CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Mohammed Tawfeeq and Heather Chen, CNN North Korea claimed on Saturday to have tested a new type of underwater drone it said was “capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.” The drone — called the “Haeil-2 Unmanned Underwater Nuclear Attack Boat’” — was tested between April 4 and 7, according to a report by the

By Andrew McNicol and Andrew Raine, CNN It was a Chinese dream driven by the same sort of ambition that has seen this country rise from poverty to the world’s second-largest economy in the space of just a few decades. In 2011, around a year before becoming the country’s leader, Xi Jinping outlined a vision

By Simone McCarthy, Jake Kwon, and CNN’s Beijing bureau China has slapped sanctions on two American organizations that hosted Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen during her recent travel in the United States, which Beijing had fiercely condemned. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Friday the Washington-headquartered think tank Hudson Institute and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

By Emiko Jozuka and Brad Lendon, CNN Rescuers are scanning waters off southern Japan for 10 people on board a Japanese military helicopter that apparently crashed into the sea on Thursday, Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said. “I will continue to do my best to collect information on the damage and search for human lives,” said

By Jessie Yeung and Moeri Karasawa, CNN Across Japan, nearly 1.5 million people have withdrawn from society, leading reclusive lives largely confined within the walls of their home, according to a new government survey. These are Japan’s hikikomori, or shut-ins, defined by the government as people who have been isolated for at least six months.

By Simone McCarthy, Jake Kwon and Pauline Lockwood, CNN French President Emmanuel Macron told Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping he was counting on him to “reason” with Russia and help end the war in Ukraine. In his opening remarks at talks in Beijing on Thursday, Macron said Russia had “put an end to decades of peace

CNN By Jessie Yeung, CNN After stepping down as leader of New Zealand earlier this year, Jacinda Ardern has revealed that she is swapping the rough and tumble of politics for a stint of quiet reflection within academia overseas, heading to Harvard University this fall under two fellowships. She was appointed to dual fellowships at

By Adam Pourahmadi, Irene Nasser and Simone McCarthy, CNN Saudi Arabia’s and Iran’s Foreign Ministers met in Beijing on Thursday to discuss key details in the resumption of their relations following a landmark agreement mediated by China last month. In the highest-level meeting between the two sides in more than seven years, Iran’s Hossein Amir-Abdollahian

By Helen Regan, CNN Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said farewell to politics Wednesday with a rousing speech that assured other nerds, criers, and huggers that they too could one day lead. “You can be anxious, sensitive, kind, and wear your heart on your sleeve, you can be a mother or not, you

By Richard Roth, Jessie Gretener and Jessie Yeung, CNN Afghan men working for the United Nations in Kabul will stay home in solidarity with their female colleagues after the Taliban prohibited Afghan women from working for the global organization, according to a senior UN official. Ramiz Alakbarov, the UN Deputy Special Representative, Resident and Humanitarian

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN A slow-moving environmental catastrophe is unfolding in a marine ecosystem home to some of the world’s rarest species, including the critically endangered hawksbill turtle, as well as whale sharks, giant manta rays and dugongs. It has been more than a month since the MT Princess Empress, carrying 800,000 liters (211,340 gallons)

By Amy Woodyatt, CNN From flying through the air to turning their bodies into a lasso and climbing smooth surfaces, we thought we’d seen snakes do it all. Now, researchers have discovered a species that can actually cartwheel. Found in some areas of Southeast Asia, including southern Thailand, peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Borneo and the

By Simone McCarthy and Michelle Toh, CNN French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen arrive in Beijing this week for a visit France has framed as a high stakes chance to push China to do more for peace in Ukraine, but where European economic interests will also loom large. Macron

By Sania Farooqui, CNN Seven tourists were killed and 13 others injured in a major avalanche in India’s northeastern state of Sikkim, local police said Tuesday. The incident occurred at about 11.10 a.m. local time, the army said in a statement to CNN. The army said at least 20 people were rescued alive after several

By Brad Lendon, CNN The Philippines on Monday identified the locations of four new military bases the US will gain access to, as part of an expanded defense agreement analysts say is aimed at combating China. The four bases include three on the main island of Luzon, close to Taiwan, and one in Palawan province

By Chris Lau, CNN Cruising at a depth of 8,336 meters (over 27,000 feet) just above the seabed, a young snailfish has become the deepest fish ever filmed by scientists during a probe into the abyss of the northern Pacific Ocean. Scientists from University of Western Australia and Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology

By Sophia Saifi and Chris Lau, CNN At least 13 people were killed and 10 others injured Friday in a crush among people waiting for Ramadan food donations in Pakistan’s largest city Karachi, local police said. The crowd crush is the latest in a string of deadly incidents at food distribution centers across Pakistan as