic images from space captured the eruption in real time, as a huge plume of ash, gas and steam was spewed up to 20

By Brad Lendon, CNN One of the most powerful weapons in the US Navy’s arsenal made a rare port call in Guam over the weekend, sending a message to allies and foes amid increasing tensions in the Indo-Pacific, analysts said. The USS Nevada, an Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine carrying 20 Trident ballistic missiles and dozens of

By Gawon Bae and Junko Ogura, CNN North Korea conducted its fourth missile test of the year on Monday, firing two projectiles into the ocean off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. North Korea said Tuesday it was test-firing “tactical guided missiles,” which are short-range ballistic

By Hilary Whiteman, Julia Hollingsworth, Jessie Yeung, Adam Renton and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Alex Stambaugh, Laura Smith-Spark, Rhea Mogul, Sophie Jeong and Dakin Andone, CNN An underwater volcano in the South Pacific erupted violently on Saturday, causing tsunamis to hit Hawaii, Japan, and Tonga’s largest island, Tongatapu — sending waves flooding into the capital. The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano, about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) southeast of Tonga’s Fonuafo’ou island,

By Hilary Whiteman, Julia Hollingsworth, Rhea Mogul, Brad Lendon, Adrienne Vogt and Meg Wagner, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Melissa Mahtani, Melissa Macaya, Meg Wagner, Adrienne Vogt, Jessie Yeung and Adam Renton, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Gawon Bae, Yoonjung Seo and Brad Lendon, CNN North Korea on Friday test fired what are presumed to be two ballistic missiles from a rail car, according to state media. The test comes after North Korea said it successfully test-fired a hypersonic missile on Tuesday, the second alleged test of such a weapon by

By Nectar Gan, CNN It was supposed to be a quick get-to-know-you — but a snap Covid lockdown forced a Chinese woman to stay with her blind date at his house for days on end. The 30-year-old woman, identified only by her surname Wang, went to meet her blind date for a home-cooked dinner on

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN Magawa, the “hero rat” whose work sniffing out landmines in Cambodia won him a medal for life-saving bravery, has died at the age of 8. The African giant pouched rat found more than 100 landmines and other explosives during his service, according to APOPO, the mine-clearing non-governmental organization that trained him.

By Yoonjung Seo and Brad Lendon, CNN A suspected ballistic missile launched by North Korea on Tuesday was more advanced than the missile Pyongyang tested last week, reaching a velocity of more than 10 times the speed of sound, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Tuesday’s projectile was launched from Jangang

By Helen Regan, CNN Myanmar’s ousted civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was sentenced to another four years in prison on Monday, the second round of verdicts against the Nobel prize winner. Suu Kyi was found guilty of multiple charges that include possession of unlicensed walkie-talkies, a source with knowledge of the court proceedings told

By Jessie Yeung, Hilary Whiteman, Helen Regan, Amy Woodyatt and Ed Upright, CNN The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

By Azaz Syed and Amy Woodyatt, CNN At least 21 people are dead in northern Pakistan after thousands of vehicles became stranded in a blizzard Saturday. All the roads in Murree are now clear, a police spokesman for the Islamabad police said, and officers have evacuated thousands of people who were stuck in the area,

By Yong Xiong and Chandler Thornton, CNN At least 16 people were killed and 10 others injured Friday in a gas explosion in southwestern China, according to the country’s Ministry of Emergency Management. The ministry said a cafeteria for a local government district office in Chongqing city collapsed after a suspected gas leak and explosion,

By Katie Hunt, CNN The arid deserts and shrublands in Australia weren’t always that way, according to a newly discovered and extraordinarily well-preserved fossil site in New South Wales. The fossilized spiders, cicadas, wasps, plants and fish, which date back to between 11 million and 16 million years ago during the Miocene Epoch, are painting

By Radina Gigova, Anna Chernova and Katharina Krebs, CNN Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has ordered security forces to “kill without warning” to crush the violent protests that have paralyzed the former Soviet republic and reportedly left dozens dead. In a defiant public address Friday, Tokayev claimed the unrest, which began earlier this week as protests

