CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Junko Ogura and Nectar Gan, CNN Japan’s Princess Mako has married her non-royal college sweetheart Kei Komuro in a subdued ceremony, formally marking her departure from the royal family. The couple submitted their registration at the local ward office around 10 a.m. local time Tuesday, according to the Imperial Household Agency, forgoing the usual

By Eric Cheung, CNN A 6.5-magnitude quake has struck Taiwan, according to preliminary data from the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC). The EMSC said the quake struck at a depth of some 60 kilometers, about 65 kilometers northeast of Hualien City on Taiwan’s northeastern coast. Tremors from the quake could be felt as far away

By Emiko Jozuka, Selina Wang and Junko Ogura, CNN It had all the makings of a modern royal fairytale: the marriage of an aspiring lawyer to a real-life princess who was prepared to leave her Tokyo palace for a new life in New York. But since Japan’s Princess Mako and Kei Komuro announced their engagement

By Blake Essig For the first time in almost 30 years, Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) is conducting a massive nationwide military exercise to prepare troops for potential conflict. Since mid-September, about 100,000 personnel, 20,000 vehicles and 120 aircraft have been participating in various exercises across the country focused on operational readiness. In recent years,

By Esha Mitra, CNN The death toll from flooding and landslides in Nepal rose to 104 on Friday after 27 more deaths were reported since Wednesday evening, Phanindra Mani Pokharel, a spokesperson for Nepal’s ministry of home affairs, said on Friday morning. At least 201 deaths have been reported across Nepal and the Indian states

By Yoonjung Seo, Gawon Bae and Jessie Yeung, CNN South Korea failed to put a dummy satellite into orbit on Thursday after the first launch of its domestically developed three-stage Nuri rocket, the country’s President Moon Jae-in announced on Thursday. “Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to reach our goal perfectly, but it was a wonderful achievement

By Akanksha Sharma, CNN Singapore will extend its Covid-19 restrictions for another month after the city-state reported 18 new deaths from the disease on Wednesday, its highest number of the pandemic. In a news release Thursday, Singapore’s Ministry of Health said current measures would be extended to November 21, to help contain case numbers, which

By Steven Jiang and Nectar Gan, CNN At least three people were killed and more than 30 injured in a powerful explosion at a restaurant in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang on Thursday morning, according to local authorities. The gas explosion took place in a mixed-use residential and commercial building, authorities said in a

By Yoonjung Seo, Samantha Beech and Philip Wang, CNN North Korea said the United States and the UN Security Council are “tampering with a dangerous time bomb” following a meeting over the isolated nation’s most recent ballistic missile test, state media reported. Pyongyang claims it successfully test-fired a new ballistic missile from a submarine on

By Amy Woodyatt, CNN Police in New Zealand leapt into action to attend the house of a 4-year-old boy — to check if his toys were as cool as he said they were. The force shared a clip of the exchange, which was “too cute not to share” to Facebook, where the call begins in

By Nectar Gan, CNN Chinese authorities have offered a bounty equivalent to more than $23,000 for the capture of a North Korean defector who broke out of prison in the northeastern city of Jilin on Monday. The inmate, identified as Zhu Xianjian, entered China illegally in 2013. Three years later, he was sentenced to 11

By Yoonjung Seo and Ben Westcott, CNN North Korea said it successfully test-fired a new ballistic missile from a submarine on Tuesday, state news agency KCNA reported Wednesday. KCNA said the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) was launched from the “8.24 Yongung” sub — the same vessel used to test North Korea’s first SLBM in 2016.

