CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Tara Subramaniam, CNN Archeologists in China have found the remains of what may be the world’s oldest known flush toilet. Broken parts of the 2,400-year-old lavatory, as well as a bent flush pipe, were unearthed last summer by a research team among ancient palace ruins in the Yueyang archaeological site in the central city

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN Philippine authorities on Monday launched a search mission atop a restive volcano after spotting the suspected wreckage of a missing plane carrying two Australians along with a Filipino pilot and crew member. The six-seater Cessna 340 aircraft was bound for the capital Manila when it lost contact with air traffic control

By Kareem El Damanhoury and Mia Alberti, CNN An Australian tourist has died after being attacked by a shark in waters off New Caledonia in the South Pacific, according to public broadcaster New Caledonia 1 TV. The 59-year-old man was swimming near a pontoon at Château-Royal beach in the capital Nouméa when a shark attacked

By Simone McCarthy, Nectar Gan, Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood, CNN US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Saturday, in the first face-to-face between senior US and Chinese officials since the US military shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon earlier this month. In a meeting on the

By Yoonjung Seo, Brad Lendon and Junko Ogura, CNN North Korea said Sunday it conducted a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) a day earlier, its third known test of the long-range weapon in less than a year. The state-run Korean Central News Agency said a Hwasong-15 ICBM was fired in a “surprise ICBM

By Nectar Gan and Brad Lendon, CNN It’s known as the “Hawaii of China,” a tropical island paradise where the Chinese middle class enjoys sandy beaches, five-star resorts, and duty-free luxury shopping. It’s also China’s largest free-trade port and host of the Boao Forum, an annual meeting of political and business leaders dubbed “Asia’s Davos.”

By Hilary Whiteman, CNN New Zealand’s Hawke’s Bay is known for its fine wine, but many of the region’s vineyards are now under water, along with homes and roads in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle. The weather system didn’t make landfall in New Zealand, but it caused widespread destruction, killing at least eight people, displacing

By Junko Ogura, CNN Japan said Tuesday it “strongly” suspects three Chinese spy balloons entered its airspace between 2019 and 2021. Three “balloon-shaped flying objects” were detected between November 2019 and September 2021, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said, adding that these were “strongly presumed” to be “unmanned reconnaissance” aircraft flown by China. The ministry

By Teele Rebane and Angus Watson, CNN Separatist fighters in Indonesia’s restive Papua region have released a series of images showing a pilot from New Zealand who was taken hostage more than a week ago. The photos released on Tuesday show the pilot, identified by local police as Philip Mehrtens, standing fully clothed and apparently

By Simone McCarthy, CNN China’s top diplomat will visit Russia this month, according to its Foreign Ministry, in the first visit to the country from a Chinese official in that role since Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Wang Yi, who was named Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy adviser last month, will visit Russia

By Hilary Whiteman and Taylor Ward, CNN New Zealand declared a National State of Emergency on Tuesday for the third time in its history as Cyclone Gabrielle pounded the North Island with wind and rain, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes. Winds gusts of over 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per

By Nectar Gan, Wayne Chang and CNN’s Beijing bureau China has accused the United States of “illegally” flying high-altitude balloons into its airspace more than 10 times since January 2022, claims that drew an immediate rebuttal from the White House, as bilateral tensions flare in the fallout from a Chinese balloon that was shot down

By Brad Lendon, CNN The Philippine Coast Guard has accused a China Coast Guard ship of pointing a “military grade” laser at some of its crew, temporarily blinding them, aboard a vessel in contested waters of the South China last week. The Chinese ship also “made dangerous maneuvers” in approaching within 150 yards (137 meters)

By Taylor Ward, CNN New Zealand declared a National State of Emergency on Tuesday for the third time in its history as Cyclone Gabrielle inches closer to the country. The cyclone has lashed New Zealand’s North Island with relentless wind, rain and waves since Sunday evening, but conditions overnight Monday into Tuesday morning warranted that

By Sophia Saifi and Rhea Mogul, CNN The alleged gang rape of a woman in a park in Pakistan has enraged women’s rights activists who are protesting against what they see as “increasing sexual barbarism” in the country. The woman, 24, was with a male colleague in the capital Islamabad’s Fatima Jinnah park — known

By Brad Lendon, CNN With his young daughter at this side at two splashy military events this week, Kim Jong Un told the world two things — the Kim family will rule North Korea for another generation and it will have the nuclear weapons to make sure no one can challenge that. The girl —