By Katharina Krebs, Tara John, Anna Chernova and Rob Picheta, CNN Dozens of protesters were killed and hundreds injured during clashes in Kazakhstan, a police official from the largest city Almaty said Thursday, as troops from a Russian-led military alliance of post-Soviet states begin their operations in the Central Asian country to help quell the

By Helen Regan, CNN Violent protests in Kazakhstan in recent days have seen the government resign and the declaration of a state of emergency as troops from a Russian-led military alliance head to the Central Asian country to help quell the unrest. It’s the biggest challenge yet to autocratic President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s rule, with initial

By Jessie Yeung, Nectar Gan, Yong Xiong and Beijing Bureau, CNN As the locked down Chinese city of Xi’an claimed victory this week in its fight to contain the community spread of Covid-19, harrowing tales of loss and despair have emerged on social media — highlighting the immense human cost of China’s zero-Covid policy. The

By Yoonjung Seo, CNN North Korea said it successfully test-fired a hypersonic missile on Wednesday, the state-run news agency KCNA reported Thursday. According to the report, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not attend the launch. “The successive successful test launches in the hypersonic missile sector have a strategic significance of accelerating the task

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at the Australian Open, one of four competitions that make up the “Grand Slam” in professional tennis. The other three are Wimbledon, the French Open and the US Open. January 16-29, 2023 – The 111th Australian Open takes place. January 17-30, 2022 – The 110th Australian Open takes place.

By Rob Picheta, Anna Chernova, Radina Gigova and Ivan Watson, CNN “Peacekeepers” from a Russia-led military alliance of post-Soviet states will be sent to Kazakhstan to help stabilize the country following deadly protests against a hike in fuel prices, Armenia’s Prime Minister said Wednesday. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) — which includes Russia, Belarus,

By Brad Lendon and Gawon Bae, CNN The pilot of a South Korean F-35A jet fighter made an emergency “belly landing” at an air base on Tuesday after its landing gear malfunctioned due to electronic issues, a South Korean Air Force spokesperson said. According to experts, the “belly landing” — touching down with landing gear

By Gawon Bae and Emiko Jozuka, CNN North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile into waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. According to the Japanese government, the projectile may have been a “ballistic missile,” it said in a tweet. The Japan Coast Guard said

By Jessie Yeung and Hannah Ritchie, CNN Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Chow Hang-tung was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Tuesday for her part in organizing an unauthorized vigil to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Chow is a former vice chairwoman of the now-disbanded organization Hong Kong Alliance, which since

By Sana Noor Haq and Emiko Jozuka, CNN Kane Tanaka, the world’s oldest living person, turned 119 years old on Sunday, according to a Twitter post published by her great-granddaughter, Junko Tanaka. “Great achievement. (Kane Tanaka) reached 119 years of age,” Junko tweeted, with a photograph of her great-grandmother, whom she saw in December. “I

By Gawon Bae, CNN An unidentified man who crossed the heavily armed border from South Korea into North Korea on Sunday is presumed to be a North Korean defector who made the journey in the opposite direction more than a year ago, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry. In a statement Monday, the Defense

By Gawon Bae and Angus Watson, CNN North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has again admitted there is a “food problem” in the country, during a speech which brought an important five-day meeting of his Korean Worker’s Party to a close. The year-end address, summarized by state media outlet KCNA on Saturday, made brief reference

By Angus Watson, CNN A stampede at one of India’s holiest shrines left at least 12 people dead on New Year’s Day, a local official said. Thousands of devotees were at the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine in Jammu, northern India when the stampede happened around 2:30 a.m. local time Saturday. Another 16 people were injured

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Hong Kong has confirmed its first Omicron cluster, bringing an end to its long streak of zero locally transmitted cases and prompting fears of a wider outbreak as the city prepares to ring in the new year. Two cases of local transmission were detected on Thursday — a 76-year-old and a

By Niamh Kennedy and Rob Picheta, CNN The former President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani said he was given “no more than two minutes” to get ready to flee Kabul in August, during the Taliban’s rapid takeover of the country’s capital. Ghani told BBC’s Radio 4 “Today” program that his national security adviser informed him he

By Nectar Gan and CNN’s Beijing Bureau Police in southern China paraded four suspects through the streets for allegedly smuggling people across sealed borders in breach of pandemic control measures — a controversial act of public shaming that triggered backlash on Chinese social media. On Tuesday, four people wearing hazmat suits, face masks and goggles