By Gawon Bae, Emiko Jozuka and Junko Ogura, CNN North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile from its eastern coast on Tuesday morning, according to South Korean and Japanese officials. The launch took place in the port city of Sinpo, Hamgyong province, at about 10 a.m. local time Tuesday (9 p.m. ET Monday), South

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Myanmar’s junta has freed hundreds of political prisoners, according to state media outlet Global New Light of Myanmar on Tuesday. The paper reported that 647 prisoners had been released from Yangon’s Insein prison, while 80 were freed from a prison in Mandalay. Another 4,320 defendants currently before the courts will also

By Nectar Gan, CNN A murder suspect who garnered widespread sympathy from the Chinese public has died after more than a week on the run, triggering an outpouring of sadness and outrage on social media. Ou Jinzhong, who was accused of killing two neighbors and injuring three others in China’s southern Fujian province, killed himself

By CNN’s Beijing Bureau and Hannah Ritchie China has denied a report that it tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August, saying on Monday that the test was instead a “routine spacecraft experiment.” The Financial Times reported Sunday that “China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August that circled the globe before speeding towards its

By Nectar Gan, CNN Ou Jinzhong has been on the run for more than a week. Accused of killing two neighbors and injuring three others, the 55-year-old villager in China’s southern Fujian province is wanted by police. The local government has also offered cash rewards for clues to his whereabouts — or proof of his

By Julia Hollingsworth, CNN During the global scramble to secure vaccines, many countries in Asia-Pacific were slow off the mark. This time, they’re not making the same mistake. Countries around the region are rushing to place orders for the latest weapon against Covid-19: an antiviral pill that isn’t even authorized for use yet. Molnupiravir —

By Masrur Jamaluddin, CNN At least three people have died in Bali after a magnitude 4.8 earthquake hit the Indonesian island in the early hours of Saturday, damaging buildings and leaving people trapped in the rubble. The earthquake damaged buildings in Karangasem and Bangli regencies on the east of the island, the Bali Province Regional

By Ehsan Popalzai and Mostafa Salem, CNN A suicide attack at the largest Shia mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar killed 32 people and injured at least 68 more, the government-owned Bakhtar News Agency said Friday. It is the second week running that an attack has targeted Friday prayers at a Shia mosque.

By Jessie Yeung, CNN A Chinese man who set his ex-wife on fire as she livestreamed to her online followers was sentenced to death on Thursday, concluding a murder case that received nationwide notoriety. The victim, 30-year-old Lhamo, was a farmer and livestreamer in a Tibetan autonomous prefecture in southwestern Sichuan province. She was streaming

By Eric Cheung, Will Ripley and Ben Westcott, CNN China has stepped up pressure on Taiwan in recent weeks, flying dozens of warplanes near the self-ruled island in a show of strength that has put the entire region on edge. But at a park in the Taiwanese capital on Thursday, the topic of conversation was

By Eric Cheung, CNN At least 46 people died and dozens were injured after a major fire broke out in a building in southern Taiwan on Thursday, authorities said. The blaze started in the 13-story commercial and residential building at 2:54 a.m. local time (2:54 p.m. ET) in Kaohsiung city’s Yancheng district, according to Taiwan’s

By Emiko Jozuka, CNN Suicides among Japanese schoolchildren hit a record high during the last school year, according to an education ministry report published Wednesday. Japan recorded 415 suicides among schoolchildren aged 6 to 18 during the 2020 school year — the highest number since records began in 1974. A range of factors were behind

By Emiko Jozuka, CNN Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida dissolved Parliament’s lower house on Thursday, setting the stage for a general election this month as he seeks to rouse support for his newly formed government. The vote, to be held on October 31, will be Kishida’s first major test after he won the ruling party’s

By Nic Robertson and Tim Lister, CNN The Taliban are the most unlikely of populists: brutal, myopic, the epitome of intolerance. During five years in power until 2001, they banished women to their homes, banned music and most sport and imposed pitiless punishments on offenders. Adulterers were stoned in public; thieves had their hands amputated.