By Simone McCarthy, Nectar Gan and Wayne Chang, CNN In China’s eyes, the newest superpower battlefield sits between 12 and 60 miles above the Earth’s surface in a thin-aired layer of the atmosphere it calls “near space.” Lying above the flightpaths of most commercial and military jets and below satellites, near space is an in-between

By Yoonjung Seo and Brad Lendon, CNN North Korean leader Kim Jong Un brought his daughter to a lavish banquet at a military barracks on Tuesday, the latest sign the girl is possibly being groomed as his eventual successor in an authoritarian family regime dating back decades. The girl — believed to be Kim’s second

By Heather Chen, CNN Separatist fighters in Indonesia’s restive Papua region have captured a pilot from New Zealand and are holding him hostage after setting fire to his plane, the group said in a statement. The pilot, identified by local police as Philip Merthens, was captured after landing a commercial charter flight at Paro Airport

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN China is planning to offer free fertility treatment to citizens under its national insurance scheme in a bid to reverse its plummeting birth rate. The National Healthcare Security Administration said on Friday it would extend its coverage to help shoulder the costs for families trying to conceive. It said the new

By Pallabi Munsi, CNN In the summer of 2021, Chomden was abroad, thousands of miles away from her home in Myanmar, when a friend sent her an urgent message informing her that an intimate video of her was being shared online. When she saw the message, the 25-year-old said she froze “like a statue,” her

By Selina Wang and Wayne Chang, CNN A balloon spotted over the skies of Latin America belongs to China and was used for flight tests, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Monday in response to CNN’s queries. This is the first time Beijing has admitted the balloon spotted over two Latin American countries belongs to

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN Some were seasoned politicians and veteran protest leaders. Others were academics, unionists and health care workers. They hailed from different generations and held a range of political views, but were brought together by what they say was a shared commitment to Hong Kong’s democratic future. Now, the “Hong Kong 47,” as

By Sophia Saifi, Tara John and Rhea Mogul, CNN Pakistan’s former President General Pervez Musharraf has died in Dubai after a prolonged illness at Dubai American Hospital, according to a statement from the Pakistani military. He was 79 years old. In a statement sent to CNN, senior military officials expressed their “heartfelt condolences” on the

By Heather Chen and Philip Wang, CNN A 16-year-old girl has been attacked and killed by a shark while swimming in a river in Perth, Western Australia, local authorities said. The teenager was pronounced dead after being pulled from Swan River, CNN affiliate Nine News reported. “This is an extremely traumatic incident for anyone to

By Heather Chen and Wayne Chang, CNN China says it “reserves the right” to deal with “similar situations” following the United States’ decision to shoot down its high-altitude balloon. “The US used force to attack our civilian unmanned airship, which is an obvious overreaction. We express solemn protest against this move by the US side,”

By Jessie Yeung and Gawon Bae, CNN The young woman rifles through a fridge of popsicles, pulling out several to show the camera. “This is milk flavor — the picture is so cute,” she says in English, pointing to the cartoon packaging with a smile. “And this is peach flavor.” After finally selecting an ice

By Heather Chen, CNN Think “international manhunt” and the image that likely springs to mind is that of a hardened criminal like a murderer, bank robber or billion-dollar fraudster — not the middle-aged boss of a high school tuition center. But that’s who’s at the center of a Red Notice issued this week by the

By Brad Lendon, CNN News that the Pentagon is monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon in the skies over the continental United States raises a series of questions — not least among them, what exactly it might be doing. US officials have said the flight path of the balloon, first spotted over Montana on Thursday,

By Sophia Saifi, Rhea Mogul and Saleem Mehsud, CNN The suicide bomber who targeted a mosque inside a police compound in Peshawar, killing more than 80 people, was a member of the Pakistani Taliban disguised as a policeman, a senior official said Thursday. CCTV footage shows the suspected bomber arriving at a police checkpoint on

By Nectar Gan, CNN There are no suspicious circumstances in the death of a Chinese teenager whose body was found near his school last week more than 100 days after he went missing, authorities said Thursday, ending a high-profile case that had gripped the nation. Hu Xinyu, 15, vanished from a private high school in

By Sophia Saifi, CNN Several suspects have been arrested in connection with Monday’s suicide bomb blast in a mosque in Pakistan’s northern city of Peshawar that killed more than 100 people. More arrests will take place following a major police investigation into the attack that injured another 217 people, Peshawar Police Chief Mohammad Aijaz Khan