By Brad Lendon, CNN Is the Korean War about to come to an end? Some people might answer: “Didn’t that happen in 1953?” Others may know that it was only an armistice that brought hostilities to a halt in 1953 — but there’s never been a treaty to end the conflict between North Korea (and

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Cantopop star and prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Denise Ho was arrested at her home on Wednesday morning by the city’s national security police. She was one of six people arrested in an early morning operation, all linked to online media organization Stand News. Police later confirmed at a news conference

By Brad Lendon, CNN Taiwan should be invited to the world’s largest naval exercise next year, according to the US’ 2022 defense spending blueprint signed into law by President Joe Biden this week. The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) says the invitation would supplement US efforts to support the self-governed democratic island in the

By Brad Lendon, CNN The defense ministers of Japan and China on Monday agreed to set up a joint communication hotline by the end of 2022, a news release from Japan’s Defense Ministry said, amid tensions between the East Asian neighbors. China’s Defense Ministry confirmed the hotline agreement in a statement without giving a date

By CNN’s Beijing Bureau and Nectar Gan China’s Xi’an has further tightened lockdown measures and rolled out a fifth round of mass testing as it reported the highest daily count of local symptomatic Covid infections in a Chinese city since March 2020. Xi’an, an ancient city in northwestern Shaanxi province, reported 175 new local symptomatic

By Eliza Mackintosh and Nilly Kohzad, CNN Illustration by Alberto Mier, CNN In the four months since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, Nilofar, a 20-year-old university student, has rarely left her small apartment in Kabul, where she lives with her older sister, brother and father. Her days, which were once punctuated by exam preparation, fitness

By Cape Diamond, Jessie Yeung and Maija Ehlinger, CNN At least 30 people, including women and children, were killed in the eastern Myanmar state of Kayah on Friday, according to the Karenni Human Rights Group, with two members of international humanitarian group Save the Children still missing. The “charred remains” were discovered and identified close

By Jessie Yeung and Junko Ogura, CNN Japan will not send any senior officials or Cabinet ministers to the Beijing Winter Olympics in February, the government said Friday — but stopped short of calling the decision a diplomatic boycott. Japan “believes that respect for human rights is important,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at

By Gawon Bae and Helen Regan, CNN The South Korean government has pardoned former President Park Geun-hye, who was serving 22 years in prison for corruption, the country’s Justice Ministry said on Friday. Park Kyung-mi, a spokesperson for the Blue House — South Korea’s presidential office — said President Moon Jae-in considered former President Park’s

By Jessie Yeung, CNN On Tuesday, the central Chinese city of Xi’an recorded 52 new Covid-19 cases. By Wednesday, authorities had imposed strict lockdown measures on its estimated 13 million residents. The sweeping restrictions, which prevent people from leaving their homes, come as the country braces for the Lunar New Year travel rush, followed by

Helen Regan, Wayne Chang, Teele Rebane and Karen Smith, CNN For more than 20 years the “Pillar of Shame” sculpture stood as a memorial to the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, in which the Chinese military crushed protests led by college students in Beijing with deadly force. Atop a podium in the University

CNN Editorial Research Here is a look at the life of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Personal Birth date: January 8 (Widely believed to be in his mid-30s, though birth year is publicly unavailable.) Father: Kim Jong Il Mother: Ko Yong Hui Marriage: Ri Sol Ju Children: Ju Ae, reportedly two others Education: Kim

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at the life of Junichiro Koizumi, former Japanese prime minister and president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Personal Birth date: January 8, 1942 Birth place: Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan Birth name: Junichiro Koizumi Father: Junya Samejima, member of the House of Representatives and director general of the Japan

By Katie Hunt, CNN An unprecedented fossil of a baby dinosaur curled up perfectly inside its egg is shedding more light on the links between dinosaurs and birds. The 70-million-year-old fossil preserves the embryonic skeleton of an oviraptorid dinosaur, which has been nicknamed Baby Yingliang after the name of the Chinese museum which houses the

By Junko Ogura, Mayumi Maruyama and Sophie Jeong, CNN Japan executed three death row inmates by hanging on Tuesday, marking the first executions the country has carried out since 2019 and the first under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. One of those put to death was Yasutaka Fujishiro, 65, who murdered seven people including his aunt