By Yoonjung Seo and Gawon Bae, CNN North Korea’s weapons are needed to defend the country against a “hostile” United States, said leader Kim Jong Un, state media KCNA reported Tuesday. Kim made the comments as he stood against a backdrop of missiles at the Defense Development Exhibition to mark the 76th anniversary of North

By Julia Hollingsworth, CNN At least 15 people were killed after heavy rain and flooding battered China’s northern province of Shanxi, destroying thousands of homes and forcing more than 120,000 people to relocate to safer areas, local officials said Tuesday. The province experienced its worst flooding this month since records began, meteorological official Wang Wenyi

By Sophia Saifi, CNN Abdul Qadeer Khan, the man known as the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, has died in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, according to the country’s Ministry of Information. He was 85 years old. Khan was given a state funeral at Islamabad’s Faisal Mosque on Sunday. The funeral, attended by thousands of

By Eric Cheung, CNN Taiwan will not bow to pressure and nobody can force it to accept the path China has laid out for the self-governing democracy, President Tsai Ing-wen said Sunday as the island celebrated its National Day amid heightened tensions with Beijing. During her speech in front of the presidential office in the

By Ben Westcott and Jinky Jorgio, CNN A dictator’s son. A former actor. A champion boxer. A diverse field of candidates have put up their hands to succeed Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who is stepping down after a single six-year term in line with the Philippines constitution. Although the 2022 presidential election campaign is yet

By Wayne Chang, Yong Xiong and Ben Westcott, CNN Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to pursue “reunification” with Taiwan by peaceful means in a speech in Beijing on Saturday. Speaking in the Great Hall of the People to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the revolution that ended the country’s last imperial dynasty, Xi said the

By Ehsan Popalzai and Mohammed Tawfeeq, CNN A suicide blast ripped through a Shia mosque in northern Afghanistan Friday, killing 46 people and injuring 143 others, provincial spokesman Matiullah Rohani told CNN. The attack occurred during Friday prayers at the Sayed Abad mosque in Kunduz, Rohani said. A Taliban spokesman said security forces were on

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Almost two years into the Covid-19 pandemic, some of the world’s major business hubs — including New York, London and Paris — are reopening as travel restrictions relax and daily life resumes. But one city, arguably Asia’s biggest financial center, is absent from the list: Hong Kong. Hong Kong closed its

By Brad Lendon, CNN The US Navy submarine that struck an underwater object in the South China Sea last weekend was operating in one of the world’s most difficult undersea environments, one filled with noise from ships above and a seabed with constantly shifting contours that can surprise any submarine crew, analysts say. US defense

By Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Half a billion dollars of aircraft that flew for about a year. A huge $85 million hotel that never opened, and sits in disrepair. Camouflage uniforms for the Afghan army whose fancy pattern would cost an extra $28 million. A healthcare facility listed as located in the Mediterranean Sea. These

By Sophia Saifi and Azaz Syed, CNN At least 15 people, including eight children, were killed and 200 injured after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit southwestern Pakistan in the early hours of Thursday, local authorities said. The toll was revised down by Pakistan’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority from 20 dead and more than 300 injured. The

By Eric Cheung, CNN China could be capable of mounting a “full-scale” invasion of Taiwan by 2025, the island’s defense minister said Wednesday — days after record numbers of Chinese warplanes flew into Taiwan’s air defense zone. “With regards to staging an attack on Taiwan, they currently have the ability. But [China] has to pay

By Akanksha Sharma and Ben Westcott, CNN The only son of late Philippines’ dictator Ferdinand Marcos said on Tuesday he will stand for President next year, becoming the fourth candidate to announce their intention to succeed 76-year-old incumbent Rodrigo Duterte. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., popularly known as “Bongbong”, announced his candidacy for the 2022 presidential election

By Sarah Dean, CNN Taliban forces unlawfully killed 13 ethnic Hazaras — including nine surrendering former government soldiers and a 17-year-old girl — in Afghanistan’s Daykundi province on August 30, according to a new investigation by Amnesty International. Since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and subsequent Taliban takeover there has been concern that long-persecuted ethnic

By Ben Westcott, CNN New Zealand will begin to move away from a zero-Covid strategy toward living with the virus, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Monday, becoming the latest country to abandon its elimination attempts in the face of the highly-contagious Delta variant. After shutting its borders early in the pandemic, New Zealand has reported

By Rebecca Wright, Ivan Watson, Zahid Mahmood and Tom Booth, CNN The raids started after midnight in Xinjiang. Hundreds of police officers armed with rifles went house to house in Uyghur communities in the far western region of China, pulling people from their homes, handcuffing and hooding them, and threatening to shoot them if they