By Brad Lendon, CNN The United States and India are taking steps to strengthen their defense partnership, officials said Tuesday, the latest sign of cooperation between the two countries in the face of an increasingly assertive China. The plans emerged following two days of meetings in Washington between government and business officials from the two

By Sandi Sidhu, Jessie Yeung, Salai TZ and Ivan Watson, CNN Content warning: This story contains descriptions of violence against children and images viewers may find disturbing. Bhone Tayza had been impatient to start school. A broken arm had kept the 7-year-old home while the other kids began their lessons, but now that his cast

By Nectar Gan, CNN China’s southwestern province of Sichuan will drop restrictions on unmarried people having children, part of a broader attempt by the government to boost the country’s plummeting birth rate. The policy shift came after China’s population shrank last year for the first time in more than six decades, marking a historic moment

By Sophia Saifi, Rhea Mogul and Saleem Mehsud, CNN The death toll from a suicide bomb that ripped through a mosque in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan, rose to at least 100 on Tuesday, marking one of the deadliest attacks in the country in years as it faces what one analyst described as “a national security crisis.”

By Sophia Saifi, Saleem Mehsud and Hira Humayun, CNN A deadly blast in a mosque in Peshawar on Monday, the latest attack on the city in northwest Pakistan, killed at least 61 people and left about 157 injured, according to Peshawar Police Chief Mohammad Aijaz Khan. Rescue operations are now underway in the mosque, which

By Tara Subramaniam, CNN New Zealand authorities warned Monday that the situation in flood-hit Auckland was likely to worsen after “unprecedented” rainfall brought devastating floods that have killed at least four people and forced hundreds to evacuate in the country’s largest city. On Monday, New Zealand’s weather authority issued a red heavy rain warning —

By Nectar Gan, CNN For three months, the disappearance of Hu Xinyu gripped China. The whereabouts of the 15-year-old, who vanished from a boarding school in southern Jiangxi province in October, was for months among the most discussed topics on the Chinese internet. It prompted numerous questions, speculation and round after round of exhaustive police

By Brad Lendon, CNN NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday asked South Korea to reconsider its rule on not exporting weapons to countries in conflict so it could help arm Ukraine in repelling Russia’s invasion. “I urge the Republic of Korea to continue and to step up the specific issue of military support,” he

By Sophia Saifi, CNN Ten children were killed and seven were injured when a boat capsized on a lake in northern Pakistan Sunday, police said. The boat was carrying 25 to 30 students when it capsized on the Tanda Dam Kohat, a lake in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Rescue operations continue, police said. Despite mass drownings

by Asim Khan, CNN At least 39 people were killed when a bus careered into a ditch and caught fire in the southern Pakistan city of Bela on Sunday. The coach had been traveling the Quetta to Karachi route when it hit a bridge pillar at high speed at 4 a.m., the Bela Assistant Commissioner

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Last week, K-pop singer Danielle Marsh asked her online fans what they were doing for Chinese New Year. A profuse apology followed two days later, in which she promised to “try to be more careful” and acknowledged the “hurt” she had caused. Her crime? The “Chinese” that preceded “New Year.” A

By Heather Chen and Junko Ogura, CNN Here’s something you don’t see everyday. Pet fish playing a video game in Japan managed to log on to the Nintendo Switch store, change their owner’s avatar, set up a Pay Pal account and rack up a credit card bill. And it was all seemingly livestreamed, in real

By Alex Stambaugh, Martin Goillandeau and Taylor Ward, CNN Three people have died and at least one person is missing as a result of torrential rain that has caused major flooding and numerous evacuations in New Zealand, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said Saturday. “The loss of life underscores just the sheer scale of this weather

By Brad Lendon, CNN The United States Marine Corps on Thursday officially opened its first new base in 70 years, a 4,000-acre installation on the US Pacific island of Guam that one day is expected to host 5,000 Marines. Construction of Camp Blaz, as it is formally known, was partially funded by the Japanese government

By Selina Wang, CNN In China’s southern Guizhou province, there’s a tiny village in the southeast corner, nestled deep within the mountains, called Dali. A wall of lush green trees and bamboo surround this village of about 1,000 people, who’ve lived in wooden homes with gray-tiled roofs for centuries. It’s the Lunar New Year, and

By Junko Ogura, CNN Eight people who were aboard a cargo ship that capsized off the coast of Japan earlier this week have died and nine remain missing, the Japan Coast Guard said Thursday. Six of the dead are Chinese nationals and two are Myanmar nationals, the coast guard said. The Hong Kong-flagged vessel Jin