By Rhea Mogul, CNN The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year surpassed 300 on Tuesday as humanitarian agencies warned the true scale of destruction remains unknown, partly because rescue workers are unable to access some disaster-hit areas. Super Typhoon Rai — known locally as Odette — has now claimed

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at the life of Xi Jinping, leader of the People’s Republic of China. Personal Birth date: June 15, 1953 Birth place: Fuping County, Shaanxi Province, China (some sources say Beijing) Birth name: Xi Jinping Father: Xi Zhongxun, revolutionary and vice premier Mother: Qi Xin Marriages: Peng Liyuan (1987-present); Ke

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Hong Kong’s first “patriots only” legislative election witnessed a record low turnout on Sunday, reflecting a steep decline in civic and political engagement following Beijing’s overhaul of the city’s electoral processes. According to a government news release, provisional turnout was 30.2% by close of polls — far lower than the previous

By Jinky Jorgio and Akanksha Sharma, CNN At least 208 people were killed and hundreds of thousands more displaced after the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year wreaked havoc across the archipelago, causing widespread damage and flooding. Super Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette, made landfall Thursday on Siargao Island, a popular tourist

CNN Editorial Research Here’s a look at the life of Jack Ma, co-founder of China’s most successful tech empire and billionaire entrepreneur. Personal Birth date: September 10, 1964 Birth place: Hangzhou, China Birth name: Ma Yun Father: Ma Laifa Mother: Cui Wencai Marriage: Zhang Ying (Cathy Zhang) Children: Two (some sources say three) Education: Hangzhou

By Hilary Whiteman and Akanksha Sharma, CNN A sixth child has died in hospital after a bouncy castle was lifted into the air at a school event in Australia late last week, police said Sunday. The 11-year-old boy, Chace Harrison, “passed away in hospital this afternoon,” Tasmania Police Commissioner, Darren Hine, said in a statement.

By Junko Ogura, CNN Up to 27 people are feared dead after a fire broke out in a building in a shopping district in Osaka, Japan, according to the Osaka Fire department. The local fire department received reports of a fire on the fourth floor of a building in the Kita district at 10:18 a.m

By Paula Hancocks and Yoonjung Seo, CNN Ten years ago, the world watched as a young Kim Jong Un solemnly walked beside his father’s hearse on a snowy morning in Pyongyang as distraught North Koreans wailed in grief. Kim’s long black coat and hairstyle, reminiscent of his late grandfather Kim Il Sung, were viewed as

By Katie Hunt, CNN Millipedes have lots of legs. It’s defining feature of this creature, which is neither worm nor insect. However, despite a name derived from the Latin for thousand (mille) and feet (pes), no millipede has been found with more than 750 legs — until now. Scientists have discovered the first millipede that

By Jessie Yeung and Jinky Jorgio, CNN Search and rescue operations were underway in the Philippines on Friday after super Typhoon Rai, known locally as Odette, wreaked havoc across the archipelago, leaving at least 14 people dead and seven missing. Rai, the 15th typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, weakened slightly from a Category

By Nectar Gan, CNN China has detected its second case of the Omicron coronavirus variant in a traveler more than two weeks after he arrived in the country from overseas, posing a fresh challenge to the government’s zero-Covid strategy. The case, reported in the southern city of Guangzhou on Tuesday, came a day after health

By Masrur Jamaluddin and AnneClaire Stapleton, CNN A powerful 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia’s eastern coast on Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), prompting people in nearby towns to run into the streets and seek higher ground. The quake hit 112 kilometers (69 miles) north of Maumere, on Indonesia’s Flores Island. The

By Eric Cheung, CNN A Hong Kong court has sentenced media tycoon Jimmy Lai and seven other pro-democracy figures to up to 14 months behind bars for participating in an unauthorized assembly last year to commemorate the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Lai, the founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, was sentenced to 13 months in

By Cheryl Ho, CNN Police in northwestern China broke up the wedding of a 14-year-old girl whose parents allegedly tried to sell her into marriage with a stranger for a nearly $40,000 dowry, authorities said. The teenager called police in Zhongning county, Ningxia region during the wedding on November 24 to say she was being