By Manveena Suri, CNN At least eight people were killed when violence broke out in India’s Uttar Pradesh state on Sunday after a car linked to a federal minister ran over two farmers taking part in a protest against controversial farm laws. A farmers’ union spokesperson said Sunday the deaths happened after a convoy of

By Helen Regan, Selina Wang and Junko Ogura, CNN Japan’s Fumio Kishida took office as the country’s new Prime Minister on Monday, tasked with leading the world’s third-largest economy out of the coronavirus pandemic. Kishida, 64, who was elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last week, was officially confirmed as the country’s

By Jake Kwon and Maija Ehlinger, CNN Communication lines between North and South Korea have been restored for the first time in months, Seoul said in a statement Monday. The reopening follows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s vow last week to restart communication in an address to the country’s rubber-stamp legislature. “North Korea has

By Clarissa Ward, Tim Lister and Ehsan Popalzai, CNN An explosion ripped through a crowd outside the entrance of a mosque in central Kabul on Sunday, leaving a number of people dead, a senior Taliban spokesman said. The blast targeted the gates of the Eidgah Mosque in the Afghan capital, where a funeral service was

By Eric Cheung and Brad Lendon, CNN Taiwan has reported a record number of incursions by Chinese warplanes into its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) for the second day in a row, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said on Saturday night. The self-governing island said a total of 39 Chinese military aircraft entered the ADIZ

By Radina Gigova, CNN Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said on Saturday he would retire rather than run for vice president next year, in a surprise move that sparked speculation over his political future, according to the Philippines News Agency (PNA). Duterte, 76, is barred by the Philippine Constitution from seeking a second term after his

By Eric Cheung and Brad Lendon, CNN China sent 38 warplanes into the skies around Taiwan on Friday, the highest number of Chinese military aircraft to breach the island’s Air Defense Identification Zone in a single day since Taipei began publicly reporting such activities last year, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Friday night. The People’s Liberation

By Junko Ogura and Selina Wang, CNN Japan’s Princess Mako and her commoner fiance Kei Komuro announced Friday they will be married on October 26, public broadcaster NHK reported — a controversial union that requires her to give up her royal status. The 29-year-old granddaughter of former Emperor Akihito and Komuro first announced their engagement

By Jake Kwon and Helen Regan, CNN Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has been promoted to the nation’s top decision-making body, state media said on Thursday. The announcement — published in North Korea’s state-run news outlet KCNA — said Kim Yo Jong is now a member of

By Anna Coren, Sandi Sidhu, Julia Hollingsworth and Ahmet Mengli, CNN Every day for the past month, Emal Ahmadi’s 7-year-old daughter Hada has asked him the same thing: “Where is my sister?” She misses playing with her younger sister Malika, he says. She cries a lot, wondering when she is coming home. The tragic answer

CNN Editorial Research (CNN) – Here is a look at the life of North Korean government official Kim Yo Jong, sister of Kim Jong Un. Little is known about her as the family is notoriously secretive. Personal Birth Date: September 26, 1987 or 1988 (Widely believed to be in her early 30s, though her reported

By Nectar Gan and Jessie Yeung, CNN When it comes to keeping Covid-19 at bay, few countries seem willing to go as far as China. As countries around the world reopen borders and loosen coronavirus restrictions, Beijing is doubling down on its zero-Covid strategy. The latest example: a $260 million, 5,000-room quarantine facility for incoming

By Junko Ogura, Selina Wang and Helen Regan, CNN Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) elected former top diplomat Fumio Kishida as its new leader on Wednesday after a tightly contested race that ended in a runoff vote — clearing a path for him to become the country’s next Prime Minister. Kishida is widely expected

By Kara Fox, CNN When the khaki-colored landscapes of Afghanistan are transformed by a patchwork of pink, white and purple each spring, farmers rejoice. Their cash crop of poppies is ready for harvesting. Opium cultivation has long been a source of income for rural communities across the country, a land besieged by decades of war.