By Radina Gigova and Simone McCarthy, CNN A Russian warship armed with advanced hypersonic missiles completed a drill in the Atlantic Ocean, ahead of joint naval exercises with the Chinese and South African navies scheduled for next month, the Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday. Russia’s Admiral Gorshkov frigate, armed with Zircon hypersonic missiles, practiced “delivering

By Heather Chen, Yoonjung Seo, Paula Hancocks, Jake Kwon and Junko Ogura, CNN A deadly cold snap that is gripping East Asia has killed at least four people in Japan after subzero temperatures and heavy snow brought travel chaos during the Lunar New Year holiday, with climate experts warning that such extreme weather events had

By Junko Ogura, CNN Nine crew members remain missing after a cargo ship capsized off Japan’s Nagasaki prefecture on Wednesday, the Japan Coast Guard told CNN. The coast guard said it received a distress signal from the Hong Kong-flagged vessel Jin Tian late on Tuesday night as it cruised 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of

By Ehsan Popalzai, Monica Garrett, Allegra Goodwin and Kathleen Magramo, CNN At least 157 people have died in Afghanistan’s harsh winter, a Taliban official said Tuesday, with the death toll doubling in less than a week as millions face bitter temperatures with minimal humanitarian aid. The country is suffering one of its coldest winters, with

By Jessie Yeung and Junko Ogura, CNN Japan’s prime minister issued a dire warning about the country’s population crisis on Monday, saying it was “on the brink of not being able to maintain social functions” due to the falling birth rate. In a policy address to lawmakers, Fumio Kishida said it was a case of

By CNN Staff When one by one, the friends of a young woman living in Beijing began disappearing — detained by the police after attending a vigil together weeks earlier — she felt sure that her time was nearing. “As I record this video, four of my friends have already been taken away,” the woman,

By Mayumi Maruyama and Tara Subramaniam, CNN New Zealand’s Labour party has unanimously endorsed Education Minister Chris Hipkins to succeed current Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as party leader. Hipkins was the only nominee for the leadership position so his endorsement on Sunday was largely a formality. At a news conference in Wellington after the decision,

By Angus Watson and Kathleen Magramo, CNN Two popular Sydney beaches were closed Saturday after swimmers witnessed several bull sharks attacking a dolphin, according to Surf Life Saving New South Wales. The closures led to the canceling of several surfing and Ironman and Ironwoman events. The dolphin suffered injuries to its tail and was later

By Kathleen Magramo A butcher died while trying to slaughter a pig in Hong Kong on Friday, the city’s police said. The 61-year-old butcher, who worked in the Sheung Shui Slaughterhouse on the city’s northern outskirts close to its border with mainland China, was knocked to the ground by the struggling pig and sustained a

By Eric Cheung, CNN Rising concerns over increasingly aggressive military maneuvers by China have prompted Taiwan to extend the mandatory military service period most of its young men must serve. But former conscripts interviewed by CNN say Taipei will need to do far more than that if it is to make the training effective. Outdated,

By Ehsan Popalzai and Kathleen Magramo, CNN At least 78 people have died in freezing conditions in Afghanistan in the last nine days, a Taliban official said Thursday, deepening a humanitarian crisis affecting millions of people now living under the control of the radical Islamist group. Shafiullah Rahimi, a spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of

By Heather Chen, CNN Indonesia is warning people against consuming liquid nitrogen after more than 20 children were harmed eating a street snack known as “dragon’s breath” that’s at the center of a dangerous new viral video trend. The children suffered burns to their skin, severe stomach pains and food poisoning after consuming the colorful

By Jessie Yeung, CNN China may be one step closer to losing its place as the world’s most populous country to India after its population shrank for the first time since the 1960s. The country’s population fell in 2022 to 1.411 billion, down some 850,000 people from the previous year, China’s National Bureau of Statistics

By Manveena Suri and Tara Subramaniam, CNN Three alleged black-market immigration agents have been arrested in western India in connection with the case of an Indian family who froze to death on the United States’ border with Canada last year, police said Wednesday. Deputy Commissioner Chaitanya Mandlik with Ahmedabad Police’s crime branch named the suspects

By Junko Ogura, Emiko Jozuka and Tara Subramaniam, CNN The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday acquitted three former Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) executives, finding them not guilty of manslaughter over the 2011 triple reactor meltdown at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported Wednesday. The High Court’s ruling was a decision